My Essential Classical Albums.

[Kal Rubinson]

23 minutes ago, Bob Stern said:

Can we do a Vulcan mind meld?

Unfortunately, there is too much else in there that I would not want others to see. 

[sphinxsix]

48 minutes ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Unfortunately, there is too much else in there that I would not want others to see. 

Every audiophile has a skeleton in his cable closet.. 

[sphinxsix]

 

It's been 3 years since I started this thread and lots of things have changed since 2017.

First of all the number of my classical albums has significantly exceeded one thousand (but my refrigerator still isn't empty, thanks for asking..). I must admit that I not only don't know all the classical music I have but also that I most probably will never hear every single piece of of it. After all is there anyone here who's heard all of Bach cantatas.? 

When I started the thread I treated the performance and sound quality on par. It has changed long ago - right now the music and performance do absolutely come first! The recording quality has become secondary. But at the same time for a long time I simply couldn't listen to most of archival recordings.. till I heard Horowitz performing the Rachmaninov 3rd PC, the composition which I actually mentioned in my very first post here (a stunning Argerich performance for me - still being the reference point as for Rach 3). The sound was far from realistic or even pleasant, but I couldn't stop listening to it simply because the performance was just breathtaking (IMO). I must admit that I had to concentrate on the performance not on the general SQ but this was an exciting listening session. The first one like this but not the last one!

BTW I'm also pretty sure I will not be able to check out every single recording from the Horowitz 'Original Jacket Collection'.. 

Thanks once again to everyone who contributed and helped me to navigate on this exciting journey!

 

[Peter Hyatt]

I’m grateful for the thread!

[Daccord]

1 hour ago, sphinxsix said:

After all is there anyone here who's heard all of Bach cantatas.?

 

I have Rilling's "Complete Cantatas" set. After ripping all 71 discs I listened to one cantata (not one CD) every day, which took most of a year. There may be cantatas that aren't in this "complete" set, as some were lost and others are fragments, but I don't think that's what you meant.

[Musicophile]

I've been once through Gardiner's and through most of Koopman's complete cycle of cantatas, but also have many of Suzuki's recordings, a significant part of the Rilling set mentioned above, and several cantatas by individual other conductors. A total of 4718 tracks. And that's obviously excluding Qobuz.

 

But anyhow I'd see it differently. Even after 30 years of listening to tons of classical music there's still stuff for me to discover. Isn't that great?

[Teresa]

8 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

...I must admit that I not only don't know all the classical music I have but also that I most probably will never hear every single piece of of it...

 

Didn't you listen to each when you first purchased or downloaded them? As soon as I download an album or open a new package of physical discs, I have to hear them! I can't go to sleep with unplayed new music.

 

Before I retired I would sometimes get only a few hours sleep or no sleep at all before going to work the next day, when a new package of physical discs were delivered. I'm like a kid on Christmas day when new music arrives! 😄 

[sphinxsix]

13 hours ago, Teresa said:

Didn't you listen to each when you first purchased or downloaded them? As soon as I download an album or open a new package of physical discs, I have to hear them! I can't go to sleep with unplayed new music.

 

I do the same when I'm in a 'moderate' buying mode . When I'm in an 'intensive' or 'OCD'  ones - there's no time for that, I only check out the condition of used CDs if I ordered them.

E.g. I recently got highly interested in Fred Frith. I ordered 25 CDs which kept coming for a couple of days. As for now I actually have heard 3 of them in their entirety but I know the time for the remaining ones will come. I listen to the music in the same way I watch movies, I choose the material according to my mood of the moment - sometimes it's light comedy, sometimes heavy psychological or experimental stuff. I can go from Bach to heavy metal and to the late Coltrane in a matter of hours and both my music and movie interests involve diverse genres as you probably know. For me there's no conflict here. We are the post modern generation after all   OTOH I also used to have phases of what I used to call 'non-stop spinning' of  a particular album but that used to happened much more often when I had 1-2k recordings, nowadays that I have much more of them, I quite rarely play the same album e.g. 2 or 3 times during one week. 

 

13 hours ago, Teresa said:

Before I retired I would sometimes get only a few hours sleep or no sleep at all before going to work the next day, when a new package of physical discs were delivered.

 

Yeah, but what do you do when e.g. a box of 50 CDs arrives.? You just have to tell yourself - later.. 

 

20 hours ago, Daccord said:

I have Rilling's "Complete Cantatas" set. After ripping all 71 discs I listened to one cantata (not one CD) every day, which took most of a year.

 

Respect! 👍Hope I'll be able to go through all of them some day.. I mean some year 

 

16 hours ago, Musicophile said:

I've been once through Gardiner's and through most of Koopman's complete cycle of cantatas, but also have many of Suzuki's recordings, a significant part of the Rilling set mentioned above, and several cantatas by individual other conductors. 

 

My favorites are Suzuki and Gardiner and I have complete sets by both. I have only listened to a number of chosen cantatas (for now I prefer Suzuki). Like I said earlier - the time will come. Hopefully . I have only a handful of other recordings.

 

16 hours ago, Musicophile said:

But anyhow I'd see it differently. Even after 30 years of listening to tons of classical music there's still stuff for me to discover. Isn't that great?

 

If someone had told me years ago - 'In your late forties/early fifties you will discover for yourself a whole new music dimension, possibly even a couple of them', I would have told him - you're crazy!   

I've been interested in classical more seriously for only last 4-5 years, imagine how much stuff there is still for me to discover. Some of it is actually already on my shelves and HDs 

 

[sphinxsix]

 

Could someone recommend some Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis performances?

 

[Chris A]

This one (multichannel SACD):  https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HIRYAJO

 

 

This one is also a multichannel SACD, but with a larger orchestra and fuller string section (i.e., a more traditional recording), which can be had at a much lower cost (but not lower recording or musicianship quality):

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRY5GM/?tag=sacdinfocom-20

 

 

Chris

[Chris A]

BTW: the above Reflections album comes with two discs--one is a multichannel SACD, the other as Blu-Ray music (DTS 24 bit/192 kHz, Dolby Atmos, and Auro-3D 96 kHz), plus some more noise about MQA and MP3 versions.

 

Believe it or not I believe that the second disc mentioned above (Royal Philharmonic) may have slightly higher DR ratings--and should be in the $10-$15 range as a "budget" multichannel SACD.

 

Chris

[sphinxsix]

Thanks guys, I have decided to get this one:

and:

 

Any recommendations as for some essential Felix Mendelssohn recordings.? I somehow think he could be some antidote to the coming rain season in the Netherlands..

I will start from the zero here.

Thx in advance!

 

[Musicophile]

2 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

Thanks guys, I have decided to get this one:

and:

 

Any recommendations as for some essential Felix Mendelssohn recordings.? I somehow think he could be some antidote to the coming rain season in the Netherlands..

I will start from the zero here.

Thx in advance!

 

 

Plenty. He's one of my favorite composers.

 

Symphonies no. 3 and 4: Dohnanyi/Cleveland or Abbado/LSO. Haven't found a more recent recording I really like, though some like the recent HIP Heras-Casado (a bit rough, too "hip" for me)

 

Violin concerto: very clearly Janine Jansen https://musicophilesblog.com/2017/01/26/musicophiles-25-essential-classical-music-albums-part-ii/

 

Piano concertos: Jan Lisiecki https://musicophilesblog.com/2019/02/09/jan-lisiecki-play-mendelssohn-recommended/ or on fortepiano Brautigam.

 

Songs without words: Brautigam on fortepiano again https://musicophilesblog.com/category/music/composers/felix-mendelssohn-bartholdy/ or Perianes on modern piano. https://musicophilesblog.com/2015/08/18/mendelssohns-lieder-ohne-worte-in-two-beautiful-versions-by-perianes-and-brautigam/

 

String quartets: Quatuor Ebène (you also get a recording of the excellent string quartet by his talented and underrated wife, Fanny). 

 

I still need to find my perfect Midsummer Night's dream, but Dausgaard and Gardiner/LSO are both good. https://musicophilesblog.com/2015/10/16/mendelssohn-shakespeare-and-dausgaard/

 

Some really like the Octet but for whatever reason it's not my thing.

 

 

 

 

 

[semente]

I second Jansen's and Brautigam's.

And because I am very fond of the cello:

 

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8363545--mendelssohn-works-for-cello-piano

[sphinxsix]

 

A request from (electric and amateur) bass player..

I need some double bass concertos recommendations, going to explore the history of this, underrepresented in my collection genre.

Ps. My priorities have changed since I started this thread:

1. Music

2. Performance

3. SQ

Thanks in advance!

 

[Musicophile]

On 2/25/2021 at 11:50 PM, sphinxsix said:

 

A request from (electric and amateur) bass player..

I need some double bass concertos recommendations, going to explore the history of this, underrepresented in my collection genre.

Ps. My priorities have changed since I started this thread:

1. Music

2. Performance

3. SQ

Thanks in advance!

 

 

I must admit my first reaction was "didn't even know that category existed". 

 

Checked Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bass_concerto and noticed that I don't know a single composer on that list (beyond Aho). Good luck in your discovery journey and keep us posted!

[sphinxsix]

1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

Checked Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bass_concerto and noticed that I don't know a single composer on that list (beyond Aho).

 

I had done this and the result was the same. It's even not easy to find some works of the composers mentioned there on streaming services I use.

 

1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

Good luck in your discovery journey and keep us posted!

 

Thank you!

 

The idea came to my mind after discovering this (highly recommended):

 

 

For now I have found this recording also interesting (Nwanoku's bass sounds amazing!):

 

 

 

I'm still open to suggestions of course, since I'm quite determined to explore the subject (as usual ). Not an easy question, I know.. 

 

 

[FIndingit]

For bass concertos,

 

Easy listening: 

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/tan-dun-the-wolf-live-royal-concertgebouw-orchestra/zzt90vro77oyb

 

A bit more demanding: 

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/hans-werner-henze-works-for-double-bass-daniele-roccato/lgx2kzk4nvmba

[sphinxsix]

1 hour ago, FIndingit said:

For bass concertos,

 

Easy listening: 

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/tan-dun-the-wolf-live-royal-concertgebouw-orchestra/zzt90vro77oyb

 

A bit more demanding: 

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/hans-werner-henze-works-for-double-bass-daniele-roccato/lgx2kzk4nvmba

 

Thanks, will for sure check it out!

 

My album of the evening. It seems that a clear, bright sounding double basses are as standard in DB concertos as Steinway D grands in case of PCs and it's understandable - they (just like Steinway) can be more clearly heard in the orchestra. Once I heard a recording studio engineer commenting on my (also clear and bright sounding) Fender Jazz Bass Marcus Miller Signature that it is often used not only by jazz and funk musicians but also by heavy metal ones. 'It can be easily heard in a dense, wall of sound kind of mix' - he explained the whole thing to the surprised me. 

The second disc of this album is a slight stretch - these are two G minor cello sonatas by Chopin and Rachmaninov transposed to E minor for the double bass. Haven't heard the 2nd disc yet, the first one is IMHO also really good.

 

[semente]

9 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

 

Thanks, will for sure check it out!

 

My album of the evening. It seems that a clear, bright sounding double basses are as standard in DB concertos as Steinway D grands in case of PCs and it's understandable - they (just like Steinway) can be more clearly heard in the orchestra. Once I heard a recording studio engineer commenting on my (also clear and bright sounding) Fender Jazz Bass Marcus Miller Signature that it is often used not only by jazz and funk musicians but also by heavy metal ones. 'It can be easily heard in a dense, wall of sound kind of mix' - he explained the whole thing to the surprised me. 

The second disc of this album is a slight stretch - these are two G minor cello sonatas by Chopin and Rachmaninov transposed to E minor for the double bass. Haven't heard the 2nd disc yet, the first one is IMHO also really good.

 

I have and like that one.

[sphinxsix]

2 minutes ago, semente said:

I have and like that one.

6000 posts isn't it the right moment for some celebration with eg a little bit of Porto? 

 

[semente]

8 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

6000 posts isn't it the right moment for some celebration with eg a little bit of Porto? 

 

 

Still recovering from an apendicectomy, so no alcohol for the time being. 😇

[sphinxsix]

5 hours ago, semente said:

 

Still recovering from an apendicectomy, so no alcohol for the time being. 😇

 

 

So I understand that after the full recovery (wishing  you a quick one!) there will be actually a double reason to celebrate 

 

 

[semente]

18 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

 

 

So I understand that after the full recovery (wishing  you a quick one!) there will be actually a double reason to celebrate 

 

 

 

Thanks, I intend to have a socially distanced party!

[sphinxsix]

19 minutes ago, semente said:

 

Thanks, I intend to have a socially distanced party!

 

Sure. We are a little bit like audio gear nowadays - it's better to keep some distance between us..