My Essential Classical Albums.

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My favorite Symphonies at the moment.

Even though I am quite partial to the Romantic period I'll let LvB into the list.

I felt compelled to append a maestro but I should add that I don't own many interpretations of some of these works and some of them were bought accidentally or by magazine suggestion.

 

Beethoven: 3 (Schmidt-Isserstedt), 5 (Kleiber), 9 (Wand)
Berlioz: Fantastique (Inbal)
Brahms: 3 (Wand), 4 (Kleiber)
Bruckner: 4 (Wand), 7 (Blomstedt)
Dvorak: 8 (Suitner), 9 (Neumann)
Rachmaninoff: 2 (Fischer)
Schubert: 8 (Wand), 9 (Wand)
Schumann: 3 (Sawallisch)
Sibelius: 2 (Vanska), 5 (Vanska)
Tchaikovsky: 5 (Mravinsky), 6 (Masur)

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14 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

I would not be willing to select one conductor for most of this...) 

 

I tried not to think too much about it, just decide quickly.

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3 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

@AnotherSpin As for opera - if my taste changes you'll be the very first person to know.

No Mahler.?

 

Me and Mahler don't get along too well. 

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1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

Lots of Wand  in there. Like it. 

 

This box set is a real treat:

 

The Great Recordings https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0069EOZT8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_I2tuzb0ED1QMY

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I am now listening to Sibelius' Pelléas & Mélisande (Baudo / CPO - Supraphon), writing down another list, this time with a few concertos.

 

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45 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

I was trying very hard to appreciate this opera, no success as per now. Oh, I meant Debussy's opus.

 

I can understand you.

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On 2017-4-22 at 10:34 PM, sphinxsix said:

I have 2: Vox cosmica - Hirundo Maris, Arianna Savall 24-96 and The Origin of Fire, Music and Visions - Anonymous 4 SACD. I'm not that much into early music but I heard her choral composition performed live in a local church years ago and I liked it. Any suggestions of her other recordings?

 

And BTW can someone recommend a good performance of Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini? I have two - Luganski/Oramo and Ashkenazy/Previn. It's probably quite irrational (I don't know any other performances of the Rhapsody) but I have an impression none of these two isn't the 'ultimate' version. Or maybe I'm wrong and they are really good, what do you think guys?

 

I like Kocsis' Rachmaninoff recordings for Philips.

His take on the PC2 might even be my favourite.

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On 2017-4-23 at 0:08 PM, sphinxsix said:

I don't. I checked out the begining of the album before going to sleep yesterday. Sounds fantastic to me!

I think I will have to take a closer look at Liszt..

 

Give Jando's recording of Les Anées de Pélerinage (Naxos) a listen.

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On 2017-4-23 at 0:57 PM, Musicophile said:

Liszt has written a LOT. You need to triage his work (unless you want to buy the excellent complete Liszt piano box by Leslie Howard, but we're taking about 99 CDs...). 

 

Try "Les Années de Pélerinage", his Schubert song transcriptions, and the Rhapsodie espagnole for a start. 

 

I prefer Liszt's piano works to his orchestral but the Eine Faust-Symphonie is quite attractive:

 

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On 2017-4-24 at 0:43 PM, accwai said:

 

Well, Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra was mentioned in the Album of the Evening thread recently. It's well known for its ravishing middle movement. That's rather essential. And of course, middle movement of the Mozart's Clarinet Concerto is equally ravishing. And along the same line, Carl Maria von Weber has the Concertino for Clarinet. Beautiful slow first movement develops into a lively sprint. Short and sweet.

 

There you go

 

Breaking things down into time period and/or genre would help focus the "seeding". So what interest you the most?

 

Mozart's Adagio from the Clarinet Concerto was of course made universally famous for its appearance in the film Out of Africa.

For both this work and the Weber I suggest the BIS recordings.

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On 2017-5-23 at 0:17 AM, cpvniii said:

There are many great recordings. For some of the younger fellows this 30 year old recording deserves a listen. One of the greatest piano performance of my life time.

 

Great pick.

I'd add his recording of the Emperor to my favourite performances:

 

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On 2017-6-6 at 1:46 PM, accwai said:

 

 

The difference between piano and harpsichord goes much deeper than the sound. For me their expressions are fundamentally different and are not interchangeable. How plausible a piano rendition is depends on the piece itself. A lot of the more well known Bach pieces work Ok with piano. But some do not translate well to piano at all. Those are usually closer to fantasticus style. And they are the ones essential to me personally.

 

Story: In a recent local music festival, ARCT List A is divided into WTC and non-WTC categories. Almost everybody in the non-WTC group played one of the Toccatas in the BWV 910-916 range. Some of them are very expressive in piano terms, but not a single one even come close to the fantastic and extravagant style required for these pieces. At the end, the adjudicator mentioned to one of the players "I'd be very interested in hearing you play Chopin." Umm...

 

Plus many of the French Baroque keyboard work do not make much sense when played on piano. François Couperin is a good example. Even Angela Hewitt is unable to pull a rabbit out of the hat here.

 

It's perfectly fine to remove harpsichord from your consideration, but doing that will also render a rather substential portion of Baroque keyboard works inaccessible. Just my 2 cents...

 

I find the playback of harpsichord recordings quite challenging for even the finest systems.

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On 2017-6-6 at 6:24 PM, Musicophile said:

I'm much less sophisticated than Accwai on this topic but agree that harpsichord really is a different animal and an acquired taste. But it is one well worth acquiring as it opens up a whole new universe. 

 

(Writing this while listening to Jean Rondeau play his beautiful harpsichord on "Imagine"). 

 

My appreciation of the harpsichord only came after listening to live performances.

Many systems just don't do it justice.

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On 15 May 2017 at 11:27 PM, sphinxsix said:

Piano is an instrument that I always liked. But in recent years I've been after its sound even more than before. So one more question for you guys - could you name your 'desert island' solo piano classical recordings.? And if it's to general for somebody - ok, please concentrate on Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Rachmaninov

(but I'd really like to discover some names and compositions that I'm not familiar with too).

As usually - performance is what matters most but SQ is important too.

Thanks in advance!

 

First a couple of recitals:

 

 

 

 

 

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38 minutes ago, accwai said:

 

As you have previously pointed out, my system is quite deficient. Not disputing that. But harpsichord is my main music interest. Can't be helped. Good thing I'm not really an audiophile, just playing one on internet.

 

 

Curious where you hear live harpsichord performances. Harpsichords in general don't project well. They don't sound very good live even in the tiny Walter Hall at University of Toronto, for example.

 

As for reproducing them, don't you just need an accurate system? What would make them challenging even for the finest systems? And what would be an example of a system that is up for it? I would assume you have one right? Care to share some details?

 

I think that good transient response and a clean, smooth treble are essential, as well as adequately balanced high-mids and lower treble.

Speakers and amplifiers mostly.

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1 hour ago, accwai said:

 

Thanks for the great insight

 

Yep, and free. No adds. No-nonsense. 

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My grandad was quite fond of Claudio Arrau's playing. I grew up listening to his recordings some of which I later inherited.

His Grieg, Schumann and Chopin Piano Concertos are some of my favorites recordings of those pieces.

I also like his Chopin Nocturnes and would probably take this solo Liszt recording to a desert island:

 

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Moravec is another one of my favorite pianists, particularly for his solo Chopin and Debussy.

He is my first choice for Chopin's Nocturnes and I also recommend this box set:

 

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Claude Debussy

Après La mer, currently listening to le Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune:

 

 

I will finalize with a diminuendo, starting with the lovely Sonata for flute, viola and harp followed by the Sonata for violin and piano:

 

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8 hours ago, Boris75 said:

 I agree this "Making Out on Mozart" CD is ridiculous, but in my opinion Yuja Wang's dresses are tasteful; they enhance the enjoyment from the performance, from a very high starting point, as her artistic talent is immense. I very much enjoy her CDs. I was also dazzled when hearing her in concert a couple of years ago. By the way, in that concert, she was wearing a very long dress.

 

I have also listened to her play live, solo, almost 10 years ago.

I remember it as a very intense performance.

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Here's another Argerich recording that I really enjoy, Tchaikovsky's PC 1 with BPO/Abbado:

 

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A few Schumann solo piano suggestions.

Old stuff...perhaps someone can chime in with some modern alternatives.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Did you try Ravel and Prokofiev concertos with Argerich?

 

I have the Ravel with BPO/Abbado for DG but it hasn't been played in years.

That honour goes to Michelangeli.

Will do so tonight.

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Since some of you have mentioned transcriptions I will suggest two, of Rachmaninoff's works:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhThc39l2UE

 

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

Could you recommend some performances?

 

4 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

+1

 

+2