Buying Western Classical Music

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ajay124

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Buying western classical music can be a bewildering experience for many.Most people (I did too) begin with randomly picked up compilations.But unlike rock or jazz where individual track time is small,compilations are not the way to go in classical.A typical symphony/concerto/sonata would be 25-35 minutes.Listening to a 5 minute excerpt from a long movement does not give any sense of satisfaction as there is no sense of what the 'whole' is all about.Therefore I feel it is better to build your collection slowly with complete works.Things can be simplified by initially only buying the best known works of Bach,Beethoven,Mozart,Schubert,Haydn,Mahler,Handel,Mendelssohn,Schumann,Brahms,Chopin,Dvorak etc.
Since these days I buy music only from Rhythm House,recommendations are from music actually available there.Earlier I used to buy a lot of stuff from Planet M and Music World but the stuff they are stocking now is shockingly bad.
I buy cd's based on several criterions-Good music(primarily)Good recording,Good orchestra/conductor/musicians,Long running time,Budget pricing,Attractive and good quality packaging.About the packaging,it has been my experience that out of the big three for classical music,Decca has very good packaging,Duetsche Grammophone is decent but recent EMI box sets I bought are extremely flimsy.Even if you handle them like egg shells they still break.This is taking cost cutting to the extreme.Several EMI box sets I bought were so flimsy that they came smashed during shipping.However Rhythm House/EMI were good enough to replace all the boxes with sturdy new boxes.Not easy as every box held different number of cd's like 3,4,6 etc.
Well here are some reco's from the 1085 western classical cd's currently available at Rhythm House.Periodically I go over the entire list with a fine toothcomb.Current Reco's are randomly selected but all of it is great music.
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Thanks a lot ajay:clapping:, I have been searching for this kind of recommendation for a long time. Its very useful for me to step into the world of Western Classical.
:yahoo:
 
Hi,

Thanx for the list... I have a confusion though. I am quite a new entrant to the western classical music. I know beethoven mozart, chopin, brahms etc are very good, but they are not the ones playing the music:) I also would like to know some recommendations, which are some of the best players of these kinds of music.
 
@Doors666
The top 10 composers were so good that virtually any music you buy by any performer would be good.But I will post info about a few famous conductors/musicians soon.
@kittu1977/mksharan
Specifically the best music to begin with.I began with these in the mid 80's.Still consider them the best.For me this music is worth more than the entire planet.No other creation of god or man can rival it.I fondly believe that long after the lights have gone out on our planet,this music will still survive somewhere among the stars.
Have avoided including difficult works which could overwhelm or discourage new listeners.Still a couple of them have crept in.

Beethoven/Piano Sonatas 1-6,Piano Concert 1-5,Symphony 5,6,9
Mozart /Clarinet Concerto in A Major,Symphony 25,40,41,Piano Concerto 20,21,Piano Sonatas 7,9,11,14,15,16,17,18,Horn,Oboe and Flute Concertos
Bach/Brandenburg Concerto 1-6/Goldberg Variations/Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue
Schubert/Symphony 8(Unfinished),Trout Quintet,Moments Musicaux,Death and the Maiden,Rosamunde
Mendelssohn/Violin Concerto in E Minor,Symphony 4,Octet in E Flat
Mahler Symphony 1,5
Vivaldi/4 Seasons
Handel/Water Music,Royal Fireworks,Messiah
Dvorak/Symphony 9(New world)
Chopin/Nocturnes,Etudes
Schumann/Symphony 1-4
Haydn--Virtually everything is easy and great to listen to!Haydn was so prolific that it is impossible to list any particular work.Reading about his life is a great lesson on genius,hard work,contentment and most of all humility.In a long and prolific life he resided with and wrote music for kings and noble men.Yet all his life he was made to sit and eat with the servants in the kitchen.Haydn had no problem with this.In fact he may secretly have preferred this arrangement!History and memory have thrown all those kings and noblemen into the dustbin,and Joseph Haydn's star shines brighter than the sun.
The world remembers its creators with pleasure and forgets its rulers with pleasure.
 
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Buying Mozart...
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http://www.rhythmhouse.in/Detail.aspx?productListing=39462
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http://www.rhythmhouse.in/Detail.aspx?productListing=44783

Includes earlier Mozart Reco's also.But this is the best (VFM)Mozart(excluding his operas)available at Rhythm House currently.Would recommend expensive box sets only for folks who have big budgets.Otherwise stick to single/double cd's.
 
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More Pianists
Vladmir Ashkenazy
Daniel Barenboim
Martha Argerich
Alfred Brendel
Artur Rubinstein
Andrei Gavrilov
Glenn Gould
Freidric Gulda
Maurizio Pollini
Murray Perahia
Ivo Pogorelich
Stephen Kovacevich
Pierre Laurent Aimard
Lang Lang
Claudio Arrau
Vladmir Horowitz
Mikhail Platenev
Dinu Lippati
Samson Francois
Evgeny Kissin
 
ajay124 said:
More Pianists
Vladmir Ashkenazy
Daniel Barenboim
Martha Argerich
Alfred Brendel
Artur Rubinstein
Andrei Gavrilov
Glenn Gould
Freidric Gulda
Maurizio Pollini
Murray Perahia
Ivo Pogorelich
Stephen Kovacevich
Pierre Laurent Aimard
Lang Lang
Claudio Arrau
Vladmir Horowitz
Mikhail Platenev
Dinu Lippati
Samson Francois
Evgeny Kissin
Click to expand...

Ajay, the recording quality in Decca is not up to the mark. Mostly in
Deutch Gramophone & in EMI ok. Jazz Recordings in Sony Legacy is finer
than others.
sunder.
 
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Some great violinists
Yehudi Menuhin
Fritz Kreisler
Isaac Stern
Itzhak Perlman
Pinchas Zukerman
Anne Sophie Mutter
Kyung Wha Chung
Dr. L.Subramaniam
 
Great conductors
Had posted this list on another thread.Re-posting here.

herbert von karajan
claudio abbado
thomas beecham
leonard bernstein
karl bohm
pierre boulez
simon rattle
ricardo chailly
wilhelm furtwangler
christopher hogwood
carlos kleiber
otto klemperer
neville marriner
zubin mehta
riccardo muti
george solti
eugene ormandy
seiji ozawa
andre previn
bruno walter
 
Famous Orchestra's

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Dresden Staatskapelle
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Leningrad Philharmonic
London Symphony Orchestra
New York Philharmonic
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
 
My 2 cents for beginners: listen to the music online before you buy. Not everyone likes everything.
@doors666: Beethoven, Mozart can't play 'cos they lived in the 18th century. Or perhaps you were kidding :)

Some of my favs:
Bach (Baroque era master):
Brandenburg concerto 3
Violin Concerto in Am (Karajan conducted)
Double Concerto for Violins (features in movie 'children of a lesser god')

Beethoven (classical era genius, went deaf by the time of writing his great 9th symphony):
Fur Elise: short piano piece, perhaps most reproduced music in the world (phone hold tunes, car reverse tunes and what not)
Moonlight sonata: a haunting night on piano for you, Horowitz recording the best
Waldstein sonata: lilting piece to lift the mood.
Symphony No 5: one of all time greats

Mozart (classical era, a little before Beethoven, perhaps the most prodigal of them all):
Symphony No 25 in Gm, conducted by Neville Marriner for movie 'Amadeus' (remember the Titan watch ad catchy tune? This is the 'baap' of that tune), an absolutely charming composition.
Piano concertos No 20 and 26.

Tchaikovsky (romantic era master of emotional expression):
Symphonies 4 to 6. I'm looking for a Riccardo Muti recording with Philharmonia of these (supposed to be finest for these symphonies and I agree after comparing 5th symphony recordings of Karajan with a cassette I got of the 5th by Muti).
The ballets, sleeping beauty, the swan lake etc. Ethereal music.
Piano Concerto No 1: Has a mysterious intro not repeated elsewhere not repeated in the concerto theme. Initially ridiculed by his friends, this concerto has become a cult piece of classical music.
The man is not ashamed of brass section and the music can get very loud at times(a reason some critics dismiss his work)

Rachmaninoff (last of the romantic era masters, a piano virtuoso himself, has many piano masterpieces):
Piano concertos 1 to 4, especially the 2nd (written after the failure of his 1st symphony, if this concerto had failed, rachmaninoff would probably have lost it). Get Horowitz recording of the 3rd concerto if you can (Rachmaninoff said that Horowitz played his music the way he intended it to be played but believed impossible).
Prelude in C sharp minor: Among the most dark and powerful pieces of music ever written. Its short 5 min duration makes me go back to it again and again.
Symphony No 2: Expansive music evokes a great departure, loss, regret and turmoil and resolve etc. I invariably picturize a sea voyage when listening to it. The third movement is something totally moving.

Chopin (another romantic era master, possibly greatest piano composer ever):
Try the waltzes for the beginning, they are light and very melodious, very pleasing.

That's for now. Enjoy.
:)
 
@hrd.hrishikesh
Your recommendations for Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky are spot on!
But for the three great masters even handpicking the best would yeild a far more extensive list.The 6 Brandenburg Concerto's of Bach and the 6 Piano Sonatas of Beethoven are so perfect that there is no way you can pick one and leave out the others.In any case for these two,several 2cd sets comprising the complete work are easily available.
For Chopin I would start with Piano Concerto 1 & 2 followed by the Nocturnes,Etudes,Waltzes.
Essential Symphonies would include at least
Beethoven 3,5,6,9(My favorite is the 6th although the 9th is considered the greatest ever).
Mozart 25,40,41
Schubert 4,8
Haydn 94,101,104
Mahler 1,2,4,5
Schumann 2,4
Bruckner 7
Mendelssohn 4
Brahms 1,2,4
Tchaikovsky 6
Shostakovich 5,10
Dvorak 9
For me the Best 10 composers to begin with and probably end with:)
(in order of preference)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Franz Schubert
Joseph Haydn
Johannes Brahms
Robert Schumann
Frederic Chopin
Gustav Mahler
George Frideric Handel/Felix Mendelssohn
 
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