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Top 5 Classical recordings

HI all,

I was wondering how many of the AuidogoN fellows engaged in Classical Music would like to have a Thread to share top picks and recommendations, that hopefully will be useful for those looking to start or otherwise expand a collection.

In order to be of help not only to people already into it, but also newcomers, I would ask a double question:

A.- If you were to recommend a top 5 list of masterpieces of all time, to a person looking to get into classical music with no knowledge at all, which would be you recommendations?

B.- Your favorite 5 composers and his 5 top masterpieces.

I know just 5 may be very hard, for question one specially, but to keep it simple and of help to others I thought it may be a good number. And will be easier to to average in the different responses.

Also please provide a recommended recording of each piece if possible.

Lastly I would ask to indicate the number of disks each one owns of the category. It can be interesting to see if the responses changes with the experience of the individual. I don't mean an specific number... don't wanr anyone counting for 3 days 3,543 discs... but maybe a range like:

C.-

1.- < 10
2.- > 10 - < 100
3.- > 100 - < 1000
4.- > 1000

What do you think?

I will start myself:

A.-

1.- Mozart, Piano concerto No. 20 & 21:

Recommended recording: Mozart Piano Concertos 20-25, Decca, Vladimir Ashkenazy, ASIN: B0000041LF

2.- Beethoven, 5th symphony

Recommended recording: DG, Carlos Kleiber ASIN: B000001GPX

3.- Vivaldi, 4 seasons

Recommended recording: DG, Anne-Sophie Mutter ASIN: B00002DE2L

4.- Schubert, Trout Quintet

Recommended recording: DG, Amadeus Quarter, Emil Giles ASIN: B000001GXF

5.- Brahms, Piano trio no. 1

Recommended recording: Phillips, Beaux arts trio (complete trios), ASIN: B00000416K

B.- (in no particular order)

1.- Schubert

a) String quintet D956.

Recording, DG Late sting quartets, string quintet, Emerson Sting quartet. (Trio series). ASIN: B0001ZWGI8

b) String quartet death and the maiden D810

Recording, DG Late sting quartets, string quintet, Emerson Sting quartet. (Trio series). ASIN: B0001ZWGI8

c) Symphony no. 9 the great

Sony Classical. Bernsein century. Symphony no 8 and no. 9. New York Philharmonic and Bernstein. ASIN: B00003WGO4

d) Piano quintet The trout D667

DG, Amadeus Quarter, Emil Giles ASIN: B000001GXF

e) Piano trio in E flat D929

Decca. Schubert complete trios. Beaux arts trio, Grumiaux trio. (Duo series). ASIN: B00000417B

2.- Tchaikovski

a) Violin concerto no 1

Living stereo. Brahms/Tchaikovsky Violin concertos. Heifetz/Reiner. ASIN: B0009U55RE

b) String quartet no 1

DG Masters. Dvorak American quarter / Tchaikovsky quartet no 1 / Borodin Quarter no 2. Emerson String quartet. ASIN: B000001GO3

c) Piano concerto no 1

Living Stereo. Tchaikovsky piano concerto no 1 / Rachmaninov piano concerto no 2. Van Cliburn. ASIN: B0002TKFRC

d) Trio for piano op 50

DG. Shostakovich - Tchaikovsky trios. Argerich, Kremer, Maisky. ASIN: B00000JSAC

e) Symphony no 6 Pathetique

DG, Tchaikovsky symphonies No 4, 5 & 6, Karajan. ASIN: B000001GYJ

3.- Dvorak

a) Cello Concerto. DG. Dvorák: Cello Concerto, Op. 104 / Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations, Op. 33. Rostropovich. ASIN: B000001GQ8

b) Quarteto Americano. DG. Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Borodin: Quartets. Emerson String quarter. ASIN: B000001GO3

c) New world symphony. Dvorák: Symphonies 8 & 9 / Kubelik, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. DG. ASIN: B000001GQ7

d) Piano Quintet. Dvorak: Piano Quintet, Op. 81/ String Quartet No. 10, Op. 51. Decca. Tacaks quartet & Andreas Haefliger. ASIN: B00001IVQR

e) Slavonic Dances. Sony. Cleveland Orchestra and George Szel. ASIN: B00005YD5H

4.- Rachmaninov

a).- Piano concert no 3. Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 2 & 3 / Ashkenazy, Kondrashin. Decca. ASIN: B00001IVQT

b) Piano concert no 2. Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 2 & 3 / Ashkenazy, Kondrashin. Decca. ASIN: B00001IVQT

c) Symphony no 2. Rachmaninov: The Symphonies. Ashkenazy. Decca. ASIN: B0000042HY

d) Piano sonata no 2. Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff/Concerto for Piano in Dm; Sonata for Piano No2/Vladimir Horowitz. RCA. ASIN: B000003ER1

e) Piano concerto no 1. Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 - 4, Decca, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andre Previn, ASIN: B00000427L

5.- Mozart

a) Piano concerto no 21. Mozart Piano Concertos 20-25, Decca, Vladimir Ashkenazy, ASIN: B0000041LF

b) String quartet no 14. (Hayden quartets). Warner Music. Alban Berg Quartet Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 14 - 23. ASIN: B000024MCP

c) Clarinet quintet. DG. Emerson String Quartet. Mozart / Brahms: Clarinet Quintets. ASIN: B00000IX73

d) Requiem. Mozart: Requiem / Tomowa-Sintow, Müller Molinari, Cole, Burchuladze; von Karajan. ASIN: B000001GK8

e) SYmphony no 41 Jupiter. Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 35, 36, 38- 41. DG. Karl Bohm. ASIN: B000001GQB

C) >100 - < 1000

Ok who is next... thanks
Eli
eelii08
goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,380 posts
 
A) 5 Recommended Masterpieces and CD Recordings

1) Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony no. 3 in E-flat major Op. 55 'Eroica'

'klemperer the cologne years vol.1'
Andante naïve

and/or

Paavo Järvi Beethoven Symphony no.3 Eroica/Symphony no.8
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
RCA Red Seal

2) Wolfgang Mozart Symphony no. 41 in C-major K. 551 'Jupiter'

VIENNA PHILHARMONIC (1972-1981) Mozart
Krips Oistrakh Pollini
Andante

3) Johannes Brahms Symphony no. 4 in E-minor Op. 98

CELIBIDACHE Müncher Philharmoniker
Brahms 2,3&4
EMI CLASSICS

4) Ludwig Van Beethoven Violin Sonatas no. 5 in F-major Op. 24 'Spring' and Sonata no. 9 in A-major Op.47 'Kreutzer'

Beethoven Complete Violin Sonatas
Augustin Dumay Maria Joao Pires
Deutsche Grammophon

5) Gustav Mahler 'das lied von der erde'
'the song of the earth'

EIJI OUE
Minnesota Orchestra
Michelle DeYoung John Villars
Reference Recordings

B) My 5 Favorite Composers and Some of Their Great Works.
I did not make this list of composers or works associated with them in any particular order. Doing so would require making incomparable comparisons.

1) Johann Sebastian Bach
'Brandenburg Concertos' 'Goldberg Variations, Toccata and Fugue,
'The Art of the Fugue'
and the Organ recordings of Helmut Walcha

2) Ludwig van Beethoven
The 9 Symphonies, The Orchestral Overtures, The Piano Sonatas, The String Quartets, The Violin Sonatas, The Cello Sonatas, The
Piano Trios

3) Johannes Brahms
The 4 Symphonies, The Violin Sonatas, The Cello Sonatas, The Piano Trios, The Clarinet Sonatas and also those adapted for Viola, The String Quartets, The Piano Raisonne', German Requiem

4) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Piano Concertos, The Later Symphonies especially starting with the Haffner, The Violin Concertos, The Haydn String Quartets, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze de Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Missa Solemnis in C,
Requiem in D-minor

5) Franz Joseph Haydn
A little bit of research goes a long way. Wonderful Symphonies, String Quartets, Piano Sonatas and Choral pieces.

C) I own roughly 500 classical CD's and roughly 100 classical Vinyl (monophonic) Records.
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
the question posed is so subjective, and there will be disagreements.

i think a better approach is to listen to many composers and form your own opinion.

listing composers and compositions without a rational basis is an exercise in futility.

it is interesting however, that the renaissance period and music from the 20th century is under represented.

for what it's worth, i think the renaissance and baroque periods are the most interesting in the development of classical music.

since we are asked for favorite composers, let me ignite a controversy, by saying, mozart, handel and beethoven are overrated.

to me bach is the greatest composer, period.

music from the classical period is boring. mahler and bruckner are boring.

after bach, all other composers are 2nd rate. his creativity is unmatched. his skill as a keyboard exponent is unmatched by any other composer.

if i had to select another composer it would be domenico scarlatti, another prodigious writer for the harpsichord.

i am afraid that i could not recommend music by any other composers. for example, although i like the 4 seasons, vivaldi was not creative.

mozart had a brief creative period and his most important work was the divertimento k 136. but, like other composers, his music can also become boring , harmonically.
11flat6
55 posts
 
agree with Mrtennis. attempting to compile a "best of" list for a multifaceted genre spanning several hundred years is a total exercise in futility.

Bach is indeed one of the greatest composers - certainly during the Baroque period & also in the historical context, but to say no other composer can matched his creativity is just ridiculous. creativity comes in countless forms... is Picasso more creative than da Vinci? how abt van Gogh vs. Albert Einstein?

we're all influenced by our environments & the times we live in. music - as with all arts - is a reflection of culture & society. in the context of western civilization, this has evolved from religious/ceremonial, to formalized entertainment (following the rise of bourgeois class & humanistic thought), to breaking down these formal structures & self-expression (democratization), to eventual fragmentation. the important composers either spearheaded, or significantly contributed towards these changes (otherwise none of us would even know their names).

since this post was initially started with the intention of helping those relatively new to this genre (& wanting to build a collection), my recommendation's to listen to whatever speaks to you, then assemble a collection from there. don't jump around with all these random recommendations, because you're only going to confuse yourself.

many classical newbies are accustomed to music 3 to 6 mins in length, so the longer movements can (initially) be a little daunting & difficult to concentrate thru. this is normal. your attention span will expand as you become familiar with a piece. maybe this is why some say – just keep listening if you don’t get it. OTOH, there are pieces I don’t “get” no matter how many times I listen... ;-)
gsm18439
895 posts
 
I agree with Mrtennis about Bach and the lack of representation of early music composers (Purcell, Tallis, etc) in this thread. However, even Bach had his moments of self-reference and repetition; and lovers of symphonic and/or operatic music must look beyond Back.

That said, if the goal is to provide novices with an introduction to the world of classical music, the argument can be made to include a wide range of periods, genres, and composers. One suggestion is the recent release of Mercury Living Presence: The Collector’s Edition (Ltd. Edition). The sound is superb, the price is ridiculous, and there is a lot to like (or ignore). . . although early music is still not part of the package.
devilboy
1,176 posts
 
A a relative newbie to classical (about 7 years), I won't tell anyone what classical they should hear first, or top performances, etc. I will just list what classical music got me started:

Chopin-nocturnes...Arthur Rubenstein.
Korsakov-Scheherazade
Bach-Cello Suite 1.....Janos Starker.
Anything Mozart.....piano concertos, requiem, wind serenade.
More to discover