2. music
  3. 1077038590

Help this budding Classical audiophile

I am looking for a recommendation on what Classical cd to buy, preferable under the Naxos label as they are well recorded and inexpensive (talk about having your cake and eating it too!). I've been an audiophile for the past 20 years now and mainly listen to acoustic jazz. My taste includes artists such as Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Barron, Brad Mehldau, Micheal Franks, Yellowjackets, Joey Calderazzo to name a few. I have about 700 cd's, with about 80% acoustic jazz. I'm more into the melody, and of course the musicianship, when I buy cd's. One thing that is also very important to me is the recording quality. I only started getting "turned on" to Classical music within the last 2-3 years and have since bought cd's from Bach, Beethoven, and my favorite right now, Haydn. I particularly like the sound of the violin and have exclusively bought violin quartets/trios. I like listening to Classical songs that are "emotional", even solo violin would do. Any recommendations out there would be greatly appreciated as this budding Classical audiophile has no clue as to what cd to pick from the very vast selection Classical music has to offer. Thanks in advance!
gemini
buscis2's avatar
buscis2
468 posts
 
Gemini, if you are looking to start with some of "the classics" how about:

Ravel: Bolero / Herbert Von Karajan w/ Berlin Philharmonic (1978)

Wagner: Ride Of The Valkyries / Erich Leinsdorf w/ Los Angeles Philharmonic (1978)

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons / Seiji Ozawa w/ Boston Symphony Orchestra (1981)

Holst: The Planets / Herbert Von Karajan w/ Berlin Philharmonic (1981)

For Violin, Beethoven: Violin Concerto/Romances / Kurt Masur w/ New York Philharmonic featuring Anne Sophie Mutter (2002)

And...... My absolute all time favorite:

Ouverturen und Intermizzi: Herbert Von Karajan w/ Berlin Philharmonic featuring Anne Sophie Mutter on EMI. (1981) Be very prepared to cry. Anne's performance in this recording is exceptional. Especially, Meditation. OH MY GOD!!!!!

Well, that was fun. I think I'll listen to some classical tonight.

Happy listening.
ewha
80 posts
 
here's a shameless plug for one of my best friends:

fantasies for violin and piano (schubert, schoenberg, ernst, and waxman)
frank huang, violin and dina vainstein, piano

here's a link to the cd on amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000TAPT2/qid=1077048138/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8031871-1940010?v=glance&s=classical

frank has recently won several major international competitions (most recently, the naumburg competition), and he just released his first cd on the naxos label. great performances, especially of the schubert fantasy. the ernst and schoenberg may be a little less accessible (musically), but who knows, you might enjoy them as well. in any event, i think it is an excellent album, and frank has one of the sweetest tones i have ever heard.

happy listening,
eric
shubertmaniac
350 posts
 
Dear Budding Classical Music Listener:

Of course, one of the easiest to "understand" and is very enjoyable to listen is Franz Schubert's violin sonatas on the Naxos label, the violinist's name escapes me at this moment. Very lyrical melodies with simple harmonic structure from the piano accompaniment. Brahms' viola or clarinet sonatas, , have a more complex harmonic structure, but extremely lyrical. Kim Kashkashian's performance is while worth it, I beleive it is on the ECM label.
For cello, Faure's small chamber pieces for cello and piano are well worth a listen. Very lyrical and some pieces have very little harmonic structure, just ethereal pleasure.

Julian Johnson once said: just because you can see does not mean you know how to read, so goes it with sound: just because you can hear does not mean you know how to listen. Classical music is meant to be critical listened, it is art and not some commodity off the shelf. So take care of it and it will reciprocate in kind.
fatparrot
1,314 posts
 
Unfortunately, if you want to truly enjoy classical music, you will need either a high-rez digital format (DVD, DVD-A, or SACD) or a decent turntable and vinyl. Top tier Redbook CD's players (I'm using a Accuphase DP-75V) can be quite lush and "analog" sounding, but the instruments that always fall short in Redbook CD's are bowed violins and violas. There are noticeable digital artifacts, which will make these instruments sound harsh, scratchy, or screechy, regardless of the CD pressing quality, or the quality of components, tweaks, or room acoustics.
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,391 posts
 
Most emotional disk I know of is

Gary Karr - Adagio d'Albinoni
http://www.ciscomusic.com/product.asp?ProductID=403172

Double Bass accompanied by organ. I'm not an organ music lover, and never heard a bass sound so melodic. It often sounds like cello, and is the saddest music ever...
Spencer
More to discover