Classical Music for Aficionados

Amen to the vinyl Barbirolli’s Sibelius 2 . I have the album cover in a frame on my wall .

For refined folks in other aspects of life the piece I sometimes recommend as a start is Mozart’s Symphony # 39 , very lyrical and gentle with fantastic clarinet work, as sunny as a day in May .
Best one I have is Sir Charles Mackerras with the Prague Chamber Orch.
Telac CD80148 ,also has Symp.#36 I buy anything Sir Mac does period .

Mozart any lover of classical should have.
Sym.#38 " Prague ". one of his very best + 40 and 41.
Eine Klleine Nachtmusic K. 525
Piano Concertos 9,20,21and 24.
Violin Con 3+5
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola K.364
Clarinet Quintet K.581
Clarinet Concerto K.622
Requiem in D Minor, one I like a lot is Stattskapella Dresden under Peter Schreier , both for performance and sound

And everything else he ever wrote .

@schubert 
You are so right to remind us that music did not begin with Bach. Great recommendations. As for the Elizabethan school, may I suggest the Clerkes of Oxenford for Tallis, and Byrd on glorious vinyl by L'Oiseau-Lyre.

Going back even further, there is a fabulous French Decca set of gatefold Gregorian Chant, in about 50 volumes, of which I have only half, as well as my personal favourite, Salve Feste Dies on Phillips.

ANY of Mozart’s Piano Concertos (with the possible exception of the first three numbered concertos which he didn’t actually compose but arranged.) Brendel or Perahia are as good as any pianists in these.

Rachmaninoff: “The Bells” (his favorite composition and mine) for soloists, chorus and orchestra.  Not well known, but a masterpiece by this supreme genius whose time has finally come after many years of snobbish derision.
Rattle is excellent in this.

Brahms: Serenades, in D and A Major. Great symphonic compositions from the youthful Brahms.  Kertesz on London/Decca is an oldie but goodie.

Glazunov: Violin Concerto.  An unjustly neglected work. Beautiful from beginning to end. Oistrakh or Heifetz are supreme

All my life I've tried to have the aha classical moment. Has never happened, with one exception: Gorecki #3. I own four versions. I find it profound. I own ten records by others, I try each annually to see if I'll warm up to them. One other contender maybe: Saint-Saens #3.

Anyhoo - I'll keep eye on this thread for ideas.

  To scott_w. You said you liked Gorecki #3. It is a musically unique and very profound work whose subject is death and torture.  In terms of subject matter you might try a group of songs by Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, songs on the death of children. It is very haunting and profoundly sad. I like the version by Janet Baker, Leonard Bernstein, and the Israel Philharmonic.

It was interesting to me that your other favorite was Saint Saens #3. Your might call this absolute music without a theme. It is a sonic spectacular show piece, but not profound in the way the Goredki is.

rvpiano, Re the Bells, don’t forget All-Night Vigil. My favorite Rachmaninoff choral. I like Paul Hiller and the Estonian Phil Chamber Choir.

Folks have been mentioning the standard VC’s by the Greats. Some what off the beaten path, yet both enjoyable and memorable, and pretty well done as a group, by Julia Fisher on Pentatone, are the VC’s of Khachaturian, Prokofiev, and Glazunov. I especially like her Khachaturian.

For something in the VC group rarely ever mentioned in these forums, regrettably I think, but then who wants to hear a ’Hollywood’ composer - Miklos Rozsa’s VC on Koch . If anyone likes Rozsa, Chandos has three CD’s which in addition to a lot of Hungarian music is a Cello Concerto I like a great deal.

Now if you like the possibility of some good stuff coming out of Hollywood I can’t resist recommending some of the music of Nino Rota. As an introduction I would recommend Riccardo Muti’s CD on Sony "LaStrada". It contains "Il Gattopardo" which has the potential to become an earworm, an incredible peice.

Next, a recommendation for Malcolm Arnold Dances and Overtures on both Reference and Chandos. The Reference is great ’audio’ as well.

Lastly, speaking of Ballet - how about the Carmen Ballet for strings and perecussions. No Brass! No kidding, great stuff. Put together by a Russian by the name of Shchedrin. I like the LP by Gerard Schwartz, but the same on his CD is pretty good too. Both are quite spacious.