Classical Music for Aficionados


I would like to start a thread, similar to Orpheus’ jazz site, for lovers of classical music.
I will list some of my favorite recordings, CDs as well as LP’s. While good sound is not a prime requisite, it will be a consideration.
  Classical music lovers please feel free to add to my lists.
Discussion of musical and recording issues will be welcome.

I’ll start with a list of CDs.  Records to follow in a later post.

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique.  Chesky  — Royal Phil. Orch.  Freccia, conductor.
Mahler:  Des Knaben Wunderhorn.  Vanguard Classics — Vienna Festival Orch. Prohaska, conductor.
Prokofiev:  Scythian Suite et. al.  DG  — Chicago Symphony  Abbado, conductor.
Brahms: Symphony #1.  Chesky — London Symph. Orch.  Horenstein, conductor.
Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat. HDTT — Ars Nova.  Mandell, conductor.
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances. Analogue Productions. — Dallas Symph Orch. Johanos, cond.
Respighi: Roman Festivals et. al. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.

All of the above happen to be great sounding recordings, but, as I said, sonics is not a prerequisite.


128x128rvpiano
Piotr Anderszewski
I just found him through Spotify.
Wow.
Has anyone else listened to him?
B
Yes I like Anderszewski, a lot

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
1] Fantasia in c minor K475 .
Fantaisie en ut mineur . Fantasie in C-Dur 13:18
Piano Sonata No. 14 in c minor K457
Sonate pour piano en ut mineur . Klaviersonate in C-Dur
2] I. Allegro 8:08
3] II. Adagio 8:44
4] III. Molto allegro 5:49
Robert Schumann 1810-1856
Fantasie C-dur, Op. 17
Fantasia in C major . Fantaisie en ut majeur
5] I. Durchaus phantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen 12:09
6] II. Mäßig, durchaus energisch 8:17
7] III. Langsam getragen. Durchweg leise zu halten 11:30
Thema mit Variationen in Es-Dur WoO 24 . Geistervariationen
Theme and Variations in E-flat major . Ghost Variations
Thème et Variations en mi bémol majeur . Variations “fantômes”
8] Thema - Leise, innig 2:02
9] Variation I 1:30
10] Variation II - Canonisch 1:38
11] Variation III - Etwas belebter 1:39
12] Variation IV 2:06
13] Variation V 2:13
TT: 79:14
Parlophone 2017

Bach English Suites 1, 3, & 5
Warner Classics

Chopin
3 Mazurkas Op 59
3 Mazurkas Op.63
Ballade No. 3, No 4,
Polonaise No 5, No 6
Mazurka Op 68 No 4
Virgin Classics

All excellent, would download more if I could find



Anyone into Komitas?
He was an Armenian priest, composer, and pianist, nearly killed by the Turks.   Much of his music is based on Armenian folk tunes.   Some people today associate his music with Gurdjieff.  His background included classical training in Germany.
Recordings I have are

Komitas Piano Works (Armen Babakhanian) 2006 (2 cds)

Komitas - Piano and Chamber Music 2017
KOMITAS (KOMITAS VARDAPET) (1869-1935)
PIANO AND CHAMBER MUSIC
SEVEN FOLK DANCES • SEVEN SONGS
TWELVE CHILDREN’S PIECES BASED ON FOLK-THEMES
MSHO-SHOROR • SEVEN PIECES FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO
MIKAEL AYRAPETYAN, piano
VLADIMIR SERGEEV, violin
Catalogue No.: GP720
Recording date: 15 December 2013
Recording Venue: Great Hall, Moscow State University of Culture and Arts, Russia

Komitas - Levon Eskenian, The Gurdjieff Ensemble
2015 ECM Records GmbH, Munchen
on original Armenian instruments


Zemphira Barseghian, recorded at Harvard, 1993, MEG Recordings
(piano, also other composers)

Komitas, many compositions of all sorts
Diocesan Records, NY 1970, DR-631, Distributed by Garni










For those of us that sometimes have a problem with the sound of our systems (I know I do) I wrote this on another thread.

“When I listen just for the “sound” of my system I hear all kinds of abnormalities, but when I’m listening to the MUSIC instead of my SYSTEM everything seems to sound natural. It’s like the “suspension of disbelief” you adapt when reading a book or seeing a movie. I don’t think we can ever really match the sound of real instruments on our sets, so if we listen just for that we’re going to be very disappointed. However when we listen for the music itself, we’re not so much concentrating on the physical sound, but the musical message being expressed. So if we “suspend” the belief we’re listening to live instruments we can get into the music much more easily and the instruments sound just fine.”
One of the downsides of elevating the performance level of an audio system is that one spends more time evaluating the system than actually listening to (and hearing) the music. Witness all of the devotion in this forum to components that are 'revealing' (uber revealing in fact) which are really doing nothing much more than presenting a sound which one would never hear in a live performance. I think (and have found) that a certain dumbing down of a system can often result in a sound that is reasonably listenable with most recorded music, not just the best recordings  over very high end systems. Since the system can no longer be expected to put a Bosendorfer in your room you stop trying to hear it and relax so you can (again) hear the music. IMHO/FWIW.