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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.


rvpiano
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I do the same with a pr. of Totem Signature 1 stand mounts and a Gallo cylindrical sub which is both fast and unobtrusive .
The best thing I did was put the speakers on Target stands with Herbie’s fat dots under them and 40 lbs of a mix of lead and fine sand in each .The detail is unreal !Far better than any of BBC midgets and I’ve had most of them  over the years .Driven by a amp that will do 450 watts into the Totems , not to play loud but to not clip on the micro- peaks that a symphony generates and make strings harsh , if the audio guy hasn’t already . Sit 4.5 feet away .


jim , may I be so bold as to ask if you went to Glasgow Uni ?
jim204
881 posts
 
Hi Len , No I'm afraid I didn't have any university schooling but as we called it the university of hard knocks. all my training in Photography and computing was at adult uni courses which I did while in a job which by the wayI hated. I was apprenticed to be a gardener from a pal of my fathers and in those days you just did as you were told and kept your mouth shut. Happily when I got married and into a place of my own I studied Photography and much later I studied and gained a degree in computer repair . I was glad I did those studies as I could then give my father a two fingered salute as none of my family gained a degree in anything except me. The Uni I gained the degree from was Stow College which is in the middle of Glasgow. I can though boast that my daughter did much better than me as she gained a Masters with Honours in politics at St. Andrews University.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Well , you have a better command of the English tongue than any person
I ever met who did not .I have a strong hunch you daughter did so well because she is your daughter.


I asked because I was accepted as an undergrad at Glasgow after being  a squady for 14 long years . Wanted to live in Scotland my entire life but the
money aspect ruled Glasgow Uni out .

Years before in Berlin we had a 6 month exchange program of NCO’s with the East Anglican Regiment . I got a "glowing" report of my soldiery skills from my Major and hopped over to Norwich to the Regiment Recruiting Office, but no your parents had to have a British Passport .The Recruiting Sgt. said we have men from every miserable colony but I can’t take a trained soldier with 3 Scottish grandparents !
Oh well , the University of Wisconsin is rated higher than Glasgow on the Times 100 anyway .
’

jim204
881 posts
 
Well Len I'm sure The University of Wisconsin was glad to have you as you too seem a very intelligent and worldly chap. Just earlier tonight I was copying some Scottish stuff for my daughter to put on her little personal MP3 player and one of the things was The Corries Strings and Things. This is a very iconic set of recordings and it is showing it's age now but the songs still stir the heart. Two of my favourites from it are Garten Mother's Lulaby and Jock O' Hazeldean and I have never heard those songs bettered by anyone. My wife and I used to go to the Ayr Town Hall every December to see The Corries and we just loved them. The collection of instruments the two of them had was mind blowing and they didn't just doole with them they really could play them and Roy Williamson actually built a lot of them. It was a really sad day for folk music when Williamson died of a brain tumor. Ronnie Brown the other member of the duo just couldn't sing after that which was sad as he had a lovelly tenor voice.
jim204
881 posts
 
Jeremy,   I am just now getting a chance to listen to the recording of the sixteen year old doing the Paganinni Rhapsody. After a shaky start she has settled down and is really playing the piece for all she's worth. I have to say it is one of my favourite pieces for piano and orchestra and people I have seen live playing it reads like a "who's who" . Vying for top place were an electrifying Ashkenazy, A very skilled Pletnev and in the slightly lower ranks, Osborne,Hough,Lill and Beresovsky.
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