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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.


128x128rvpiano
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Maurice Ravel

RAPSODIE ESPAGNOLE

The Cleveland Orchestra
Pierre Boulez
Sony    1975, 1983 / 2000  SACD 

Notes:"Ravel's first important orchestral composition, Rapsodie Espagnole, was written in August 1907.  First performed in March 1908, at the Colonne Concerts in Paris, it received a cool reception from the boxes and main floor but elicited an excited response from the upper hall.  Although Ravel's brilliant orchestration and distinctive sound were present even in this early composition, it was undoubtedly the work's Spanish flavor that gained it lasting popularity."

Rapsodie Espagnole, M. 54

I. Prélude à la nuit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxR6I2Au0Wg

II. Malagueña
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r82KTIoEbEE

III. Habanera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCt5UoPsREs

IV. Feria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRAEYx5XdEg

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Maurice Ravel

RAVEL’S GREATEST HIT -- THE ULTIMATE BOLERO

RCA / BMG 2004

Notes:" "C’est une blague" (it’s a gag), Maurice Ravel once said of his most famous, or infamous, piece. In fact he was proud of BOLERO, which sprang from his own roots in the Basque country on the French-Spanish border."

"The Mexican maestro Eduardo Mata brings Spanish grace and languor to his performance with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. The duration of this track is about ten percent longer than the Boston Symphony one on this disc.....Ravel once created a minor scandal by daring to ask the great conductor Arturo Toscanini not to play this piece too fast, to which the ’maestro ultimo’ replied that the public would not accept it at the slower tempo. But Mata demonstrates that, in performing Bolero, as in making love, slow is beautiful."

Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z48XnQRmQx0&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i..

Jacques Fray & Mario Braggiotti (pianos)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDHhrgPCRwQ&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i...

Evelyn Glennie (percussion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjMLv3rjTCw&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i...

Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Eduardo mata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpIjhTpRAo&list=OLAK5uy_nK7LFLV92LCBlQt67Y9cwaCWCt66XhJEY&i...

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Maurice Ravel

GASPARD de la NUIT

Ivo Pogorelich (piano)
DG  1983

Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55

1. Ondine
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIBOwg8NGmA

2. Le Gibet
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvMd03CxPuk

3. Scarbo
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LACEbWKb1co

Cheers
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,859 posts
 
Maurice Ravel

THE PIANO CONCERTOS

Pascal Rogé  (piano)
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal
Charles Dutoit
Decca 1983

Notes: "The piano was Ravel’s instrument. When the G major concerto’s first performance was announced for Amsterdam in March 1931, the composer intended to be the soloist. But illness delayed the work’s completion, and by the time of the postponed premiere on 14 January 1932 in Paris, Ravel decided--despite many hours spent practising the studies of Chopin and Liszt -- that the task was beyond him. Accordingly, he asked Marguerite Long to fill the breach and dedicated the concerto to her."

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, M. 83

1. Allegramente
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqCKzFcE5CQ

2. Adagio assai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_e4oBU-RoM

3. Presto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOK3Y2oB96Y

Cheers
schubert
7,386 posts
 
"’Bach is a terminal point. Nothing comes
from him,,every thing merely leads up to him."

Albert Schweitzer

On my monthly run to Barnes and Noble for my Gramophone. I found an absolute treasure , ":Gramophone Presents J.S. Bach"

A 98 page book with small print that made much of it a 200 pager !
So much on everything Bach in the manner you would expect
from the British Classical Bible, very through, unreal so .

Can not even begin to say anything other than for a Bach lover the
$25 bucks USA is a gift .
More to discover