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

I've just finished listening to a first class SACD of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony doing a spectacular, heart-rending rendition of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. All I can say after listening to it is that very little has changed in Bartok's corner of Europe in the eighty+ years since Bartok wrote it.

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Got the Ingrid Fliter Chopin disc with Sonata #3 and a miscellany of other pieces (3 Mazurkas, Barcarolle, Grande Valse Brillante, Ballade no.4). Very nice but generally not transcendent. The three Waltzes (op. 64) were what I liked best, so I’ve ordered up her CD of complete waltzes. Reviews on Amazon all over the place, so we shall see...