Classical music newbie needs your suggestions

Rather that rattle off a list of my favorite pieces of classical music (we’d be here all day), I would advise you to do a couple real-world things to inform yourself so you can figure out what you like (of music on-hand now) and what might thrill you in future purchases:

1 - Take the time to read the liner notes. With classical it matters greatly who the composer is (of course) and who the performers are (of course, again) -- but in the larger sense, it matters what era of classical music you’re hearing (ie, baroque style vs classical style vs romantic style vs things that came in w/the 20th century).

2 - And when you hear something that thrills you, note what instrument it is (or instrument grouping: chamber vs symphonic). If you find yourself loving the cello (for example), there were fabulous pieces written for it all over the past 300 years

3 - And finally, note any composers whose works appeal to you, and any performers who impress you most. You can later on pick up more recordings based on those factors.

A friend was here yesterday and really liked a classical recording I was playing (an orchestral piece by Frederick Delius). I don’t know him to own any classical, so I asked, "If you like this so much, why don’t you own any of it?" His answer baffles me: "Because I don’t know enough about it to know what I would like."

All he has to do is spend some quality time youtubing classical of various types and eras--and pretty soon he’d have a very good idea what he likes. Your 300 recordings are the equivalent of that.

remember there is always the contrast between recording quality and performance quality. this said, these are my go-to-performances [i value performance quality over recording quality] but there is some overlap described below-

Fritz Reiner/CSO rca red seal 1960 recording of "Scheherazade." if one has Stendhal's Syndrome at all, this one will rend your heart when you hear the violinist's [Sydney Harth] solos. this is a lean-sounding vividly up-front recording but with tremendous liveness, you are virtually atop the podium here, you can hear the musician's clothing rustling, breathing, chairs and music stands creaking, sheet music shuffling, you can hear REAL MUSICIANS at work here playing at the peak of their abilities, with Reiner leading them with controlled fury. this performance is among the most brisk of all the recordings of this work i've heard [over a dozen], and stands head and shoulders above the rest. 

Neeme Järvi's [RSNO] performance of alexander nevsky cantata opus 78 is cinematic, vivid, it brings something akin to a real war between and around your loudspeakers. also a bit thin-sounding and a bit distant, a bit veiled, but the visceral rendition is what matters here. this is a fair aural document of a thrilling performance that is emotionally involving. the 1975 Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orch. version has richer sonics with good clarity but it is IMHO, relatively speaking a leisurely reading, less a war than a collegiate argument. 

gustav holst's "the planets" suite is a tougher nut, in that there is a wide variety of performances and recordings to choose from, highly variable in performance quality and recording quality, i really can't choose well among them, but have settled on ones by Sir Georg Solti/LPO 1978, Stokowski/KAOI 1956, [1971] Zubin Mehta/LAPO - this last one is breathtakingly hypnotically visceral esp. on "mars, the bringer of war" with those low brasses grabbing one by the ears and not letting go. unfortunately, this one is also a bit thin-sounding in the bass range [otherwise a very "rounded" sound here], needed more low end. the Solti version has less violence but more suavity. there is some tape overload audible in "mars" and "uranus" esp. on the cymbal crashes, the noise floor seems artificially low and the quiet parts are VERY quiet which seems to make the brasses stand out brightly. this recording has good body/low end. the Stoky version seems to both be idiosyncratic in the way of many of Stoky's recordings but also seems to draw a line between the suave extreme of the Solti version and the violence/menace of the Mehta version. the 1956 Stoky recording has pretty good [if thin] audio quality for its day, recorded up-front with strong presence/studio sound more than hall sound, it being a very early stereo recording.  

there are other recordings of these 3 pieces that have much more sumptuous sound but the performances IMHO [your mileage may vary] just aren't quite up to the required intense feeling that these pieces need to be conveyed as fully as their composers likely intended. 

 

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By now I'll bet you're googling the recommendations here and then zooming them through your system. Have at it! Go for it!

My personal favorite composers (in no particular order) are Mahler, Bruckner, Beethoven, Bach, Copland, Berg, Bartók, Stravinsky, Debussy, Chopin, Brahms, Schubert, Shostakovich, Mozart, Hindemith, Glass, Schoenberg, Prokofiev, Haydn.

If I'm not listening to orchestral works, then I'm usually listening to string quartets or solo piano (I don't care much for harpsichord (very limited dynamics for my taste) or "historically accurate" pianofortes (these sound like out-of-tune19th century whorehouse pianos to me)).

Occasionally I'll listen to operas by different composers, or lieder by Schubert.

My favorite recordings:

George Szell - Beethoven Symphonies cycle

Jenny Lin - Shostakovich: 24 Preludes And Fugues, Op. 87 (Vladimir Ashkenazy does a pretty good one, too)

John Wilson, BBC Philharmonic - Copland: Orchestral Works, Volume 1 - Ballets

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra - Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, WAB 109

Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Mahler: Symphony No. 9 In D

Glenn Gould - Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (1954 recording)

Boston Symphony Chamber Players - Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale (with John Gielgud, Tom Courtenay, and Ron Moody); Octet For Wind Instruments; Ragtime

Claudio Abbado, Vienna Philharmonic - Mahler: Symphony No. 4 In G (with Frederica Von Stade)

Claudio Abbado, Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé - Symphonic Suite, Op. 60

Diogenes Quartet - Schubert: Complete String Quartets

Neeme Järvi, Scottish National Orchestra - Prokofiev: The Complete Symphonies

Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra - Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition, Night On Bald Mountain, Khovanshcina (MFSL)

Aram Khachaturian, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - Khachaturian: Spartacus, Gayaneh; Glazunov: The Seasons

Herbert Blomstedt, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra - Hindemith: Orchestral Works

Jeroen van Veen - Glass: Complete Piano Etudes

Etc. etc. etc.

If you'd like a little more info about musical works and their composers, you can't go wrong with The Vintage Guide to Classical Music by Jan Swafford.  A very easy read to get you grounded in classical music.

(If you prefer more detailed information, try getting the latest edition of Grout's History of Western Music as a used book (it's a fairly technical college textbook though). Another great reference for classical music of all kinds is the Harvard Dictionary Of Music.)

If you stick with it, I think you're in for one of the greatest adventures of your life. Have fun and good luck.