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Top 5 Classical recordings

HI all,

I was wondering how many of the AuidogoN fellows engaged in Classical Music would like to have a Thread to share top picks and recommendations, that hopefully will be useful for those looking to start or otherwise expand a collection.

In order to be of help not only to people already into it, but also newcomers, I would ask a double question:

A.- If you were to recommend a top 5 list of masterpieces of all time, to a person looking to get into classical music with no knowledge at all, which would be you recommendations?

B.- Your favorite 5 composers and his 5 top masterpieces.

I know just 5 may be very hard, for question one specially, but to keep it simple and of help to others I thought it may be a good number. And will be easier to to average in the different responses.

Also please provide a recommended recording of each piece if possible.

Lastly I would ask to indicate the number of disks each one owns of the category. It can be interesting to see if the responses changes with the experience of the individual. I don't mean an specific number... don't wanr anyone counting for 3 days 3,543 discs... but maybe a range like:

C.-

1.- < 10
2.- > 10 - < 100
3.- > 100 - < 1000
4.- > 1000

What do you think?

I will start myself:

A.-

1.- Mozart, Piano concerto No. 20 & 21:

Recommended recording: Mozart Piano Concertos 20-25, Decca, Vladimir Ashkenazy, ASIN: B0000041LF

2.- Beethoven, 5th symphony

Recommended recording: DG, Carlos Kleiber ASIN: B000001GPX

3.- Vivaldi, 4 seasons

Recommended recording: DG, Anne-Sophie Mutter ASIN: B00002DE2L

4.- Schubert, Trout Quintet

Recommended recording: DG, Amadeus Quarter, Emil Giles ASIN: B000001GXF

5.- Brahms, Piano trio no. 1

Recommended recording: Phillips, Beaux arts trio (complete trios), ASIN: B00000416K

B.- (in no particular order)

1.- Schubert

a) String quintet D956.

Recording, DG Late sting quartets, string quintet, Emerson Sting quartet. (Trio series). ASIN: B0001ZWGI8

b) String quartet death and the maiden D810

Recording, DG Late sting quartets, string quintet, Emerson Sting quartet. (Trio series). ASIN: B0001ZWGI8

c) Symphony no. 9 the great

Sony Classical. Bernsein century. Symphony no 8 and no. 9. New York Philharmonic and Bernstein. ASIN: B00003WGO4

d) Piano quintet The trout D667

DG, Amadeus Quarter, Emil Giles ASIN: B000001GXF

e) Piano trio in E flat D929

Decca. Schubert complete trios. Beaux arts trio, Grumiaux trio. (Duo series). ASIN: B00000417B

2.- Tchaikovski

a) Violin concerto no 1

Living stereo. Brahms/Tchaikovsky Violin concertos. Heifetz/Reiner. ASIN: B0009U55RE

b) String quartet no 1

DG Masters. Dvorak American quarter / Tchaikovsky quartet no 1 / Borodin Quarter no 2. Emerson String quartet. ASIN: B000001GO3

c) Piano concerto no 1

Living Stereo. Tchaikovsky piano concerto no 1 / Rachmaninov piano concerto no 2. Van Cliburn. ASIN: B0002TKFRC

d) Trio for piano op 50

DG. Shostakovich - Tchaikovsky trios. Argerich, Kremer, Maisky. ASIN: B00000JSAC

e) Symphony no 6 Pathetique

DG, Tchaikovsky symphonies No 4, 5 & 6, Karajan. ASIN: B000001GYJ

3.- Dvorak

a) Cello Concerto. DG. Dvorák: Cello Concerto, Op. 104 / Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations, Op. 33. Rostropovich. ASIN: B000001GQ8

b) Quarteto Americano. DG. Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Borodin: Quartets. Emerson String quarter. ASIN: B000001GO3

c) New world symphony. Dvorák: Symphonies 8 & 9 / Kubelik, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. DG. ASIN: B000001GQ7

d) Piano Quintet. Dvorak: Piano Quintet, Op. 81/ String Quartet No. 10, Op. 51. Decca. Tacaks quartet & Andreas Haefliger. ASIN: B00001IVQR

e) Slavonic Dances. Sony. Cleveland Orchestra and George Szel. ASIN: B00005YD5H

4.- Rachmaninov

a).- Piano concert no 3. Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 2 & 3 / Ashkenazy, Kondrashin. Decca. ASIN: B00001IVQT

b) Piano concert no 2. Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 2 & 3 / Ashkenazy, Kondrashin. Decca. ASIN: B00001IVQT

c) Symphony no 2. Rachmaninov: The Symphonies. Ashkenazy. Decca. ASIN: B0000042HY

d) Piano sonata no 2. Horowitz Plays Rachmaninoff/Concerto for Piano in Dm; Sonata for Piano No2/Vladimir Horowitz. RCA. ASIN: B000003ER1

e) Piano concerto no 1. Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 - 4, Decca, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andre Previn, ASIN: B00000427L

5.- Mozart

a) Piano concerto no 21. Mozart Piano Concertos 20-25, Decca, Vladimir Ashkenazy, ASIN: B0000041LF

b) String quartet no 14. (Hayden quartets). Warner Music. Alban Berg Quartet Mozart: String Quartets Nos. 14 - 23. ASIN: B000024MCP

c) Clarinet quintet. DG. Emerson String Quartet. Mozart / Brahms: Clarinet Quintets. ASIN: B00000IX73

d) Requiem. Mozart: Requiem / Tomowa-Sintow, Müller Molinari, Cole, Burchuladze; von Karajan. ASIN: B000001GK8

e) SYmphony no 41 Jupiter. Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 35, 36, 38- 41. DG. Karl Bohm. ASIN: B000001GQB

C) >100 - < 1000

Ok who is next... thanks
Eli
eelii08
eelii08 OP
169 posts
 
Thanks. The pics are quite oudated. Those were taken when we just moved in. The system has changed completely since then. And the room layout now is in diagonal. It is a dedicated room so I can play around placement within it.

Not a specific room treatment per se. I've tried some minor things myself and also some "esoteric" treatments of those you would not dare to tell anyone... Not surprisingly, that did nothing, for good or for bad. I placed a carpet between speakers and some stuff on the walls that did help. Overall sounds fine. Could sound better probably with specific treatment. May do it in the future, but do not want a dead silent room neither. I also have a plan to expand the room making it bigger. We will see.
learsfool
1,215 posts
 
In answering this post, I will provide five composers to start with - picking just five compositions is absurd. My recommendations would be to start with Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, and for something more modern, Stravinsky. Exploring multiple works by each composer is a must, to decide what type of music one likes best. If you like opera, then go on to Verdi, Wagner, Puccini. If you like symphonies, try Haydn, Brahms, Bruckner, Sibelius. If you like early music, try Monteverdi, Gesualdo. If you like chamber music, add Schubert. If you like modern music, Bartok, Hindemith, Ives. There are far too many great composers and genres and styles to limit the choice so much.

Though one very fun project I have done twice in the past, both times for music school projects, is to pick a "desert island" list of ten composers. You can have nothing but those ten, but you can have their complete works. I do not want to hijack your thread, though, so I won't say what the results were, just that they were remarkably consistent overall between the two times I did the survey, which had a minimum of 100 responses both times.
eelii08 OP
169 posts
 
I mostly agree that picking 5 best compositions of all time is impossible. This is not intended to decide the best five. Again, It is intended to give a starting point to people who want to begin exploring but feel intimidated or do not know where to start. You will agree with me that not all the pieces of a master composer are equaly good or easy, if you want. Same with recordings or performances.

So by providing 5 of 5 diferent compositors people can listen to that, see what they like better and start exploring more pieces of that particular, or other compositors of same era and so on. i think is a good way to start from zero.

Also, it will be interesting to see what people's most voted absolute top 5 picks are on average, if only for the fun of it.

Lastly I hope I can also learn something myself and hopefully get good suggestions I am not familiar with. Some have already arised in recording/performance suggestions I was not aware of that I plan to explore myself. Also hope this helps others willing to expand as well.

So why dont you go ahead and give 5 recomendations of your list of 5? I would like to know and be interested in your picks on Stravinsky
rar1's avatar
rar1
1,748 posts
 
A.- If you were to recommend a top 5 list of masterpieces of all time, to a person looking to get into classical music with no knowledge at all, which would be you recommendations?

In all fairness, this is how you started your own post. So, you shouldn't get so twisted when responders tell you that the request doesn't make sense. I get the point of what you are trying to do and I think that your second question gets you there. But boy, you presented a question in the style of questions that you find on the reading comprehension section of a standardized test.

Rich
eelii08 OP
169 posts
 
No problem. You are probably right. As you said I think is clear what I'm trying to do, and I repeated a few times already to those saying it does not make sense.

Is clear that people with more experience, knowledge.. however you call it, although will find it more difficult to answer the question, specially first one, they are also the ones that can be of most help as well, precisely for that.

I tried to make the questions in a way that would provide specific answers. And would like to see those people with more experience answering just like you did. Say it is impossible, or hard, or not the top 5 of all time but excellent masterpieces... but give a list, to help others, with all the disclaimers you want to put on it.

Having said that, yes I also think I already repeated myself on that point too many times, so I will not do it anymore, I hope.
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