Classical Music II

[Elfhelm]

Below I put some additions to that list. Let me opinionate on most important first. Most important is to create a good survey and position the pieces in time. At the library, do some taste testing as follows:

Start with the pre-Renaissance and the Troubadors and find which of those you like. Read the liner notes, of course. For me this turned up several compilation albums of merit, like the David Munrow albums. Eventually I came to realize what Guilaume de Machaut had done for humanity when he wrote that huge (for it's day) Mass in counterpoint, of all things.

Then move to the full Rennaissance. It's possible to get lost there, so beware. At one end you have Dufay and Binchois. At the other you have Monteverdi. In the middle, there are a host of great forgotten composers. My personal favorite in the middle there is Josquin Des Prez.

Then we get on to the Baroque. It's easy to confuse the early Baroque like Heinrich Schutz with the late Baroque like Buxtehude and Bach. If you think of them as totally different times, you'd probably do better. Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Frescobaldi, they all come out of the Monteverdian idea of a composer who is both secular and sacred. Bach comes later. Bach is my favorite composer. 'Nuff said?

Then Classical. Well, Handel comes before Haydn and Mozart, and so it's not really fair to hold him up to them. In fact, he's kind of a contemporary of Bach so he was actually ahead of his time. Rossini is dated in the Romantic era, but musically he's classical.

So then, and only then, play Beethoven. See, if you do all that before you hear Beethoven, you might find your jaw on the floor when the symphony is over. Then note that Schubert was a contemporary living in another city who died yound, and in that light, you see, Schubert is kind of the last classical composer. And then when you proceed the the middle Romantic era...

Brahms, Schumann, Verdi, Berlioz, Tchaikofsky, Saint-Saens you have some way to compare.

The Late Romantic works take their cue from Wagner. Bruckner's later pieces, and Mahler's Symphonies were unabashedly influenced by Wagner.

Then comes post-Romanticism like Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky, etc.

By that point you'll probably be ready to argue with Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. And you might find you disagree with me about the direction of music after that. Personally, I stick with Britten and Vaugh Williams and avoid any atonal pieces or minimalism. But to each his own.

Originally Posted by Mercutio

Nice hb

I will be going to college this fall, and will no longer have my dad's cds at my disposal. I have graduation gift money that I would like to spend on starting a classical collection for myself. However, I need to figure out what to buy--which pieces, composers, recordings, etc.

Here is a list from Classical Music for Dummies (don't laugh, it's an excellent book). Alphabetized by composer:

Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Adams: The Chairman Dances
Adamso: Harmonielehre
Bach: B-minor Mass
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Bach: Orchestral Suite no. 3
Bach: Goldberg Variations
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Barber: First and Second Essays
Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
Barber: Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Barber: Overture to The School for Scandal
Barber: Symphony no. 1
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Bartók: Divertimento for Strings
Bartók: Miraculous Mandarin Suite
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Bartók: Romanian Dances
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 5
Beethoven: Symphonies no. 3, 5, 7, & 9
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major
Berg: Violin Concerto
Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Bizet: Carmen Suites 1 & 2
Bloch: Concerto Grosso no. 1
Brahms: Symphonies no. 1, 2, 3, & 4
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Bruckner: Symphony no. 3 & 5
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Corigliano: Symphony no. 1
Debussy: La Mer
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E major
Dvořák: Serenade in E-flat major
Dvořák: Symphony no. 9 (New World)
Elgar: Enigma Variations
Falla: Three Cornered Hat: Three Dances
Franck: Symphony in D minor
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: American in Paris
Gorecki: Symphony no. 3
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite no.1
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Handel: Concerto Grosso
Handel: Messiah
Handel: Water Music
Haydn: Symphony no. 104 in D major
Haydn: Symphony no. 94 (Surprise)
Haydn: London Symphonies
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler Symphony
Holst: The Planets
Ives: Symphony no. 2
Ives: The Unanswered Question
Janáček: Taras Bulba
Kodaly: Dances of Galanta
Kodaly: Peacock Variations
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
Mahler: Rückertlieder
Mahler: Symphonies no. 1, 2, 4, 5, & 9
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 3 (Scottish)
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 4 (Italian)
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 21
Mozart: Viloin Concerto no. 5 in A major
Mozart:Piano Concerto in C minor
Mozart:Symphony no. 40 in G minor
Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Nielsen: Symphony no. 3 (Sinfonia espansiva)
Nielsen: Symphony no. 4 (The Inextinguishable)
Orff: Carmina Burana
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 1 (Classical)
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 5
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no. 2 & 3
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
Ravel: Boléro (Oh but I hate that piece)
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloé
Ravel: La Valse
Ravel: Rhapsodie espagnole
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
Rossini: overtures
Rossini: William Tell Overture
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Schubert: Symphony no. 5 in B-flat major
Schubert: Symphony no. 8
Schumann: Symphony no. 2 in C major
Shostakovich: Symphony no. 1 & 5
Sibelius: Finlandia
Sibelius: Symphonies no. 1 & 2
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Smetana: The Moldau (second tone poem from Ma Vlast I)
Strauss, J.: Blue Danube Waltz
Strauss, R.: Also sprach Zarathustra
Strauss, R.: Don Juan
Strauss, R.: Don Quixote
Strauss, R.: Ein Heldenleben
Strauss, R.: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite
Stravinsky: Petrushka
Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite
Stravinsky: Rite of Spring
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
Tschaikovsky: Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-flat major
Tschaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Tschaikovsky: Symphonies no. 4 & 5
Tschaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major
Verdi: Requiem
Vivaldi: Concerto for Four Violins
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Vivaldi: Guitar Concerto in D major
Wagner: Flying Dutchman Overture
Wagner: Rienzi Overture
Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture
Wagner: Tristan and Isolde
Weber: Der Freischütz Overture
Webern: Passacaglia, opus 1

--------------

What's the most important? Then, what are the best recordings?

I do plan on reading online reviews, and will by things from arkivmusic.com, amazon, or Borders (I have a card that gets me 15% off there).

--------------

There are some personal cds I would get, not needed for a basic collection but that I really like--such as Mihlaud & Poulenc chamber music.

OK, some stuff missing. The guy must have something against the human voice. Singing is life, baby! I added some sung stuff and some other old warhorses (pieces that help pay any orchestra's rent).

The dude also forget string quartets and other chamber pieces.

none of the Adams
Bach: St Matthew Passion (one of my desert island discs)
Bach: Art of the Fugue, played on organ by Helmut Walcha
none of the Barber
Bartok: 6 String Quartets
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Beethoven: The Late Quartets
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas (any opus number above 100 is essential!)
Berlioz: Harold in Italy
Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
Brahms: Double Concerto
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Brahms: Piano Quintet in Fm
Britten: War Requiem
Britten: er... um... that Good Samaritan piece (don't get old! hehehe)
Bruckner: Symphony #9
not the Copland, puhlease...
Debussy: Piano pieces, any and all!
Debussy: Three Nocturnes
Debussy: Jeux Poeme Danse
Debussy: String Quartet
not the Elgar, good gracious...
Haydn: The Creation
Liszt: Piano Concerto
Mahler: Symphony of a Thousand (#8)
Mozart: wow, so little Mozart there... first, The Clarinet Concerto
Mozart: Piano Concerto #25
Mozart: The Haydn Quartets
Mozart: Sonatas for Piano, played by Brendel on pianoforte, if you can still get that.
Prokofiev: Lt. Kije Suite
Prokofiev: Piano pieces like Sonatas, etc. He was a piano master.
none of the Rachmaninoff, unless you need something to play when you have a girl over for dinner.
ditch the Bolero, too
Ravel: Piano Concerto for Left Hand
Ravel: String Quartet
Ravel: Tsigane
Rossini... his contribution wasn't "overtures", but if you must have him, get a record of arias by a good soprano
Schubert: Piano Sonata in C
Schubert: Songs, there are several collections of them. It's what he did to buy food. These songs can sooth when nothing else will.
why ANY J. Strauss?
and why so much R. Strauss? All you need is Til Eugenspeigel and Zarathustra. But if you really like him, get some Wagner!
Verdi: a good collection of overtures.
Verdi operas that are core: Rigoletto, La Traviata, Il Trovatore



OK, now I will add some guys.
Bellini: a collection of arias
Binchois: probably will have to stick with a selection on a renaissance compilation
Bocherini: Cello Concerto
Buxtehude: Organ music, if J.S. Bach would WALK 75 MILES to hear it, it had to belong on this list!
Dowland: Lute Music, try to find it played on lute, not guitar. Bream plays him.
Dufay: maybe you can find him on the same disk as Binchois
Dukas: if you like the lighter stuff, then get the Sorceror's Apprentice
Faure: Requiem
Franck: Organ Music
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
Gounod: Romeo and Juliette
Gregory: well, he only wrote it down, but you have to have some chant, it's the only music there was for hundreds of years.
Josquin (De Prez): Missa Ave Maris Stella
Josquin (De Prez): Marian Motets
Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci (it changed opera)
Machaut: Mass
Monteverdi: Madrigals (he invented opera!)
Monteverdi: The Coronation of the Pope
Palestrina: Song of Songs
Part: Passio
Puccini: La Boheme
Scarlatti, D.: Sonatas (some of the earliest ever)
Sor: Guitar pieces (played by Segovia, of course!)
Szymanofsky: Symphony #2
Vaughn Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem
Vaughn Williams: A Sea Symphony
Villa-Lobos: Guitar pieces (again, played by Segovia!)
Wolf: Songs (there are only two record's full, he died young)

[Elfhelm]

by the way, that was from memory, so forgive any lapses. If we had a saturday, I could walk you through all that with audio examples

[Mercutio]

Wow...thanks...I will now begin to digest all your information

I agree on throwing out Adams, adding Vaughan Williams...I love a bunch of those guys.

I'm taking an opera course starting in July--and so will understand that a lot better then. That's one thing I'll wait on. And organ--As I'm an organist (and soon to be organ major), I'm sure I'll wind up with plenty.

ditch the Bolero, too

AMEN!


Anyone listen to the Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto? I love that piece.

[Mercutio]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Huh? Why is half of Barber and Bartok's work more essential than Berlioz's "Harold en Italie", "Romeo et Juliette", the Requiem!? Thats the thing about this "lists", they're really biased, ALWAYS BIASED against Berlioz. As if the only notes worth hearing that Berlioz penned were the Symphonie Fantastqiue!

Now I'm really riled! It's one thing to recommend every single thing Bach ever wrote and only suggest a few of every other composer, but to "go comprehensive" on composers like Barber (who is a great composer, I agree), but limit Berlioz's voice to only the Symphonie Fantastique? It's a crime just as bad as saying that Beethoven's Fifth is his only great work, the only one worth hearing.

It's not so much that they dare to recommend so many things on one some composers, its that they NEVER go beyond the Sym. Fan. when it comes time to recommend Berlioz! I'm sick and tired of it!
I've said this before, and I swear its true: "high-minded" classical snobs would rather listen to the most obscure Debussy piece from hell than to anything Berlioz wrote. They act as if Debussy re-composed Beethoven or something. Oh yeah? Well I'd rather listen to the most obscure thing Franz Berwald wrote than ANYTHING Debussy wrote, and Ravel for that matter! So there!

Am I to be fooled into thinking that this "list" they compile is really so limited in space that they HAVE to only recommend one thing by Berlioz, but everything by Barber, and Adams? (despicable! hardly the greatest composer living today! That goes to Zwilich or Glass...)

Calm down I appreciate Berlioz.

And notice that they exclude Messiaen, who is a thousand times worthier to be represented "comprehensively" than Adams or Barber.

I suppose for Adams. But Barber?

Since when were only two on Mendelssohn's symphonies the only works reprentative of him?

That's another thing I would most certainly add. More Mendelssohn symphonies. Like "Reformation."

My advice Merc? Go get yourself the "Gramophone Guide"

We do have the Penguin Guide to Classical Cds.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Elfhelm

Below I put some additions to that list. Let me opinionate on most important first. Most important is to create a good survey and position the pieces in time. At the library, do some taste testing as follows:

Start with the pre-Renaissance and the Troubadors and find which of those you like. Read the liner notes, of course. For me this turned up several compilation albums of merit, like the David Munrow albums. Eventually I came to realize what Guilaume de Machaut had done for humanity when he wrote that huge (for it's day) Mass in counterpoint, of all things.

Then move to the full Rennaissance. It's possible to get lost there, so beware. At one end you have Dufay and Binchois. At the other you have Monteverdi. In the middle, there are a host of great forgotten composers. My personal favorite in the middle there is Josquin Des Prez.

Then we get on to the Baroque. It's easy to confuse the early Baroque like Heinrich Schutz with the late Baroque like Buxtehude and Bach. If you think of them as totally different times, you'd probably do better. Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Frescobaldi, they all come out of the Monteverdian idea of a composer who is both secular and sacred. Bach comes later. Bach is my favorite composer. 'Nuff said?

Then Classical. Well, Handel comes before Haydn and Mozart, and so it's not really fair to hold him up to them. In fact, he's kind of a contemporary of Bach so he was actually ahead of his time. Rossini is dated in the Romantic era, but musically he's classical.

So then, and only then, play Beethoven. See, if you do all that before you hear Beethoven, you might find your jaw on the floor when the symphony is over. Then note that Schubert was a contemporary living in another city who died yound, and in that light, you see, Schubert is kind of the last classical composer. And then when you proceed the the middle Romantic era...

Brahms, Schumann, Verdi, Berlioz, Tchaikofsky, Saint-Saens you have some way to compare.

The Late Romantic works take their cue from Wagner. Bruckner's later pieces, and Mahler's Symphonies were unabashedly influenced by Wagner.

Then comes post-Romanticism like Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky, etc.

By that point you'll probably be ready to argue with Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. And you might find you disagree with me about the direction of music after that. Personally, I stick with Britten and Vaugh Williams and avoid any atonal pieces or minimalism. But to each his own.



OK, some stuff missing. The guy must have something against the human voice. Singing is life, baby! I added some sung stuff and some other old warhorses (pieces that help pay any orchestra's rent).

The dude also forget string quartets and other chamber pieces.

none of the Adams
Bach: St Matthew Passion (one of my desert island discs)
Bach: Art of the Fugue, played on organ by Helmut Walcha
none of the Barber
Bartok: 6 String Quartets
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Beethoven: The Late Quartets
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas (any opus number above 100 is essential!)
Berlioz: Harold in Italy
Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
Brahms: Double Concerto
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Brahms: Piano Quintet in Fm
Britten: War Requiem
Britten: er... um... that Good Samaritan piece (don't get old! hehehe)
Bruckner: Symphony #9
not the Copland, puhlease...
Debussy: Piano pieces, any and all!
Debussy: Three Nocturnes
Debussy: Jeux Poeme Danse
Debussy: String Quartet
not the Elgar, good gracious...
Haydn: The Creation
Liszt: Piano Concerto
Mahler: Symphony of a Thousand (#8)
Mozart: wow, so little Mozart there... first, The Clarinet Concerto
Mozart: Piano Concerto #25
Mozart: The Haydn Quartets
Mozart: Sonatas for Piano, played by Brendel on pianoforte, if you can still get that.
Prokofiev: Lt. Kije Suite
Prokofiev: Piano pieces like Sonatas, etc. He was a piano master.
none of the Rachmaninoff, unless you need something to play when you have a girl over for dinner.
ditch the Bolero, too
Ravel: Piano Concerto for Left Hand
Ravel: String Quartet
Ravel: Tsigane
Rossini... his contribution wasn't "overtures", but if you must have him, get a record of arias by a good soprano
Schubert: Piano Sonata in C
Schubert: Songs, there are several collections of them. It's what he did to buy food. These songs can sooth when nothing else will.
why ANY J. Strauss?
and why so much R. Strauss? All you need is Til Eugenspeigel and Zarathustra. But if you really like him, get some Wagner!
Verdi: a good collection of overtures.
Verdi operas that are core: Rigoletto, La Traviata, Il Trovatore



OK, now I will add some guys.
Bellini: a collection of arias
Binchois: probably will have to stick with a selection on a renaissance compilation
Bocherini: Cello Concerto
Buxtehude: Organ music, if J.S. Bach would WALK 75 MILES to hear it, it had to belong on this list!
Dowland: Lute Music, try to find it played on lute, not guitar. Bream plays him.
Dufay: maybe you can find him on the same disk as Binchois
Dukas: if you like the lighter stuff, then get the Sorceror's Apprentice
Faure: Requiem
Franck: Organ Music
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
Gounod: Romeo and Juliette
Gregory: well, he only wrote it down, but you have to have some chant, it's the only music there was for hundreds of years.
Josquin (De Prez): Missa Ave Maris Stella
Josquin (De Prez): Marian Motets
Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci (it changed opera)
Machaut: Mass
Monteverdi: Madrigals (he invented opera!)
Monteverdi: The Coronation of the Pope
Palestrina: Song of Songs
Part: Passio
Puccini: La Boheme
Scarlatti, D.: Sonatas (some of the earliest ever)
Sor: Guitar pieces (played by Segovia, of course!)
Szymanofsky: Symphony #2
Vaughn Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem
Vaughn Williams: A Sea Symphony
Villa-Lobos: Guitar pieces (again, played by Segovia!)
Wolf: Songs (there are only two record's full, he died young)

Hector's horrible but friendly criticism:

1) Poppea is NOT "Pope", it is simply: Poppea, a name. Rem that "pope" in italian (even old italian) is "Pape"
A more accurate (and smart alecky) translation of "L'incoronazzion de Poppea" would be "The Throne-usurping Poppea".

2) J.Strauss is worth having, but only as much as the rest of his family. Get a disc or two, but really no more is needed.

3)Nothing wrong with Elgar or Copland.

4)Elfhelm left out two major Berlioz items: the Requiem, and Les Troyens. And even the Te Deum is essential if you're going to have Monteverdi as well...

5) Here's some essential Barber, which you might even find all on one dis: Adagio, Violin Concerto, Knoxville (which is truly his best work IMO, so much better that the overrated Adagio and Symphonies).

6) Monteverdi's Vespro della Beat Vergine, needed.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Mercutio

Wow...thanks...I will now begin to digest all your information

I agree on throwing out Adams, adding Vaughan Williams...I love a bunch of those guys.

I'm taking an opera course starting in July--and so will understand that a lot better then. That's one thing I'll wait on. And organ--As I'm an organist (and soon to be organ major), I'm sure I'll wind up with plenty.


AMEN!


Anyone listen to the Vaughan Williams' Oboe Concerto? I love that piece.

AMEN! here too...

And I actually did but the VW Oboe Concerto...EMI/Vernon Handley. Excellent stuff, and I like the "Partita for strings" a lot too...

Btw, RVW's Festival Te Deum is wonderful also...imposing organ accompaniment you'll love too...

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Mercutio

Calm down I appreciate Berlioz.



I suppose for Adams. But Barber?



That's another thing I would most certainly add. More Mendelssohn symphonies. Like "Reformation."



We do have the Penguin Guide to Classical Cds.

But you have to agree...Debussy is practically worshipped when it comes to drawing up lists of "must-hears"...completely biased idiocy.

not only the "Reformation" but the overtures "Hebrides" "Ruy Blas" "Calm Sea&Prosperous voyage", as well as his Third and Fourth Quartets...

Well, Messiaen should be JUST as represented as Barber

Penguin Guide is nothing compared. I've looked through the penguin guide, and it is muddle in comparison with the Gramophone guide.

[hectorberlioz]

Btw,


Added:
Isaac: Sacred music
Vaughn Williams: Oboe Concerto/Partita f. Strings
Vaughn Williams: Hymns and Choral Music
Chopin: The Piano Sonatas/Leif Ove Andsnes

Did you guys read my list of women composers?

[Elfhelm]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Hector's horrible but friendly criticism:

1) Poppea is NOT "Pope", it is simply: Poppea, a name. Rem that "pope" in italian (even old italian) is "Pape"
A more accurate (and smart alecky) translation of "L'incoronazzion de Poppea" would be "The Throne-usurping Poppea".

2) J.Strauss is worth having, but only as much as the rest of his family. Get a disc or two, but really no more is needed.

3)Nothing wrong with Elgar or Copland.

4)Elfhelm left out two major Berlioz items: the Requiem, and Les Troyens. And even the Te Deum is essential if you're going to have Monteverdi as well...

5) Here's some essential Barber, which you might even find all on one dis: Adagio, Violin Concerto, Knoxville (which is truly his best work IMO, so much better that the overrated Adagio and Symphonies).

6) Monteverdi's Vespro della Beat Vergine, needed.

Thanks for the corrections, HB. I appreciate them.

I can't believe I left out the Requiem! What a thrill to sing. Didn't know that about Poppea. Guess I should have read the liner notes! hehe

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Elfhelm

Thanks for the corrections, HB. I appreciate them.

I can't believe I left out the Requiem! What a thrill to sing. Didn't know that about Poppea. Guess I should have read the liner notes! hehe

And the libretto?


Alright people: here's what's coming my way.


Shostakovich: Symphony No.4/ Sir Simon Rattle

even though I have Haitink's version in a copied disc, there's so many things wrong with it I just hate to listen to the messed up transition from track one to two...and this Rattle performance was recommended over Haintink's in the guide....I still love Haitink's though...perhaps the rattle will be better or worse.

Shostakovich: Symphony No.10/Herbert von Karajan

unusual conductor for this music, but apperantly this has been a classic for years. I've never heard Shosty's no.10, so I'm really looking forward to this...

Shostakovich: Symphony No.11/Mstislav Rostropovich

I actually almost bought this at Borders once. But Buxtehude, Reger organ music and Penderecki's "St Luke Passion" swayed me...
Also recommended by the guide, naturally, as well as the Karajan above...

[Elfhelm]

hm... three Shostakovich symphonies. Maybe the J. Strauss has a purpose after all!!! You'll need some bonbons after those huge depressing works.

Actually, I don't have 11. I should look into it. I have HvK's 10th. I agree it's the best. They remastered it, so you'll probably see an ADD on the CD. I've never heard the un-re-mastered one, but my friend who lives a few thousand miles away says his old record sounds better.

And if you don't want that Haitink, I'll take it. (j/k) I agree with your choice of the Rattle, but a lot of people say the Haitink is great.

btw, cool that you are a DS fan. he's...er... not for everybody. But my wife and I both love him.

[Mercutio]

An updated list. Somethings are individual pieces I want, just because I do--not because they are the foundations for a good collection

-------------------

Albinoni: Oboe Concertos
Bach: Art of the Fugue
Bach: B-minor Mass
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Bach: Goldberg Variations
Bach: Orchestral Suite no. 3
Bach: St. Matthew’s Passion
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Barber: First and Second Essays
Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
Barber: Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Barber: Overture to The School for Scandal
Barber: Symphony no. 1
Barber: Adagio
Barber: Violin Concerto
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Bartók: Divertimento for Strings
Bartók: Miraculous Mandarin Suite
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Bartók: Romanian Dances
Bartók: Six String Quartets
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 5
Beethoven: Symphonies no. 3, 5, 7, & 9
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas
Beethoven: The Late Quartets
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major
Bellini: Arias
Berg: Violin Concerto
Berlioz: Harold in Italy
Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
Berlioz: Requiem
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Biber: Sonatas “Rosary” for Violin and Continuo
Binchois:
Bizet: Carmen Suites 1 & 2
Bloch: Concerto Grosso no. 1
Bocherini: Cello Concerto
Bocherini: Quintets for Guitar and Strings
Bodorové: Judas Maccabeus
Brahms: Double Concerto
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor
Brahms: Symphonies no. 1, 2, 3, & 4
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
Britten: Cantata Misericordium
Britten: Six Metamorphoses after Ovid
Britten: War Requiem
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Bruckner: Symphonies no. 3 & 5
Buxtehude:
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Corelli: Concerto Grossi Op. 6
Corigliano: Symphony no. 1
Couperin: Mass for the Monasteries
Couperin: Mass for the Parishes
Debussy: Jeux Poeme Danse
Debussy: La Mer
Debussy: Piano works
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Debussy: String Quartet
Debussy: Three Nocturnes
Dowland: Lute music
Dufay:
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E major
Dvořák: Serenade in E-flat major
Dvořák: Symphony no. 9 (New World)
Elgar: Enigma Variations
Falla: Three Cornered Hat: Three Dances
Faure: Requiem
Franck: Organ music
Franck: Symphony in D minor
Gershwin: American in Paris
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
Gershwin: Porgy & Bess
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gorecki: Symphony no. 3
Gounod: Romeo and Juliette
Gregory: Chant
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite no.1
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Handel: Concerto Grosso
Handel: Messiah
Handel: Water Music
Haydn: London Symphonies
Haydn: Symphony no. 104 in D major
Haydn: Symphony no. 94 (Surprise)
Haydn: The Creation
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler Symphony
Holst: The Planets
Ives: Symphony no. 2
Ives: The Unanswered Question
Janáček: Taras Bulba
Josquin (De Prez): Marian Motets
Josquin (De Prez): Missa Ave Maris Stella
Kodaly: Dances of Galanta
Kodaly: Peacock Variations
Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
Liszt: Piano Concerto
Mahler: Rückertlieder
Mahler: Symphonies no. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 & 9
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. __
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 3 (Scottish)
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 4 (Italian)
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 5 (Reformation)
Messaien:
Milhaud: Chamber Music
Monteverdi: Madrigals
Monteverdi: L'incoronazzion de Poppea
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beat Vergine
Mozart: Oboe Concerto
Mozart: Piano Concerto in C minor
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 21
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25
Mozart: Sonatas for Piano
Mozart: Symphony no. 40 in G minor
Mozart: The Haydn Quartets
Mozart: Violin Concerto no. 5 in A major
Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Nielsen: Symphony no. 3 (Sinfonia espansiva)
Nielsen: Symphony no. 4 (The Inextinguishable)
Orff: Carmina Burana
Palestrina: Song of Songs
Part:
Part: Passio
Poulenc: Chamber music
Prokofiev: Lt. Kije Suite
Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 1 (Classical)
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 5
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Purcell: Trio Sonatas for Strings and Continuo
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no. 2 & 3
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloé
Ravel: La Valse
Ravel: Piano Concerto for Left Hand
Ravel: Rhapsodie espagnole
Ravel: String Quartet
Ravel: Tsigane
Reicha: Wind Quintets
Respighi: Fountains of Rome
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
Rossini: Operas
Rutter: Requiem
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Scarlatti, D.: Sonatas
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Schubert: Piano Sonata in C
Schubert: Songs
Schubert: Symphony no. 5 in B-flat major
Schubert: Symphony no. 8
Schumann: Symphony no. 2 in C major
Shostakovich: Symphony no. 1 & 5
Sibelius: Finlandia
Sibelius: Symphonies no. 1 & 2
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Smetana: The Moldau (second tone poem from Ma Vlast I)
Sor: Guitar pieces
Strauss, J.: Blue Danube Waltz
Strauss, R.: Also sprach Zarathustra
Strauss, R.: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite
Stravinsky: Petrushka
Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite
Stravinsky: Rite of Spring
Szymanofsky: Symphony #2
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
Tschaikovsky: Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-flat major
Tschaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Tschaikovsky: Symphonies no. 4 & 5
Tschaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major
Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony
Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Vaughan Williams: Lark Ascending
Vaughan Williams: Pastoral Symphony
Verdi: Overtures & Operas
Verdi: Requiem
Villa-Lobos: Guitar pieces
Vivaldi: Concerto for Four Violins
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Vivaldi: Guitar Concerto in D major
Wagner: Flying Dutchman Overture
Wagner: Rienzi Overture
Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture
Wagner: Tristan and Isolde
Weber: Der Freischütz Overture
Webern: Passacaglia, opus 1
Wolf: Songs

[Elfhelm]

I actually have an issue with the Webern selection. I would say, the heck with Opus 1. It's not what Webern was about. It was a student piece. Webern's complete works can fit on a few disks. I know there is an Emerson Quartet Webern pieces for String Quartet. That would be better than his Opus 1. He was famous for his atonal music, not his one student work.

Check out one of those online stores that let you listen to snippets. It's twelve tone music, so you might want to think about it before you buy it.

And you can often get the Mozart Clarinet Concerto together with the Carl Maria von Weber Clarinet Concerto.

[Mercutio]

Ok. Will do.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Elfhelm

hm... three Shostakovich symphonies. Maybe the J. Strauss has a purpose after all!!! You'll need some bonbons after those huge depressing works.

Actually, I don't have 11. I should look into it. I have HvK's 10th. I agree it's the best. They remastered it, so you'll probably see an ADD on the CD. I've never heard the un-re-mastered one, but my friend who lives a few thousand miles away says his old record sounds better.

And if you don't want that Haitink, I'll take it. (j/k) I agree with your choice of the Rattle, but a lot of people say the Haitink is great.

btw, cool that you are a DS fan. he's...er... not for everybody. But my wife and I both love him.

I think he and Prokofiev are more "everyman" composers than most "moderns"., and definitely his Fifth can bring in converts. I once did a lecture on him, with the Fifth as a focal point to make things dramatic.

Why do you say depressing?

Btw, have you heard his Piano Concertos? Excellent stuff, though I dare say No.2 is slightly better than the more famous No.1...

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by Mercutio

An updated list. Somethings are individual pieces I want, just because I do--not because they are the foundations for a good collection

-------------------

Albinoni: Oboe Concertos
Bach: Art of the Fugue
Bach: B-minor Mass
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Bach: Goldberg Variations
Bach: Orchestral Suite no. 3
Bach: St. Matthew’s Passion
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Barber: First and Second Essays
Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
Barber: Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance
Barber: Overture to The School for Scandal
Barber: Symphony no. 1
Barber: Adagio
Barber: Violin Concerto
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
Bartók: Divertimento for Strings
Bartók: Miraculous Mandarin Suite
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Bartók: Romanian Dances
Bartók: Six String Quartets
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 5
Beethoven: Symphonies no. 3, 5, 7, & 9
Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas
Beethoven: The Late Quartets
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major
Bellini: Arias
Berg: Violin Concerto
Berlioz: Harold in Italy
Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
Berlioz: Requiem
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Biber: Sonatas “Rosary” for Violin and Continuo
Binchois:
Bizet: Carmen Suites 1 & 2
Bloch: Concerto Grosso no. 1
Bocherini: Cello Concerto
Bocherini: Quintets for Guitar and Strings
Bodorové: Judas Maccabeus
Brahms: Double Concerto
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor
Brahms: Symphonies no. 1, 2, 3, & 4
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
Britten: Cantata Misericordium
Britten: Six Metamorphoses after Ovid
Britten: War Requiem
Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Bruckner: Symphonies no. 3 & 5
Buxtehude:
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Corelli: Concerto Grossi Op. 6
Corigliano: Symphony no. 1
Couperin: Mass for the Monasteries
Couperin: Mass for the Parishes
Debussy: Jeux Poeme Danse
Debussy: La Mer
Debussy: Piano works
Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Debussy: String Quartet
Debussy: Three Nocturnes
Dowland: Lute music
Dufay:
Dvořák: Cello Concerto in B minor
Dvořák: Serenade for Strings in E major
Dvořák: Serenade in E-flat major
Dvořák: Symphony no. 9 (New World)
Elgar: Enigma Variations
Falla: Three Cornered Hat: Three Dances
Faure: Requiem
Franck: Organ music
Franck: Symphony in D minor
Gershwin: American in Paris
Gershwin: An American in Paris
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F
Gershwin: Porgy & Bess
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Gorecki: Symphony no. 3
Gounod: Romeo and Juliette
Gregory: Chant
Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite no.1
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
Handel: Concerto Grosso
Handel: Messiah
Handel: Water Music
Haydn: London Symphonies
Haydn: Symphony no. 104 in D major
Haydn: Symphony no. 94 (Surprise)
Haydn: The Creation
Hindemith: Mathis der Maler Symphony
Holst: The Planets
Ives: Symphony no. 2
Ives: The Unanswered Question
Janáček: Taras Bulba
Josquin (De Prez): Marian Motets
Josquin (De Prez): Missa Ave Maris Stella
Kodaly: Dances of Galanta
Kodaly: Peacock Variations
Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2
Liszt: Piano Concerto
Mahler: Rückertlieder
Mahler: Symphonies no. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8 & 9
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. __
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 3 (Scottish)
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 4 (Italian)
Mendelssohn: Symphony no. 5 (Reformation)
Messaien:
Milhaud: Chamber Music
Monteverdi: Madrigals
Monteverdi: L'incoronazzion de Poppea
Monteverdi: Vespro della Beat Vergine
Mozart: Oboe Concerto
Mozart: Piano Concerto in C minor
Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 21
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25
Mozart: Sonatas for Piano
Mozart: Symphony no. 40 in G minor
Mozart: The Haydn Quartets
Mozart: Violin Concerto no. 5 in A major
Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Nielsen: Symphony no. 3 (Sinfonia espansiva)
Nielsen: Symphony no. 4 (The Inextinguishable)
Orff: Carmina Burana
Palestrina: Song of Songs
Part:
Part: Passio
Poulenc: Chamber music
Prokofiev: Lt. Kije Suite
Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 1 (Classical)
Prokofiev: Symphony no. 5
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Purcell: Trio Sonatas for Strings and Continuo
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto no. 2 & 3
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances
Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloé
Ravel: La Valse
Ravel: Piano Concerto for Left Hand
Ravel: Rhapsodie espagnole
Ravel: String Quartet
Ravel: Tsigane
Reicha: Wind Quintets
Respighi: Fountains of Rome
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol
Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
Rossini: Operas
Rutter: Requiem
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Scarlatti, D.: Sonatas
Schoenberg: Gurrelieder
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Schubert: Piano Sonata in C
Schubert: Songs
Schubert: Symphony no. 5 in B-flat major
Schubert: Symphony no. 8
Schumann: Symphony no. 2 in C major
Shostakovich: Symphony no. 1 & 5
Sibelius: Finlandia
Sibelius: Symphonies no. 1 & 2
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Smetana: The Moldau (second tone poem from Ma Vlast I)
Sor: Guitar pieces
Strauss, J.: Blue Danube Waltz
Strauss, R.: Also sprach Zarathustra
Strauss, R.: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite
Stravinsky: Petrushka
Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite
Stravinsky: Rite of Spring
Szymanofsky: Symphony #2
Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite
Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6
Tschaikovsky: Piano Concerto no. 1 in B-flat major
Tschaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Tschaikovsky: Symphonies no. 4 & 5
Tschaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major
Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony
Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem
Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Vaughan Williams: Lark Ascending
Vaughan Williams: Pastoral Symphony
Verdi: Overtures & Operas
Verdi: Requiem
Villa-Lobos: Guitar pieces
Vivaldi: Concerto for Four Violins
Vivaldi: Four Seasons
Vivaldi: Guitar Concerto in D major
Wagner: Flying Dutchman Overture
Wagner: Rienzi Overture
Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture
Wagner: Tristan and Isolde
Weber: Der Freischütz Overture
Webern: Passacaglia, opus 1
Wolf: Songs

suggestion no.1

1)Forget trying to get specific concertos of Vivaldi. Much easier and much better is getting a certain opus set of concertos. For instance Opus.8 is the set of 12 violin concerti that also include The Four Seasons. They fit comfortably on two discs, and Nichoals Kraemer on Virgin Classics is an excellent choice, IMO, and probably cheap. (I bought it used, so I dont know...)

2) I don't know about any Part except a piece called "Credo" on a disc with Helene Griamaud playing whatever she wants blah blah blah...and the one thing I know about that piece is that it contains a "black spot" for the performer to make up, which might be why the music is such idiot crap, and I suspect that Helene Griamaus has everything to do with it. SO when you see her name, banish your eyes from it.

3) There is a set from Naxos, a three disc set of all Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras. And can you guess the performers? None other than the Nashville Symphony Orchestra! Led by the inimitable (and now deceased) Kenneth Schermerhorn! I havent got it yet myself, but I am looking forward to it...
great reviews at amazon btw...

4) Cantus Articus by Rautavaara is a decent enough piece, but his Tone Poem "Isle of Bliss" was far more impressive, IMO.

5) You really ought to add Shostakovich Syms. 4, 8 and 13 to your list.

[Mercutio]

1. Good Vivaldi advice.
2. Will do. My dad already has lots of Part though, so I have some reference points as to what editions.
3. Oh really? Ok.
4. I added Cantus Articus just because I wanted to . Don't know Tone Poem though. I'll look for it.
5. Noted.

[trolls' bane]

*crashes through the adjoining Teacup Cafe kitchen, falling through a large rack of pots and pans*
I got it! I got it!
I got Esa-Pekka Salonen's Wing on Wing! What's more, I also have his Insomnia (perfect for right now!) and Foreign Bodies.

[Elfhelm]

Wow, I didn't realize Shosty was missing until you mentioned it, hb. *nod* Good point.

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by trolls' bane

*crashes through the adjoining Teacup Cafe kitchen, falling through a large rack of pots and pans*
I got it! I got it!
I got Esa-Pekka Salonen's Wing on Wing! What's more, I also have his Insomnia (perfect for right now!) and Foreign Bodies.

Whoa, whoa...TB...Insomnia? Foreign Bodies? You mean Aliens? You mean sleepless aliens?

Just kidding. Please do tell us about the pieces!

Originally Posted by originally posted by Elfhelm

Wow, I didn't realize Shosty was missing until you mentioned it, hb. *nod* Good point.

That's becuase I'm a genius