(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best classical music

With this concert happening at the Necropolis, I was sure I'd see an appearance by Zanni, but I guess that'll be for the next time. Do any young people recognize these folks? This looks like a good place to start if you don't. In the 80s if you lived where I did, you had to go to a good library (like at a university) if you wanted to learn about electronic music because at that time the only radio broadcast close to that was a program on Sunday nights on your NPR station called "Hearts of Space", which has evolved into this. Of course, this was before computer mice and external speakers. I would put this on my turntable in order to chill. Something about that rotating is relaxing. I don't think that record can be heard for free, but one of you may be able to find a u-tube or something. That was before Enya's first release when it seemed that relaxing music consisted of Kitaro and whatever was on Windham Hill, which was one of the first labels to offer all their releases on CD probably as DDDs. It was also the time of Kraftwerk's Autobahn. Take a listen to the motor that starts the recording and travels from one side of your stereo system to the other. I'm convinced that is a Citroen 2CV. What do you think?
ADDED LATER: If you dig the way the germans do rock in Autobahn, you'll love Michael Rother's Sonnenrad. I believe you will see in the theater of your mind the rays of the dawn filling the sky as you listen to that one.

my all time favourite: anything by jordi savall. try and see him live playing the viol de gamba, you'll never regret it. there's an entire genre of period instrument music, mostly in europe but with strong smaller groups in the US and elsewhere.



for a great movie with an awesome soundtrack check out tous les matins du monde with music performed by savall. here's an except from the film on Improvisation sur les Folies. savall excels on all fronts.



do not click on the above link if you are somewhere you cannot cry or at least look pensive.



some of my favourite savall albums (i prefer him solo, but his group hesperion does amazing work too):


marin marias, viol

la folia

byslma playing bach suites on period cello

link to the film soundtrack as an perfect intro to this period of viol music


i could go on..

if you are in a listening environment right now just click here and listen, it rotates through some of hesperion's discography:

http://www.alia-vox.com/

edit: ouch! formatting

| | |
|-:|:-|
|name|Ludwig van Beethoven|
|about artist|Ludwig van Beethoven (16 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a composer of the transitional period between the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He was born in Bonn, Germany. Beethoven is widely regarded as one of the greatest masters of musical construction, sometimes sketching the architecture of a movement before he had decided upon the subject matter. He was one of the first composers to systematically and consistently use interlocking thematic devices, or “germ-motives”, to achieve unity between movements in long compositions. ([more on last.fm](http://www.last.fm/music/Ludwig van Beethoven))|
|album|Classics in the Air, released Apr 1985|
|track|Moonlight Sonata|
|about track|Sonata in C sharp minor, op. 27, no. 2 - First Movement (Adagio Sostenuto) Correction This is not the entire Piano Sonata No. 14 ("Moonlight Sonata"), but only the first of three movements. The second and third movements are Allegretto and Presto Agitato, respectively. Beethoven's 14th piano sonata, AKA "Moonlight Sonata," was composed in the summer of 1801 in Hungary, on an estate belonging to the Brunswick family. The composition was published in 1802 and was dedicated to Beethoven’s pupil and passion, 17 years old Countess Giulietta Gucciardi. The Sonata is one of the most popular piano sonatas from Beethoven’s creation. It is also named “The Moonlight Sonata” by poet Ludwig Rellstab who, in 1832, had this inspiration on a moon lit night on the banks of the Lucerna River. Some biographers make the connection between the unshared love the composer held for Giulietta Guicciardi and the sonorities of the first part. Even more so, this sonata was dedicated to Giulietta, the musical theme of the first part being borrowed from a German ballad as Wyzewa observed. The piano sonata has three parts. The parts of the sonata give the impression of a whole first of all through the elaboration of themes and motifs. Consequently, the main musical theme of the first part becomes very elaborate in the second part, and the second motif of the main theme will be encountered in the first theme of part III.|
|images|album image, artist image|
|links|wikipedia, lyrics, vgmdb, allmusic, discogs, imdb, biography, secondhandsongs, track on amazon, album on amazon|
|tags|classical, instrumental, romantic, classic, rock|
|similar|Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Franz Joseph Haydn|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 1,615,984, lastfm plays: 25,970,665, youtube plays: 153, radd.it score: 8.25|


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A good starter list of a few different styles, with links to Amazon to get some samples...

• Barber: Adagio For Strings Op.11 - Slow yet intense string piece.
  
  
• Dvorak: New World Symphony - Good symphony with a wide range, from slow moving parts to more bombastic parts. (at times, you can hear similarities to the score from Star Wars/Imperial March)
  
  
• Rachmaninov: Vespers - One of my personal favorites. Choral music - intense, haunting at times, interesting harmonies founded on that trademark Russian low bass.
  
  
• Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro A very accessible opera, and one of Mozart's most famous, perfect for a beginning opera listener.
  
  
• Beethoven - Symphonies 5 and 9. Easily two of Beethoven's most famous symphonies. Beyond the parts you hear in movies and commercials, very moving and complex pieces. The 9th is incredibly deep, particularly the 4th movement. I literally have over a dozen recordings of this piece alone, and hear something new every time I listen to it.
  
  
• Vivaldi: Four Seasons. You'll recognize this in quite a few places. I'm fond of the Winter suite, especially the third movement.
  
  
• Bach: Brandenburg Concertos. A good example of Bach's counterpoint style in Baroque string music
  
  
• Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto #2. Intense and melodic, this piece transitions from sweeping melodic lines building to full frenzy - almost chaotic at times.
  
  
• Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5 - Emporer. You could call this a "fancy" piece - several running lines across the piano, including heavy ornamentation and embellishments, particularly in the 1st and 3rd movements. The 2nd movement is more reserved, and it's tranquility bridges the more lively movements.
  
  
• Stravinsky: Rite of Spring. Fascinating, driving intensity - asymmetrical rhythms make this very interesting, unconventional.
  
  
• If you're feeling adventurous and want to delve into a longer piece of a different style, Handel's Messiah or Mendelssohn's Elijah are two great oratorios.

I'm a big classical fan (all I listen to) so I'll help you out. Frankly, I'm surprised it doesn't come up more often in this subreddit, but no big deal.

Orff: Carmina Burana, Eugen Jochum...fucking phenomenal choral work and recording. A real must-have and reading the included Latin/German/English text along with it enhances the experience enormously.

If you're willing to do opera, this recording of Puccini's La Boheme is fantastic.

If you want some crazy, loud opera, this recording of Strauss' Elektra is the best. Real cheap there, too. I was gifted it for $40 and it can be hard to find at times.

Finally, another must-have along with the Carmina Burana is this recording of the Verdi Requiem which has incredible off-stage brass (Tuba Mirum), a thunderous and apocalyptic Dies Irae, and tons of choral participation throughout. A real amazing work and my favorite Requiem although the Berlioz can be great in person. (Stick w/that Verdi for your audio setup.)

You buy all those, and you will not be disappointed. Those are some of the best recordings overall and absolutely regarded as the best by the vast majority for each work. Don't buy another recording of the same piece if you want the best. I'm vouching for those in particular.

The initial question was vague, but this makes it a lot easier! There are several different (but related) forms/techniques within baroque music which use a bass line similar to this.

Firstly, ostinato (plural: ostinati). This just means a short, repeating phrase. It was very commonly used in bass parts in the baroque. To give you a slightly strange but hopefully still appealing example, here's a piece by the modern minimalist(ish) composer Michael Nyman. Minimalism uses a lot of repetition anyway, but the entire soundtrack from which this piece comes is based on little snippets of works by the baroque composer Henry Purcell. I've just chosen this piece because the ostinati are very clear (clearer than most baroque pieces, in fact), but also because it shows that the thing you found appealing about the Marais piece doesn't just occur in pieces of "similar period and musical style". Sibelius is another composer who uses this technique, but again in a completely different way.

Secondly, passacaglias and chaconnes. These forms have been interpreted differently by a variety of composers across different eras, so it's hard to give many specific examples, but hopefully those two pages should give you some pointers.

Thirdly, La Folia, which is basically a famous chord progression that various composers have used as the basis for certain works. Vivaldi's version and Corelli's version are some of the best-known examples. I also like this version.

I'm not really a Baroque expert so it's hard to list many more specific pieces, but I would suggest this extract from Monteverdi's Vespers, and I would thoroughly recommend this album, this album and this album, all of which are by Jordi Savall. They're all available on spotify as well if that's easier.

Yes! I came here to post this. This is one of the few pieces of music I would describe as 'powerful' and not mean it as a sarcastic way of making fun of the cliched adjective. I always interpreted this as a thanatopsis by Mahler and it is not something I can casually listen to. I have to be in a specific mood to hear it. I can't think of any other piece of music that shares that quality.

Also, the Gorecki piece mentioned (as of this post) above is from his third symphony. That whole symphony fits your criteria of 'good cry music'. I am not the classical music buff that I am sure many people on this subreddit are, but Gorecki's 3rd is the only piece of classical music I have bought multiple performances of. The best I found is this one. Gorecki was Polish and the performance I linked to is conducted by Antoni Wit (Polish) and performed by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. The soprano is also a native Pole. This may seem minor, but I would swear that not only is there a more natural enunciation of the words, but a bit more passion in the whole thing. The symphony as a whole is very rewarding to learn more about. Example, the lyrics from the second movement jjia25 linked to were written on in the basement of the Gestapo's headquarters in Zadopane by an 18 year Jewish girl.

I tend not to like piano roll recordings - they're very incomplete pictures of the nuances of a performance. Of course in some cases they're the best thing we've got, but Rachmaninoff recorded most of the things he put on rolls on actual audio as well, and the grainy early recording technology is worth it to be able to hear the organic sound IMO.

Zenph Studios put together a CD of "Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff" a while back that's actually pretty well-done. C-sharp minor prelude and his Lilacs song transcription are the only samples I can find on Youtube. You can read about the "re-performance" process here. They've done re-performances of some Gershwin too (this is news to me, must be a relatively new release), Glenn Gould's 1955 Goldberg Variations, and some Art Tatum songs.

If you're interested in Rachmaninoff's actual audio recordings, there is a 10-disc box set (digital, CD) available of his complete recordings. Some absolutely fascinating stuff on there. But even 10 CDs doesn't even come close to touching the breadth of his repertoire.

EDIT: spelling

>My last acquisition was a recording of Pictures at an Exhibition and its just not my favourite take on the piece

Which recording did you get? I'd recommend Fritz Reiner with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or Antal Doráti with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.

As for Sibelius, I think the most popular recommendation tend to be for Anthony Collins with the London Symphony Orchestra and it's a really safe pick. You can't go wrong with it. The tempos are quite brisk. He plays through all seven symphonies in three and a half hours, faster than most others.

You should know that you can often listen to complete recordings on youtube before deciding whether you'd like to purchase any of them. Here's a few youtube videos for the complete Sibelius symphony cycle:

• Anthony Collins, London Symphony Orchestra
  
• Vladimir Ashkenazy, Philharmonia Orchestra
  
• Paavo Berglund, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
  
• Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic Orchestra
  
  You can also find samples, usually around 30 seconds per track, at various merchant websites like prestomusic.com or amazon.com. While each sample is short, they can still help give you an idea as to whether you would enjoy the particular recordings.

As far as your point about lyrics, in my experience what makes it hard to get into music without lyrics is probably one of two things (or both):

(1) the lack of a melody that is easy to follow.

(2) the lack of an explicit meaning given to the music.

For me, I tend to have problem #2 to some extent, because when I listen to popular music I tend to have visions about the music in my mind. And those visions stem to some extent from the title of the song and the lyrics (both of which are often lacking in classical music). So not having lyrics makes it hard to picture something onto which your imagination can latch. It's just sounds, with little to no indication by the composer on what the music might be about. Heck there's a lot of classical musicians that adopt the "Absolute Music" doctrine, wherein music is about nothing in particular.

What a lot of people like to do to "remedy" this is make up their own "story" about the music (e.g. think of a loved one when listening to a slow movement). Sometimes I do this but to be honest it just happens naturally (in other words, I don't consciously tell myself Ok let's think about this or that).

I know I'm not offering concrete advice, but perhaps all of this might give you something to think about.

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As far as where to begin, I'm sure you'll easily find some advice on the web. For what it's worth I remember starting with this collection back in th day. https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Classical-Music-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B000001VU5

I still think it's a nice little starting point.

I very rarely want to hear anyone play Zappa except Zappa himself, but I really enjoy the shit out of this. It's a group playing Zappa pieces on baroque instruments and it's just plain fucking beautiful.

If you like Folia, he has two CDs of it. (Sorry for amazon links, I don't know how else to refer to them. Find them elsewhere if you are so inclined)

For standard repertoire works, I like his Brandenburgs and Orchestral Suites as well as his Royal Fireworks/Water Music.

He likes to push the envelope which can sometimes be fun. His Eroica is interesting, but I wouldn't want that to be my only recording. Same with his Mozart Serenades CD. It sounds like an exciting concert, but the unexpected parts don't work as well on repeat listens.

He's mostly known for early music and early baroque though. I enjoy these recordings but this is not my era of expertise, so I don't know how it compares to other performances.

These two albums are cornerstones of my collection:

• Muti/PO: Symphonies 1-3, Poem of ecstasy, P. of fire - PoE and Symph1 (esp. mvmt 6) are two of my favorite pieces. no other recording of PoE keeps the second half as tense nor does the coda as perfectly as this one.
  
• Lettberg: Solo piano works - I have to highlight her op. 18 and op. 4, two large piano works that mostly predate the sonatas. Great great romantic, virtuosic passionate pieces that lie somewhere between Brahms more violent intermezzos (eg, 76/1) and Chopin ballades. The rest is all quality.
  
  Others to supplement, that I don't feel as strongly about.
  
  
• Ashkenazy: Piano sonatas - older recordings, but he captures the more eccentric side so essential to Scriabin, like the frenetic no. 2 and the disturbing no. 9. I still think Ashkenazy is more at home with Rach (ossia pc3!!) though.
  
• Diev: Preludes - simply a great value, for the 48 short pieces you get here. Solid playing, I don't think he has quite the edge needed to pull off the more hairy pieces, but he nails the tender side of 11/11 and 16/3.

Here are a few bassoonists you might want to consider:

Nadina Mackie Jackson is making a career for herself as a soloist and has a lot of recordings available on SoundCloud.

Michael Sweeney has a great CD available with a brilliant take on the Mozart Concerto plus some inspiring new pieces.

Judy LeClair has a few albums available.


I also really like this recording of Gil Shaham playing Barber's Violin Concerto.

There is always the Bach Cello Suites but you're probably aware of them already.

I've been really enjoying these Brahms Cello Sonatas Rostropovich for the win. :-)

Personal favorite is Verdi's Requiem, specifically the Dies Irae.

If any Redditors are interested in picking up the absolute best recording of this possible, grab this performance by the Vienna Phil. It's absolutely brilliant.

Mike Sweeney, the principal in Toronto, commissioned an amazing piece from Marjan Mozetich for bassoon, marimba and strings. It's an incredible piece-- I've never played it and I've never heard anyone but him play it, which of course he makes sound easy, but I suspect it's actually incredibly difficult. You can hear it on this CD:http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Well-Beyond-Wolfgang-Amadeus/dp/B000CAFMEC and buy parts from the Canadian Music Centre.

Another option that I used for more or less the same reason for my senior recital: do the Mozart (or Weber, or whatever) with an orchestra! It doesn't have to be a huge number of people (I think I had 13, no conductor) But it might be enough that they'll want to have a larger space and a backstage that can accommodate a small orchestra. It's also more fun and is a good exercise for your organizational and rehearsal-planning skills.

Ah, so there is some opera you like already! When I first started studying music in college I wasn't too keen on opera, other than some Wagner excerpts I'd heard. It wasn't until I started seeing opera (live or on DVD) that it really made sense to me. Unless you speak German, French, or Italian (or whatever other language it happens to be in) well enough to understand it when it's sung, it's much harder to really get into audio-only opera, even if you have translations in front of you. But when you can see what's going on, it makes for a much more satisfying experience - especially if you have the aid of subtitles (on DVD) or supertitles (live).

Since your thread here is about Mozart specifically, I'd suggest finding a good DVD recording of Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). It's one of his comic operas, and is riotously funny if done right. Plus, it has some absolutely gorgeous melodies. There are lots of good traditional productions out there, but one of my favorites is one by Peter Sellars that sets the action in a New York Highrise rather than an Italian estate: http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sanford-Ommerle-Sellars-Symphoniker/dp/B00092ZANG/. If you're a netflix subscriber you can find it, along with a handful of traditional productions, on there.

Even if you are not a "classical" music fan, you need to devote a quiet afternoon to listen to his third symphony. It's a gorgeous masterpiece.

Amazon link - the most popular recording

I prefer this performance

Walter/Wendy Carlos! Not a 100% match, but I recommend highly "Sonic Seasonings" -- http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Seasonings-Enhanced-Wendy-Carlos/dp/B00000DGXY -- not many have heard this, it's really fantastic. See also http://www.wendycarlos.com/+sslms.html for Carlos' own page on Sonic Seasonings. (FYI, Carlos = music for A Clockwork Orange and the original Tron.)

The Solti recording of Le Nozze di Figaro with Te Kanawa, Sam Ramey, Lucia Popp, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Allen and Kurt Moll and the London Philharmonic

The live Solti recording of Cosi fan Tutte with Renée Fleming (in the one early performances that launched her career), Anne Sophie Von Otter, Olaf Bår, Michele Pertusi, Frank Lopardo and Adelina Scarabelli with the Chamber orchestra of Europe

The Madame Butterfly with Mirella Freni, Pavarotti, Christa Ludwig with Karajan conducting Vienna Philharmonic

The legendary Solti Ring Cycle with Nilsson, Ludwig, Flagstad, Windgassen, a young Joan Sutherland and practically every other great Wagnerian of the era with Vienna

The Otello DVD from the MET with Levine conducting Domingo, Fleming, and James Morris

The Rusalka with Fleming, Zajick, Franz Hawlata, and Ben Heppner with Mackerras conducting the Czech Philharmonic

The Porgy and Bess with Rattle conducting London Philharmonic and Williard White, Cynthia Haymon, Harolyn Blackwell et all singing

There are a few live recordings and bootlegs I love also. There's a Romeo and Juliet from 68 with Gedda and Freni at the MET that I LOVE. There's an Ernani from the early 60s with Cornell Macneil, Leontyne Price, Bergonzi and Schippers conducting that is amazing. There is a live Frau ohne Schatten with Karajan conducting Christa Ludwig, Jess Thomas, Leonie Rysanek, Lucia Popp, Walter Berry and Wunderlich

I'm sure there are a few others I'm forgetting, but with youtube it's so easy to watch individual performances of particular parts of particular operas---which is maybe making the art form in the theatre have a hard time competing. Now a days I prefer to hear singers in the hall before I get into their video and audio recordings.

You bet.

I'm pretty certain this isn't actually the Gardiner recording of the Ninth, but it's close. I was always on the fence about Beethoven until I heard his recordings of Beethoven's symphonies. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, for reference if you're interested, this is the box set:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-9-Symphonies-Ludwig-van/dp/B0000057EO

If I may first say congrats. Then recommend this:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0000057EO

Best Beethoven recordings I've heard. Gardiner back to the original handwritten notes on his Manuscripts to record they way B wanted it to sound. Also instruments in b's day weren't as advanced as now and had less sustain. So b wanted much of the symphonies played faster than is normal today.

Which means they are even better for neighborly vengeance.

I also like the Double Concerto more, although afaik, it's not a popular opinion.

His German Requiem is a great piece of choral music as well, and so is his chamber music. You might as well buy this - can be found cheaper elsewhere.

The symphonies are great as well. 1 is the best, but so are all the others (especially the opening on the fourth - exhilarating.)

I'm pretty sure that what you saw was the Peter Sellars production of "The Marriage of Figaro," which aired on PBS in 1990. The production was set in the present day in Trump Tower.

I saw it too, and remembered that Cherubino (the boy character portrayed by a female singer) looked quite a bit like kd lang and wore a hockey uniform early on.

Here's a link to an Opera News interview with the singer who played the role. You can scroll down for a photo from that production.

Gardiner has a new anthology that's ridiculously cheap (less than $3/disc!) and unbelievably good, but it sounds like it's redundant with what you've already heard (except in a completely different style), so I'm mostly posting it here for other redditors' benefit.

That DG set looks awesome. Might have to be a Christmas present this year.

Some of my favorites are the EMI Elgar and Vaughan Williams sets, the Stravinsky collected works, and the big RCA Toscanini set.

Here is a 10 CD set of all of the recordings that we have of Rachmoninoff playing - http://www.amazon.com/Sergei-Rachmaninoff-Recordings-Sergey-Rachmaninov/dp/B000003FB7

You can buy individual songs from the collection, as well.

The sound quality is a bit shallow and there are some pops and static in some songs, but that's to be expected, I guess.

I actually bought this entire collection back about a decade ago, IIRC, back in the days when you couldn't buy a couple songs here and there. :-) I enjoyed listening to it for some time, although the poor (by today's standards) sound quality was always in my consciousness when listening. Also, he played many of his solo piano pieces way faster than more modern renditions I had heard, and I prefer the slower versions, personally.

I agree. Boston Baroque has a great 2-disc set of the Brandenburgs on period instruments. Link!