What was your first classical LP or CD?

[flyingdutchman]

This one, albeit not the gold edition

[Christo]

On hearing about the death of Benjamin Britten, in 1976, I bought this one (other cover art), with three pieces for strings that remained favourites ever since:

Simple Symphony
Fünf Stücke für Streichorchester
Antiche danze et arie No. 3

Of course, it all started much earlier with music my parents owned. The first LP they consciously bought for 'us', their children, was one - a collection of different pieces - with Maazel directing the first El Sombrero de tres picos Suite - the music that haunted me most when I was about ten:

[Dancing Divertimentian]

LP: Karl Bohm's DG Beethoven symphony set (used) with the Vienna PO.






After that it's hazy but LP #2 might've been something along these lines (used again):

[Mahlerian]

My parents had a copy of the Fantasia LP set, among other classical LPs.  This was the thing I listened to most, though:

[JCBuckley]

This:

[CRC]

My first classical purchase was a cassette tape of Bach's organ music on a now forgotten budget label played by a now forgotten organist. That purchase was inspired by an LP that my mother owned which I listened to as a child, which I later bought on CD. So technically speaking you could say this was my first classical recording. It is still my favorite performance/recording of Bach's better known organ pieces.

[LKB]

My first classical purchase was a cassette tape of Bach's organ music on a now forgotten budget label played by a now forgotten organist. That purchase was inspired by an LP that my mother owned which I listened to as a child, which I later bought on CD. So technically speaking you could say this was my first classical recording. It is still my favorite performance/recording of Bach's better known organ pieces.

I'm sure many here will recognize the pictured recording. l owned it on LP and it lives on in my CD collection. A good way to begin ones journey into the expanding universe of serious music. 

Cheers,

LKB

[CRC]

I'm sure many here will recognize the pictured recording. l owned it on LP and it lives on in my CD collection. A good way to begin ones journey into the expanding universe of serious music. 

Cheers,

LKB

Yup, anyone who starts out with Bach is destined for musical greatness. 

[jlspinks]

Wagner -- Overtures -- George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra 

I purchased it for the Flying Dutchman Overture.  A case of luck to hit on such an excellent orchestra and conductor the first time.

[North Star]

Wagner -- Overtures -- George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra 

I purchased it for the Flying Dutchman Overture.  A case of luck to hit on such an excellent orchestra and conductor the first time.

A pity about the composer, though.  0:)

Welcome to GMG!

[Gurn Blanston]

A pity about the composer, though.  0:)

Welcome to GMG!

You can be my proxy poster and I'll just stop by now and then...  

Wagner -- Overtures -- George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra 

I purchased it for the Flying Dutchman Overture.  A case of luck to hit on such an excellent orchestra and conductor the first time.

Indeed, though, welcome to GMG. We're all of different minds about music, but Szell/Cleveland is something we can all agree on.

[vandermolen]

As previously mentioned it was Rimsky Korsakov's 'Scheherazade' with Fritz Reiner conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on an RCA LP. Still regarded as one of the finest performances of the work. Maybe I was about 14.

[ritter]

Welcome to the forum, jlspinks! And don't you worry: there's strong and enthusiastic support for Wagner among the loyal opposition in this forum...

As a matter of fact, the first LP I asked my parents to buy for me was this:



I didn't really know what I was getting into (I just thought that the title was intriguing)...and here I am, more than 40 years later, still hooked 

[Dancing Divertimentian]

A pity about the composer, though.  0:)

Welcome to GMG!

You can be my proxy poster and I'll just stop by now and then...  

Indeed, though, welcome to GMG. We're all of different minds about music, but Szell/Cleveland is something we can all agree on.

Sheesh...and we wonder why this board is becoming a ghost town...

[Autumn Leaves]

I have a feeling that it might be possible I posted in this thread (or another like it) a few years back, so apologies if this was mentioned before:



Purchased for me, as a birthday present, by my g/f of the time.

I didn't get properly bitten by the Classical bug until a few years later:



Prior to being interested in Classical Music I was was a movie enthusiast.
I had just watched the (minimalist) movie Jerry by Gus van Sant and I loved the music, which I found out was by Arvo Pärt so I ordered the above Disc...

[Mirror Image]

Sheesh...and we wonder why this board is becoming a ghost town...

I personally don't understand the animosity towards Wagner's music --- the man was a brilliant composer despite what Karlo and Gurn say.

[Mirror Image]

Wagner -- Overtures -- George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra 

I purchased it for the Flying Dutchman Overture.  A case of luck to hit on such an excellent orchestra and conductor the first time.

I've got this recording (somewhere) and it's excellent the best I can remember. Anyone who's a fan of Wagner is a friend of mine. Welcome aboard! We hope to see you around more in the future.

[Biffo]

LP: Works by Vaughan Williams - Serenade to Music, Towards the Unknown Region, Wasps Overture & Greensleeves Fantasia - London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. A bargain price disc that cost me 10/9d. The CD reissue also has the Tallis Fantasia with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

CD: Berlioz - Te Deum - European Community Youth Orchestra and assorted choruses conducted by Claudio Abbado

[SymphonicAddict]

Hard question. I just remember when a close friend lent me some CD's with the Vivaldi's Four Seasons and some waltzes by J. Strauss II. Another friend lent me a CD with some Beethoven's highlights (including the I mov. from the 5th Symphony, the I mov. from the 6th Symphony, the I mov. from Moonlight Sonata, the III mov. from the Tempest Sonata op. 31-2 and Für Elise). That was my introduction to classical music. I have to thank them, I'm very glad since they opened my mind and ears to this always fantastic and inexhaustible world.

[Alek Hidell]

Never owned any classical music on LP. In those days I was all about the rock'n'roll (then, toward the end of the LP era in the mid-1980s, mixed increasingly with jazz).

My dad had lots of classical LPs, though, and I did listen to them occasionally. I remember that he had Beethoven 5 (Lenny/NYPO) and Stravinsky conducting the Rite, but I particularly remember that he had a set of LPs featuring "samplers" or "highlights" of famous classical pieces - published by Time/Life or someone like that. I literally wore those out. 

I've only been giving serious attention to classical music for about 4-5 years, so my first purchase was on CD. Initially I did a lot of online reading to find the recordings I "should" own - only to find that, surprise surprise, there's almost no consensus on anything.  But I did see a lot of people speaking very favorably of Kleiber's recording of Beethoven 5 & 7, and I was already somewhat familiar with 5, so I bought that one.

From my wallet's perspective, it's all been downhill from there ...