What was your first classical LP or CD?

[Andante]

My first CD was Bruch/Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, Anne-Sophie Mutter, BPO, Karajan.
I did not even have a CD player at that time in fact it was the first time that I had heard a CD.  I was in a store in Auckland when this unbelievable sound filled the room, I could not get over the actual reality of the sound, so purchased the CD then went looking for a player, arrived home a poor man but a grin so so wide

[Kullervo]

Goodness!   What a blast from the distant past!   I'm sure I still have mine...somewhere.

I had on CD coupled with The Wild Bull.

[Lethevich]

I envy all of you who can remember the exact one - I can't, although among the first ones I bought were:



Quite fortunately, I still rate both of them very highly.

[donaldopato]

First CD: Gershwin Complete Works for Orchestra and Piano and Orchestra
Jeffrey Siegel, Leonard Slatkin St Louis SO VOX probably 1992 or so.

Still available but with slightly different cover art than mine.

[vandermolen]

I thought that this looked like an interesting thread without realising that I had started it myself ( worrying). Anyway my first CD was Tubin Symphony 2 and 6 on BIS, bought some years before I had a CD player  It would not play on the micro-wave oven unfortunately.

[Dundonnell]

I thought that this looked like an interesting thread without realising that I had started it myself ( worrying). Anyway my first CD was Tubin Symphony 2 and 6 on BIS, bought some years before I had a CD player  It would not play on the micro-wave oven unfortunately.

[springrite]

My earliest classical music were on cassette tapes, mostly 4 for $10 (London, Seraphim, VOX, etc.). My first CDs came many years later. I remember one of my first CDs was Hooked on Classics, and I went on to buy many later CDs based on what was on that, since I had no idea what to get then.


An interesting story. Once I bought the Lebeque Sisters playing Gershwin. The cover photo was quite hot. I was waiting at the bus stop and admiring the cover when a Mexican migrant who was also waiting for the bus asked me in broken English was it was. I told him it is classical music. Then I convinced him somehow that classical music can be so exciting, and this CD in particular. I can't wait to get home to listen to it. He was to taken by that and offerred me $20 (more than the $12.99 cover price) to buy it from me since he has no idea where to find it. I told him he can not play in his tape or turntable. He needed to buy this new player called a CD player. "Just sell me this. Please. I will save money and I will be able to buy a player in a few month!" He said!

[Daverz]

First CD: Gershwin Complete Works for Orchestra and Piano and Orchestra
Jeffrey Siegel, Leonard Slatkin St Louis SO VOX probably 1992 or so.

Still available but with slightly different cover art than mine.

Interesting, because my first CD was an older issue of 1/2 that box.

[mozartsneighbor]

I had access for years to my parents' and my brother's classical music collections, which were not big, maybe around 50 recordings each, but pretty decent for a beginner to be able to explore.
The first classical cd I bought with my own money when I was 14 or 15 was this (it had just come out I seem to remember and was prominently displayed in the store):

[Brian]

Mine was an old MHS CD of Rimsky-Korsakov overtures and the Capriccio Espagnol, with Enrique Batiz conducting the Mexico City Philharmonic.

I thought that this looked like an interesting thread without realising that I had started it myself ( worrying). Anyway my first CD was Tubin Symphony 2 and 6 on BIS, bought some years before I had a CD player  It would not play on the micro-wave oven unfortunately.

[toledobass]

Mine was a CD of Stravinsky conducting Le Sacre given to me by my first bass teacher, a great jazz player. 

Allan

[zamyrabyrd]

As "classical" does the piano duo Ferrante & Teicher count? Does anyone even remember them from the 60's? Oh, boy. That must have been the first--those "Autumn Leaves" with the descending double thirds, I used to swoon over, that is until I got Oscar Levant playing Gershwin "Rhapsody in Blue" and the "Concerto in F". We also got a stock of old opera 78's at that time from a deceased uncle but I suppose those doesn't count.

Moving from borderline classical, the local lending library had LP's but it was exciting to finally venture out and buy my own. Bargains were to be had in places like Korvette's (overstock that few people were interested in). Yes, I remember them well: Myra Hess playing the Schumann PC (Seraphim, the highest Angels!) with the Symphonic Etudes, Van Cliburn in the ubiquitous Tschaikovsky PC with his picture on the front. Starting to feel at home in the LP section of the record department, I continued with his Rachmaninoff 3rd PC and Gary Graffman with the Chopin 1st PC and a Mendelssohn Rondo that was practically worn out from overuse. Also there were some Musical Heritage records gotten by mail, Bach Cantatas. Memories, memories...

ZB

[Anne]

Someone (I don't remember who) bought Hansel and Gretel for my sisters and me when I was 9 years old.  It was in English and I learned to sing some of the songs (arias) like "Brother, come and dance with me." 

It was not until 50 years later that I realized H and G was an opera.  I looked for a CD of the complete opera but could not find it in my town.  At that time I had to rely on local music stores the employees of which did not know even one classical piece of music.  Life improved when I climbed aboard the Internet and discovered Amazon and bulletin boards like this one.

 

[Cato]

How often do you listen to the work today?   

The first classical record I ever bought was Smetana's Moldau, which was paired with the overture and excerpts from The Bartered Bride.  Exactly which recording it was has faded, but I suspect it was Bernstein/N.Y. Philharmonic.  The record is long gone, but the works are heard several times per year, at least in the car!

The second was Bruckner's Seventh Symphony with Eugen Jochum on DGG.  I visited it regularly at a department store in Dayton, and hoped that no other acolyte of Bruckner's had bought it.  It was expensive: a 2-record set, paired with the Psalm 150 and 3 motets.  I believe it was $7.00 or so!  Imported from U.S. occupied West Germany!   

When I invested $40.00 in all the Bruckner symphonies on DGG, it galled me that I had spent $7.00 a few years earlier on the one work, which would be duplicated when the box arrived.  But, knowing records, I calmed my inner Lincoln squeezer by telling myself that the extra copy could remain pristine, as a back-up, in case the older copy became scratched or ruined.   0:)

My first CD (c. 1985) was Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht on London, with Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.  I won it in a listening contest on local classical radio, and did not yet own a CD player!  They were still too new and expensive!

I now have a CD set of my beloved Bruckner/Jochumcycle, and the Seventh Symphony and Verklärte Nacht are also heard several times per year!

[Mirror Image]

Hasn't this topic been done already?

Anyway, my first classical recording was on CD of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra with Fritz Reiner/CSO on RCA. My second CD was Bernstein's second go at Ives's Symphony No. 2 on DG.

[Cato]

Hasn't this topic been done already?

I don't know!  If it has, I did not participate...obviously!   

I checked all my posts going back to January and saw no comments from me on a similar topic: possibly the topic appeared during one of my absences.

Anyway, my first classical recording was on CD of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra with Fritz Reiner/CSO on RCA. My second CD was Bernstein's second go at Ives's Symphony No. 2 on DG.

The Ives Second with Bernstein was one of my all-around faves!

[Mirror Image]

The Ives Second with Bernstein was one of my all-around faves!

Yeah, it's a great recording. It also had some other great performances on it like Central Park in the Dark, The Unanswered Question, The Gong on the Hook and Ladder or Firemen's Parade on Main Street, among others.

[Cato]

Concerning topic duplication, in February a topic appeared for 2 pages called "When Did You Start Listening?" which obviously is not quite the same occasion as when you invested your coin in a recording!

Concerning tapes: I did not buy pre-recorded tapes for a long time, until the Musical Heritage Society offered 3 tapes of excerpts of Rimsky-Korsakov operas with Neeme Järvi conducting the Scottish National Orchestra. 

Those I nearly wore out!  And they survived assorted hungry tape players!

[Brian]

Concerning tapes: I did not buy pre-recorded tapes for a long time, until the Musical Heritage Society offered 3 tapes of excerpts of Rimsky-Korsakov operas with Neeme Järvi conducting the Scottish National Orchestra. 

My first classical recording - a gift from family - was a Musical Heritage Society CD of Rimsky-Korsakov (Capriccio, May Night overture, Sadko, Russian Easter) with the Mexico City PO and Enrique Batiz.

The first classical recording I bought might have been an "Immortal Beethoven" 2-cassette pack of various movements from Beethoven works, back when I was 10 or so years old. My favorite things on the cassettes were the scherzo from Symphony No 9 and the first movement of the "Emperor" concerto. Guess I had good taste.

[Mirror Image]

Guess I had good taste.

That could be debated.