GMG Members' Personal Essentials Lists

Started by DavidRoss, September 07, 2010, 08:06:33 AM

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NikF

Only a couple of notes, due to me being relatively uninformed about the music. So...

Prokofiev: Romeo And Juliet - Previn/LSO

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 - Karajan/BPO

Stravinsky: Apollo/Agon/Orpheus - Craft/LSO/Orchestra of St. Luke's - I've a real fondness for ballet and within that it's usually more Balanchine than Bolshoi. So these are right up my street.

Bartók: 6 String Quartets - Hungarian String Quartet - there was a time when I felt intimidated by these. However patience (and listening to different performances) eventually helped me hear this music, so much so that I find it difficult to describe what I find within it. But experiencing it is so fulfilling.

Brahms: String Sextet 1 - Casals/Stern/Schneider/Katims/Foley/Thomas - glorious mono! But when the music, players, and performance are all as wonderful as this, who cares? That's one of those rhetorical questions, BTW...

Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 1 - Perahia/Members of the Amadeus Quartet. - I don't enjoy Brahms so much when it sounds like there's been an attempt to make him presentable and charming, but this performance seems (to me) the opposite of that.

Brahms: PC 1 - Gilels/Jochum/BPO - second choice for this is the Curzon/Szell.

Brahms: PC 2 - Richter/Maazel/Orchestre de Paris

Debussy: Preludes - Michelangeli - I'd listened to various recordings from different eras, and then this one just 'clicked'.

Debussy: SQ - Parrenin Quartet

Dvorak: SQ 12 - Lindsay String Quartet

Enescu: SQ 1 - Ad Libitum Quartet

Enescu: Cello Sonata No. 1 - Radutiu/Rundberg

Franck: Violin Sonata - Ashkenazy/Perlman

Franck: Piano Quintet In F Minor - Medici String Quartet

Ravel: SQ - Emerson Quartet

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G - Michelangeli/Gracis/Philharmonia Orchestra - previously my favourite was the Haas/Paray.

Ravel: Trio For Piano, Violin and Cello - Kantorow/Muller/Rouvier - the first time she heard this a beautiful girl turned to me with a raised eyebrow and faux shocked expression and said "This sounds like it's about sex". Oh yeah?

Janacek: SQ 2 - Wihan Quartet - desire and lust and torment and frustration-resignation via a very vital, very human performance.

Medtner: Piano Quintet - Bourova/Ewald/Podhoransky/Scherbakov/Tedla

Saint-Saens: Symphony 3 - Munch/BSO - my music for when I feel I'm winning at life.

Shostakovich: Complete Quartets - Borodin (Melodiya)  - before buying this I'd only ever heard 3 and 8. Then when I finally bought the set and started to listen I was so moved that I made sure to ration myself. It's obvious that discovering such music for the first time is to be savoured.

Shostakovich: Symphony No.5 - Ashkenazy/RPO

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 - Mravinsky/Leningrad Philharmonic

Strauss: Four Last Songs - Sylvia Sass/Lukacs/Hungarian State Orchestra - yet again I listened to a few different performances before deciding which to buy. And although I settled for this one I think it might be one of those "...of course buying three (or more?) versions is perfectly valid..." pieces.
"You overestimate my power of attraction," he told her. "No, I don't," she replied sharply, "and neither do you".

Sean

Great list; I know a few of these recordings including the Prokofiev Karajan 5, Brahms Casals sextet and Gilels PC1, Ravel concerto Michelangeli, and Shostak Mravinsky 10. The best Brahms PC2 in existence however is probably the Barbirolli/ Ogden.


NikF

The Barbirolli/ Ogden is one of many I've still to hear, although that's something to look forward to and the type of problem it's always nice to have!
"You overestimate my power of attraction," he told her. "No, I don't," she replied sharply, "and neither do you".

Sean

Looks like you're good listener. I'm familiar with all the works you mention except the Medtner Piano quintet, which I'm now listening to, and the Enescu chamber works but which I'll probably leave for the moment.

What your friend said about the Ravel Trio is likely true, and can be said about his Bolero and Daphis and Chloe, and probably several other works.

NikF

The Medtner is a good example of why I enjoy having Naxos (along with the likes of YouTube) as an option, because it affords the opportunity to live with music that's new to me at frankly a relatively cheap price.

I think it was not long after her comment about the Ravel Trio that we sat down and watched 'Un cœur en hiver' (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Heart_in_Winter) which we felt fairly successfully illustrated that viewpoint.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the Medtner. It's hardly the most demanding piece, but I dont believe that's necessarily a bad thing.
"You overestimate my power of attraction," he told her. "No, I don't," she replied sharply, "and neither do you".

North Star

#165
Quote from: North Star on January 07, 2013, 12:41:55 PM
1. Alkan: 12 Etudes in the minor keys etc., Gibbons
2. Bach: Art of the Fugue, Fretwork
3. Bartók: String Quartets, Belcea Quartet
4. Beethoven: Late Sonatas, Pollini
5. Berlioz: Colin Davis & LSO box, LSO
6. Brahms: Chamber music, Hyperion
7. Chopin: Mazurkas, Luisada (RCA)
8. Debussy: Orchestral works, Martinon
9. Dvorak: Symphonies, Tone Poems & Overtures, Neumann & CzPO
10. Elgar: Cello Concerto & Sea Pictures, du Pré, Baker & Barbirolli
11. Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76, Quatuor Mosaïques
12. Janacek: House of the Dead, Neumann
13. Mahler: EMI 150th anniversary
14. Martinu: Chamber music, Dartington Ensemble
15. Mozart: Piano Concertos, Barenboim & ECO
16. Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas & solo piano pieces, Raekallio
17. Rachmaninoff: All-night Vigil, Paul Hillier & Estonian Chamber Choir
18. Ravel: Piano Trio & Sonatas, Capucons & Braley
19. Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder, Craft
20. Schubert: String Quintet, String Quartets nos 14 & 15, Belcea Quartet
21. Shostakovich: Symphonies, Jansons
22. Sibelius: Symphonies, Maazel & WP
23. Stravinsky: Boulez's DG box
24. Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 & Serenade for Strings, Gatti, HM
25. Tippett: Concertos & Fantasia Concertante, Barshaï, Tippett, Ogdon

I think this will need to be updated, and with as little cheating as possible.

Bach - Musical Offering (Savall)
Bartók - Divertimento & Dance Suite (Boulez DG)
Beethoven - Piano Sonatas opp. 109, 110 & 111 (Penelope Crawford)
Brahms - Trios (Florestan Trio, HM)
Britten - Serenade / Nocturne / Les illuminations (Bostridge/Rattle)

Chopin - Mazurkas (Luisada RCA)
Copland - Appalachian Spring, Billy The Kid, Lincoln Portrait
Debussy - Complete Piano Music (Béroff)
Elgar - The Music Makers, etc. (Andrew Davis)
Ives - American Journey (MTT)

Janáček - Chamber Music (Decca)
Ligeti - Etudes, Musica ricercata (Aimard)
Liszt - Années de pèlerinage (Grimwood)
Martinů - Chamber Music (Dartington Ensemble, Hyperion)
Mozart - Keyboard Music, Vol. 2 (Bezuidenhout, HM) or Piano Concertos K. 453 & 482 (Bezuidenhout, HM)

Nielsen - Concertos (Naxos)
Prokofiev - Violin Sonatas (Argerich & Kremer)
Pärt - Arbos (ECM)
Rakhmaninov - All-Night Vigil (Hillier)
Ravel - The Complete Edition (Decca Universal)

Richafort - Requiem (Cinquecento)
Schubert - Abendbilder (Gerhaher)
Schumann - Eschenbach & Barto's 'Ghost Concerto' on Ondine.
Sibelius - Symphonies nos. 6 & 7 and Tapiola (Vänskä & Lahti)
Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms, Mass, Canticum Sacrum (O'Donnell, Hyperion)

And the new - or returned - faces ought to post as well ;)
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

George

Quote from: North Star on January 24, 2016, 10:26:16 AM

Chopin - Mazurkas (Luisada RCA)


Have you heard his DG recording? I haven't heard the RCA, but Jed Distler on Classics Today likes the DG (8/9) more than the RCA (6/8.)

RCA - http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-15492/
DG - http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-14796/
"I can't live without music, because music is life." - Yvonne Lefébure

North Star

Quote from: George on January 24, 2016, 03:00:25 PM
Have you heard his DG recording? I haven't heard the RCA, but Jed Distler on Classics Today likes the DG (8/9) more than the RCA (6/8.)

RCA - http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-15492/
DG - http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-14796/
I have not (or might have, on YT, but don't recall). I think I like the RCA better than Ashkenazy, my only other Chopin Mazurka set. But I was thinking more about the works than of the recordings on the list. I have some of Luisada's DGG waltzes, I can imagine that the earlier Mazurka set being very good too.
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Spineur

OK, this is probably my list.  I say probably, because many great composers have been bumped out of the list, and I am not too happy about this.  Furthermore, there is no post WW2 music, which does not quite reflect what I usually listen to.  But 25 aint much !!!


Johann-Sebastian Bach; Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould
Johann-Sebastian Bach; Suites pour violoncelle seul, Paul Tortelier
Georg Friedrich Haendel; Ariodante Minkowski
Georg Friedrich Haendel; Giulio Cesare
Joseph Haydn; Les dernières paroles du Christ
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Sonates, Fantasies; Maria Juao Pires
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Don Giovanni
Wolgang Amadeus Mozart; La flute enchantée
Ludwig van Beethoven, les quatuors a cordes Alban Berg et Prazak
Franz Schubert, WinterReise, Dietrich Fisher-Diskau Gerald Moore
Franz Schubert, Quintette, quatuor la jeune fille et la mort
Giuseppe Verdi; La Traviata
Giuseppe Verdi; Requiem
Franz Liszt; Les années de  pelerinage, 3ieme année
Franz Liszt; Via Crucis
Gustav Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde, Fritz Reiner
Richard Strauss; Derniers lieders, Elisabeth Schwartzkopf
Richard Strauss; Metamorphosen
Giacomo Puccini; Madame Butterfly
Charles Gounod; Faust
Sergei Rachmaninov; Variations sur un thème de, Paganini, Corelli, Chopin
Sergei Rachmaninov; Vepres, vigiles nocturnes, Estonian choir, Paul Hillier
Maurice Ravel; oeuvres pour piano, incluant le concerto pour la main gauche
Edward Elgar; Concerto pour Violoncelle, Enigma variations; Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim
An American Anthem-Samuel Barber; Ying Quartet

Spineur

Actually it is almost as interesting to see which of the greatest works has been dumped.  It is amazing to see that Bach St Matthew Passion is only on Bogey's list.  Everybody else dumped it.  Why ?  Why did I choose Haydn Seven last words of Christ over St Matthew's Passion ?  I cant answer this ....

knight66

I could not get such a list into manageable proportions; St Matthew Passion would certainly be on it, McCreesh.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Monsieur Croche

#171
Quote from: Spineur on January 30, 2016, 10:46:22 AM
Actually it is almost as interesting to see which of the greatest works has been dumped.  It is amazing to see that Bach St Matthew Passion is only on Bogey's list.  Everybody else dumped it.  Why ?  Why did I choose Haydn Seven last words of Christ over St Matthew's Passion ?  I cant answer this ....

The OP asks for lists of essentials for noobies.

In making up a list for the classical music neophyte or beginner and in order to do that with any integrity toward its purpose, the person writing that list will think of the listeners first, and that means leaving out the terribly long, the very dense, except perhaps in extracts of the briefest nature.

It is a fine line between not condescending, but thinking of what and which, most optimally, is going to draw in the people for whom the list is written, and choosing the pieces best thought to appeal to them, ergo, stimulate them to come back for more.

The expectation to have anything at all like that on a list recommending music to beginners is like recommending Milton's Paradise Lost or Joyce's Ulysses to those who have expressed an interest in art literature having just come from a place of motivation because they discovered they enjoyed reading a Harry Potter novel.

Your surprise and not without a little outrage at the fact your favorite hours-long, dense, baroque cantata on a religious subject -- replete with, uh-oh, classical style singers -- is not on the list?

Priceless.


P.s. The reason I have not made a list to contribute towards a very fine and necessary service -- to do it properly and for it to serve its purpose takes a lot of thought, work, and time, most of what is best set on that list having nothing or next to nothing to do with 'what I think is the greatest music,' or 'my personal favorites.'
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

knight66

Over the years on here I have been very taken aback with the pieces that members have put forward as the one that prompted them into classical music. So often it was items I assumed would certainly put them off. I would not shove the St Matthew at anyone first thing; but at some point as they start to move along, suggest then listen to a bit and see what they think. I am happy to accept the opinion of musicologists that it is one of the cornerstones of music. That is how it has felt to me in my musical journey. Newbies deserve to be introduced to the best as well as the best of the easily assimilated.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

North Star

Quote from: Monsieur Croche on January 30, 2016, 11:27:25 PM
The OP asks for lists of essentials for noobies.
Not exactly, the long-departed OP did leave room for interpretation, and I have a feeling that, in harmony with the thread title, most have chosen to make a list of their personal essentials.

Quote from: DavidRoss on September 07, 2010, 08:06:33 AMYou can approach this however you like, as a broad overview intended for a rank newcomer, as a narrower but deeper exploration of a particular era or genre that excites you and you think will excite others, or as a personal "desert island faves" list that you would not want to be without...or by throwing darts at your CD collection, if that's what floats your boat!
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Monsieur Croche

Quote from: North Star on January 30, 2016, 11:44:04 PM
Not exactly, the long-departed OP did leave room for interpretation, and I have a feeling that, in harmony with the thread title, most have chosen to make a list of their personal essentials.

An OP which is completely non-committal to any one purpose then makes it essentially a free-for-all set of lists, including the aleatory, 'toss darts at your CD collection and list the ones you hit,' is utterly non-functional and self-indulgent.

At best, so many music internet foras' member-made lists are wonky replications of lists of those highly accessible ones already in circulation from magazines or more learned publications, those already more than adequate to their purpose.

Recommend and vote on to the heart's content, then  :blank:
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

North Star

Quote from: Monsieur Croche on January 31, 2016, 12:13:14 AM
An OP which is completely non-committal to any one purpose then makes it essentially a free-for-all set of lists, including the aleatory, 'toss darts at your CD collection and list the ones you hit,' is utterly non-functional and self-indulgent.
Non-functional? The whole purpose is to see what are the membership's personal essential discs. The thread has worked well so far.

QuoteAt best, so many music internet foras' member-made lists are wonky replications of lists of those highly accessible ones already in circulation from magazines or more learned publications, those already more than adequate to their purpose.
Right, and since there are already more than enough of those beginner's guides, including the collective GMG list linked to in the OP, there's no earthly reason to think that this thread should be like that.
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Monsieur Croche

Quote from: North Star on January 31, 2016, 12:26:55 AM
Non-functional? The whole purpose is to see what are the membership's personal essential discs. The thread has worked well so far.
Right, and since there are already more than enough of those beginner's guides, including the collective GMG list linked to in the OP, there's no earthly reason to think that this thread should be like that.

I know, I know, ''making lists is fun.  -- of a sorts, I suppose. Knock yourself out, then.
~ I'm all for personal expression; it just has to express something to me. ~

knight66

It strikes me that the thread had its own organic life and in essence, it is a thread for folk to say what pieces they like; a bit of fun with some ideas new people might dip into. I see no need to stricture a thread that has been going along for a long time. The idea is enjoyment and learning. At least it is not a thread of one word posts.

I am not a great lover of straight forward lists; it would interest me to know why something is on a member's vital list.

If there is a consensus to move the thread away from the beginners' area, I will do that. But no new person has protested puzzlement as far as I know.

Cheers,

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

(poco) Sforzando

Quote from: Monsieur Croche on January 30, 2016, 11:27:25 PM
The OP asks for lists of essentials for noobies.

No, Croche. The OP points out that there have already been several threads of that type. Here we are asked for "our own essentials list. You can approach this however you like, as a broad overview intended for a rank newcomer, as a narrower but deeper exploration of a particular era or genre that excites you and you think will excite others, or as a personal "desert island faves" list that you would not want to be without...or by throwing darts at your CD collection, if that's what floats your boat!"

So what's Croche's list?
"I don't know what sforzando means, though it clearly means something."

(poco) Sforzando

Quote from: knight66 on January 30, 2016, 11:43:25 PM
Over the years on here I have been very taken aback with the pieces that members have put forward as the one that prompted them into classical music.

Ha. For me it was the Verdi Requiem.
"I don't know what sforzando means, though it clearly means something."