First landmark for you

[DavidW]

What was the first big addition to your collection?

Mine was Beethoven's Nine Symphonies.  The set that I bought was the '63 Karajan.

[Brahmsian]

Same here, it was my first major classical music purchase:  Beethoven's complete symphonies (Harnoncourt/COE)

[Sammy]

Mine was Rogg's HM set of Bach organ works.

[amw]

Borrowed the complete Beethoven piano music (on LPs) from a friend. I was 6 or 7.

First major CD acquisition—given to me as a present—was the Bartók quartets (Tákacs Qt) + miniature score. I was 10.

First major CD purchase I made myself, with my own money, was, I think, Petrassi's Concerti for Orchestra. I was 19. I was pretty reliant on the donated collections of family members and friends up until that point, and for some reason there weren't a whole lot of Petrassi fans among them Ok, it's only 2 CDs, but it was a "major" addition considering the amount of difficulty I had trying to get it delivered from the US to the UK, where I was living at the time. Eventually had to have it delivered to my mother in the US, have her rip it and e-mail me the tracks individually (I picked up the physical CD when I next visited her, but that wasn't for some months). Of course I've since discovered about 20 easier ways I could have gotten it

[Sammy]

Borrowed the complete Beethoven piano music (on LPs) from a friend. I was 6 or 7.

There you go.  You were borrowing Beethoven while I was throwing rocks at the heads of other kids.

[Bogey]

I believe it was the Kempff LvB stereo cycle. 

[Sergeant Rock]

My first Ring. Bought during the first year I lived in Germany (1974):



Slightly bulkier than the CD box I bought several decades later 

Sarge

[knight66]

When I first got interested in music full price discs were £2.10shillings and I earned £8 a week. One of my first big purchases was the Solti Rosenkavalier, four Full price LPs. Not a huge set, but more than a week's pay.

Mike

[North Star]

Beethoven SQ's (Endellion) & Symphonies (Immerseel) were the first big sets I got.

[Gurn Blanston]

I bought the Beethoven Complete Piano Music in 4 or 5 Vox Boxes by Brendel, and then the complete Mozart piano sonatas, also in Vox Boxes, by Walter Klien. I lived a couple hundred miles from a CD store and wasn't buying online yet (that was a thing of the future, and I don't mean for me!!) so a chance to actually get into a real store was big for me.   My first big acquisitions, one hell of a lot of great music for $25 full price!!   

[amw]

There you go.  You were borrowing Beethoven while I was throwing rocks at the heads of other kids.

I seem to grow less mature by the year, however. I imagine I'll get to throwing rocks at the heads of other kids when I'm 60 or so   

[DavidW]

James, Stockhausen was early for you?  I'm impressed.  I was never that adventurous.

[Mirror Image]

My first landmark? That's a tough one but I would say the first work I heard that completely blew my mind was Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe. This ballet is still a sentimental favorite of mine. I can't really explain why I was so captivated by it. I suppose the dazzling colors of the music played a huge part and the orchestration alone just floored me. How Ravel got such incredible textures from the orchestra is beyond me. I also was attracted to the harmonic language. Those minor 9ths and 11ths, etc. I was still heavily into jazz music around this time but Daphnis et Chloe really opened my ears.

The recording that still remains my reference is Dutoit's with the MSO:



Two other recordings that blew my mind in the beginning were the following:

[kyjo]

The first classical work I remember actually sitting down and seriously listening to was Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture (I believe I was about seven years old at the time). The second was the finale from Mahler 1, which I listened to immediately after the Berlioz. From then on, I was hooked and quickly developed into the lunatic I am today!

[Brahmsian]

The first classical work I remember actually sitting down and seriously listening to was Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture (I believe I was about seven years old at the time). The second was the finale from Mahler 1. From then on, I was hooked and quickly developed into the lunatic I am today!

Good ones, Kyle! 

I REALLY was hoping though that your first landmark work (or purchase) was a Richard Strauss CD!     Keep on dreaming....Ray. 

[kyjo]

Good ones, Kyle! 

I REALLY was hoping though that your first landmark work (or purchase) was a Richard Strauss CD!     Keep on dreaming....Ray. 

I remember the first couples times I listened to Strauss' music, I was angry with myself for not liking it because it would seem natural that I would like his music since I love all the other late-romantic composers. But, over time, I began to realize the problem was Strauss', not mine!

[knight66]

I do enjoy your little jokes.

In terms of listening, rather than buying, my first live experience was when I was about 11. My father was friends with some of the Glasgow Grand Opera Society. He dumped me into a matinee of William Tell, then joined me in the evening for Traviata. I am amazed that did not put me off.....but it did not.

Mike

[Fafner]

One of my earliest classical memories was listening to the LP of Beethoven's Fifth that my parents had (Czech Philharmonic, Paul Klecki).  They did not have many classical records, there was Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Toccata and Fugue D minor, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, Bolero, and Pictures at an Exhibition.

Then I seriously got into opera and I was recording a lot of tapes from the radio. My first CD purchases were two discs of Verdi's overtures from Naxos and Anna Moffo's live recording of La Traviata from 1964.

But what really started my CD collection was Haitink's box of Shostakovich's symphonies. I currently have around 600 CDs (the bix boxes included), which is probably just a fraction of the collections most of you have.   

[kyjo]

I do enjoy your little jokes.

I'm glad somebody finds me funny!

[Karl Henning]

I hit all the 'right notes' in the very formative stages of my 'art music' obsession ..

It isn't like you, to pat yourself on the back....