First landmark for you

[AnthonyAthletic]

With me it was two purchases on the same day in 1989.

Mendelssohn/Bruch : Nathan Milstein/Leon Barzin EMI cfp &
Mahler : Symphony No.5 RLPO/MacKerras EMI eminence

Although boxy sound the playing by Milstein still amazes.  MacKerras introduced me to Mahler, with the 5th.  These two cds got me started into classical music and were my first purchases.

The first box set, shortly after was the 1980's Karajan cycle on DG

[DavidW]

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.   

I'm thinking of acquiring that box set.  I love his recording of the 8th symphony.

[Karl Henning]

There is a lot to like in that Haitink set!

[Brahmsian]

I'm thinking of acquiring that box set.  I love his recording of the 8th symphony.

Same here, it is thrilling!

[mahler10th]

What was the first big addition to your collection?
Mine was Beethoven's Nine Symphonies.  The set that I bought was the '63 Karajan.

Same here!  Also when I bought Sibelius Ashkenazy Philharmonia Symphony 4, that completed 'another' collection...of Classical records and tapes.      (There are, of course, none of those old fashioned technologies in my hoose these days, ***sniff***...)  But it will always be that Beethoven set.  It was that very set that propelled me into the actual 'collecting' of our music.
It is exactly what Karajan had in mind during his conducting capers, to make recorded music more accessible to the wider public, so I've become just one wee part of his realized vision.   0:)

[Cato]

The DGG Eugen Jochum Bruckner Seventh Symphony, a 2-record set filled out with 3 Motets and the Psalm 150.

Amazingly, it was for sale in the record department of "Rike's" a large department store in Dayton.

"Amazingly" - not because it was in a department store in downtown Dayton, but because I had a few weeks earlier come across the Nowak score in the public library and knew that I just had to hear the work.  A few days later, the library offered the DGG record, and then I saw I could have my own copy!  I believe this was in 1964.

I later bought the Nowak scores for all the symphonies and the major choral works.

[Cato]

The DGG Eugen Jochum Bruckner Seventh Symphony, a 2-record set filled out with 3 Motets and the Psalm 150.

Amazingly, it was for sale in the record department of "Rike's" a large department store in Dayton.

"Amazingly" - not because it was in a department store in downtown Dayton, but because I had a few weeks earlier come across the Nowak score in the public library and knew that I just had to hear the work.  A few days later, the library offered the DGG record, and then I saw I could have my own copy!  I believe this was in 1964.

I later bought the Nowak scores for all the symphonies and the major choral works.

It just struck me: that was almost 50 years ago!!!   

[mahler10th]

It just struck me: that was almost 50 years ago!!!   

I think we should all contribute to a GMG fund to buy Cato some kind of support mechanism to help him in his clear and present crumbling old age.   

[bhodges]

My landmark was Berio's Sinfonia at about 16 or so, the recording below. (Note, the link leads to an CD-R that includes the Concerto for Two Pianos, which was not on the original release - I just wanted to show the cover). The funny part: I heard the Berio some 10 years before hearing the Mahler 2, on which the middle movement is based. The Berio LP had a small sampler record of different composers' works, and I ended up buying all of them, most of which I still enjoy to this day. My parents still joke about how the Reich pieces almost drove them crazy.

Steve Reich: It's Gonna Rain and Violin Phase
Conlon Nancarrow: Studies for Player Piano
Lasry-Bachet: Structures Sonores
Harry Partch: Castor and Pollux
Terry Riley: A Rainbow in Curved Air

[asin]B00F8ONW5S[/asin]

--Bruce

[Wakefield]

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

One thing I admire about your posts it's that your memories, even the small ones, are always very "personal" and highly evocative... I just wanted to say that. 

[Cato]

I think we should all contribute to a GMG fund to buy Cato some kind of support mechanism to help him in his clear and present crumbling old age.   

This is about the only thing that would work:

[knight66]

One thing I admire about your posts it's that your memories, even the small ones, are always very "personal" and highly evocative... I just wanted to say that. 

That's very nice of you, thanks.

Mike

[Lisztianwagner]

Box set of Mozart's operas with:

Così fan tutte (Karl Böhm/Wiener Philharmoniker)
Le Nozze di Figaro (Erich Kleiber/Wiener Philharmoniker)
Don Giovanni (Josef Krips/Wiener Philharmoniker)
Die Zauberflöte (Ferenc Fricsay/RIAS Symphonie-Orchester Berliner)

[DavidW]

Same here!  Also when I bought Sibelius Ashkenazy Philharmonia Symphony 4, that completed 'another' collection...of Classical records and tapes.      (There are, of course, none of those old fashioned technologies in my hoose these days, ***sniff***...)  But it will always be that Beethoven set.  It was that very set that propelled me into the actual 'collecting' of our music.
It is exactly what Karajan had in mind during his conducting capers, to make recorded music more accessible to the wider public, so I've become just one wee part of his realized vision.   0:)

Nice!

[knight66]

I got the St Matthew Passion when I was about 16 and it took me the best part of five years to crack it, but once I did, the floodgates of Bach opened.

Mike

[Papy Oli]

3 early classical recordings that hooked me completely on classical music :

Tallis - Spem in Alium / Salve intemerata (Oxford Camerata)
Mahler - 1st symphony (Maazel/VPO), especially the last mvt.
Beethoven - 9th Symphony (from the HVK 1963 cycle, my first boxset), more specifically the first 2 mvts.

My real landmark : The Bertini Mahler cycle because it paved the way for a cute addiction  0:)

[DavidW]

I'm seeing a trend it seems that Beethoven was a gateway to... Mahler for some of us!

[PaulR]

I'm seeing a trend it seems that Beethoven was a gateway to... Mahler for some of us!

"Beethoven, the gateway drug."

Anyways.......The Karajan's 63 Beethoven box.  I am SOOO original.

[DavidW]

Even Karajan's strongest critics must admit he got alot of people into cm!

[PaulR]

Even Karajan's strongest critics must admit he got alot of people into cm!

So it would seem!