BasicRepClassical Music

Linn Records sampler

2011-12-25T22:20:00.001-05:00

Linn Records sampler is free at Amazon.

Bargain Bach for under a Buck

2011-12-24T00:40:00.000-05:00

Looking for a collection of Bach? Here is a set of the Brandenburgs along with the Harpichord Concertos 1-6 plus the Harpsichord Concertos for Two and more keyboards. The performances seem to be from the old Vox catalog possibly, or may be newer, but either way decent recordings. And right now you get over 4 hours of Bach for 69 cents. That is quite a bargain, and not a bad way to expand your Bach collection too.

Ray Conniff - Christmas Caroling

2011-12-17T10:06:00.000-05:00

The Ray Conniff Singers do not make an appearance in the Goodyear LP series until volume 6, but their sound is about as pop as you can get. They released 3 Christmas albums, but a great compilation was released in 1985 that gathered all of their best tracks together. "Christmas Caroling" is a fun trip thru some really happy holiday music that is guaranteed to put either a smile or groan on your face.

Christmas with the Lennon Sisters

2011-12-17T09:51:00.000-05:00

From 1961 but evoking the 50's sound, the Lennon Sisters have a charming holiday collection, with enough of the smooth Lawrence Welk sound to give the music an easy listening feel. Definitely on of the better girl group LPs from that era, and a great mix of pop and traditional songs.

Norman Luboff - Songs of Christmas

2011-12-17T09:33:00.000-05:00

Released in 1956, this LP is a great choral album with all of the standard holiday favorite tunes. Of course the album is not in stereo, but the sound is fine and the performances show why this was a Christmas favorite for years.

Goodyear Volume 2

2011-12-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

Hallmark Records has released Volume 2 of Goodyear's 'Great Songs of Christmas' on an MP3 album!

Amazon.com Widgets

Andre Kostelanetz Christmas

2011-12-03T10:31:00.001-05:00

Andre Kostelanetz's 'Christmas in Wonderland' from 1963 is like Christmas Muzak on overdrive. Happy, corny and just fun, the music is as sweet as the album cover.
Unfortunately his 1960 album 'Wishing You A Merry Christmas' never has made it to CD. It is more traditional sounding, but still a great LP, so I decided to share it, you can download it HERE.

99 Must-Have Christmas Classics

2011-12-02T10:18:00.000-05:00

Another bargain collection set from Amazon, for only $2 each. You get over 6 1/2 hours of Classical Christmas tracks from each collection, from 'The Nutcracker' to 'Messiah' among others. One caveat, the Children's Choir tracks really do not go with the collection, and I wasn't crazy about most of them, but for the price, I just deleted the tracks I did not like. Both sets are a deal, with the Meditation set having more piano tracks, and there is probably some duplication, which at this price is a non-issue. Enjoy!

100 Classic Christmas Songs

2011-12-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

Now here is a bargain, a collection of 100 Christmas Songs for $5. Besides Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Nat King Cole and other great singers, there are dozens of other classic performances from the 1950's and 1960's. While the version of Bing's 'White Christmas' is not the classic one everyone knows, it is still fine, and the other tracks are all great. An essential MP3 download from Amazon.

Goodyear Christmas LPs

2011-11-30T14:24:00.000-05:00

I have always been a fan of the Goodyear ’Great Songs of Christmas’ LPs issued in the 1960’s and 70’s, ‘available exclusively’ at Goodyear Tire Stores. The first series was compiled by CBS in the 60’s and featured the best tracks from the CBS/Columbia catalogs, with artists like Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Doris Day and Percy Faith, to name a few. I am such a fan that I have an entire website dedicated to the music from these and other records from that era. Head on over to goodstonechristmas.com to get your Christmas Music into overdrive!

Percy Faith - Music of Christmas

2011-11-30T13:10:00.001-05:00

A classic that was heard in stores over the holidays from the 1950’s on, Faith’s arrangements of holiday songs is the very definition of Christmas Music. Originally recorded in 1954, it was later re-recorded in stereo in 1959 and this is the version that most people now know, although there is not too much difference in the versions. A few years later Faith releases ‘Hallelujah’ which was later renamed ‘Music of Christmas Volume 2’. It is right up there with the first volume. In 1966 ‘Christmas Is...’ was released, and other than the title song, there is more of a pop sound to the recording, very good but not in the same league as the original.

Music Of Christmas 2 / Hallelujah:
 

Christmas Is....
   

Ho Ho Holidays

2011-11-25T09:22:00.000-05:00

Strauss: Also sprach Bargain

2011-09-20T15:37:00.000-04:00

I have had this recording since it came out in 1983. At the time, it was one of my first CD purchases, and how things have changed. The performance clocks in around 34 minutes, and for a full price CD it was a bit of an extravagance on the record company’s part at full price. Nonetheless, Ozawa and the Boston Symphony give a great preformance of this Strauss warhorse, and with stellar sound, surely one of the first digital ASZ recordings. While the CD is NOT a deal, you can get the MP3 verison for a mear $0.99 at Amazon. Of course it is in one track, but a great deal at any price.

Vinyl Classics: Rimsky-Korsakov

2011-09-07T23:38:00.000-04:00

Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherezade - Ormandy - Philadelphia Orchestra

Every once in a while I go to the local thrift stores, and come across some great vinyl finds. I have always collected vinyl, even when I changed to all CDs for my classical music. Lately I have gotten back into listening to my records, and there are still some great LPs that are either not on CD or are in a budget release that has next to nothing as far as info.

I knew that Ormandy and the Phil Orch had recorded Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade for CBS, but not for RCA. Then they made the move over to the RCA label for a while, Ormandy & Co. re-recorded a lot of their more popular works. RCA was also experimenting with Quad recordings among other things, and I guess that the technology had improved enough to warrant a new recording of the works that the orchestra had recorded in the 50’s and 60’s again.

Turns out that a lot of those new recordings were superior to the CBS versions, although many of them have seemed to vanish from the catalog, hence why I had missed this particular one, and it is well worth having. Great sound, and maybe it is the Quad sound processing that was done for the LP, but you really hear a lot of the orchestra instruments better than any other version I have heard.

It is not in print anywhere, but the CBS version is and is available on the release below:

Furtwangler RIAS Set

2011-09-02T22:13:00.000-04:00

RIAS: “Radio in the American sector” in Berlin [after the war]

Starting in 1947, RIAS broadcast Furtwangler and the Berlin Philharmonic performing a variety of works until 1954. There were tapes made of these broadcasts, and Audite has made an arrangement to issue all of the available recordings, taken from the original tapes. This was released in 2009, and is by far the best sounding set of performances from Furtwangler from that era. Of course sound quality is relative, and these are mono recordings, and if you are only happy with the latest digital surround disks, you should move on. However, all of the recordings go from decent to good, and the performances are downright stellar. Furtwangler’s takes on these works are from another era, and a few are not wonderful, but overall this is something that you will not hear from any recording these days. There is Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Schumann, some Bach and Handel, plus a few works that you may never even heard of from composers that are no longer in the ‘Top 20’ anymore.

From the audite.de site:

The majority of the concerts given by Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic between 1947 and 1954 were recorded by the RIAS Berlin; all of these recordings are documented in this boxed set. The original tapes from the RIAS archives have been made available for the first time for this edition so these CDs also offer unsurpassed technical quality. Furthermore, some of the recordings are presented for the very first time, such as the Fortner Violin Concerto with Gerhard Taschner.

These RIAS recordings are documents of historical value: they contain a major part of Furtwängler’s late oeuvre as a conductor, which was characterised by a high level of focus in different respects. Focus on repertoire which has at its core the symphonic works of Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner and is supplemented by works by Bach and Handel and also by topical composers of the time, including Hindemith, Blacher and Fortner: artists who were counted amongst the members of “moderate modernism” and who were not perceived to have been tainted by the cultural politics of the National Socialists.

Focus was also a guiding principle in Furtwängler’s concert programmes which always feature a particular idea. His interpretations also demonstrate extremely high levels of focus: concentration and focus for him meant a contem- porary decoding, a re-creation, which would express the fundamental content of a work. A number of works – the Third, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven as well as Johannes Brahms’ Third Symphony – are included in two interpretations. They reveal how Furtwängler was able to accentuate dif- ferent aspects of a work whilst maintaining the same, clear basic conception – and how the actual interpretation depended on the context of the particular programme.

I have been enjoying this set for a while, and have heard some familiar works in a whole new way because of this release. The set is a steal at around $50 for 12 CDs of music, and iTunes has the download for half that amount. If you go that way, there is a booklet included in the download apparently, but you can also get a lot of info from the Audite website at www.audite.de.

I cannot recommend this set highly enough, both for the novice and more experienced music listener.

Track info and sound samples at audite.de.

Hallmark Reissues: Peter and the Wolf

2011-08-30T23:42:00.001-04:00

Some more LPs reissues from Hallmark. Each features a recording of Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’, but the companion pieces vary. Some cool recordings here, there may be an old favorite here for someone. Again, each album is under $2.

Fairy sure this is the original album cover.

........and finally.......
This is not a Hallmark release, but an old Everest recording that was reissued a while ago. A favorite of mine, so had to share, even though it is a regular price album.

MP3 Download Specials

2011-08-26T21:30:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I run across some really great deals on classical music when I am browsing the online stores that are just too good to pass up.

Handel’s Water Music and selections from the opera ‘Alcina’ are one a 2 track set for $1.98. Of course the music is not broken up into tracks, but the sound and performance are good, and this is a steal.

Feliz Slatkin and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra run through some great Strauss Waltzes for under $3.

Symphony No. 1: Berwald

2011-08-24T09:01:00.000-04:00

Symphony No. 1:
A survey of the first symphonies of various composers that I have in my collection.

Swedish composer Franz Berwald [1796-1868] composed 4 symphonies, and Symphony No. 1 “Sinfonie serieuse” is a pleasant romantic era work, and a good introduction to this composer. The Naxos release is coupled with Symphony No. 2, and you can read my posting of the companion CD with Symphony 3 and 4 here. There are also some CD Set releases of all 4 symphonies that you may want to check out, the BIS release by Ehrling is older but excellent, and the EMI 3CD set by Bjorlin adds some other orchestral works. Both are currently available as downloads only.

Hallmark Classical LP Reissues

2011-08-22T22:49:00.000-04:00

Hallmark has been reissuing some very old classic recordings for download recently. I have not been able to find a comprehensive list anywhere, and also the descriptions are sometimes lacking about the performers, recording sources, year of recording, etc. I have taken some educated guesses on some of the selections, but could be wrong. However, these are some great performances, some having never seen the light of day on CD, and if you like historical recordings, they are well worth trying out.

I am fairy sure they are based on old LPs from the 1950s, since the running time averages 30-40 minutes and are 2 tracks [like side 1 and 2 of an LP], and I have been able to track down identical vinyl albums that match in several cases. Many are mono recordings, others are early stereo. Plus they are priced very well. Each of the albums below cost less than $2. Note, the works are put onto one or two tracks, so no separation of the sections, but for the money, no big deal.

Conducted by Pierre Monteux.

20 Buck List: Piano Works

2011-08-22T20:17:00.000-04:00

What can you get for around 20 Bucks? Well, you can build a great classical collection for that much a month if you know where to look. Every month or so I will have a list of downloadable recordings to help you explore the world of classical music, featuring some essential collections and a few bargains. While I am partial to CDs, since you get better sound and liner notes, you can get a better deal most of the time with downloadable MP3s. There will always be some sort of theme with each group, be it a composer, style of work, or even a conductor.

Another set of X5 bargain compilations: The Piano Sonatas and Piano Concertos of Mozart. While you may have heard or own a selection of these works, you probably do not have a complete set. Yes, there are some benchmark recordings of both of these works, but 18 Sonatas and 27 Concertos, they tend to be an expensive proposition. Well, Carmen Piazzini is a musician from Buenos Aires, and has recorded both of these sets of works. The Piano Sonatas contain great playing, and the sound is good, just enough distance on the piano but not too much. The Concertos is mostly complete [missing 8 K.246 and 17 K.453] but to be honest my favorite Perahia set is not quite complete either, so I am guessing there are some with dubious authenticity among the sets. No matter, overall a great set, and each set is priced at around $7, you cannot go wrong.

Another X5 set, this one of Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz music. While he wrote pieces for piano, some have been transcribed for guitar, orchestra, etc. Best known for his piano suites, many of these are performed by Miguel Baselga, and are licensed from BIS records. Excellent performances, and very enjoyable. There are some arrangements spread among the 44 tracks, so this will get you a majority of the Albeniz that you need for your collection. Around $7 for the MP3 set.

Symphony No. 1: Borodin

2011-08-20T13:35:00.001-04:00

Symphony No. 1:
A survey of the first symphonies of various composers that I have in my collection.

Russian composer Alexander Borodin [1833-1887]. While his Symphony No. 2 gets all the attention, and sometimes No. 3, the Borodin 1st gets short shrift on a lot of releases. Fortunately RCA put together a Borodin Orchestral set on LP years ago, and the 3 Symphony recordings from that set by Loris Tjeknavorian and the National Phil Orch have been compiled into one CD. Great playing, and while the 1st may not be the most well known of the set, it is still a good work, plus you get the other symphonies, all at a bargain price.

Symphony No. 1: Beethoven

2011-08-20T13:35:00.000-04:00

Symphony No. 1: A survey of the first symphonies of various composers that I have in my collection.

Oh, Beethoven, where to start. You can read my posts on various Beethoven Sets here. So, if you happen to not have Beethoven 1 in your collection, and do not want to spring for a set, there are literally dozens of options out there. I think the best bet would be the classic Szell/Cleveland release. Along with a great 6th, there is some great conducting, good energy and good sound.

On the other hand.....I can’t resist........okay, if you think you may want the Toscanini set, but are hesitant due to the age of the recordings, the old RCA release of the 1st and 3rd is still available used, very cheap. Well worth going for it in my opinion, I can bet you will want the whole set after listening to it.... I do not have this particular release, and BMG remastered a lot of these old recordings twice, so your mileage may vary on this release.

The Toscanini Set:

Symphony No. 1: Bax

2011-08-19T22:51:00.000-04:00

Symphony No. 1: A survey of the first symphonies of various composers that I have in my collection.

English composer Arnold Bax [1883-1953] composed 7 symphonies from 1922 to 1939. Symphony No. 1 starts out as a moody affair, but nonetheless a very good work that picks up, especially with repeated listens. If you are a fan of Bartok, you may find it an interesting and rewarding listen.

The Chandos cycle/single CD’s by Brydon Thomson are out of print, although the Symph No. 1 album is available as a download from the Chandos ClassicalShop website. This is the version I have, but Chandos has another cycle by Vernon Handley that is quite good too. The CD’s are regular price, but the 7 Symphony MP3 set is a steal, currently at about $18 at Amazon, so that may be the way to go.

Naxos has a decent Bax cycle too, with Symphony 1 with other orchestral works, and you can preview that album at Spotify.

Bax was quite a prolific composer, and Chandos also has a multi volume selection of his orchestral works that is worth checking out.

Complete Set:

The Handley Set:

Naxos Set:

BasicRep.com turns 10!

2011-08-18T23:18:00.000-04:00

To all the BasicRep visitors:

In August of 2001, I had an idea: list the CD’s of my favorite Classical Albums to guide new and older listeners of the classics through the plethora of releases available. Over the years, the site has undergone many changes. The concept was to be able to link to albums that were in print, so you could go to your local store with the label and catalog number listed, or click to an online store to listen to sound samples.

I originally linked to CDNow.com, who had the best selection at the time. Of course, they eventually closed, breaking all of my links, so I had to start over. I went to CDUniverse for a while, but still had some issues. After a few frustrating months, I eventually settled on Amazon.com, with their vast selection of releases, the availability of getting out of print cds used, and the best prices. Of course iTunes and MP3 downloads became more common and sound quality improved, so I began adding links to those as well. Let me tell you, there was a lot of linking and typing going on :)

There were many false starts, and a lot of work trying to keep the site up to date, filling out the composer info and album releases. As the record industry changed, with Decca, Philips, Archiv, and London getting combined into Universal Music, CBS being sold to Sony, RCA going to BMG, then the Sony/BMG combination, the amount of releases going in and out of print became overwhelming. Too much actually to keep up with on a regular basis. It finally occurred to me that a blog may be the way to go, and with some tagging and organization, I was actually able to update the site more often.

Also, along the way, I realized there was no real info on one of my favorite album lines, CBS Great Performances, and after a lot of searching, I finally compiled a list of all 100 volumes from this great series. This has been the most popular area of the site by far, getting 100’s of visitors each month.

It has been 10 years, and I still enjoy sharing my music with others. I have gotten many questions over the years, concerning record info, suggestions on works, et al, and have liked it when I can help a fellow classical music lover discover more music. A big Thank You to all the visitors to the site, and here is to another 10 years!

Jim

BasicRep.com circa 2001:

Spotify

2011-08-18T23:14:00.000-04:00

Spotify is a music streaming service recently launched in the US. It has a free [Ad Supported] and premium option [$5-10/month], with a large selection of music from all of the major labels. Definitely worth checking out. They are limiting signups for the free service, but just submit your email address and Spotify will send you an invite in short order. I have been adding links to posts for the albums or works I am recommending from now on, so you can listen to more than a small excerpt and actually hear the entire work.

http://www.spotify.com

Symphony No.1: Balakirev

2011-08-18T22:05:00.000-04:00

Symphony No. 1: A survey of the first symphonies of various composers that I have in my collection.

Russian composer Balakirev [1937-1910] may not be as famous as Tchaikovsky or Glazunov, but his works do have a certain charm to them. Symphony 1 is quite a good composition, with an almost sublime Adagio, and definitely shows the influence of Tchaikovsky. Well worth investigating. Vassily Siniasky and the BBC Philharmonic Orch on Chandos have a good 2 disc set with Symph. 1 and 2, along with the Piano Concerto and some other orchestral works. Basically this is a good collection of all of Balakirev’s major works.

Read info from Chandos website.

Listen to similar at

My Collection - Vivaldi Op. 11-12

2011-08-09T22:13:00.000-04:00

Of course Vivaldi is best known for the Four Seasons, but that is only a small part of his vast musical output. Vivaldi’s publisher compiled his works into 12 Opus sets. Recently I purchased an old LP set of the Op. 11-12 works by I Musici with Salvadore Accardo on Philips. Excellent music and playing. Surprisingly, there are not really any sets of many of the Opus works in recordings these days. It looks like Hogwood and the Ancient Academy have recorded the Op. 11-12 works, but that along with the I Musici are now out of print on CD. A shame, there is some really great music here. I Musici recorded all of the Op. 1-12 works in various releases, and Philips has issued the recordings in 2 MP3 Album Volumes, which is good, but they combine Op. 1-6 and Op. 7-12 respectively, hence they are quite expensive, although you get about 9-10 CDs worth of music from each set. It would be nice if they could break these up into individual Opus sets instead of putting the whole set together, since buying individual tracks makes the set cost over twice as much.

The volumes are definitely worth checking out if you are a Vivaldi fan, and Amazon has the CD versions of the sets for sale used.

Listen:

Classic Brandenburg Downloads

2011-07-15T21:42:00.000-04:00

You probably have a version of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, but it never hurts to have another one on hand. I have always been partial to the 60’s recordings of Baroque music, usually on modern instruments, and not always period performances by today’s standards, but nonetheless enjoyable.

Here is a great deal: Karl Munchinger and the Stuttgart Orch were quite the baroque players of their day, and it is hard to find a lot of recordings in print anymore, other than ‘Adagio’ or ‘Relaxation’-type clasiscal compilations. There is a new 2for1 MP3 set with Bach’s Brandenburgs by Munchinger, and to add to the value there yet another full recording of all 6 Concertos by Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia from the 1960’s as well. Each set is different in interpretation and sound, and while I prefer the Munchinger version, the Klemperer is also excellent.

Hooked On Classics

2011-06-26T01:31:00.000-04:00

OK, yes it is cheezy, but I still listen to them every once in a while. Hooked on Classics was released in 1981, and led to several sequels and a boatload of imitators. Volumes 1-3 have been released as a download album. There is a Volume 4, but not the same conductor, and the arrangements do not have that HOC sound.

Of course they had to put out more, so along came Hooked On Swing! There were 2 volumes following the same medley formula as HOC, and a third that was really a swing album with the Hooked on name. Actually really good too, and worth getting.

CBS Great Performances Update

2011-06-19T00:04:00.000-04:00

I have updated the CBS Great Performances pages with added links to the iTunes store. Many of these will go to newer releases since they are the only ones available, but the performances are the same. Of course all of the volumes are not in print, but a surprising amount were on the store. You can view the page here.

Victrola Book of the Opera

2011-06-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I am amazed at the history you can find online. If you are a fan of opera, especially old recordings from the masters early in the 20th Century, you need to check out the Victrola Book of the Opera. This catalog was put out by the Victor [RCA] company in the 1970’s, but it started at the turn of the century, when recordings first became common. There is a 1917 edition of the book at Google Books, and you can view and download a PDF for free. It includes a synposis of over 100 operas. Do be aware that this a Google Books scan, and when they photographed each page, they could not be bothered to even attempt to keep anything lined up straight, so the pages do shift around a bit at different angles. [Rant: Very common with the GB scans, and they really should be ashamed of themselves.]

From the LOC Website:

Published in 13 editions between 1912 and 1976, the Victrola (or Victor) Book of the Opera was an ingenious strategy to promote sales of Victor label discs of opera excerpts. For 75 cents, record buyers could learn the plots and production histories of the most popular operas of the day, enjoy illustrations of favorite singers in costumes, and most importantly, have in hand a list of Victor records, with catalog numbers, of excerpts from each opera. Early editions of the Book of the Opera were compiled by Samuel Holland Rous, the editor of Victor sales catalogs. Rous began his career with the company as a tenor vocalist on many early recordings, billed as “S. H. Dudley.”

Now for an even better part: The Library of Congress has an Interactive Version of the same book. Along with the book itself there are also links to the actual recordings that are advertised in the book. The links are highlighted [you have to select the ‘Audio’ button on the right to show them] and you are taken to the page at the LOC Jukebox, where they have 1,000’s of old recordings archived.

The Victrola Book of the Opera at Google Books.

The Library of Congress Interactive Victrola Book of the Opera.

If you want a paper version of the book, Amazon has various editions here:
Victor Book Of The Opera at Amazon.com

20 Buck List: Beethoven

2011-06-07T19:22:00.000-04:00

What can you get for around 20 Bucks? Well, you can build a great classical collection for that much a month if you know where to look. Every month or so I will have a list of downloadable recordings to help you explore the world of classical music, featuring some essential collections and a few bargains. While I am partial to CDs, since you get better sound and liner notes, you can get a better deal most of the time with downloadable MP3s. Most of the selections will be available on CD if you prefer that format. There will always be some sort of theme with each group, be it a composer, style of work, or even a conductor.

Beethoven:

$10: Beethoven Symphonies
In an earlier post I recommended the Beethoven Symphony Set by Krips for $5.99 as a download. This set by Liebowitz and the Royal Phil were recorded in the early 1960’s for Reader’s Digest. Still not a perfect recording, but a great bargain and very good with better performances than the Krips set.

$3: Beethoven Piano Concerto 5
Serkin with Bernstein and the NY Phil offer a top notch performance on this Sony/CBS Great Performances release. A bargain at any price.

$3: Beethoven Piano Sonatas 8.9.10.13.14
Walter Geiseking was a pianist from the earlier part of the 20th century. His playing is impeccable, and the sound is decent for these older recordings.

$5: Beethoven Missa Solemnis
Bohm’s stereo remake of this choral work is a fine performance, and for 2CD’s worth of music it is a bargain.

20 Buck List: Symphonies

2011-05-28T02:16:00.000-04:00

What can you get for around 20 Bucks? Well, you can build a great classical collection for that much a month if you know where to look. Every month or so I will have a list of downloadable recordings to help you explore the world of classical music, featuring some essential collections and a few bargains. While I am partial to CDs, since you get better sound and liner notes, you can get a better deal most of the time with downloadable MP3s. Most of the selections will be available on CD if you prefer that format. There will always be some sort of theme with each group, be it a composer, style of work, or even a conductor.

Symphony Sets:

$4: Schumann’s four symphonies in a super bargain download.
These are excellent performances of symphonies 1-4 with good sound, originally from an Erato release from the 1990’s.
$8: Rachmaninov’s 3 Symphonies.
Litton and the Royal Phil Orch in a nice set of Rach’s Symphs.
$6: Brahms Symphonies and Violin Concerto.
Actually very good performances, and a great way to introduce yourself to Brahms.
$2: And to get us to $20: This set of 60 ‘Essential’ Royal Wedding Classics.
That may be pushing things a bit, but you get the following works for practically nothing:
Handel: Royal Fireworks Music
Elgar: Serenade For Strings in E Minor Op 20
plus a bunch of classical evergreens like Greensleves and the Wedding March.
For 2 bucks you are bound to get something that you like!

Vivaldi - The Opus Collections: Op. 3

2011-05-27T23:59:00.000-04:00

Vivaldi is of course known for the ‘Four Seasons’, the first 4 works of his Op. 8 ‘The Contest Between Harmony and Invention’. His other Opus collections have a lot to offer, and are well worth checking out.

The Op. 3 ‘L’Estro Armonico’ features 12 works for 1, 2 and 4 Violins. It is well-represented with many good recordings, but a few stand out. Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert hold the top honors. The 2 CD collections of these works has been discontinued, but have been repackaged in a 5CD super bargain set from DG Archiv with numerous other concertos for about the same price as the original 2 disc set. While the Op. 3 concertos are the draw here, the other works are given excellent period-instrument performances.

Christopher Hogwood and the Ancient Academy of Music offers a bonus of 6 Flute Concertos on their original-instrument DoubleDecca bargain set. If you want a modern instrument recording, Neville Marriner and the ASMF offer great baroque style plus four other concertos on their DoubleDecca set.

The Pinnock wins on sound quality by a little and on value, but the others have a great warm atmosphere too. You really cannot go wrong with any of these sets.

 

   
   

Free Music and Online Music Player from Amazon

2011-05-15T13:50:00.000-04:00

Amazon.com recently launched their Amazon Cloud Player which will let you store your music online and listen anywhere. You get 2GB to start, and they bump it up to 20GB for a year if you buy an MP3 album. However, there is a better feature: any MP3 album you purchase at Amazon automatically gets loaded onto your Cloud Player, and does not count toward your space.

The best part is that Amazon offers some free samplers and bargain releases of albums, so you can get a lot of music and listen wherever you have an internet connection on your phone, tablet or laptop. I have put quite a few free samplers on my Cloud Drive, and it is a nice option when you are away from your music collection.

Here is a list of a few free samplers that I have enjoyed. These are mostly excerpts or one track from an entire work, but for free they are a good way to listen to some different composers. They do not have composer names, but there is usually a list of the works in the comments area.

My Collection - Mendelssohn Symphonies

2011-05-15T13:22:00.000-04:00

My Collection: Recordings that are my all-time favorites.

Mendelssohn’s symphonic works have always been a favorite of mine, and Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra on DG have an essential set. The latest issue is a 4CD set that is a great value, and has 7 Overtures in addition to the 5 Symphonies. Recorded in 1985, I had this on a cassette set for years, replaced it with the current CD version, and have never found another performance that could beat it.

As a side note, if you want to hear a lot of Mendelssohn for almost nothing, the 99 Essential Classics series has a Mendelssohn set for download, currently priced on Amazon at $2.49 for 99 tracks of symphonies, vocal and chamber works. While the symphonies are performed ok, perfectly acceptable if not exactly stellar, some of the other works get a great rendition. Quite a good way to hear the bulk of Mendelssohn’s works for a rock bottom price. iTunes has a 50 track version of the same works for around $6.

iTunes: The 50 Most Essential Mendelssohn Masterpieces - Various Artists

Bargain Bargain Beethoven

2011-05-15T09:38:00.000-04:00

Josef Krips and the London Symphony recorded the Beethoven Symphonies circa 1960 for the Everest label. Altogether a good recording, but now it has been released on Digital Album for around $6 for THE ENTIRE SET OF BEETHOVEN SYMPHONIES 1-9! This is the old school of conducting and playing, middle of the road but definitely solid performances. While I would not rank this as the best Beethoven cycle available, it is quite good and has a lot to offer.

For the audiophie, the sound quality may not be quite up to modern standards, and you may hear some anomolies and a little distortion here and there, but overall a great set in good sound. On the whole I would recommend the set, and at this price it is self-recommending.

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Beethoven Box Sets: From The Old School

2011-05-15T07:23:00.000-04:00

Classical Box Sets abound, and are great ways to collect full groups of works, like Beethoven's Symphonies, Mozart's Late Symphonies, etc. Beethoven Symphonies and Piano Concertos are probably the most popular sets available, and if you look around, there are some great bargains out there.

After a long absence, the Toscanini performances have finally been compiled into one set by BMG/RCA. The recordings are old, in mono, and I could not care less. The power and energy that Toscanini brings to these works is beyond compare. You quickly overlook the sonic shortcomings when you hear these recordings. To be honest, the sound quality is surprisingly good, and for under $30, this is a great way to get all the symphonies, or just fill in some works missing in your collection. Do not let the word MONO stop you from discovering this great set.

A super bargain set of the 9 symphonies along with the 5 piano concertos, and some overtures thrown in for good measure can be had by Klemperer on EMI in a 9 cd set. These are 1960's era recordings, so a bit more modern than the Toscanini set, and better sound. The performances do hark back to the old school of Beethoven, so tempos are not as brisk as in more recent recordings, but they are nontheless classic interpretations.

Franz Berwald

2011-05-15T06:13:00.000-04:00

Swedish composer Franz Berwald may not be the best known composer, but his works are worth exploring. Naxos offers a budget CD that contains Symphonies 3 & 4 along with Piano Concerto No. 1. The performances are great and this is an inexpensive way to hear an unfamiliar composer.

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Duo MP3 Deals

2011-04-29T12:16:00.000-04:00

Universal has a variety of 2CD collections from their labels, mainly Philips, Decca and DG, and a few Trio 3CD sets. While these are a good deal, on MP3 downloads they are almost all half price at Amazon. You get a 2 album set for $9.49 of some great music, and the Trio sets are a good deal too. I will be featuring some of the better ones in the blog.

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My Collection - Bach Keyboard Concertos

2011-04-29T00:10:00.001-04:00

My Collection: Recordings that are my all-time favorites.

Bach’s Concertos BWV 1052-1065 go by the name Keyboard, Piano or Harpsichord Concertos. BWV 1052-1058 are the single Keyboard concertos, with BWV 1060-1062 for Two Keyboards, and BWV 1063-1064 for Three Keyboards, and BWV 1065 for Four Keyboards. There are various recordings of these works on piano and harpsichord, some of just the first 7 works, and some with all. A few are transcriptions of other concertos that have been reconstructed back to the original keyboard versions, but it really does not matter, the Concertos are up there with the Brandenburgs. If you want to know more, Wikipedia has a good break down of the works: Bach Harpsichord Concertos.

While I have several modern piano recordings, my favorite is on harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert. Recorded around the early 1980’s, they still sound fresh and are the Basic recording for these great works. There are 2 current sets of these works, a 3CD Trio set of the above concertos, and a 5CD set with additional works and a similar price.

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For modern piano recordings, if you just want a single album, Glenn Gould has Concertos 1, 4, and 5 and other works. He also has a larger set with more of the works from the Glenn Gould Edition.

Gould can be a bit deliberate in his interpretations, but Murray Perahia’s playing is brisk with a lot of momentum on piano. He covers all 7 single concertos on 2 CDs with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Concertos 3, 5, 6 and 7:

Concertos 1, 2 and 4:

My Collection - Ravel and Debussy

2011-04-29T00:10:00.000-04:00

My Collection: Recordings that are my all-time favorites.

Sometimes you get ahold of a recording that you literally wear out, and no other album is quite as good. Karajan and the Berlin Phil recorded Debussy's La Mer, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Ravel's Bolero for Angel/EMI in the 1970's. While Karajan later recorded these works again for DG, this particular album was special. Not only was the performance stellar and the sound wonderful, this release was issued by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs on vinyl many years ago [the audiophile series on vinyl before there were CDs].

My LP was showing it's age and I wanted to replace it. The MFSL version never made it to CD from what I can tell, but after a lot of searching I finally found the same recording on a budget release from EMI. The sound quality is superb, and out of all the recordings of these works that I own, this is what I come back to every time. The performance is perfect, and the sound quality is superb. Karajan really had a feel for these works, and this set does not suffer from the more homogenized sound of his later DG recordings. Don't let the budget packaging fool you, this is hands down the finest album of these works that you will find anywhere. No longer in print, but you can get it used.

My Collection - Copland

2011-04-28T23:48:00.000-04:00

My Collection: Recordings that are my all-time favorites.

When it comes to the works of Aaron Copland, I have by far the best recording out there, with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Phil. Their recordings were put in a compilation many years ago, and it is the definitive CD of Copland's basic works. From the suites for Rodeo and Billy the Kid to Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man, this Bernstein Century set is great from start to finish. The sound in typical 1960's CBS, so more than acceptable if not quite stellar.

The older Great Performances release with Spring and Fanfare from the above set also includes the wonderful El Salon Mexico and Danzon Cubano. Bernstein later recorded these last 2 works years later on DG, but they are just not as good as these recordings. Yes, you duplicate a few recordings, but worth getting the GP collection too.

My Collection - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

2011-04-28T23:29:00.000-04:00

My Collection: Recordings that are my all-time favorites.

Currently I have two favorite versions of Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, one famous and one not so much. The Munch / Boston Symphony Orchestra version on RCA is a classic, and is the reference performance. The early stereo is not great, and there is some slight aural artifacts here and there, but the playing more than makes up for it. My other favorite is an early 1980's Decca recording with Mehta and the New York Phil, one of the early digital recordings from London Records. It is long out of print, and has disappeared into the vaults, not even making it out for some bargain reissue. I liked this recording enough to replace my vinyl with CD, and it is still the recording I come back to over any of the others. Well worth picking up a used copy.

Ballet Music

2011-04-28T21:45:00.000-04:00

A great compilation of interesting ballet music is on a 2CD collection by Herbert von Karajan on DG. Featuring Gaite Parisienne, Sleeping Beauty, Faust Ballet Music, Coppelia and Les Sylphides, this collection performed by the Berliner Philharmonic is top notch. The set is no longer in print on CD, but the MP3 version is quite a good deal.

My Collection: Bach Brandenburg Concertos

2011-04-28T18:39:00.000-04:00

My Collection: Recordings that are my all-time favorites.

When it comes to Baroque works, the Brandenburgs are about as famous as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. While there are plenty of recordings around performed by modern symphonies, I prefer them on original instruments. One of the first to record these works with instruments Bach would have had in his day is Trevor Pinnock and the English Consort. Their recording from the early 80’s on Archiv still holds up remarkably well, and really has only been surpassed by Pinnock’s new recording with the European Brandenburg Ensemble from 2010. The Archiv recordings come in 2 separate CDs, but it is a better buy to get the 3 CD set with the four Orchestral Suites from the same time period. The new recording is recommended too.

 

Beethoven Symphonies: Szell

2011-04-28T13:18:00.000-04:00

From an earlier post, I recommended the Toscanini and Klemperer Beethoven Symphony Box Sets, but those being rather old performances, I like to have slightly newer recordings in my collection. A few of my other favorite sets are by Szell, Karajan and Bohm. All of these are from the 1960's and 1970's, but are also excellent choices for box sets.

The Szell Box Set with the Cleveland Orchestra is currently out of print on CD, but 4 individual CD's are still part of the Sony Essential Classics series, and well worth getting. Symphonies 4 & 7 are only available from ArchivMusic through their ArchivCD program at full price, the other sets are 1 & 6, 2 & 5, 3 & 8 and Symph 9 with Fidelio Overture. These are also available as MP3 albums, so should stay around for a while. There is an Original Jacket Collection of all the symphonies and overtures, out of print on CD but available on iTunes as a download, a bit expensive, but you get a lot of music with 66 tracks.

hese recordings should really be put back in a nice box set domestically and kept in print. The recorded sound is good for the age, Szell has a clean and sharp view of these works.

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Amazon: Symph 1 & 6
Amazon: Symph 2 & 5
Amazon: Symph 3 & 8
Amazon: Symph 9

Symph 4 & 7 at ArchivMusic

iTunes: Beethoven: Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral" & Egmont Overture
iTunes: Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5
iTunes: Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" and Symphony No. 8
iTunes: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 "Choral"; Fidelio Overture

iTunes: Beethoven: Complete Symphonies, Overtures, Incidental Music (The Original Jacket Collection) - Various Artists, Donald Bell, George Szell, Louis Lane, The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Adele Addison, Jane Hobson, The Cleveland Orchestra & Richard Lewis

Rameau: Les Indes Galantes

2011-03-29T20:32:00.002-04:00

Rameau’s opera Les Indes Galantes was published by the composer into a set of suites, restructuring the music in a different order from the opera. Taken an instrumental work, these suites stand on their own. The best current version is on Harmonia Mundi and it is a bargain too. A great baroque work worth checking out.

Schutz Italian Madrigals

2011-03-05T00:27:00.000-05:00

Heinrich Schutz [1585-1672] composed his Opus 1 Italian Madrigals under the tutorage of Gabrieli, but nonetheless they are 19 beautiful works, mostly for 5 voices.

Seems that there are no current versions available on CD at the moment, although you can get some used. As far as MP3 albums, there are two from Harmonia Mundi and Berlin Classics that would be worth checking out.

London Jubilee

2011-02-27T17:05:00.000-05:00

One of those bargain lines from London Records in the early 80’s, the London Jubilee label made up the bulk of my early classical music purchases. As these performances were my first exposure to a lot of works, they have stuck in my mind as sounding ‘right’ as far as performances go. That tends to happen when you get familiar with a particular recording. Luckily most of the releases were of classic performances by major artists, so no bad records, and quite a few excellent ones too. I am working on getting a discography together of the Jubilee line, although they never made it to CD, some of the recordings are still around in different incarnations. To be honest, when I am in a ‘vinyl’ mood, I break out these old recordings, and still enjoy them a lot. Nice big artwork, and good liner notes on the back cover. PS: If you have any release info or artwork from this line, it would be greatly appreciated if you would send it to me : basicrep@gmail.com

Beethoven Piano Sonatas

2011-02-27T15:42:00.000-05:00

Quite a while back I found a CD release of an old LP of Beethoven Sonatas by Wilhelm Backhaus on the London Records Jubilee label. The LP was the first I ever had of the Moonlight, Pathetique and Appassionata Sonatas, and I think I could not have had a better introduction to these works.

There is now a 2CD release of the above sonatas while adding Les Adieux, Pastoral, Tempest and the Waldstein Sonatas. The recordings range in date from 1959 to 1964, and the sound is warm and cozy, and a little on soft on the treble, but otherwise a great collection. The CD release is an import, but I just noticed that it is back in stock at Amazon again for the time being. Well worth getting this collection even if you have other recordings of these works, because Backhaus is a great performer from the older days.

LISTEN TO CLIP ON SWIFT.FM

Albinoni: Op. 9 Concertos

2011-02-26T11:24:00.000-05:00

Albinoni may be best known for his Adagio for Organ and Strings, used in the movie Platoon. The Adagio is an arrangement by musicologist Remo Giazotto, who discovered a fragment of a work while researching for an Albinoni biography. While a beautiful work, if that is all that you know of Albinoni, you are missing a lot. The closest comparison may be of the works of Vivaldi, and the recommended works are baroque gems.

Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music give an original instruments performance of the Opus 9 Concertos. This is apparently the first recording of this work on period instruments, and is a full price 2 CD set. Well worth the price, though. Also available as an MP3 Album.

The 2 CD Budget Set by I Musici is also a good recording, and includes the famous arrangement of the Albinoni Adagio. The recordings are from the 1960's, and are of a more romantic vein than baroque. Available in a bargain MP3 Album.

Barber Violin Concerto

2011-02-26T07:18:00.001-05:00

Why buy a cd from a performer you do not know, with an unfamiliar conductor, and with one of the works unknown to you? Well, on a whim, I decided I needed more Barber in my collection, and chose this cd with 19 year old [at the time, in 2000] Hilary Hahn. I tend to be suspicious of very young violin players. Their technique may be flawless, but the performances are missing soul. Not so here. Hahn’s tone is smooth, but not too sweet. While razor precision does not fall in the perview of these two works, there is some great violin playing on this disc. Hahn’s playing has emotion, and she brings the music alive, instead of treating it as a dusty tome that has to be played just right, in order not to offend. I will be expanding my collection of Hahn recordings to be sure, and am interested how her performances of more familiar works will hold up.

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Basicrep.com Reorganization

2011-02-25T22:10:00.000-05:00

I have been very lax about updating composer listings, and have decided to merge everything into the blog. You will be able to bring up any composer name or work type from the Category listings. This will let me easily add recommendations for particular works, and allow me to spend time on the Music Label Line pages as well as some basic recommendations I have wanted to post for a while. If you access any of the Composer Pages directly, you will may be forwarded to the Blog posts on that composer or the composer page. It will take me a while to get everything reorganized. The original composer pages will be kept online for those composers that do not have blog posts yet, but the releases recommended are getting out of date, and many of the records are out of print again. It is a tremendous amount of work to keep up with the current releases, and hopefully this will allow me to post a lot more often, and offer a way to give reviews and thoughts on the works. Also, with the changes lately, some of the images in the older blogposts have broken, so sorry about that, will try and get them fixed ASAP :) - Jim

Best of Bruch

2011-01-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

Max Bruch may not be the best-known composer, although he is most famous for his Violin Concerto No. 1. These sets of Philips Duos will definitely round out all of his major works. Well worth a listen, there is a lot of great music here. And as usual the MP3 versions are quite a bargain.

From Wikipedia:
Max Christian Friedrich Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920), also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, one of which is a staple of the violin repertoire.
Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he received his early musical training under the composer and pianist Ferdinand Hiller, to whom Robert Schumann dedicated his piano concerto. Ignaz Moscheles recognized his aptitude. He had a long career as a teacher, conductor and composer, moving among musical posts in Germany: Mannheim (1862-1864), Koblenz (1865-1867), Sondershausen, (1867-1870), Berlin (1870-1872), and Bonn, where he spent 1873-78 working privately. At the height of his reputation he spent three seasons as conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society (1880-83). He taught composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik from 1890 until his retirement in 1910.
His conservatively structured works, in the German romantic musical tradition, placed him in the camp of Romantic classicism exemplified by Johannes Brahms, rather than the opposing "New Music" of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. In his time, he was known primarily as a choral composer.
His Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 (1866) is one of the most popular Romantic violin concertos. It uses several techniques from Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor. These include the linking of movements, and a departure from the customary orchestral exposition and rigid form of earlier concertos. It is a singularly melodic composition which many critics have said represents the apex of the romantic tradition.
Other pieces which are also well-known and widely played include the Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra which includes an arrangement of the tune "Hey Tuttie Tatie", best known for its use in the song Scots Wha Hae by Robert Burns. Bruch also wrote Kol Nidrei, Op. 47, a popular work for cello and orchestra (its subtitle is "Adagio on Hebrew Melodies for Violoncello and Orchestra"). This piece was based on Hebrew melodies, principally the melody of the Kol Nidre incantation from the Jewish Yom Kippur service, which gives the piece its name.
Other works include two other concerti for violin and orchestra, No. 2 in D minor and No. 3 in D minor (which Bruch himself regarded as at least as fine as the famous first); and a Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and Orchestra. There are also 3 symphonies, which, while not displaying any originality in form or structure, nevertheless show Bruch at his best as a composer of fine melodic talent and a gift for orchestration, firmly in the tradition of the Romantics. He wrote a number of chamber works, including a set of eight pieces for piano, clarinet, and viola; and a string octet.

  
  

    

Mozart Violin Concertos

2011-01-19T09:57:00.000-05:00

Another Arthur Grumiaux, this time of the Mozart Violin Concertos.

Bach Solo Violin Works

2011-01-16T09:54:00.001-05:00

Arthur Grumiaux's recording of the Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin is about as good and introduction to these works as you can get. MP3 Album version is a great bargain too.

 

Classical Christmas One

2010-12-06T07:41:00.000-05:00

Well, this year we start at the top. This classic performance from the 1960's is an all-around best bet.

Bargain MP3 Operas

2010-06-20T21:12:00.001-04:00

Amazon.com has some fantastic deals on MP3 album operas. These are from the label Past Classics, and are very old recordings of varying sound quality, and for the most part are only split into a few tracks, and of course no libretto. However, considering the cost of opera cds, and the fact that you can download many librettos online, these are a great way to expand your opera collection. These all cost $2.97 or less. Do be sure to listen to the previews to get an idea of the sound quality. These recordings feature great artists from the early part of the last century like Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi.

Liszt Rhapsodies

2010-06-03T13:33:00.001-04:00

Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic in an excellent disc of 6 Liszt 'Hungarian Rhapsodies' arranged for orchestra. On CD or MP3 Album.

Mozart String Quintets

2010-06-03T13:33:00.000-04:00

Philips Trio has packaged Mozart's compete String Quintets featuring the Grumiaux Trio with guests in a great 3CD set. These are about the best set of these works you can find, and at a bargain price, and the MP3 version is an even better buy.

Mozart Piano Concertos

2010-06-03T11:15:00.000-04:00

Murray Perahia recorded the Mozart Piano Concertos in the 1970s and 80s and the set has been remastered by Sony. The 12 disc set is a fairly good deal on CD but is a great bargain on MP3. These performances with the English Concert are highly recommended.

Deutsche Grammophon Anniversary Box Set

2010-06-03T11:05:00.000-04:00

Updated 6/2/10: I do not usually recommend large classical box sets because they are expensive and not always a good buy. However the new '111 Box' by Deutsche Grammophon is a fantastic buy. The set is a 55-CD Box of full albums from DG's first 111 years. The box set seems to be out of print now, but the MP3 version is available for around $108, so a fantastic bargain. DG has set up a special site at dg-11.com with all of the information on the albums, where you can listen to a full album from the collection every week.
If a 55 disc set is too daunting, there is a 6 disc set with one track from each of the albums in the 111 set, plus other tracks for a great price too.

I Love The 80's [1880s that is]

2010-05-12T15:05:00.001-04:00

Naxos is offering the MP3 collection 'I Love The 80s' free at Amazon.com. These are full recordings of seven symphonies, conducted by Marin Alsop. The works included are:

Symphony no. 3 in F Major: Johannes Brahms
Symphony no. 1 in D Major (Titan): Gustav Mahler
Symphony no. 5 in e minor, op 64: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony no. 6 in D Major op. 60: Antonin Dvorak
Symphony no. 3 in a minor (unfinished): Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin
Symphony no. 3 in c minor "Organ": Camille Saint-Saens
Symphony no. 9 in d minor WAB 109: Anton Bruckner

And the cost: FREE, so go get it!

Wind Trios

2010-05-09T01:58:00.003-04:00

A great MP3 album bargain, 72 tracks of wind trios by the Saarland Radio Wind Trio. No, I haven't heard of them either, but the playing is good and the recording pleasant. The works are from Mozart and several other lesser-known composers. And at the price of $7 for over 3 hours of music you just cannot go wrong with this one.

Dmitri Shostakovich Recommended Works

2010-05-02T18:06:00.000-04:00

Shostakovich has 15 symphonies, so where do you start? By many accounts, the 5th is the best place, and there are several excellent recordings available. Ormandy on RCA recorded the 5th with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 1970's, and this is an overall favorite of mine. It was reissued on CD in Japan a few years ago [I even paid to have it shipped from Japan to replace my vinyl copy], but fortunately ArchivMusic has released it domestically. It comes with 'Prometheus' by Scriabin and is a warm and effective recording.

Ormandy Edition Vol 14 - Shostakovich: Symphony No 5; Scriabin

Bernstein famously recorded the 5th Symphony in 1959 in the presence of the composer, and is known for the exceptionally fast last movement that will make you stand up and take notice. It is coupled with the 9th Symphony as part of the Bernstein Century line and is also an MP3 Album. Bernstein also recorded the 5th in 1979 in Tokyo live, and while the movements are taken at a slightly slower pace, the recording is better than the 1959 version, but overall is a secondary recommendation to the 1959 version.

For the same 5th and 9th coupling, Haitink on Decca has a great recording of these works and is a good alternate to the Ormandy and Bernstein performances. Also on MP3 Album.

If you are adventurous and are looking for a complete set of all the Shostakovich Symphonies, there are sets by Kondrashin and Haitink. I tend to favor the Kondrashin set, although the sound quality is about what you would expect from Soviet-Era recordings, not great but serviceable. Haitink's Set is culled from recordings in the 1970's and 1980's and is a good overall choice too, and also available on MP3 Album. If you want to explore some other Shosh symphonies without the whole set, the individual recordings from the above sets are also on spearate CDs, and Gergiev with the Kirov has some great recordings too of Symphonies 4-9.

GO TO SHOSTAKOVICH'S PAGE

Gustav Holst Recommended Works

2010-04-30T18:23:00.000-04:00

Richard Hickox and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales recently released a CD of Orchestral Works by Gustav Holst on Chandos Records. Included are The Perfect Fool, The Golden Goose, The Lure and The Morning of the Year. These works are ballet suites and music recorded by Hickox before he past away late last year. Those of you familiar with The Planets will find a lot to like here yet will hear a different side of Holst. These works are not recorded too often, and only recently has the recordings of some of these works from the 1970's been re-released on Lyrita. The performances are stellar, the sound quality is excellent, and these recordings beat any of the currently available versions. An MP3 version is also at Amazon's aStore.

The Planets is a suite in seven parts, each named for a planet in our solar system. Earth is not named, and Pluto had not been discovered at the time Planets was composed. This recording by Karajan and the Berliner Philharmonic is a great performance and has demonstration-class sound. MP3 Version also available.

Naxos has a nicely performed CD of various other Holst works such as Beni Mora and Somerset Rhapsody. Some good British music with nice playing and sound. MP3 Version also available.

GO TO HOLST'S PAGE

Bela Bartok Recommended Works

2010-04-29T18:17:00.000-04:00

Bartok's best works are the Concerto For Orchestra, Music for Strings Percussion and Celesta, and The Miraculous Mandarin Suite. His works reflect a modern style of composition, but are filled with a wonderful tapestry of sounds and melodies.

Reiner and the Chicago Symphony have the most basic of performances from which others are judged, and the remastering of these old recordings is just great. The Concerto, Music for Strings, and Hungarian Sketches make up this Living Stereo release, and is the perfect place to start your Bartok collection. Also available as an MP3 Album.

Boulez with the Chicago Symphony features newer digital recordings of all of Bartok's major works. The Miraculous Mandarin and Music for Strings is an excellent CD, and even with the duplication of a Reiner performance, Boulez has something different to say about Celesta, so still a nice recording to have in your collection. Also on MP3 Album. Boulez also recorded other Bartok works such as Divertimento and Dance Suite in another DG set that combines these works in a well-performed package. MP3 Album version

Anda, Fricsay and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin may not be household names, but they give a searing account of Bartok's Three Piano Concertos on DG. Released on DG 'The Originals' this is another basic performance that others are compared. The sound is decent and the playing gets right down to the essence of these very powerful concertos. Also on MP3 Album.

Antonio Vivaldi Recommended Works

2010-04-26T18:00:00.001-04:00

Vivaldi's most famous work is the 'Four Seasons' or 'Le quattro stagiono', four concertos from his Op. 8 Violin Concertos. There are dozens of recordings available and here are a few of my favorites.

On original instruments, Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert give the definitive performance on Archiv. The recording is from 1982 and has been remastered with a few additional works. Highly recommended, also comes in an MP3 Version.

Abbado and the London SO with soloist Gidon Kremer give a great performance on modern instruments. A bit smoother sound but great none the less and comes in an MP3 Version.

Nils-Erik Sparf and Drottingham Baroque Ensemble have a spectacular sounding recording on BIS. The sound is crystal clear, and the playing is excellent, the only downside is that it is only available for download as an MP3 Album.

The 'Four Seasons' is actually the first 4 concertos in a set of 12 works also known as 'The Contest between Harmony and Invention'. Kraemer and the Raglan Baroque Players with soloist Monica Huggett on Virgin Veritas have a bargain set from 2000. The 2 CD set is bargain priced, and the MP3 Album even cheaper. It is a very nice recording, and includes the 'Seasons' along with the other Op. 8 Concertos, along with 2 other concertos.

GO TO VIVALDI'S PAGE

Igor Stravinsky Recommended Works

2010-04-25T17:32:00.000-04:00

The works that make up the essential Stravinsky collection are 'The Rite of Spring', 'Petrouska' and 'Firebird'. Stravinsky made concert suites of his music and also updated a lot of his works in 1946-47 due to some copyright issues, so there are several versions of the various works and things can get confusing to say the least. Since most of the recordings below contain two or more of these works they are summarized at the end.

As a sidenote, Sony has a Masterworks podcast that it produces on and off, and they had a fascinating series on some of the Stravinsky recording sessions from 1961. You can access the podcast thru iTunes, and you are looking for the episodes from 2007 with Stravinsky in the title, or go to Sony Masterworks Podcast to visit the website and listen.

The Firebird
The ballet music for Firebird comes in the following versions: 1910 Original Ballet, 1911 Concert Suite, 1919 Concert Suite and the 1945 Concert Suite. To make things simple, the 1919 Suite is the most popular and contains selections from Firebird. The 1945 Suite has all the music from the 1911 and 1919 Suites and contains almost all of the music from the 1910 version but without the interludes. The 1945 is the one Stravinsky himself recorded in the 1960's. The 1910 and 1945 are interchangeable since they have about the same music, and the 1919 is a great selection of the best parts.

The Bernstein has the 1919 Suite with 'Rite' while Rattle conducts the 1910 Original in his 2CD bargain set. Gergiev and the St. Petersburg Kirov Orchestra however gets the nod for the best all out recording of the 1910 Original and comes with a great work by Scriabin.
Stravinsky recorded a lot of his works in the 1960's for CBS and Stravinsky Conducts: Firebird features the 1945 Suite along with other works. There is also a 22CD set of everything Stravinsky conducted for Columbia, and is in a bargain box set available used. Do note the reviews about the documentation in the set being skimpy, but still a great value.

Rite of Spring [Le Sacre du Printemps] / Petrushka
Once again there is more than one version of Petrushka, and many of the recordings are paired with 'The Rite of Spring'. The main difference is in the orchestration, the 1947 version is for a smaller ensemble.
The 1911 original version by Monteux, who conducted the premiere of the work in 1911, is an RCA recording classic from 1959 and the sound quality is remarkable for its age. There are two releases of the same recording, with 'The Rite of Spring' [a 1951 mono recording], or on the RCA Living Stereo release with Franck's 'Symphony in D' [THE recording to get of Franck's work], so choose your coupling.
Boulez with the Cleveland Orch. has two recordings of 'Petrushka' and 'Rite', one from 1969 on Sony and his digital remake from 1992 on DG. While the DG recording has the upper hand with superior sonics, for the best performance, the CBS era recording is really the way to go, and comes with the best version of 'The Rite of Spring' too.
If you prefer to get the 1947 Version of Petrushka, you have a choice between Stravinsky's recording, or the excellent one by Bernstein with 'Pulcinella'.
Ozawa with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras has a excellent recording of 'Rite' and 'Petrushka [1947] ' on the BMG High Performance label.

GO TO STRAVINSKY'S PAGE

The Complete Symphony Set - 226 Symphonies

2010-03-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

Brilliant Classics is known for producing bargain box sets that draws music from various labels.
The Complete Symphony Set - 226 Symphonies - 100 Discs is a great deal at the list price of $169 but at the moment ArchivMusic.com has it on sale for $109, around a dollar a disc! The set includes full sets of Mozart, Beethoven and others. The performances vary, but boy do you get a lot of music. This set is missing a few composers, but that hardly matters. If you want to expand your music collection at a bargain basement price, this is surely the way to go.

Here is the review from ArchivMusic.com:

Brilliant Classics has given us some of the most astounding values in classical music recordings over the last few years, but they have surely outdone themselves with this latest issue.
The 100 CDs in this set contain 226 complete symphonies. With a few notable exceptions, virtually the entire symphonic canon of the Classical and Romantic period are included. There is no Bruckner or Sibelius, and it would have been nice to have the rest of the Dvorák and Tchaikovsky cycles, but why dwell on what is missing? What is included is extraordinary.
This set includes the complete symphonies of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mahler, and Nielsen -- and even the great 20th-century symphonist, Shostakovich, has a spectacular complete cycle included as well. The mature symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Dvorák are here, and there is even room for some surprises, like the complete Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin symphonies.
Most importantly, it’s not just about the quantity. The quality of some of these cycles is as good as it gets. By any standard, Herbert Blomstedt’s Beethoven cycle in Dresden is one of the great ones. The complete Haydn symphonies with Adam Fischer and the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra is worth the price of the entire set all by itself. In fact, for anyone looking for a complete set of the Haydn symphonies, this is hands-down the way to go. The Brahms and Mozart cycles recorded by Brilliant have both been critically acclaimed, the ever-reliable Neville Marriner and his Academy are here for Schumann, Roy Goodman and Hanover play Schubert . . . what’s not to like? The aforementioned Shostakovich is one of the best all-around cycles available, yet it’s currently difficult to come by outside of this box.
In short, this is a set that is sure to please anyone. There is no other way to get so much essential repertoire for so little. Many of the performances could suffice as a “reference” set for a collection, and those that don’t, like the mixed group of Mahler symphonies, include some notable alternate takes like a live BIS recording of the Eighth with Neemi Järvi and Jascha Horenstein’s third from Unicorn.
In short, this is one of the best investments in classical recordings you’ll ever make. Snap it up while you have the chance!

RCA Living Stereo

2010-03-01T07:52:00.000-05:00

If you are a fan of the RCA Living Stereo series, you may get a kick out of this old film:
RCA LIVING STEREO

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice

2009-07-28T00:07:00.000-04:00

I sometimes come across some good finds while exploring for new works to try out. There is a free Creative Commons MP3 version of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice from 1951 with the Berlin Municipal Opera conducted by Artur Rother. I did find reference to an excerpts LP on DG [pictured below] from the period, and this is may be a studio or live performance, released in the US on the Urania label in 1952, but I cannot say for certain this was a DG release or not. Regardless, the cast includes Margatete Klose as Orfeo [female lead replacing castrato], Erna Berger as Euridice and Rita Streich as Amor. The recording is mono of course, but the performance is quite enjoyable and the sound quality acceptable, and it is a good way to be introduced to Gluck's operas.

Now the good part: You can get this recording for free. It has been released online in several locations, but the easiest place is here at Liber.it The page is in Italian, but no problem, scroll to the bottom and you will see the 24 tracks to download. Make sure you right-click to save the files since your browser may try to just play the MP3s. You may want a libretto or at least a synopsis, so check out the links below.

Librettos [under Gluck; ORFEO]
Synopsis at reference.com
MP3 download from Liber.it

Artwork for the Excerpts LP and a recent CD release:

Thomas Tallis

2009-06-24T17:30:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, it is easy to miss the works of a famous composer. While I have some selections of Thomas Tallis' choral works on various compilations, I never delved too deep into some of his works. Big mistake, talk about some beautiful music. I have been listening to several Tallis CDs, one by the Tallis Scholars and one by Magnificat. Besides wonderful performances, the sound is excellent and I cannot recommend these albums enough for anyone wanting to explore early choral music. Tallis' works are reminiscent of the Gregorian Chants you have probably heard before, but with a higher range in the vocals, and many of his texts are in English as well as Latin.

Tallis Scholars @ Amazon.com

Magnificat @ Amazon.com

Speaking of Szell

2009-06-13T11:21:00.000-04:00

Sony Classics has just re-released the Haydn Early Symphony [93-98] recordings by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra in a 2CD set! These are great performances, and Szell really brings out the best in these pieces. The sound quality is fine, especially for an older recording, and an excellent way to get these symphonies in your collection. The set is mid-priced, and also available in an MP3 Album version.

You can also listen to a free streaming version [low quality] of the entire CD at Napster.com

Bach's Goldberg Variations

2009-04-30T22:18:00.000-04:00

Of Bach's solo keyboard works, the Goldberg Variations rank at or near the top, a work with an Aria and 30 variations. While there are many recordings on harpsichord or other period keyboards like a pianoforte, my favorites happen to be modern piano performances. My introduction to Bach's Goldberg came in 1982 with the purchase of Glenn Gould's 1981 digital remake of his landmark 1955 recording. Having never heard the original, I had no basis to judge Gould's new interpretation as good, bad, or even to compare it to other artists interpretations. Let me state now that with Gould, you really love or dislike his performances, he does not just play, but puts on a performance, and in actuality may not be what the composer originally intended, but it doesn't really matter in my opinion.

Why should it make a difference which recording I listened to first? Well, if you love a particular record and it is the only version you have, you tend to set in your mind that this is the 'right' way to perform it, whether it is a 'good' recording or not. In hindsight, I am glad to have approached this work with Gould's 1981 as the 'definitive' performance. I am under no illusion that what he did had anything to do with Bach's intentions, or that the 1981 playing is not full of Gould's sometimes bizarre takes on a particular movement. But it is those particular quirks that made me love this piece, and allows me to hear things in it that I would not have appreciated had I heard the 1955 or another recording first.

Gould's 1981 recording is a radical departure from his earlier one, and in many ways these are not even the same work. Where the 1955 zips along at a practically impossible speed and is treated more or less as one long work, the 1981 thoughtfully takes each section individually, and the contrast can be jarring. Some movements are played at half the speed in the remake. Now whether he sped up in 1955 or slowed down in 1981 is again subject to interpretation. It is easy with an iPod to play both recordings at once, and alternate each CD, playing track 1 of the 1955, then track 1 of the 1981, track 2 1955, track 2 1981, etc. You never feel like you have repeated a track, and on occasion it sounds like you are not even listening to the same work.

Right now I am listening to the 1955 and the 1981 like this, with Murray Perahia's 2000 recording thrown in too as a comparison. I have listened to other recordings, but always end up with the Gould 1981 or 1955, so it was time to once again visit another performer to see if it would stand up. On a track-by-track basis, sometimes Perahia's playing matches Gould's 1955, sometimes the 1981, and others are his own take. One major difference is that Gould rarely took any of Bach's repeats, and Perahia seems to take them all. Not a bad thing, but makes the recording a lot longer. But this is not a fair way to listen to a recording, just an interesting comparison, especially with the two Gould recordings.

To anyone who is a newcomer to this work, I have always had some reservations about recommending Gould, especially the 1981 recording, since there is a lot of Gould mixed in with the Bach. He has a tendency to sing along with his playing, and it is quite audible in the 1981 set. However, Sony released the 'State of Wonder' collection with both the 1955 and 1981 versions in one set a while back, and this is the set I recommend. I lean toward the 1955 as a more 'pure' performance, but the 1981 has so much to offer too. If you are so inclined, go with Gould's set and I feel you will get a lot out of your choice. The 1955 is great, although the sound quality is mono but decent, and the 1981 sounds better, with a much closer piano sound, but you do get the humming of Gould. If this bothers you, Murray Perahia's recording is the way to go. The playing is a little 'soft' for a Baroque work, but still the best alternative in my opinion to the Gould. Perahia's recording is a lot longer because of the repeats, but still quite enjoyable. The piano is not too close, and the piano tone is nice and warm.

RECORDINGS:
Glenn Gould: State of Wonder, 1955 and 1981 recordings
Murray Perahia: Goldberg Variations

Video of Gould playing Bach's Goldberg Variations 1964

2009-04-29T17:18:00.002-04:00

Gould plays selections from the Goldberg Variations:
Aria
Variation 3 (Canon at the Unison)
Variation 6 (Canon at the 2nd)
Variation 9 (Canon at the 3rd)
Variation 12 (Canon at the 4th)
Variation 15 (Canon at the 5th)
Variation 27 (Canon at the 9th)

Video of Gould playing Bach's Goldberg Variations 1981

2009-04-29T17:14:00.002-04:00

Be patient, the camera eventually gets to the keyboard, where you can see Gould play.

Thomas Giovanni Albinoni: Basic Works

2009-03-29T22:36:00.000-04:00

Albinoni may be best known for his Adagio for Organ and Strings, used in the movie Platoon. The Adagio is an arrangement by musicologist Remo Giazotto, who discovered a fragment of a work while researching for an Albinoni biography. While a beautiful work, if that is all that you know of Albinoni, you are missing a lot. The closest comparison may be of the works of Vivaldi, and the recommended works are baroque gems.  Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music give an original instruments performance of the Opus 9 Concertos. This is apparently the first recording of this work on period instruments, and is a full price 2 CD set. Well worth the price, though. Also available as an MP3 Album.  The 2 CD Budget Set by I Musici is also a good recording, and includes the famous arrangement of the Albinoni Adagio. The recordings are from the 1960's, and are of a more romantic vein than baroque, but still is a nice CD. Comes in a bargain MP3 Album also.  The Bargain Adagio Collection, 'Adagio and Concerti' from DG features the Adagio along with various works from the Opus 7 and 9 Concertos, and is a nice sampler if you want a single CD. 
 

Fasch Orchestral Music

2009-03-27T11:33:00.008-04:00

A contemporary of Bach and Telemann, Johann Friedrich Fasch is a lesser known German composer. His major claim to fame is turning down a position at Leipzig, for which the post was eventually by Bach. Tempesta di Mare' has recorded a set of his works on Chandos, and the results are charming. While the style fits in the Baroque suite categories, the works are original with a familiar sound. Definitely a nice diversion to listening to the Brandenburg Concertos for those times when you need some nice classical, but are not quite in the mood for Bach.

The Tempesta di Mare' do a wonderful job of recording these works, and the recording is bright and clear. Apparently this is the first recording of these particular works, and is a great addition to any Baroque classical music lover's collection.

Read CD Booklet here.

See album at Amazon.com
See album at iTunes Store
See album at eMusic

Mozart Deal for a short time

2009-02-27T22:14:00.001-05:00

Amazon has a 99 track MP3 sampler on sale right now for $2.99. A great way to hear a lot of Mozart. These are selections from various works, and probably not the top of the line performances, but at this price, who can pass it up? On sale as of Feb 28, 2009

The 99 Most Essential Mozart Masterpieces

Schumann Sonatas for Violin and Piano

2009-02-27T19:51:00.004-05:00

I have been exploring some interesting works lately, among them some excellent violin sonatas. Surprisingly, there are a few works that I never had a chance to listen to and was surprised by them. Schumann's Sonatas for Violin and Piano are sublime works, and a great recording is by Jennifer Koh [violin] and Reiko Uchida [piano] on Cedille Records. Schumann has a way with melody and the interplay with between the two instruments definitely makes this more than a violin work with the piano playing a background part. Koh has a full and rich sound, and the recording balance favors the violin, but not by too much.
Link to recording:
Schumann: The Sonatas for Violin and Piano

Wendy Carlos

2008-07-20T19:21:00.000-04:00

In case you have never heard of Wendy Carlos, if you are a fan of electronic music, you are in for a pleasant surprise. Over the past several years Wendy has been releasing her old recordings from the late 1960's and 1970's in newly remastered CD sets. You may have heard her music. She did the soundtracks for Clockwork Orange, Tron, and a few cuts from The Shining. Also, Timesteps was used in planetariums for years in the 70's and 80's.
Wendy, previously recording under the name Walter Carlos, is one of the innovators of synthesizer music, and created a sensation with the 'Switched-On Bach' album back in 1968. From then on, a variety of classical arrangements graced various LPs, and in the 1980's she began releasing some of her original works, such at Digital Moonscapes. She still is working on new recordings today, and also releasing some her early works on CD. The Wendy Carlos Homepage has a lot of commentary on all of her works, along with some other interesting info, and is worth a look.

Wendy Carlos at Amazon