Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Classical Music suggestions? (sushi?)

Surprised nobody mentioned The Blue Danube by Strauss?

Wow, Craig! You are quickly becoming a seasoned classical music fan!

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1) Tchaikovsky | Mendelssohn first piano concertos by Lang Lang. There are a few moments on the disc I enjoyed, but overall it seemed overly rushed...I needed to catch my breath after listening. Geesh...the so much of the cd seemed frantic - not my cup of tea.

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Are you talking about the performance (interpretation) or the compositions (music itself) here?

As for the Symphonie Fantastique, its five movements each have VERY different musical characters. After you listen through the symphony, let us know which movement(s) you liked.

Well I used to listen to quite a bit about a decade ago...I just got out of it for some time.

I'll have to hear another version of the piano concerto to know if it was the music, or the playing that I did not enjoy.

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I'll have to hear another version of the piano concerto to know if it was the music, or the playing that I did not enjoy.

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My recommendation on the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 is:

Argerich/Abbado/Berlin Phil. (DDD 1994) Deutche Grammophon #449 816-2.

This is one of the highly acclaimed recordings of the Tchaikovski. Argerich presents it very drammatically. Bravo!

Here's one that's a little off beat, but excellent:

Bela Fleck - Perpetual Motion.

Classical music done on a banjo! (also with excellent classical and bluegrass musicians)

I must second that recommendation. Cello and Marimba fans will also love that Bela Fleck CD.

How does Bela Fleck's - Perpetual Motion compare to Flight of the Cosmic Hippo? I have the Cosmic Hippo CD, like it a lot.

It's a totally different genre, and Victor Wooten (the bassist) doesn't play on Perpetual Motion.

If you like Cosmic Hippo, I highly recommed the entire discography of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

I would also recommend Victor Wooten's first two CDs. The others are... kind of weird...

"A Show of Hands", his first one, is his best.

Oh boy, a thread I can actually say something about!

First, someone mentioned the cutout/discount specialists: that is the Berkshire Record Outlet at http://www.broinc.com. They're a definite destination on the web, and it's fun to go to their location as well (not that it's much to see, but they do have a lot of specials in the front room even better than the ones in their catalog) -- it's a few miles from the shed at Tanglewood in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, which is itself one of the great meccas of classical music.

I don't yet own the great sound systems you folks do, so I generally can't comment on how good these recordings are, but here are a few more for your consideration:

Coloratura is something of an acquired taste (my mother has been in the Seattle Symphony Chorale since before I was born, and she still isn't crazy about it), but this recording is simply incredible: Edita Gruberova, Queen of Coloratura. The first track is the Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's Magic Flute (by the way, NO yawning here!) which is an amazing virtuosa performance in the high registers. If you want to test your speakers' extreme high range, you can't go wrong here -- I've been using it as one of my test tracks. The rest of the recording is also fantastic. Gruberova is a rarity who not only can do the extreme high, very fast notes exactly in tune and crystal clear, but also can sing the dramatic longer notes. I was lucky enough to hear her live early in her career at the Vienna Staatsoper, and she was an absolute sensation. A recording can never be as good as live, but this one comes close. Highly recommended.

Anything with Sir Eliot Gardner is likely to be a good choice. His work with historically-informed performance has produced some wonderfully new-sounding recordings of pieces we thought we knew before. I have several of his: I enjoy his work with the Bach Christmas Oratorio, with the Mozart Requiem, and more.

Boston Baroque has produced some great recordings in recent years: one of my favorites is the Montoverdi Vespers of 1610 -- that's a stunning recording as well, so I'll bet it would sound fantastic on a great system.

Someone mentioned the Bach solo Cello Suites -- one of the classic recordings of recent years is Yo-Yo Ma's recording of those. I don't happen to own that one, but it's on my wish list.

Curtis, you're from the LA area, right? Does Jim Sjveyda (sp?) still broadcast from KUSC? He has a great compilation of his work with The Record Shelf in a guide to classical music. It's extremely opinionated, extremely passionate, and at times, hilarious. (For instance, he describes the work of Carl Orff in Carmina Burana as the sound a gland might make [I may be misquoting somewhat]).

There are a few things to start with. More later.

Chris
Holliston, MA