Classic Classical?

I began playing the Cello when I was six. In high school I decided I wasn't going to make music my career but I've kept my love of classical music. I put off building up the Classical collection until the end of this year. It's a kind of reverse discrimination. I wanted to work on types of music I favor less. This year I've done Rock, Country, Christian, Latin, Jazz, and now I'm working on Classical. Of course I listen to what I buy. When I'm buying Rock for the Library, I listen to Rock. But there is no comparison. Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor makes anything the Doors did sound thin and shallow by comparison. It's not that I don't love other types of music. Read my previous posts I was blown away by Buddy Holly. It's just that if you give a musical genius a full orchestra and choir with all their rich textures it won't compare to a musical genius that only has guitar, bass, and drum to work with and is limited by a radio format. Then take a great master like Bach and combine him with the strength and talent of Pablo Casals, the greatest cellist that ever lived, it can send chills down your spine. I don't hold out hope that the Classical collection will go out like the Pop Christian collection does, but consider:

Bach: Cello Suites No 1-6 - Pablo Casals
Beethoven: String Quartets no 13 & 16 - Juilliard Quartet
Brahms: The Cello Sonatas - Mstislav Rostropovich
Dvorak, Schumann: Cello Concertos - Jacqueline Du Pre
Dvorak, Elgar: Cello Concertos - Pierre Fournier
Handel: Concerti Grossi Op 6 Nos 5-8
Haydn: Cello Concertos nos 1 & 2 - Yoyo Ma
Mendelssohn: Musique De Chambre
Vivaldi: Concertos
Bruckner: Te Deum; Mozart: Requiem - Bruno Walter NY Philharmonic
Mozart: Symphonies 40 & 41 - Leonard Bernstein Vienna Philharmonic
Beethoven: Piano Concerto, Romances Nos 1 & 2
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas - Arthur Rubinstein
Romantic Era - Beethoven, etc / Horowitz, Reiner, Szell
Beethoven: Symphonies no 5 & 7
Haydn: Symphonies No 99-104
Perlmann Edition - Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn
Essential Vivaldi
Vivaldi: the Four Seasons
Frannck: Complete Masterworks for Organ
Tchaikovsky Album
Tchaikovsky, Schumann: Piano Concertos - Vladimir Ashkenazy
Schubert: Impromptus, Moments Musicaux Etc.
Schubert: Die Winterreise
Schubert: Piano Quintets, String Trios
Haydn: Emperor, Sunrise, Hunt Quartets
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet etc.
Mozart: the Great Serenades
Tchaikovsky, Mozart: Violin Concertos - Jascha Heifetz
Rubinstein Collection Vol 61 - Mozart Piano Concertos

The Year in Film

For the last thirteen months I have been trying to build a core collection of classic DVDs. To do this I have been working on three separate concepts. The first was to make sure we had a complete collection of Classic/Academy Award winning motion pictures. Second was to build up specific genres. Third was special collections. I began by purchasing the winners of Oscar winning films and the various lists of "Calssic movie" lists such as the Library of Congress National Registry of films. At the same time I worked on building up specific genres. I have finished building core collections of Horror and Science fiction with Comedy and Westerns currently in the pipeline. About half of the comedies I ordered are out on the shelf. For the most part they are the silents and early classic comedies. The more recent are still in Processing. Westerns are on the ways. Spanish and French are two special collections I have developed. Spanish because of our large Spanish population and French because area French teachers requested it. The Spanish language collection is on the shelf, the French is in the pipeline. Two minor specialized collections are Ballet and Star Trek. Ballet is a right of passage for young girls but the truly great ballet companies rarely make it out this way so I purchased DVD's of the the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Coppelia, La Sylphide, Romeo and Juliet, and Giselle. I also ordered a set of all the Star Trek motion pictures. I am also working on the television show. All three seasons of the original cast are on order and I will be purchasing Star Trek: the Next Generation at the end of this year and the beginning of next year. Classic television shows are another special collection I am working on this year but they should not be on the shelf till the end of the year.

For our Western fans you will have these movies to look forward to:

Hombre
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
True Grit
Little Big Man
Outlaw Josey Wales
Shootist
Miracle Rider (Tom Mix)
My Darling Clementine
King of the Cowboys (Roy Rogers)
Down Mexico Way (Gene Autry)
Duel in the Sun
McLintock!
Fistfull of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More

A Year of Music

I have been the Rogers Public Library's AV Librarian for a year now. In that time I have tried to build up a core collection of Rock, Christian, Country, Latin, Jazz and Classical music. My Rock, Christian, Country, and Latin buys for the year are all on the shelf. Jazz is just beginning to make it to the shelves while Classical is in the pipeline. I did buy a trio of comedy CD's which at the moment are hidden behind the Espanol in 792.33. If they go out I'll buy more. I may buy more anyway just to build a collection and see how it goes since the stand up I bought in DVD's is going out pretty well.

For Jazz lovers here's a list of what's on the shelf or "In Processing":

Tidal Wave by Fletcher Henderson
The Original James P Johnson 1942-1945
The Collection by Bessie Smith
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Masterpieces 1926-1949 By Duke Ellington
Hot Fives and Sevens By Louis Armstrong
Jelly Roll Morton 1926-1930
Classic Early Recordings by Django Reinhardt
The Early Years: 1923-1942 by Earl Hines
Best of Art Tatum
Memories of You by Eubie Blake
The Very Best of Fats Waller
Jean Goldkette Bands 1924-1929
Essential Glenn Miller
Golden Years 1938-1942 By Glen Miller
The Gene Krupa Story
Red Nichols 1926-30
Best of Jay "Hootie" McShann
Sing, Sing, Sing By Benny Goodman
Complete Decca Recordings 1937-1939 By Count Basie
Very Best of Artie Shaw
Tommy Dorsey Greatest hits
Free Jazz by Ornette Coleman
Jazz Goes to College by Dave Brubeck
Essential Dave Brubeck
The Band Played On-25 Number One Hits by Guy Lombardo
Are you hep to Jive? 22 Sensational Tracks by Cab Calloway
Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945, Dizzy Gillespie
A Studio Chronicle: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gilespie, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughn, Max Roach and Bud Powell
Fanfare for the Warriors by the Art Ensemble of Chicago
Inner Mounting Flame by Mahvishnu Orchestra
Mingus Ah Um By Charlie Mingus
My Song by Keith Jarrett
Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961 by Bill Evans
Classic Piano Solos 1934-1937 by Art Tatum
The Amazing Bud Powell Vol 1
Stan Getz and the Oscar Peterson Trio
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
Brilliant Corners by Thelonious Monk