Wednesday, September 27, 2006

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

1 Comments:

Blogger PaulaP said...

Some of my all time favorites in the grouping you have picked. Your doing a great job to teach the younger generation what the "Classics" are. PaulaP

8:27 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home