Classical Music for Aficionados

Liking #2 as I write, still on first movement.  Listening to the Donohoe/Barshai EMI recording, which seems very good.  An excellent breadth and depth of soundstage, and seems to get the balance between piano and orchestra just right, which many piano concerto recordings don't (generally spotlighting the soloist).

Wow- I have been away from this board for a few weeks and there have been some interesting discussions here!  

I don't think anyone responded to Pete, who asked about programs for cataloging a collection.  I found the ones I looked at wanting for classical, so I just use an Excel file with columns for everything I want to list.  

Mahler's symphonies are amazing - I would urge anyone who hasn't to try the performances of Claudio Abbado, both older and newer.  For instance, many prefer Abbado's 5th with Chicago to Solti's from the same era, including myself.  His more recent work with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was amazing as well.  The best Mahler conductor of our time, IMO.  

Speaking of showing off audio systems with Mahler, my choice is always the first 20 minutes or so of the second movement of the Mahler 8th, with Solti and Vienna, recorded by London.  This is an excellent test/show off vehicle for your system, for a lot of different things, from one extreme dynamic to another, and one register extreme to the other as well, along with a huge variety of timbres. 

Very interesting discussions about different composers, too.  There are a few I personally would put above Beethoven for sheer compositional craft - Mozart and Bach from earlier in his era, and from nearer our own era, Bartok and Stravinsky.  Of the later romantics, Wagner and R. Strauss are his equal for sheer craft as well.  Wagner of course much more limited as far as variety in genres, lol!  But Mozart and R. Strauss are the two who wrote a truly great work in pretty much every genre of the art (if we stretch to include tone poems in the case of Strauss). 

As far as great symphonists go, obviously most of those don't apply. I agree with the Sibelius choice, Mozart and Haydn must also be mentioned, Brahms, Dvorak, and it must also be said, and I'm surprised Schubert didn't mention this having lived there, but in Europe Bruckner is often considered second only to Beethoven as a symphonist.  He is still under-appreciated here in the US.  Try the Giulini Bruckner 7th with Vienna if you have never heard that recording.  The writing in the coda of the slow movement for the horns and Wagner tubas was in tribute to Wagner, who died while Bruckner was composing that movement. One of the most beautiful and moving moments in the entire symphonic repertoire. 

Big +1 on Giulini's 7th w/ Vienna PO, and I would add his 9th with the CSO, still one of my fav's. 

learsfool. Perhaps it was on another post, but I did recommend Bruckner ,
and would have R. Strauss if I had not been schooled by Herr newbee
for putting Mozart and Brahms above LvB and Mahler .I learned that Bruckner was too "precious " , Schubert’s 9th was over done and Haydn is to be dismissed out of hand . In fact all symphonies before LvB are to be .
I do appreciated being corrected .

In Europe Claudio is the man for Mahler beyond doubt . Rightly so .
Few of my favorite moderns , fool that I am, in no order are,Bartok, R.Strauss, Vaughan Williams, Hindemith , Janacek and Bruckner .
FWIW , I have a Bruckner set "Skrowaczewski / Rundfunk -Saarbrucken" that I dearly love . Those smaller German radio banks played together forever and often , this great conductor had them at their peak and sometimes lesser is more .

St. Paul is a hot spot for Early Music , I’d as soon listen to Henry Purcell as anybody .

Herr Professor, since you are a self proclaimed history professor perhaps you would like to revisit the basis for your statement that I 'schooled you' for putting Mozart and Brahms above LvB and Mahler.

At  10:03 AM on 2/18/2019, I posted my personal views about Mahler's symphonies and said that " Mahler only competes with Sibelius and Beethoven in my pantheon of the greatest composers of symphonies". 

At 12:28 PM on 2/18/19, you posted in response (?) "Really? Mozart and Brahms are better. And at their best, cases can be made for Haydn, Schubert and Bruckner. 

Clearly you were trying to 'school me'. For stating, what was obviously, my opinion. 

Since you are admittedly not a musicologist one must assume that you were just voicing your opinion. However, as you are aware, most folks reading your posts may not be aware of your background and believe that your pronouncement(s) was a statement of fact. 

Perhaps you would like, for the sake of historical accuracy, in the future to append to your posts of such things something like 'in my humble opinion', or if that is not achievable something as simple as 'I believe' or 'I think', if your do.