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Classical Music for Aficionados

I would like to start a thread, similar to Orpheus’ jazz site, for lovers of classical music.
I will list some of my favorite recordings, CDs as well as LP’s. While good sound is not a prime requisite, it will be a consideration.
  Classical music lovers please feel free to add to my lists.
Discussion of musical and recording issues will be welcome.

I’ll start with a list of CDs.  Records to follow in a later post.

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique.  Chesky  — Royal Phil. Orch.  Freccia, conductor.
Mahler:  Des Knaben Wunderhorn.  Vanguard Classics — Vienna Festival Orch. Prohaska, conductor.
Prokofiev:  Scythian Suite et. al.  DG  — Chicago Symphony  Abbado, conductor.
Brahms: Symphony #1.  Chesky — London Symph. Orch.  Horenstein, conductor.
Stravinsky: L’Histoire du Soldat. HDTT — Ars Nova.  Mandell, conductor.
Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances. Analogue Productions. — Dallas Symph Orch. Johanos, cond.
Respighi: Roman Festivals et. al. Chesky — Royal Phil. Orch. Freccia, conductor.

All of the above happen to be great sounding recordings, but, as I said, sonics is not a prerequisite.


rvpiano
kef_lover
29 posts
 
schubert,

It looks like we share the same sentiment regarding the incredible gift that is classical music. There are times when I finish listening to a favorite piece on my stereo that I wonder how this can be LEGAL. Police should be approaching me with handcuffs at the ready. I hear "I’m sorry sir, but that’s twice this week you’ve played the Shostakovich 5th. You’re going in. Don’t you understand there are limits in decent society?" as I’m being led away to the squadcar.

It is simply too good on too many levels - emotionally, intellectually, aurally... I genuinely pity those who don’t share an appreciation for it.
If they only knew what they're missing...

schubert
4,867 posts
 
I feel that way too kef lover.
I feel genuine sorrow when I hear/read guys in their 60’s debating which heavy metal band was the greatest .

I never heard a note of Classical till my late 20’s and then
I heard the GREAT Swedish tenor Jussi Borling singing a LvB song on Armed Forces Radio in Vietnam .
It clicked with me like switching on a light in a dark room , true beauty in a place there was none .
Strange , because AFR never played Classical .I sometimes think I was listening to station GOD .

rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
938 posts
 
I know I should love my music regardless of sound, but since my NuForce amplifiers broke down and have thus far been unfixable (although there is now hope,) I have not been able to reach that Nirvana except in a couple of cases. Shouldn’t be, I know . But it is.
 Really devastating!
kef_lover
29 posts
 
Schubert,

Bjorling was my father’s favorite tenor, and he was an opera singer himself. Bjorling’s voice was like wallpaper as I was growing up. Quite a story how you heard him first in Vietnam. As the years went on, Franco Corelli displaced him as my father’s favorite, though Bjorling and Domingo were still played very often. By the time I was in my 30s, my love of orchestral music had grown on my father and he only  listened to opera occasionally after that.
pryso
1,501 posts
 
schubert and kef, I didn't "get into" classical music until college, but that did not include opera.  Over the years a few friends were opera buffs so I was exposed to it.  I then developed some enjoyment for the music itself and added several opera overture recordings to my collection.  But I still didn't care for most of the singing.

Then a couple of decades ago I happened upon an RCA CD, "Opera Goes to the Movies".  As you might guess, that included arias by several well known singers which had been used in movie soundtracks.  One of those was Bjorling performing "Nessun Dorma".  That still gives me chills whenever I listen so obviously he became a favorite.
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