Bought some used Classical Lp's!

[john72953]

I've always liked classical music, but I've never known what to buy. There are so many Symphonies and different orchestras and conducters, that I've always been hesitant on buying more.

Anyway, I was at a thrift store and I picked up a few LP's for ...get this $0.20 apiece. The covers show some age, but the vinyl is in what looks like superb condition.

This is what I picked up:
Herbert Von Karajan & The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: Mozart Symphony No 40 in G Minor, K-550 ( London Records 1967 - STS15106)
Van Cliburn (Kiril Kondrashin/conductor): Tchaikovsky Concerto No 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op 23 ( RCA Victor Red Seal 1958 - LM-2252)

Are these any good?

John

 

[jliedeka]

I'm not familiar with Mozart Symphony 40 (as far as I know) but the RCA Red Seal records are good. Those are the ones that say Living Stereo, yes? They have some of the best recordings. I have several of those on SACD.

Jim

 

[skizzerflake]

Don't worry too much about whether they are THE best recordings. If you don't have a rigidly formulated idea about specific performances of specific works, it's a liberating thing and you will probably enjoy the music more. The performers you mention indicate that the records have been around for a while, are performances by masters of that era and, after all, the records aren't nearly as old as the music, so it's not like they will become obsolete. Enjoy.

 

[regnaD kciN]

The obvious answer to "are these any good?" is to listen to them yourself and decide. You already paid for them, after all!

Taking them in reverse order: The Van Cliburn disc is one of the biggest-selling classical recordings ever. It was made just after Cliburn won the Tchaikovsky Competition, making him an instant celebrity. (Yes, as strange as it may seem now, fifty years ago, the Tchaikovsky Competition was as big a stepping-stone to stardom as American Idol is now.) In any event, this was Cliburn's first recording, and made it on the Billboard Album Chart (that's for popular albums, by the way), where it remained for several years.

Now, I notice that your disc has an LM- catalog number. That means it's mono. (Stereo RCAs had an LSC- catalog number instead.) In other words, it isn't going to be an audiophile spectacular, but it won't make the performance any less excellent. And, look at it this way: if you like the performance, you can always get the SACD and enjoy it in three-track.

While I'm not familiar with that particular Karajan/Mozart recording (HvK recorded virtually every major piece several times between the fifties and the eighties), from what I recall of his later EMI recording of the late Mozart symphonies, the critical consensus was that he took an overly heavy, old-fashioned approach to Mozart. Still, I'm sure the musicianship and ensemble on the recording will be great, since Karajan was a perfectionist in those areas, and you may find the older, more "romantic" Mozart to your liking. While I don't know who produced and engineered those discs, Decca/London "bluebacks" had a reputation for sound almost up there with Mercury and RCA at that point, with producers and engineers like John Culshaw, Charles Gerhardt, and Kenneth Wilkinson. So, odds are that the sound quality will be at least acceptable and possibly a great deal more than that.

 

[3db]

I've always liked classical music, but I've never known what to buy. There are so many Symphonies and different orchestras and conducters, that I've always been hesitant on buying more.

Anyway, I was at a thrift store and I picked up a few LP's for ...get this $0.20 apiece. The covers show some age, but the vinyl is in what looks like superb condition.

This is what I picked up:
Herbert Von Karajan & The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: Mozart Symphony No 40 in G Minor, K-550 ( London Records 1967 - STS15106)
Van Cliburn (Kiril Kondrashin/conductor): Tchaikovsky Concerto No 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op 23 ( RCA Victor Red Seal 1958 - LM-2252)

Are these any good?

John

$.20 is a very cheap learning curve for classical music, espcially vinyl. Congrats on your find. Good how? Good in the terms of audio quality or good in terms of conductor or good interms of music selected? *L* Mozart I find is very easy to listen too. His stuff is extremely musical and although he can put a dark mood spin on some of his works, the majority is light and easy mood wise but jam packed and dense with notes. If you want to branch out there, you can try Hayden next or "Papa haydn" as he's somtimes called. He taught Beethoven. Beethoven is my far my most favourite composure. No one plays with the listener's emotions more or better than him IHO. If you were to go to Beethoven, I'd recommend his Symphony number 5 and 6 first followed by is piano concerto #5 or "emperor concerto" as its sometimes referred too. Those three compsures were the main ones in teh classical period. Before classical, there was barogue. Vivaldi, Bach, Handel are the compsures of that period in time. After classical period is the romantic period. Composers like Schubert, Wagner are there for sure. I don't know if Tchaikovsky fits in that genere.. not without looking it up on wikipedia anyway.

Like I said 20cents for vinyl is dirt cheap as long as its listenable. Enjoy

 

[john72953]

Thanks so much for those comments guys, and YES I will have to listen to them. I'm planning on doing just that on the weekend.

Do you guys have any suggestions as to what I could possibly consider for purchase? I recognize a lot of classical when I hear it, but am totally unfamiliar with the titles of the symphonies or barogue pieces? Are there conductors who speciallize in performing a certain composers work?

I guess I'm asking for some kind of starting point. I don't want to buy a lot of classical, but I certainly do want to enhance my limited number of discs. My preferred choice is vinyl, but SACD or Hybrid/SACD works also.

Thank you,

John

 

[john72953]

$.20 is a very cheap learning curve for classical music, espcially vinyl. Congrats on your find. Good how? Good in the terms of audio quality or good in terms of conductor or good interms of music selected? *L* Mozart I find is very easy to listen too. His stuff is extremely musical and although he can put a dark mood spin on some of his works, the majority is light and easy mood wise but jam packed and dense with notes. If you want to branch out there, you can try Hayden next or "Papa haydn" as he's somtimes called. He taught Beethoven. Beethoven is my far my most favourite composure. No one plays with the listener's emotions more or better than him IHO. If you were to go to Beethoven, I'd recommend his Symphony number 5 and 6 first followed by is piano concerto #5 or "emperor concerto" as its sometimes referred too. Those three compsures were the main ones in teh classical period. Before classical, there was barogue. Vivaldi, Bach, Handel are the compsures of that period in time. After classical period is the romantic period. Composers like Schubert, Wagner are there for sure. I don't know if Tchaikovsky fits in that genere.. not without looking it up on wikipedia anyway.

Like I said 20cents for vinyl is dirt cheap as long as its listenable. Enjoy

Your post came through as I was writing mine! Kind of the response I was looking for. I must admit that I really like barogue and have some Vivaldi, Bach and Handel. I also have some Pachelbel. I'll definately look up the Beethoven selections you mentioned. I'm buying the Amadeus Blu-ray on the weekend and it comes with a 56-minute Mozart compilation CD. Should be good!

There's a used record store near my house and he must have at least 50,000, maybe even 100,000 vinyls there. I'm sure I can find some pieces there. I've bought stuff from him for $3.00 and they played superbly. All of his vinyls above $3 are guarenteed also.


John

 

[3db]

Your post came through as I was writing mine! Kind of the response I was looking for. I must admit that I really like barogue and have some Vivaldi, Bach and Handel. I also have some Pachelbel. I'll definately look up the Beethoven selections you mentioned. I'm buying the Amadeus Blu-ray on the weekend and it comes with a 56-minute Mozart compilation CD. Should be good!

There's a used record store near my house and he must have at least 50,000, maybe even 100,000 vinyls there. I'm sure I can find some pieces there. I've bought stuff from him for $3.00 and they played superbly. All of his vinyls above $3 are guarenteed also.


John

A few good record labels to stick with in terms of quality; Decca UK (not USA) and London label. I've had very good results with them. Deutches Gramaphone is hit and miss I find, at least from the CDs I have of them.


Mozart "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik", Clarinet Concerto, Flute Concerto and Obo Concerto are all very nice.
Tchaikosvky: 1812 Overture, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty Ballet overtures "select pieces anyway"
Brahms; Symphony #4.. The group Yes used the 2nd or 3rd movement... kinda cool
Schubert "Symphony #8 "Unfinished" used by Smurfs cartoom series soundtrack...
Ravel "William Tell Overture and Barber of Seville Overture " Both used in Bugs Bunny Cartoons

 

[jostenmeat]

Taking them in reverse order: The Van Cliburn disc is one of the biggest-selling classical recordings ever. It was made just after Cliburn won the Tchaikovsky Competition, making him an instant celebrity.years.

I think it should be stated that he was a "great American pianist" at the height of the cold war. He was marketed and championed to some extent because of this. Though perhaps strange/dislikable/mentally ill, Bobby Fischer the chess champ was also some sort of American bragging rights during this time.

If you want to branch out there, you can try Hayden next or "Papa haydn" as he's somtimes called. He taught Beethoven. Beethoven is my far my most favourite composure. No one plays with the listener's emotions more or better than him IHO. If you were to go to Beethoven, I'd recommend his Symphony number 5 and 6 first followed by is piano concerto #5 or "emperor concerto" as its sometimes referred too. Those three compsures were the main ones in teh classical period. Before classical, there was barogue. Vivaldi, Bach, Handel are the compsures of that period in time. After classical period is the romantic period. Composers like Schubert, Wagner are there for sure. I don't know if Tchaikovsky fits in that genere.. not without looking it up on wikipedia anyway.

Like I said 20cents for vinyl is dirt cheap as long as its listenable. Enjoy

Haydn is one of the greatest, period. He was self taught, amazingly, and is given credit for inventing and/or taking the string quartet to great heights, and the format never looked back.

Mendelssohn's 200th b-day was just 8 days ago, and he is known as the child prodigy. While Mozart is said to have written so much stuff as a kid (or maybe his dad did for him), he didn't write his first masterpiece until he was in his twenties. Felix did by age 16, the Octet for strings. He also both discovered and championed the works of the greatest of all time, Bach. (Back then, paper was very expensive, so they would take old scores to use as sandwich paper). He noticed immediately Bach's penmanship, stained with mustard, etc, on a kid's sandwich. He asked where they got the sandwich paper, bolted to the source, and found some great masterpieces! The St Matthews might've been one of them! Take with salt though, because there are some tall tales with great legends.

My favorite Beethoven piano concerto is the 4th, in G.

Brahms; Symphony #4.. The group Yes used the 2nd or 3rd movement... kinda cool

It's the last movement that is most famous, a passacaglia based on 8 bars. It's not ground bass throughout, so to speak, but the theme is always repeated somewhere throughout the entire mvmt, beginning to end.


If you put a gun to my head, and asked me Bach, or all of the other music ever created in the history of the world, I'm not sure what I would choose. Probably the former.

 

[3db]

Thanks your incite on this.

I attended a classical concert the other night;

Mendlesohn: MIdnight Summers Dream ( the latter compositions including teh wedding march)
Mendlesohn: Violin concerto played by Sarah Chang
Beethoven; Symphony #4.

It was good listening to a live orchestra and in my mind I was continously evaluating my speakers against the real thing.

 

[jostenmeat]

Mendlesohn: Violin concerto played by Sarah Chang

Cool man. That girl is/was a true prodigy child. When she was in diapers, and could not yet talk, or walk, and she would sit front of the tv. When she heard a commercial jingle, she'd crawl up to the piano and start playing it back note for note.

 

[3db]

Cool man. That girl is/was a true prodigy child. When she was in diapers, and could not yet talk, or walk, and she would sit front of the tv. When she heard a commercial jingle, she'd crawl up to the piano and start playing it back note for note.

Here's a scoop

http://www.***********/article.php?ArticleID=5461

 

[3db]

Josten.....

For some reason unknownst to me if I give you tehfull url, the darn site filters and puts in ***** for its name . Go to http:// audaud .com without the spaces and navigate choose classical music reviews.

Cheers

 

[john72953]

Thanks your incite on this.

I attended a classical concert the other night;

Mendlesohn: MIdnight Summers Dream ( the latter compositions including teh wedding march)
Mendlesohn: Violin concerto played by Sarah Chang
Beethoven; Symphony #4.

It was good listening to a live orchestra and in my mind I was continously evaluating my speakers against the real thing.

It's a shame that Valentine's Day has passed, but what a wonderful idea it would be to take your sweetheart to a classical concert! You know the ladies love getting all dressed up and it would be so cool! I'm going to have to keep that in mind for next year! Or maybe her birthday in September! Thx.