Getting started on classical

[Pyrrho]

To make matters more complicated, different recordings of the various classical pieces are better than others. If you read the NPR Guide or the British one (Penguin maybe?), they will list specific recordings with conductor and orchestra. I have three different versions of the Brandenburg Concertos and they are all different.

Often when classical recordings are reviewed, they rate both the performance and the recording quality. I appreciate that. I started building my classical collection from the bargain bins but now I seek out one of the better versions of a given piece.

A good free resource is the ratings on Arkiv Music, a retailer of classical discs.

Jim

I personally like the NPR Guide very much. I have tried some pieces of music because of it that I would not otherwise have considered. And although I sometimes prefer a different recording than the ones recommended in it, I have NEVER heard a bad performance from the many that I have heard that are recommended there. So far, of the ones I have heard, it only recommends very good (or great) performances.

 

[pzaur]

library

Check your local library to see what CDs are available there. That would be my first place to check. It's free.

Just to fix an inaccuracy from earlier, Beethoven did not write Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Mozart took the melody from another contemporary and Mozart pre-dates Beethoven. (Baa-baa Black Sheep and ABC song use the same melody)

The classical genre has a ton of sub-genres. Check out each musical period to see what suits you the best.

Here is a great web resource about recordings, genres, conductors, and orchestras.
classical.net

-pat

 

[3db]

Check your local library to see what CDs are available there. That would be my first place to check. It's free.

Just to fix an inaccuracy from earlier, Beethoven did not write Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Mozart took the melody from another contemporary and Mozart pre-dates Beethoven. (Baa-baa Black Sheep and ABC song use the same melody)

The classical genre has a ton of sub-genres. Check out each musical period to see what suits you the best.

Here is a great web resource about recordings, genres, conductors, and orchestras.
classical.net

-pat

I was referring to the melody, not the words but it appears I got that wrong too. Thank you for pointing that out. You made me research this *L* . I'll have to correct my source. Thanks again.

Twinkle, Little Star is one of the popular English nursery rhymes. It combines the tune of the 1761 French melody "Ah ! vous dirai-je, Maman" with an English poem, "The Star", by Jane Taylor. The poem, which is in couplet form It is often thought that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the original writer of this melody. Reinforced by its appearance as a "correct answer" in the original edition of Trivial Pursuit and "Snapple Facts" (among others), many believe that the song was written by Mozart when he was four or five years old (as "Andante in C for Keyboard"). Mozart was this age at the time the original French melody was written. Much later in his life, it is certain that he did write twelve variations on it; these variations are listed as Variations on "Ah vous dirais-je, Maman" (later K. 300e - see below) in the Köchel-Verzeichnis.[2][3] Another well-known misconception appears to be that all sets of words to this tune could be qualified as nursery rhymes. On the contrary, the original French version of the text was not intended for children's ears

 

[Captain Reg]

Acoustic instruments and the orchestral passages on pop/rock CDs sound so fantastic through my new system that I am thinking about giving classical a try.
I haven't listened to classical since high school orchestra almost 30 years ago, and know practically nothing about it. Is there a list of 10 or so "must have" classical CDs to start with?

I would recommend checking out some of the Living Stereo titles from RCA. These are very well recorded and definitive version of many essential titles. They are priced right and SACD's as well. There are some great books out there that answer just the question you have asked as well. Happy hunting you are about to start an amazing musical journey.

Cheers,

Chris