Classical fans, I need advice


I need a bit of advice. I've been listening to sample classical recordings (from tower records and amazon) for over 3 months trying to find a place to start. My interest began when I first became entranced by Alison Krauss + Union Station and Nickel Creek. I've gained a new appreciation for classical styles and the violin (fiddle?) in particular.

I listened to: Hilary Hahn - Bach: Violin Concertos on Deutsche Grammophon and enjoyed it. It wasn't too pretty, nor too symphonic. It's intimate and large at the same time. Maybe not quite as romantic as I might prefer but I honestly cannot say without hearing more. Keep in mind I'm not describing the performance here just the music. I'm thinking I will take the plunge with this Hybrid SACD.

Based on this can I be "profiled" and perhaps pointed in a direction? I know these works come from the Baroque period. I also read this in an amazon review "Shortly after Bach's time, the structure of a concerto changed from an ensemble piece for chamber musicians to a piece for soloist and full orchestra. Hence many recordings of these pieces are done by 'name' soloists and 'name' orchestras and lose their intimacy in the process. This recording does not; kudos to DG and Hahn for the choice of the thoroughly musical and consummately professional Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for this disc." I really don't know if this is significant to my enjoyment of what i've heard but I thought I should mention it.

A few other notes about myself. Sound quality is of extreme importance to me. I simply cannot enjoy music on poor recordings. Something else, I really like the song from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack titled "Concerning Hobbits" composed by Howard Shore and performed by the New Zealand S.O. Again I'm not sure if this points me to a specific classical style or period but I figured I would mention it.

Any comments are appreciated
Vedric
vedric

Showing 1 response by tfkaudio

Hi Vedric,
When I was in the same spot as you back in the mid-1990's, I came upon a book called "Classical Music" by Phil Goulding which proved to be an invaluable tool for building a collection. It's written for the beginner, and it ranks the top 50 all-time composers (Bach is #1, Borodin is #50) and lists 5 essential compositions by each composer (Expanded lists are also included if you want more than 5 by a particular composer). With the help of this book I built a nice collection of music.
As for specific recommendations, I will throw out a couple of my all-time favorite orchestral pieces:

1) Petrushka - Stravinsky
2) Piano Concerto #5 - Beethoven
3) Christmas Oratorio - Bach
4) A German Requiem - Brahms
5) Slavonic Dances - Dvorak

To find the best loved performances of these and other works, Amazon.com reviews work great. To find the highest quality sound is more difficult. Sites like this one and SA-CD.net work fairly well. Also, certain labels such as Chandos and Hyperion are oriented more towards audiophile recordings, so go with CDs on those labels when you have a choice.

Enjoy the journey!

Tom