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Help this budding Classical audiophile

I am looking for a recommendation on what Classical cd to buy, preferable under the Naxos label as they are well recorded and inexpensive (talk about having your cake and eating it too!). I've been an audiophile for the past 20 years now and mainly listen to acoustic jazz. My taste includes artists such as Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Barron, Brad Mehldau, Micheal Franks, Yellowjackets, Joey Calderazzo to name a few. I have about 700 cd's, with about 80% acoustic jazz. I'm more into the melody, and of course the musicianship, when I buy cd's. One thing that is also very important to me is the recording quality. I only started getting "turned on" to Classical music within the last 2-3 years and have since bought cd's from Bach, Beethoven, and my favorite right now, Haydn. I particularly like the sound of the violin and have exclusively bought violin quartets/trios. I like listening to Classical songs that are "emotional", even solo violin would do. Any recommendations out there would be greatly appreciated as this budding Classical audiophile has no clue as to what cd to pick from the very vast selection Classical music has to offer. Thanks in advance!
gemini

Showing 1 response by gabbro

gabbro
88 posts
 
A very interesting, but hard to find disc is Niels W. Gade, violin sonatas 1-3, Bratchkova, CPO 999 644-2. Romantic-era violin and piano; I wish I had known about this composer a long time ago. On Naxos, I recommend Glazunov/Dvorak violin concertos, and if you like atmospheric symphonic music, Sibelius Tone Poems. The Baroque violin recordings of John Holloway sound very good are highly recommended (Unam Ceylum and Unarum Fidium).

On another note, you might try joining a mail order club or two in order to get a load of "free" discs to begin with. It will allow you to sample a good diversity of music without a significant price tag. Most of the limited choices at BMG are fairly common, but you can pick and choose on the web site. For violin music probably available there, try Barber and Meyer violin concertos (Hahn; Sony Classical), Bach Art of the Fugue (Emerson String Qt; Deutsche Grammophon), Tartini violin concertos (Wallfisch; Hyperion), Mendelsohn and Shostakovitch violin concertos (Hahn, Sony Classical), Vivaldi Late Violin Concertos (Carmignola; Sony), Bach Solo & Double Violin Concertos (Manze, Harmonia Mundi), Vivaldi Concert for the Prince of Poland (Manze, Harmonia Mundi). For contemporary symphonic music that is not over the top (i.e., you can listen to it more than once), try John Adams Naive and Sentimental Music. Cheers.
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