Phenomenal Classical Recordings

I just checked the acoustic sounds web site for RCA Living Stereo and they listed this hybrid SACD set for $110, would this be a comprehensive set to get going with? I noticed it listed one of pmotz's recos. I also will get the books mentioned by sdcampbell. It's backordered though.

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Saint Saens: Symphony No.3 ''Organ'/Charles Munch'
Ravel: Daphnis Et Chloe/Charles Munch
R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra/Fritz Reiner
Bartok: Concerto For Orchestra/Fritz Reiner
Beethoven: Violin Concerto In D/ Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor/Jascha Heifetz,violin/Charles Munch
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1/ Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2/Fritz Reiner
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition & Other Russian Showpieces/Fritz Reiner
Verdi & Puccini Arias/Leontyne Price
Chopin: Ballades/Arthur Rubinstein
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 ''Pathetique''/Pierre Monteux

Most of the set is good. Not all, unfortunately. Many of these recordings are by now considered as "classic". However, bearing the title of this thread as "phenomenal recordings", I would leave out the Beethoven/Mendelssohn (for recording quality, although the performance is great) and the Tchaikovsky's Pathetique (uninspired performance).
There's another remastered-to-Hybrid-SACD (albeit in stereo) Mussorgsky's Pictures that is in demo class and better than the RCA. It's the Mobile Fidelity version with Slatkin.

I will post a list soon. But for now, you can also browse Gramophone Recommended Recordings to keep you occupied. I generally agreed with this list about 75% of the times.

You may also want several of the newly remastered to Hybrid-SACD's by Mercury Living Presence. They are very special indeed.

How about a trip to your local library before you buy. Its a good inexpensive way to audition the suggestions.Also check out the bbc radio website .

Maineiac, here are some recommendations to pick through as starting points for beginning your exploratation of classical music. I’ve tried to list music that is both accessible and mainstream, and to recommend recordings that are both readily available and have excellent sound quality. This is not a definitive list by any stretch, but it can help you get started and it covers a wide variety musical genres and styles.

Sources/Starting Places...
As Lvk47 suggests, I also recommend that you start your exploration of classical music by borrowing some CDs from your local library, if they have some. Select some of the works recommended below or by others and try them out to see what you think of the music. You probably won’t find the specific performance recommended, but you’re likely to find **a** performance of any of these recommended pieces of music because they are all basic repertoire. Just remember that in classical music, different performances of the same music can sound very different and, in some cases, can either make or break the music for you.

Reference material for futher exploration...
…The Grammophone Recommended Recordings list (as suggested above by Gaudio_eek) once you get some sense of which composers you like www.gramophone.co.uk/recrecordings.asp
…The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection (as suggested above by Sdcampbell)

Orchestral recommendations...
Haydn: Symphony No. 94 “Surprise” and others, Colin Davis/Concertgebouw Orch, Philips

Mozart: Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” Trevor Pinnock/ English Concert, Archiv

Mozart: Serenata notturna / Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Orpheus Chamber Orch, Deutsche Grammophon

Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Carlos Kleiber/Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Grammophon

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2, Andre Previn/London Symphony Orch, RCA (there is a later EMI recording by Previn which is very good, but I somewhat prefer the earlier RCA)

Holst: The Planets, Andre Previn/London Symphony Orchestra, EMI

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Marriner/ASMF, Brown -violin, Decca/Argo

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Reiner/Chicago Symphony Orch, RCA

Sibelius, Sym 2, Barbirolli/RPO, Chesky #3

Stravinsky, Firebird, Dorati/LSO, Mercury 432012
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Chamber music recommendations...
The following are a diverse offering of chamber music that would introduce you to a range of periods and musical idioms. Any listing could go on for pages and pages, but these are some selections that I enjoy and return to, and they are all “accessible” for someone just beginning to explore classical music.

Arturo Delmoni, “Songs My Mother Taught Me” (multiple works pieces for violin and piano, beautifully played) John Marks Records

Arturo Delmoni and Nathaniel Rosen, “Music for a Glass Bead Game,” (complimentary selections for violin and cello by Bach and Kodaly, very accessible, beautifully played and recorded) John Marks Records

Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Pinnock/English Consort, Archiv (for period instruments); or Britten/English Chamber Orch, Decca (for modern instruments)

Handel: Water Music, Pinnock/English Concert, Archiv

Telemann: Tafelmusik (“Music for Table”) Brueggen/Leohnardt/Bylsma is my preferred set but there are other good ones. This one unfortunately is available only in a box set today.

Haydn: String Quartets (choose virtually any of them) The performances by the Kodaly Quartet on Naxos have been well received, but I haven’t heard them.

Schubert: Trout Quintet, C.Curzon (piano) and Members of the Vienna Octet, Decca; or The Festival Quartet, RCA (lots of other choices as well, but I like these two)

Beethoven: Archduke Trio, Kempff/Szeryng/Fournier –vc, Deutsche Gramophone (Polygram)

Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Piano; or Sonata for Cello and Piano

Franck: Sonata in A for Violin and Piano

Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat – Suite, Chicago Pro Musica, Reference Recordings #17

Malcolm Arnold’s chamber music performed by the Nash Ensemble on Hyperion (for a change of pace with something more contemporary and with humor – I particularly enjoy the various fantasies for oboe and for bassoon.)
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Chamber music suggestions added to last post.

Maineiac, do you need some recommendations for choral, piano or organ or will orchestral and chamber be a sufficient starting point?
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