I’ll just mention a dozen or so works that everyone agrees are basic to the Classical repertoire.
Over the years I’ve noticed that many come to Classical through smaller
pieces so I’ll start with them .
Used to be some PBS stations would have a listener poll of their favorite chamber(small) works every few years .
Time after time the top choice was Schubert’s Quintet in A "The Trout", a complement of sting trio with added piano and double base .
One of my favorite recording is Rudolf Serkin and company on Sony Classic SMK46252, this has the added gift of also having one of the other masterworks, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet .
As with all I mention there are many good recordings of everything, the listener
reviews on Amazon are usually helpful .
A string Quartet that has some of just plain beautiful music ever written is
Claude Debussy’s Quartet in G minor Op.10 .
A wonderful recording is by the Guarneri Quartet on RCA, coupled with the great Ravel Quartet in F as is often the case with the Debussy .
My favorite work for the Violin and Piano duo(a lot of peoples favorite duo) is
Cesar Franks , Violin Sonata in A .
Of the perhaps 7-8 thousand recordings I’ve owned if I could have only one for the rest of my life, I’d choose the one of this by the great Korean artist Kung Wha Chung on violin and the stupendous Romanian pianist Radu Lupu .
They bring out the French elegance of this masterpiece in a way that is rare .
.I seldom say anything or anybody is the "greatest" , but this is the greatest
recording I’ve ever heard so there -LOL .
In the bigger Orchestral works a piece I have easily heard a thousand
times and yet remains ever fresh in my ears is something Norway’s greatest composer Edvard Grieg wrote as incidental music for the play "Peer Gyynt" by Norway’s greatest playwright Henrik Ibsen .
A great recording of "Peer Gynt’ is the San Francisco Symphony under Herbert Blomstedt , London 425 448-2 .
Two works by one of the greatest and IMO most original modern composers , the great Czech Leos Janacek, that seem to catch the fancy of new listeners are his "Sinfonietta" and his "Slavonic Mass" .
Strong powerful works that go from the beautiful to the brutal in a flash
that always sounds that’s as it should be !
He writes his music to fit the Czech language so you want a Czech band for these , the Czech Philarmonic/Sir Charles Mackerras are the go-to
for these .
A concerto that everyone seems to like is the "Concierto de Aranjuez" by the modern Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo. A guitar work that is just plain fun .
A nice recording of this is Carlos Bonell with the Montreal Symphony under
Charles Dutoit . There are a lot of wind solo’s in this and at the time the Montreal winds were to die for .
Concerto’s they everybody dies for are the "Brandenburg Concertos ’ by J.S, Bach , the daddy of them all .
The 6 encompass the entire Baroque concerto grosso literature with constantly changing patterns and players playing both leading and supporting roles that many of the great jazz artists have gone to school on .
My fave is the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra / Tom Koopman .
.
For solo piano great piece to start with is Robert Schumann’s "Carnaval".
Artur Rubinstein made nice work of this on RCA .
Last by not least is Vivaldi’s " Four Seasons "
If you wish to hear same in magnificent sound try Nils-Erik Sparf;
Drottingholm Baroque Ensemble BIS CD-275
Over the years I’ve noticed that many come to Classical through smaller
pieces so I’ll start with them .
Used to be some PBS stations would have a listener poll of their favorite chamber(small) works every few years .
Time after time the top choice was Schubert’s Quintet in A "The Trout", a complement of sting trio with added piano and double base .
One of my favorite recording is Rudolf Serkin and company on Sony Classic SMK46252, this has the added gift of also having one of the other masterworks, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet .
As with all I mention there are many good recordings of everything, the listener
reviews on Amazon are usually helpful .
A string Quartet that has some of just plain beautiful music ever written is
Claude Debussy’s Quartet in G minor Op.10 .
A wonderful recording is by the Guarneri Quartet on RCA, coupled with the great Ravel Quartet in F as is often the case with the Debussy .
My favorite work for the Violin and Piano duo(a lot of peoples favorite duo) is
Cesar Franks , Violin Sonata in A .
Of the perhaps 7-8 thousand recordings I’ve owned if I could have only one for the rest of my life, I’d choose the one of this by the great Korean artist Kung Wha Chung on violin and the stupendous Romanian pianist Radu Lupu .
They bring out the French elegance of this masterpiece in a way that is rare .
.I seldom say anything or anybody is the "greatest" , but this is the greatest
recording I’ve ever heard so there -LOL .
In the bigger Orchestral works a piece I have easily heard a thousand
times and yet remains ever fresh in my ears is something Norway’s greatest composer Edvard Grieg wrote as incidental music for the play "Peer Gyynt" by Norway’s greatest playwright Henrik Ibsen .
A great recording of "Peer Gynt’ is the San Francisco Symphony under Herbert Blomstedt , London 425 448-2 .
Two works by one of the greatest and IMO most original modern composers , the great Czech Leos Janacek, that seem to catch the fancy of new listeners are his "Sinfonietta" and his "Slavonic Mass" .
Strong powerful works that go from the beautiful to the brutal in a flash
that always sounds that’s as it should be !
He writes his music to fit the Czech language so you want a Czech band for these , the Czech Philarmonic/Sir Charles Mackerras are the go-to
for these .
A concerto that everyone seems to like is the "Concierto de Aranjuez" by the modern Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo. A guitar work that is just plain fun .
A nice recording of this is Carlos Bonell with the Montreal Symphony under
Charles Dutoit . There are a lot of wind solo’s in this and at the time the Montreal winds were to die for .
Concerto’s they everybody dies for are the "Brandenburg Concertos ’ by J.S, Bach , the daddy of them all .
The 6 encompass the entire Baroque concerto grosso literature with constantly changing patterns and players playing both leading and supporting roles that many of the great jazz artists have gone to school on .
My fave is the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra / Tom Koopman .
.
For solo piano great piece to start with is Robert Schumann’s "Carnaval".
Artur Rubinstein made nice work of this on RCA .
Last by not least is Vivaldi’s " Four Seasons "
If you wish to hear same in magnificent sound try Nils-Erik Sparf;
Drottingholm Baroque Ensemble BIS CD-275