Nanoha's perpetual quest for classical CDs

[Nanoha]

Dear Head-Case,

I have decided to begin exponentially increasing the size of my classical music collection. I have recently gained access to a collection of more than 25,000 classical CDs, tapes, and LPs. About 13,037 classical CDs as of this summer. I can take 3 recordings per day.

Classical music has always been my first love when it came to music. One of my personal difficulties with acquiring classical CDs is that there are so many performances of every piece. Each performance is special and different; it is sometimes a huge headache to decide on which one to get. I would like to ask a huge favor of the Head-Case classical community. It is time for Head-Case classical fans to chime in. Please list dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of CDs I should look for. There is no limit as to what eras, periods, styles, or composers. Anytime you think a particular CD is worth looking into, post it here. For example, what recordings to get for each symphony/concerto/sonata of a composer.

Hopefully this will benefit the community as well. Perhaps this will provide a nice place where people can look for classical music suggestions - a place where people can look for a particular piece of a composer and find out which recordings are well regarded and are worthy of being noted.

Thank you so very much everyone! I seriously hope this will turn out to be a very enjoyable project.

Sincerely,

Nanoha

[mirumu]

I cannot offer much in terms of recommendations as I've found myself in a similar situation with little idea of which CDs or performances to get. I've tended to occasionally stumble across the odd stunning piece of classical music by accident and do what I can to track down the source to get my own copy of the same performance. I guess what I'm saying is that I can see a lot of benefit in the project you envisage.

I'm happy to try and contribute the little I can and will certainly be keeping a good eye on this thread. To help kick things off, one that I have been getting some enjoyment out of is the Living Stereo SACD of Beethoven Sonatas played by the late Arthur Rubenstein. See the Amazon link for details below, this is the version of the disc I have.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Sonatas-Hybrid-SACD-Ludwig/dp/B000E1NWGO]http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Sonatas-Hybrid-SACD-Ludwig/dp/B000E1NWGO[/ame]

[Nanoha]

check the "what are you listening to" thread.

If it was easy as that, I would have used Google, Amazon, and Head-Fi.

[postjack]

If it was easy as that, I would have used Google, Amazon, and Head-Fi.

you kind of have to constantly monitor and participate in the "what are you listening to" thread. its really hard to just browse it trying to find recommendations.

[Dusty Chalk]

The following are pretty "safe" in terms of recordings and performances:

Living Stereo -- especially the SACD series, but not limited to that, even the redbook layers are usually just damn fine

Mercury Living Presence -- ditto

I'm also pretty safe in terms of performance of anything by Heifetz, with orchestra, without, whatever. I'm also partial to Hilary Hahn. I have yet to hear anything by either of these artists that I didn't repeatedly enjoy.

Follows are some of my favourite recordings:

Helene Grimaud wolf box -- 4 out of 5 of the disks are solo piano recordings, but are imminently listenable

Dmitriev -- piano sonatas by Prokofiev -- all solo piano recordings, I would call the style "post-romantic", since it's not as dissonant as other stuff in the same style

Carmina Burana by Orff a la Thielemann -- this was the first version of this large scale orchestra and choir work that I "got" from beginning to end, and for that reason, remains the definitive version of this piece for me.

More later.

[Nanoha]

you kind of have to constantly monitor and participate in the "what are you listening to" thread. its really hard to just browse it trying to find recommendations.

Yeah definitely. I'll try my best!

And it's sometimes hard to figure out what something is exactly based off the cover art. You can search by composer, performers, year, etc, but cover art is usually much more difficult to discern.

[postjack]

Yeah definitely. I'll try my best!

And it's sometimes hard to figure out what something is exactly based off the cover art. You can search by composer, performers, year, etc, but cover art is usually much more difficult to discern.

best way I've found to pinpoint a certain CD on amazon is to glean the conductor OR performer from the album cover (whoever the star is), then do a search with the conductor or performer + composer, then scan the album covers that pop up.

[Thelonious Monk]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Piano-Works-Scriabin-Michael/dp/B00007J4SI/ref=sr_1_7/102-1978132-9152942?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1190228591&sr=1-7]scriabin's piano works[/ame] (besides the first few sonatas it's amazing)

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Scriabin-Complete-Symphonies-Alexander/dp/B00009OOJT/ref=sr_1_3/102-1978132-9152942?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1190228591&sr=1-3]scriabin's symphonies[/ame] (ashkenazy conducts... much better than expected)

but those are box sets.. if that's not possible, there's always [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Horowitz-Plays-Scriabin-Alexander/dp/B000003EOZ/ref=sr_1_6/102-1978132-9152942?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1190228591&sr=1-6]these[/ame] [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Scriabin-Po%C3%A8me-LExtase-Concerto-Prometheus/dp/B0000041RH/ref=sr_1_8/102-1978132-9152942?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1190228591&sr=1-8]two[/ame].

also get the amici ensemble's recording of olivier messiaen's quartet for the end of time, the turangalia-symphoni (perf. polish radio orchestra/antoni wit)

lastly, my favorite classical cd, absolutely essential:

no other performance comes close.

[saint.panda]

Some good series are DG Classics, RCA Living Stereo or EMI Greatest Recordings of the Century. Lots of good stuff. Although they're somewhat UK-conductor biased, you also can try the Penguin Guide to Classical CDs or Gramophone if you want printed guides. Also check www.classicstoday.com for reviews. Allmusic.com is not bad either for classical. Personally, I buy a couple CDs at a time since I can't digest so much at once anyway.