Faze said:
What are the essential tunes to check out?
Also, while browsing in the store today, I noticed that there are many different recordings by different orchestras, so what are some of the better ones out there who do really excellent renditions?
thanks for info.
Gonna just copy and paste from some old things I wrote about this subject for a friend - sorry for the length, but I'm pretty sure I'm the resident expert around here on this stuff.
Quick handbook of Classical knowledge for the beginner:
EVEN IF YOU DON'T READ ALL OF THIS, KNOW THIS:
WHO YOU GET TO PLAY THE MUSIC IS ***HUGELY*** IMPORTANT!!! The character and vitality of the performer are paramount to enjoying the music.
Generally, when getting a collection, start with the baroque and work your way forward historically - the first acknowledged, composed stuff would probably be Guido of Arezzo (c. 991-1050), but the seriously old stuff is generally kind of boring to the modern ear. It's all subjective though. Here are rough delineations of the classical music periods and the big composers:
---->>>> Renaissance, Pre-baroque and Baroque:
Josquin des Pres, Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Couperin, Pachelbel, Scarlatti, Telemann, Rameau, etc...
Bach - Definitely check out keyboard works for pinnacle examples of serious, sober, Lutheran, deeply complex contrapuntal works. (try: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, French and English suites for keyboard - try Glenn Gould's piano versions - Organ works, keyboard concertos, Cantatas, Mass in B minor) - he was pretty much the absolute apex of baroque mastery, along with perhaps Handel.
Check Scarlatti for the less complicated, lighter stuff (keyboard sonatas), and Monteverdi, Josquin or Gesualdo for the earlier, more Italianate vocal stuff: opera, chorales & madrigals, etc...
The rest of the composers listed, along with earlier masters such as Marin Marais represent primarily the more beloved works in baroque stringed instrumental technique, especially Vivaldi.
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--->>>> Classical - split between german and italian schools, but the primary term is German:
Haydn, Mozart, Clementi, Schubert, Beethoven, [Mendelssohn, Brahms - these last two, among other, mostly German composers, represented the "classical" ideal while composing during the Romantic Period and using romantic devices]...
Haydn - piano sonatas, "surprise symphony"; was the only composer whom Mozart felt was his superior.
Mozart - Operas, "die Zauberflote", "Don Giovanni", "le Nozze di Figaro" - piano concertos, chamber works, etc, etc...can't really go wrong with Mozart: if his thing is your bag, he wrote pretty much uniformly high quality music...
Clementi - wrote piano sonatas that presaged what Beethoven would do a few decades later (see Horowitz's recordings of these); had a famous, stalemated piano duel with Mozart that apparently struck a (possibly) jealous nerve in Mozart, who experienced for the first time ever the inconceivable notion that someone else could play equal or better than he did on any instrument in his time.
Schubert - his song cycles were fantastic; probably best classical songwriter, along with Hugo Wolf - check out "Die Winterreisse" especially, (try version sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau), sublime chamber music (famous for the "Trout" Quintet); mutual admiration between him and Beethoven, even though they never met.
Beethoven - The top predator of the classical period, all roads went towards and away from him in classical symphonic literature. His 3rd symphony, "eroica", single-handedly brought music into the 1800's. Check out: all 32 piano sonatas (Glenn Gould, Maurizio Pollini, Artur Schnabel all did great recordings of these); symphonies 3, 7, 9; late string quartets; piano concertos (Brendel)...
Mendelssohn - born roughly the same time as Romantic composers Chopin and Liszt; still had classical tastes though; child prodigy on the order of Mozart; wrote superior, mature works at age 17 that humbled his elders ("Midsummer Nights Dream" in particular, "Scottish" and "Italian" symphonies). His music is typically light - a charming German-Italian hybrid.
Brahms - wrote neo-Beethoven symphonic literature with thicker, more romantic harmonic pallette. IS actually considered a romantic composer, similar to Schumann in many ways, but his whole ideology and musical outlook was German classical all the way. His whole symphonic output (4 symphonies, especially 3 and 4 though) had as its model the groundwork laid by Beethoven's 9th. Also see Intermezzos for piano; Paganini variations; Ein Deutsches Requiem. Difficult composer to get to know right away.
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---->>>> Romantic and neo-romantic - Chopin, Liszt, Paganini, Schumann, [Brahms], Wagner, Mahler, Glinka, Tchaikovsky and the Russian school, etc...
Chopin - wrote almost exclusively for the piano; devised extraordinary new techniques of piano playing and a broader harmonic pallette in his two books of etudes, concurrent with Liszt; only difference between Chopin and Liszt: everything that would be taken for artifice in (early) Liszt is made into color and beauty in Chopin (that is, there are no chromatic flash & trash runs and fioraturra in Chopin that do not in some way serve the purpose of the tune, unlike Liszt); check out: preludes, etudes, mazurkas, polonaises, ballades, etc... try to get pianist Artur Rubinstein for Chopin stuff. If you don't mind older, mono recordings, check out Josef Hofmann or Ignaz Friedmann, or even Rachmaninov's recordings of Chopin tunes.
Liszt - tried to imitate on the piano what Paganini did on the violin. Devilish showmanship; was first legitimate sex-symbol in music history, was committed to virtuoso ideal, but always knew that his composed piano music was second-tier to Chopin; fortunately, later in life he was tremendously industrious, and eventually became a more serious composer who harmonically pre-dated the Impressionists somewhat. Horowitz is best for this piano music.
Wagner, Mahler, Bruckner, [Wolf] - the dense German Romantic school; symphonists and operatic composers who pushed the boundaries of 19th century harmony beyond anyone else save Charles Ives; Thick texturing, large orchestral sound and heavy dramatic passion characterize their works, except Wolf, who wrote almost exclusively "artmusic" song-cycles for piano and voice.
Russian school - Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Anton Rubinstein and Rachmaninov are probably best examples of the school at its apex, but Mikhail Glinka has been credited as the father of Russian music. The Russians have a very characteristic flavor to their music, and it reflects the Russian dances and rhythms of the peasant class, but with western european instrumentation and techniques. Most Russian music is song-like; it contains large sounds, balletic dance rhythms and technical proficiency; Russian advancement of Lisztian keyboard virtuosity made them the dominant piano virtuosi in the 20th century.
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---->>>> Impressionist - Debussy, Ravel, Griffes, Respighi
Debussy - wrote interesting new music for the new century; harmonically, he goes wherever he pleases, with sometimes total disdain for functionality in tonal centers and modulation to different keys. Still though - the way he did it was artful, and it still "sounds right". Uses a great deal of upper harmonics too, prefacing jazz harmony and voicing. Check out: preludes, bks I and II; Jeux, Images, Estampes.
Ravel - masterful composer whom Stravinsky referred to as the "Swiss Watch Maker". His symphonic model was Rimsky-Korsakov, but in his compositions, one sees that he wrote in two separate styles - one was an extension of the French classical school, and showed Ravel's academic roots, coming from such composers as Gabriel Faure and Camille Saint-Saens; his other side was more Debussy-like, and yet totally original, with a fascination for Spanish music. Of the former, see "Le Tombeau de Couperin"; of the latter, listen to "Gaspard de la Nuit" or the "Miroirs" suite or "Jeux D'eau". He hated hearing about "Bolero", and eventually considered it one of the worst things he ever wrote.
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---->>>> The "Listenable" Moderns - Stravinsky, Scriabin, Copeland, Prokofiev, Szymanowski, Kabalevsky, Shostakovich, Barber, Katchaturian, etc...(many many more)
All of these last group have to be taken with a grain of salt, as they are not for everybody. But one must know that they are "oldies" now, and for the most part are considered very conventional composers, when compared to other oldies such as Schoenberg, Webern, Messaien, Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Crumb, Cage, etc...most people will cringe though, when they hear some of the bombastic thumpings of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring". They just probably need more time with it though - it's like beer, an acquired taste for sure. Still, at least it follows a tonal center for the most part, and is thus understandable to our modern ear...
Stravinsky - lite: check out "Petrouchka" or "Firebird" heavy: check out "Le Sacre Printemps" (Rite of Spring) - bombastic, polychords and polyrhythms, hard to get used to.
Scriabin - lite: any early works - it actually sounds like Chopin; heavy: piano sonatas after but not including #5; "Vers la Flamme"; etude op. 42 #5 (rocks) - check out Horowitz playing this man's works.
Prokofiev - lite: it's all pretty light - his style wasn't outrageous, just a little strange - very Russian. Check out: piano concertos (#3 especially!!!!), sonatas; Romeo and Juliette; "Peter and the Wolf", etc...
Discover and enjoy more on your own...
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Classical Performers whom you usually can't go wrong with:
Orchestras:
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan
New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein; also anything with Pierre Boulez
Cleveland Orchestra under Boulez
Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy
Chicago Symphony Orchestra under George Szell; and more recently under Sir Georg Solti
(older, mono recordings: CBS radio orchestra with Arturo Toscanini)
solo Pianists:
Vladimir Horowitz for hardcore virtuoso romantic school stuff, plus for "listenable modern"
Glenn Gould for more German, contrapuntal and classical stuff
Artur Rubinstein for similar literature as Horowitz, but he is more musical in things like Chopin and Spanish music
Alicia DeLarrocha for Spanish music (her Albaniz "Iberia" is awesome)
Maurizio pollini for Beethoven or for modern literature.
(mono) Josef Hofmann, Serge Rachmaninov, Michelangeli, Walter Gieseking
solo Violinists:
Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz - even if their recordings are all old and mostly mono. There has never been their equal since.
solo Cello: ditto for Pablo Casals; honorable mention to Yo Yo Ma, Dmitri Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky
