My Essential Classical Albums.

[rando]

Moser 'Dvorak & Lalo' album was phenomenal the first few listens when it came out.  Over the course of his next two albums I've come to realize the fortuitous pairing with Hrůša was what made it stand out.  You may discover differently, but I don't feel either have recorded anything near as good since. 

 

Sadly I missed hearing Moser perform in a local church as I learned about the concert an hour beforehand.  Hrůša is just missing out on some larger appointments which have gone to older more accomplished conductors.  If you happen to be near Cleveland I would suggest attending his only planned concerts in the US next season.

[austinpop]

9 hours ago, rando said:

Moser 'Dvorak & Lalo' album was phenomenal the first few listens when it came out.  Over the course of his next two albums I've come to realize the fortuitous pairing with Hrůša was what made it stand out.  You may discover differently, but I don't feel either have recorded anything near as good since. 

 

Sadly I missed hearing Moser perform in a local church as I learned about the concert an hour beforehand.  Hrůša is just missing out on some larger appointments which have gone to older more accomplished conductors.  If you happen to be near Cleveland I would suggest attending his only planned concerts in the US next season.

 

Thanks for that. Bummer - I was hoping they'd done more together.

 

I will certainly look out for his ůša concerts!

[rando]

On 11/11/2017 at 7:38 AM, sphinxsix said:

I'd like to ask you about a composer whom I like a lot too but is much less well represented on my HD collection - Claude Debussy. Hope you aren't tired of this thread yet so I can plan my future spendings and meanwhile - enjoy new, exciting music. And as usual - thanks in advance!

 

 

I'm told this is a considerably good recording.

 

 

 

 

[sphinxsix]

I'll try a slightly different angle approach this time. What are your favorite classical albums from let's say last 2-3 years, guys?

[austinpop]

29 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

I'll try a slightly different angle approach this time. What are your favorite classical albums from let's say last 2-3 years, guys?

 

A few I can think of:

 

    

 

I'm sure there are others!

[austinpop]

delete

[Musicophile]

1 hour ago, sphinxsix said:

I'll try a slightly different angle approach this time. What are your favorite classical albums from let's say last 2-3 years, guys?

Here is my best of 2016 list. A similar post for 2017 is in the making 

 

https://musicophilesblog.com/2016/12/14/my-top-5-classical-albums-for-2016/

[Musicophile]

And here is 2015: https://musicophilesblog.com/2015/11/29/my-top-5-classical-albums-of-2015/

[rando]

          

 

 

Fairly sure these all qualify.  Overwhelming majority of new to me music in recent years has been decidedly older recordings.  The Moser/Hrůša recording of Dvořák and Lalo's cello concertos was my first experience with hi-res digital.

 

[austinpop]

38 minutes ago, rando said:

          

 

 

Fairly sure these all qualify.  Overwhelming majority of new to me music in recent years has been decidedly older recordings.  The Moser/Hrůša recording of Dvořák and Lalo's cello concertos was my first experience with hi-res digital.

 

 

Thanks! 

 

+1 on the Moser. Definitely worth Czech-ing out.

[accwai]

5 hours ago, rando said:

 

NaÏve Vivaldi Edition is always interesting.

 

Have most of the operas in there. Sitting through them would be a rather large undertaking unfortunately. So I've listened to only a small handful so far. My favorite at the moment is La fida ninfa. Have a copy of L'Olimpiade coming in the mail. Should arrive before new year. Really looking forward to that.

 

By the way, the Vivaldi Edition is 40% off at qobuz now. Digital booklet is not available for many of the older titles. The operas there are quite obscure and getting the sung text elsewhere would be very difficult. So keep your eyes open when ordering these downloads. This is one of the reasons I have to pay through the nose for a physical copy of L'Olimpiade. Oh well...

 

 

 

 

[rando]

La fida ninfa would be the first to come to my mind as well.  Armida and Ottone in villa (which I came to slowly) were enjoyable also. 

 

 

One Two more that are very good.

 

  

[sphinxsix]

On 19.12.2017 at 6:07 PM, austinpop said:

Among my favorite Mahler symphonies performances too. Thanks for the other recommendations!

 

22 hours ago, rando said:

 

Like this one too! Will check out the other albums you recommend, thx!

 

13 hours ago, rando said:

  

Don't know these two, thx a lot!

[sphinxsix]

Inspired by @Musicophile 's recent post on The Album otE' thread. Rachmaninov solo piano and your favorite performances, guys.?

[Musicophile]

2 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

Inspired by @Musicophile 's recent post on The Album otE' thread. Rachmaninov solo piano and your favorite performances, guys.?

I really like Andsnes, but Argerich, Horowitz, and Volodos among others are excellent as well. 

 

https://musicophilesblog.com/2017/01/26/musicophiles-25-essential-classical-music-albums-part-ii/

[rando]

I know you said solo.  This is good enough to tempt ire.

 

[sphinxsix]

57 minutes ago, rando said:

I know you said solo.  This is good enough to tempt ire.

The person to the right and (musical) temptation in my case go together..   Everybody here probably knows it already.

[semente]

Kocsis "Vocalise for piano" adaptation

 

[semente]

 

 

My favourite Pélude: Op. 32 No. 5 in G Major

 

 

[Musicophile]

O

9 hours ago, rando said:

I know you said solo. 

Oops, didn't read this correctly. I thought you referred to my Martha Argerich post playing concerto 3, but I assume you referred to this post instead:

 

 

So indeed, this one is great. Daniel Trifonov's recent album is also very good, with the Chopin and  the Corelli variations being solo (I particularly like the Corelli).

 

 

Sudbin does a great overview of the solo works, including sonata no. 2

 

 

Alexandre Kantorow gives a very good performance of sonata no. 1 here:

 

 

And finally, this was my very first Rachmaninov solo album, and I still like it today. Beate Berthold isn't very well known but she does a fine job here:

 

[sphinxsix]

4 hours ago, Musicophile said:

And finally, this was my very first Rachmaninov solo album, and I still like it today. Beate Berthold isn't very well known but she does a fine job here:

Indeed I personally have never heard of her. Will check out the album, thanks!

[semente]

6 hours ago, Musicophile said:

O

Oops, didn't read this correctly. I thought you referred to my Martha Argerich post playing concerto 3, but I assume you referred to this post instead:

 

 

So indeed, this one is great. Daniel Trifonov's recent album is also very good, with the Chopin and  the Corelli variations being solo (I particularly like the Corelli).

 

 

Sudbin does a great overview of the solo works, including sonata no. 2

 

 

Alexandre Kantorow gives a very good performance of sonata no. 1 here:

 

 

And finally, this was my very first Rachmaninov solo album, and I still like it today. Beate Berthold isn't very well known but she does a fine job here:

 

 

This was my first one:

 

[Musicophile]

30 minutes ago, semente said:

 

This was my first one:

 

Interesting, never heard of her. Is it good?

[semente]

1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

Interesting, never heard of her. Is it good?

 

I still enjoy it. Also have an all Scriabin from the era.

[sphinxsix]

I'd like say 'thank you' for all your recommendations once again guys! Because of them my classical albums number has increased by a couple of hundreds. This seems to be the most expensive thread in my life! But I hope I'm not the only one to benefit from it.

 

I've touched on some personal topics here and I feel I owe you an update. I haven't moved to Amsterdam yet (I just recently started to look for an apartment there) and my audio gear isn't still here in the Netherlands with me   I'm thinking about a way to transport it (1500 km) and the rest of my stuff which fills the whole garage in an inexpensive and safe way after I find the apartment. Maybe someone has some recommendation for..a 'project' like that.?

 

BTW it's my 6th or 7th visit to the Netherlands but it's the longest one, I also work here for the first time and plan to settle for good if everything goes smoothly (never too late for a change in life, never too late.. ) and I must admit I become a bigger Netherlandophile with each month (I have been already a big one before moving here!). For me this is to put it briefly no-nonsense country and nation that amazes me on a regular basis (possibly quite stupid example based on what I got to know some days ago - how is it possible that this little country with only 3-4% of the population working in the agriculture is the second biggest food and agriculture stuff exporter in the world after the USA.?)

 

Actually I somehow I set the music aside a little bit. I work full-time (for the first time in 10 years ) and have only my phone, laptop with its built in hard drives and headphones with me as a music reproduction 'system'. I still listen to it but in particular as far as classical music, which IMO is the most demanding material for realistic reproduction (multitude of instruments and hall acoustics playing the main role) is concerned it's somehow difficult to forget the sound of my $20k speakers and enjoy $150 Sony headphones from the early 90s plugged directly into the laptop fully (I'm not a headphone guy). I know this will change the very moment I plug in my gear in my future living room. And then again with my very last ugrade which will be a DAC/amp combination (Devialet being in the first place on my shortlist right now and this willl probably not change unless some real game changer appears on the market in the months to come). These are the main reasons why I've been a little less active on CA recently.

 

I also promised myself not to buy my 7th hard drive (still not sure I will keep my promise ) so all the downloads will have to wait. But I can plan them now (especially as we have a long weekend here in the Netherlands because of so called King's Day which is today) so if you don't mind I will ask you for some more recommendations.

 

Can you guys recommend some classical (can be contemporary too) music for let's say not so popular instruments eg harp, vibraphone,, xylophone even guitar etc. As usually - all three - music, performance and sound quality (in exactly this order) matter. Thanks in advance!