# Best and/or Worst Classical Recordings You Have Received As Gifts?



## N Fowleri (5 mo ago)

Most of us have well-meaning friends and/or family who appreciate that we like classical music. Some of them might buy us wonderful gifts of classical recordings that we either couldn't afford for ourselves, or just wouldn't have thought of buying. Others might pick some bestselling classical crossover CD that makes us cry on the inside.

I am fortunate that I have never received any horrible gifts of music, though I have received shirts that were so well intentioned, but...

My father bought me Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. That was pretty good, and I wouldn't have bought it for myself. A good friend of mine bought Furtwaengler conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in Beethoven's Symphony No. 3. That too was a wonderful gift.

Still, I would like to hear the stories from the rest of you on either the best or the worst classical recordings you have received as gifts. Of course, if your time and bandwidth aren't in short supply, you could even describe both the best and the worst.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Best: for 8th grade graduation the Reader's Digest set of Beethoven symphonies with Rene Leibowitz and the Royal Philharmonic. I still own the original LPs but have picked up the CD incarnation which I still think is one of the greatest sets ever. The 9th IS the greatest ever.

Worst: I would like to think people know me better, my tastes and preferences and realize that I really know my music and am very, very much into seriously good music and have zero time or interest in crap. And so - a well meaning relative gives me a recording she bought at some bookstore of Vivaldi's Four Seasons. 1) I am not a baroque fan at all, 2) I cannot stand that concerto, 3) the sound was ancient and had so much added reverb that it was unlistenable. Never heard of the performers, the label was unknown to me...and I had to play it and tell her how much I enjoyed it. A little Prokofieff cleansed the palate.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

My family and friends have never dared to buy music for me . I have a neighbour who is filling all on his computer and he's the only one asking if you want you can have it.
So I'm the shirts and socks recipient.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

The best musical gift I have received is a set of Bach's WTC (complete) performed by Roger Woodward on Celestial Harmonies.

I don't recall any lemons as gifts.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

I usually buy my own recordings, but the first Beethoven symphony cycle I received was the Josef Krieps tin can. If you aren't familiar with it...good. It's not the worst Beethoven symphony cycle, but there are way better ones out there.

(Surprisingly, the Beethoven 9 with the most views on Youtube is the one from that cycle.)


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## Georgieva (7 mo ago)

I've received as a present not recording but ticket for classical concert, that I'll probably never forget. And I had a pleasure to share a record with all of my honorable friends here.

Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires - Mozart Concerto...

So, after pandemic, for me It was finally breath of fresh air! - 16.12.2021, Victoria Hall, Genève

Happy New 1939 Year


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## oldpete (9 mo ago)

Tchaikovsky 4/5/6 - Ormandy/Philly Columbia lp box, and Sibelius symphony box on Epic, Watanabe/Japan Philharmonic. I received those in the late 1960s


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Years ago I gently advised relatives not to buy me any musical presents. I said something along the lines that I had enough albums already but the reality was that I would feel a bit uneasy about not liking a gift when the giver was only trying his or her best.


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## Montarsolo (5 mo ago)

When I got to know classical music as a teenager through the radio and records, my mother said: then you should actually go to a classical concert. She took me to a concert in a church with Vera Beths, Anner Bylsma and Gerard van Blerk. They played Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, among others. We left early so we were seated in the front. 

It made a huge impression! I still have the program booklet at home.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

My parents gave me the Klemperer recording of The Magic Flute when I was 10. I have now replaced those LPs with CDs but this is still a recording of the work that I feel is hard to beat. It helped that the set was issued without the spoken (in German) parts.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

My interest in classical music started with the Klemperer Beethoven cycle, a big licensed LP box that my dad once got as by-catch from some book club. So it wasn't really a gift, but as a grade schooler, I was the only one at home who loved this music, so I more or less "confiscated it". I still have the box, but I played it so often (on rather tacky equipment) that there must be only white noise left in the grooves.

I don't remember much great music being gifted, I always made my own choices. One particular LP set that I enjoyed very much was Mozart late String Quartets, I think played by the Juilliards (not sure), which my uncle gave to me at one occasion (he got it from someone else, and string quartets were an alien world to him).


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Oh yeah, and worst.
Years ago, after the death of elderly organist I knew fairly well, his widow told me I could have his sheet music and cd collection.

The sheet music consisted of a handful of leftovers of the collection - the standard works in the baroque repertoire that everyone already owns, in editions that were used for 60 years and were falling apart completely. What happened to the better part of the collection (guy was a fairly renowed concert organist) I don't know, probably already been given away to someone more worthy. Oh yeah, and piles of of 5th generation copies of crappy choir music. Worth less than old newspapers.
And the cd collection... oh boy. There wasn't a single original cd in it. Only a couple of dozens of old, bad cd-r's that were scratched and browned. After I found the first 5 unplayable, I tossed the whole lot into the bin, together with all the sheet music.

And you still have to grin and bear it and politely say "thank you"...


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Within the family, we have abolished giving presents at birthdays, Christmas and so on altogether many years ago. Even in the past, if someone close to me wanted to give me a music gift, they'd check beforehand with me (if only because they knew how huge my collection already was). The best gift I got was from my father in the early nineties, when he gave me a budget for a birthday gift - and I bought the Solti Ring CD box (which was not discounted then, about 100 euro).


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## EvaBaron (Jan 3, 2022)

I stream everything i listen to on Spotify because it’s cheaper and I think it’s more convenient. It also makes sampling recordings very easy. But just 2 days ago I received a bunch of lp’s from the brother of my grandpa who is cleaning up and knows I like classical music. Then the other brother of my grandpa (he has 2) gave me a high quality record player, with an extension cord and also 2 very big speakers. Really awesome family. Anyway one of the many LP’s was Beethoven’s violin concerto played by Herman Krebbers, the violin teacher of my violin teacher. It is from the ‘70s I believe and with Haitink and the Concertgebouworkest. I really liked it, and I still have to listen to all the LP’s so I will be checking in this thread in a few days if I find a dud


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Ive had a few orchestral and string quartet gifts from very generous members of this forum (you know who you are) and they were all excellent. As for the worst, I cant think of a bad one. Ive been lucky.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

In the first few years of my classical listening as a teenager in the late 1980s when CDs were often expensive, I relied on gifts from a generous aunt for full price sets. But I specified exactly what I wanted, so there could be no surprises. And later one one received gift vouchers or just cash  which was always welcome... But in the last years people know better. The probability that I either have a disc already or wouldn't like it, is very high. And I actually rarely want any more CDs nowadays...


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Not a gift per se, but my friend in High School let me borrow his cassette of Beethoven's 5th and 6th symphonies around 1979 or 1980. I can't remember the orchestra or conductor. I had no exposure to classical music up to that point, and relatively little interest in music other than the occasional ABBA album. I was hooked, and the rest as they say is history.


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## Laraine Anne Barker (8 mo ago)

N Fowleri said:


> Most of us have well-meaning friends and/or family who appreciate that we like classical music. Some of them might buy us wonderful gifts of classical recordings that we either couldn't afford for ourselves, or just wouldn't have thought of buying. Others might pick some bestselling classical crossover CD that makes us cry on the inside.
> 
> I am fortunate that I have never received any horrible gifts of music, though I have received shirts that were so well intentioned, but...
> 
> ...


I make sure they give me vouchers instead of CDs they've chosen themselves. But it's a long time since I received vouchers for CDs. That was when I left my first job and I'm guessing there were quite a few people baffled by my choices!


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

N Fowleri said:


> *Best and/or Worst Classical Recordings You Have Received As Gifts?*


The best gift of classical I ever received was sent me from great distance by my dear friend @Bourdon, Gregorian Chant For the Church Year.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Rogerx said:


> My family and friends have never dared to buy music for me


Same. They would be hopelessly lost.


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## Yabetz (Sep 6, 2021)

The music I've received as a gift has been freely given in good will and I accept it as such. I don't think of it in terms of best and worst. Not so much sanctimonious as not looking a gift horse in the mouth.


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