# Album Recommendations



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

If you would be so kind, list one album from the Baroque, Romantic and Impressionistic era that you highly endorse for me to listen to. I'm trying to broaden my knowledge of Classical Music and dig deeper into the catalogue of these composers.

Any composer of each era is welcome!


----------



## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

Some of my favorite Baroque cds are Jordi Savall's recordings of Bach's B minor mass, the 4 orchestral suites and the 6 Brandenburg Concertos.
Another favorite is Christine Busch's recording of Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin on the Phi label.

Some of my favorite recordings of romantic music are Daniel Barenboim's complete Chopin Nocturnes for solo piano on DG.
And Martha Argerich with Charles Dutoit on EMI/Warner playing Chopin's two piano concertos. 

My favorite recordings from the Impressionist movement are Charles Dutoit's Decca recordings of Debussy's orchestral music. 
For the piano music I just have the cheap Ciccolini box also on Emi/Warner.


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Ras said:


> Some of my favorite Baroque cds are Jordi Savall's recordings of Bach's B minor mass, the 4 orchestral suites and the 6 Brandenburg Concertos.
> Another favorite is Christine Busch's recording of Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin on the Phi label.
> 
> Some of my favorite recordings of romantic music are Daniel Barenboim's complete Chopin Nocturnes for solo piano on DG.
> ...


I just put on the B Minor Mass, though, I am familiar with this work already. Thanks for your recommendations!


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I suppose I could just browse the current listening thread for ideas!


----------



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

18th Century:









Pinnock's Bach is incredibly good. I am not a Bach person, generally, but these recordings can't be denied. The energy, the sound quality.

19th century:









I'm going to presume most people here have a Beethoven cycle. But listening to Gardiner's can really give you insight into the construction of the music. I prefer Karajan's 1977, but this is my number 2.

20th century:









Speaking of Karajan, he is a premier Strauss conductor. This Metamorphosen hasn't been equaled in my book. This composition is the spirit of the 20th century, to me. Maybe also the 21st.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Handel Messiah
Debussy's La Mer
Schumann / Grieg piano concertos


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I suppose I could just browse the current listening thread for ideas!


Or you can start on this thread , by just browsing .

https://www.talkclassical.com/52014-love-baroque.html?highlight=


----------



## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I suppose I could just browse the current listening thread for ideas!


A good idea - that thread has helped me a lot to broaden my knowledge of many composers I wasn't that familiar with before


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Captainnumber36 said:


> (I define beauty as delicate in the light, rather whimsical (Beethoven's 6th)


Try the Frescobaldi canzoni de sonore (the CDs by Il Viaggio Musicale), the Faure second string quartet (Ebene Quartet) and Schumann's Märchenerzählungen (Mikhail Rudy, Boris Pergamenschikow, Michel Portal, Gerard Chausse)



Captainnumber36 said:


> (I define beauty as heavy in the dark (Chopin's Nocturnes)).


Try Jordi Savall's and Sigiswald Kuijken's second CD (CD 2) of pieces for two viols by Ste Colombe, Sergio Fiorentino's CD called "The Contemplative Liszt" and Chitose Okashiro's Debussy Images/Scriabin Etudes.


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Keep them coming, by all means!


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

MatthewWeflen said:


> 18th Century:
> 
> View attachment 124580
> 
> ...


I just put on Symphony 1 by Beethoven. I love that one!


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Now the Orchestral Suites by Bach.


----------



## annaw (May 4, 2019)

Art of Fugue by Bach is a great work (Emerson quartet (string quartet ensemble), Rachel Podger (violin), Helmut Walcha (organ) etc.)
Bach’s English and French suites (Perahia and Schiff have made great recordings)
Bach’s keyboard partitas
Bach’s violin sonatas and partitas (Nathan Milstein)


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

annaw said:


> Art of Fugue by Bach is a great work (Emerson quartet (string quartet ensemble), Rachel Podger (violin), Helmut Walcha (organ) etc.)
> Bach's English and French suites (Perahia and Schiff have made great recordings)
> Bach's keyboard partitas
> Bach's violin sonatas and partitas (Nathan Milstein)


Listening to Emerson Art of the Fugue.


----------



## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Now the Orchestral Suites by Bach.


If you find it difficult to get into *Baroque music maybe you should try Handel's "Water Music" *-- it's two orchestral suites written to impress a king and it is very popular among beginners in the Baroque repertoire. Here it is coupled with "Music for the Royal Fireworks" which is also good fun:

*Jordi Savall:*








*Trevor Pinnock (without Fireworks Music) :*


----------



## Dirge (Apr 10, 2012)

Claudio MONTEVERDI: _Vespro della Beate Vergine,_ 1610
· soloists, Gardiner/EBS, Monteverdi Choir, etc. [DG Archiv, live '89]




Early Baroque sacred (mostly sacred) music at its most colorful and varied, being "at once intimate and grand, prayerful and dramatic, exalted and sensual" (as conductor Jane Glover aptly puts it). It's thought to have been put together to impress the powers that be in Venice and Rome and help pave the way for advancement/promotion-a sort of working resumé if you will. (Relatedly or not, Monteverdi was awarded the post of _maestro di cappella_ at San Marco in Venice in 1613.) Here in his second of three commercial recordings of the work, Gardiner leads what is likely the most highly charged and dramatic/theatrical/operatic performance available; it's a bit rough around the edges, perhaps, but it's undeniably committed and compellingly put forth.

Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY: Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48 (1880)
· Leppard/ECO [Philips '75]




I'm not an especially big fan of Tchaikovsky, but I've always had a soft spot for his Serenade for Strings, which is a sort of homage to Mozart and the serenades of the Classical period-it's a decidedly Romantic work, don't get me wrong, but it's haunted by the Classical spirit to an intriguing extent. Leppard/ECO is consistently strong and stylish throughout, with rich yet still reasonably transparent strings-and it's all beautifully recorded to boot … and the coupled recording of the Dvorak Serenade is my favorite of that work.

Manuel de FALLA: _Noches en los jardines de España_ (1915)
· Del Pueyo, Martinon/Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux [Philips '56]




_Noches_ is a set of three "symphonic impressions" in the form of a piano concerto-tone poem hybrid and is meant to "evoke places, sensations, and feelings" rather than merely describe them-Falla was keen to point out the difference, apparently feeling that describing is less desirable/worthy than evoking. Del Pueyo, Martinon and orchestra transcend the slightly constricted and frayed mid-'50s mono sound and give what is by far the most atmospheric and evocative account of the work that I've encountered.

_Renaissance bonus:_

Tomás Luis de VICTORIA: _O vos omnes_ (p. 1585)
· Malcolm/Westminster Catherdral Choir [Argo '59]




This is one of 18 Tenebrae Responsories (in the form of motets) that Victoria composed for the pre-dawn Tenebrae ("darkness") services of Holy Week, which commemorate the sufferings and death of Christ. It's an austere yet highly expressive and atmospheric work given a performance of unflagging focus and hair-raising intensity by Malcolm's Westminster forces.


----------



## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Glenn Gould - Salzburg Concert 



Faure, Debussy, Ravel - Piano Trios (Florestan)
Gubaidulina - "In Tempus Praesens" Violin Concerto (Mutter/Gergiev)


----------

