# Memory Lane - The First "Classical" Recordings You Owned



## Vesteralen

I have to go back to the LP era for this.

The very first "classical" record I purchased was actually classical - *Mozart - The Four Horn Concertos on Columbia* with Eugene Ormandy (I think the soloist actually was a regular with The Philadelphia Orchestra).







I bought this because I thought I wanted to learn how to play the French Horn after I attended a couple of "Symphony Band" concerts.

A year or so later, while still in my late teens, I was visiting friends in Canada when I got it into my head that I wanted to learn "classical" music. I actually walked in to a record store in Toronto and asked a clerk for some recommendations for a couple of things I'd already heard - *"La Gazza Ladra"* and the *"Carmen" Suites*. He told me I couldn't go wrong with *Giulini on the Seraphim label *for the first







and *Morton Gould on RCA *for the second.







(I was very, very budget-minded at the time).

I think the next two I purchased were: *Richard Strauss' "Sinfonia Domestica"* with *Reiner/Chicago *







and a set of the *Brahms Symphonies and Overtures (and the Haydn Variations)* at a chain book store on the old *Murray Hill label with Wolfgang Sawallisch*.









All but the first of these records were really cheap. Since I didn't have a full-time job, I only browsed those sections. None of these are still in my collection today, but for nostalgia only, I kind of wish they were. 

(Thanks, Aramis, for reminding me I could secure the images of these for my post!)


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## Aramis

One of first classical purchases I've made was set of four second-hand CDs from some Italian cycle: I grandi di musica classica. It included Brahms 2nd PC, his VC and 4th symphony + Berlioz: SF and Reverie et Caprice for violin and orchestra. These CDs got me into both of these composers.

Can't find pictures of these but I've found Liszt's just to show how their covers look like (all the same but with diffrent portraits in the middle):










Then came those:



















I saw Zimerman in TV for the first time in a cycle dedicated to great piano concertos performed by great pianists. A moment passed and I purchased these CDs. I still count them among my favourites and the Beethoven box is more than just a disc to me, I have great sentiment for it, reminds me of those days of fresh fascination with classical music, piano concertos genre and Zimerman which - didin't I write before else where? - made me want to be a pianist which happened, ekhm, ekhm... to some extent


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## Vesteralen

Aramis said:


> I still count them among my favourites and the Beethoven box is more than just a disc to me, I have great sentiment for it, reminds me of those days of fresh fascination with classical music, piano concertos genre and Zimerman which - didin't I write before else where? - made me want to be a pianist which happened, ekhm, ekhm... to some extent


Well, you may have written it before, but, new as I am here, I didn't see it. Thanks for sharing your memories of these.


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## Polednice

It was nice to see the Mozart Horn Concertos first in line, as they are some of the earliest classical pieces I ever remember hearing - not some of the earliest I _bought_ however.

The CDs that I started out with - bought by family - were your typical, unmentionable 'classical best' albums, which I unashamedly adored at the time, but would not be able to stand now. After a few minor CD purchases, none particularly memorable, I soon switched over to exclusively digital downloads - fresh blood to the classical world that I am.

However, I do remember very distinctly that, when I was 11 years old, I pestered my Mum for a classical CD in a music shop that was £5, and she was hesitant to buy it in case I wouldn't listen to it. Truly my first ever musical purchase, it was a Mozart Requiem. I've always remembered the green back-cover, with a centred track listing, but a search on Google, Amazon and eBay just a minute ago was fruitless.


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## Sid James

Great idea for a thread. I'll have to think in-depth about other things I got as "first time" classical purchases, but I vividly remember this one. Some may be quite surprised around here, but my first ever CD purchase, about 20 years ago in my teens, was this *J.S. Bach violin concertos disc*. A few months back, hearing the _Double Violin Concerto _live, it bought tears to my eyes, the beauty of the slow movt. esp., the two young beautiful soloists playing it, all the memories from earlier times (well, the good ones, not the bad ones!) -


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## Weston

My first were inherited from my sister. There was Beethoven's Emperor Concerto on the Vox label. I have no idea who the performers were (but I'm thinking maybe Brendel). The cover showed a lurid impressionist painting of ballroom dancers circa 1890. I remember wondering how the heck anyone danced to this stuff. I was embarrassed about sort of liking it, thinking I wasn't supposed to, and maybe something was wrong with me. I would have been about 11 or 12.

Another early album was a double vinyl - I think it was mono! It had Rimsky-Korsakov's Le Coq d'Or Suite, The Sorcerer's Apprentice and some other stuff I don't remember. 

The first albums I bought with my own allowance were the Wendy Carlos synthesized Bach albums -- when they were new.


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## Kopachris

My first recordings were downloaded for free (legally) off of the Internet: Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony and Beethoven's 5th symphony from the Peabody Symphony Orchestra's website and some Chopin nocturnes from I don't remember where. I found them at www.classiccat.com.


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## Ukko

Too long ago to remember what the music was, but they were LP re-reissues of 78 era recordings, made and sold by Montgomery Ward. Really, really bad sound, but the music could be made out (sort of). Early 1950s. $1 or maybe $1.99 each.


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## Art Rock

In 1986, and no longer available:

Schubert's unfinished symphony by Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, in the completed version by musicologist Brian Newbould.


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## beethovenian

My parents bought me a 101 best classical music boxset (Lost) upon my piano teacher's recommendation when i was pretty young (About 9 or 10). I remember gluing my ear (dunno why i did that) next to the speaker when the music plays. I lost interest in it and started listening to kitaro and yanni, then to rock and pop in my teens.

I regain my interest in classical music and the piano as well when i was about 17, these are my first few purchase.

My first beethoven symphonies set







Check out the CD Sleeves!!







Check out the Yellowish stuff on the spine(Dun seem like mold to me)! These things annoy the hell out of me, i found some very tiny bugs(0.5mm) in it. Not sure how to get rid of it, i am trying a Dehumidifier.







Yay, my avatar, very imposing picture of beethoven!


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## kv466

I grew up on








which got me hooked on the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and also another Reader's Digest release titled Festival Sinfonico which my mom got me real young...both I treasure and cherish as they introduced me to Rene Leibowitz and more importantly, Earl Wild! My first favorite piece was the Grieg Piano Concerto and I remember buying it in high school by Rubenstein after having read about him thinking, "wow, this must blow that earl wild guy away"...boy, was I wrong...every concerto Earl Wild ever decided to play is the definitive version of it: absolutely.

After that I started a buying frenzy which included these two of my still favorites
















After that a love affair with buying classical discs began that is yet to stop...still, these are and always will be my two favorite pianists...only a handful of works they touched can be said to have been done even close...also, I had hundreds of good records growing up...a bunch of unknowns but very solid and enjoyable performances


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## Ralfy

Tchaikovsky's "1812" (I think) and Beethoven's 6th from Deutsche Grammophon on LP, and Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and other works on cassette (I can't remember the publisher).


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## TxllxT




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## Vesteralen

Sid James said:


> Great idea for a thread. I'll have to think in-depth about other things I got as "first time" classical purchases, but I vividly remember this one. Some may be quite surprised around here, but my first ever CD purchase, about 20 years ago in my teens, was this *J.S. Bach violin concertos disc*. A few months back, hearing the _Double Violin Concerto _live, it bought tears to my eyes, the beauty of the slow movt. esp., the two young beautiful soloists playing it, all the memories from earlier times (well, the good ones, not the bad ones!) -


I had this Naxos disc before I moved and cut down my collection. I wish I'd kept it. I kept my Hahn and Fischer discs because of collecting Hahn and Fischer discs - but this Naxos CD was more to my liking in the Bach.


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## Vesteralen

> Check out the Yellowish stuff on the spine(Dun seem like mold to me)! These things annoy the hell out of me, i found some very tiny bugs(0.5mm) in it. Not sure how to get rid of it, i am trying a Dehumidifier.


Well, don't take my word for it, but I read in a book about book collecting once that microwaving can take care of some of these issues. But, like I say, you might want to research that a little bit first. I'd hate to hear that your sleeves burned up...


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## Vesteralen

kv466 said:


> both I treasure and cherish as they introduced me to Rene Leibowitz


Did you happen to have Leibowitz conducting Schumann's "Rhenish" in your Readers Digest record sets? I've been looking for that recording for years. Never heard a better performance of this work anywhere.


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## Vesteralen

TxllxT said:


>


Wow. I haven't seen these covers in years. I used to have one of the Haitink Mahlers - it was either No 1 or No 4. Don't remember much about it, but I remember the covers.


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## beethovenian

Vesteralen said:


> Well, don't take my word for it, but I read in a book about book collecting once that microwaving can take care of some of these issues. But, like I say, you might want to research that a little bit first. I'd hate to hear that your sleeves burned up...


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## Vesteralen

beethovenian said:


>


Well, naturally I assumed you would take the CD out of the sleeve first....

I thought the discoloration was on the sleeves, not the disc itself.


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## beethovenian

Vesteralen said:


> Well, naturally I assumed you would take the CD out of the sleeve first....
> 
> I thought the discoloration was on the sleeves, not the disc itself.


Haha, i was just joking. 
I am not sure what it is, it just seems like multiple yellow rough patches. I am not sure whether the bugs are the cause of these.
Damn Paper Digipak!


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## Vesteralen

beethovenian said:


> Haha, i was just joking.


Well. that's a relief...


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## Sid James

*@ Vesteralen* - Well the Naxos Bach cd was a good one, I remember it like that (I don't have it now, like a lot of other things I "turfed" - regret that a bit, but "that's life," they're only objects).

Anyway, the "upside" is that, as far as I know, that disc is still on the market. A great "bonus" on it was a Respighi transcription of one of J.S. Bach's violin sonatas into a violin concerto. A rare thing, & I remember it as being quite interesting. May have to get this one again myself!  ...


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## Vesteralen

Sid James said:


> *@ Vesteralen* - Well the Naxos Bach cd was a good one, I remember it like that (I don't have it now, like a lot of other things I "turfed" - regret that a bit, but "that's life," they're only objects).
> 
> Anyway, the "upside" is that, as far as I know, that disc is still on the market. A great "bonus" on it was a Respighi transcription of one of J.S. Bach's violin sonatas into a violin concerto. A rare thing, & I remember it as being quite interesting. May have to get this one again myself!  ...


Yes, it's one of those recordings you buy _only_ for the music itself. I should have more of those, not less, in my collection.

I should have thought to mention this on the thread where somebody was asking for Bach Violin Concerto recommendations...only the person has probably already made up their mind and it would just muddy the waters.


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## fartwriggler

I only got into classical music at the start of the year,so memory lane is pretty short. The first recordings that turned me on to my new obsession were Mozart's and Schubert's string quartets by The Lindsays. My first purchase was Charles Munch and Boston Symphony's 'La Mer'-Debussy....


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## tahnak

I will not be able to attach any pictures like most people have done here because my first classical introduction was 78 RPM records set of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham and my first vinyl recording was Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto on HMV recording played by Solomon and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by George Weldon. My first CD was Mendelssohn's Overtures - London Symphony/Claudio Abbado.


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## elgar's ghost

When I was in my early 20s I bought a couple of CfP Wagner 'bleeding chunks' albums for about £2-29 each. I liked them but left it at that as I was heavily into buying rock music at the time plus taking strides into the classical world seemed a bit daunting largely thanks to the fact that it seemed to be too big a concept due to my general ignorance of the subject. Fast forward to about 12 years ago and I took the plunge and got Solti's Ring cycle as it was on promotion at a very discounted price as long as you joined Britannia Music (which I did for a few years until I was pointed towards Amazon). From that point on my building of a classical CD collection and my incremental understanding of how the music worked and the lives and times of the people who made it continued hand-in-hand along a very steady - and occasionally prolific - course until about last year when I began to dramatically ease off as I felt I simply had enough material to be going on with. The journey will never truly be over as I'm learning all the time but my particular voyage of discovery thus far has been one that has given me total pleasure.


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## FrankieP

I can't remember my first EVER classical CD, so I'm going to choose my first ever Mahler CD. Which was this - the Gergiev Mahler 6. Can't stand it now (the recording, not the piece, that is!) but I loved it at the time!


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## PostMinimalist

I got Klauss Thuneman playing 4 Vivaldi bassoon concerti on Philips in 1978. It changed my life....


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## StlukesguildOhio

My parents had this old "classic":










The first LP of classical music that I bought on my own was Bach's Brandenburg Concertos by Jorg Faerber and the Wurttemberg Chamber orchestra:










I also picked up this Handel set:










and a Vivaldi box set that included the Four Seasons, several mandolin concertos, etc... performed by I Musici.

No wonder I still love the Baroque.


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## opus55

Sid James said:


> Great idea for a thread. I'll have to think in-depth about other things I got as "first time" classical purchases, but I vividly remember this one. Some may be quite surprised around here, but my first ever CD purchase, about 20 years ago in my teens, was this *J.S. Bach violin concertos disc*. A few months back, hearing the _Double Violin Concerto _live, it bought tears to my eyes, the beauty of the slow movt. esp., the two young beautiful soloists playing it, all the memories from earlier times (well, the good ones, not the bad ones!) -


This was one of my first classical recordings I purchased. I still listen to it occasionally. Hmm.. I think I was in college when I bought this at Borders. It's funny because I just came back from Borders liquidation sale an hour ago. Very sad to see part of my memory disappear with the store closing. I remember when I bought this recording, Borders had fairly large classical section - nearly 15 years ago..


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## starthrower

The very first CD I bought back in 1984 was Shostakovich Symphony No.5 by Lorrin Maazel/Cleveland Orchestra on Telarc. I didn't even know who Shostakovich was at the time. I was leaving the audio store with my new CD player and I needed something to play on it. The salesman said here, try this!


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## teej

The first I owned was Sibelius Symphony #6 (Berlin / Karajan), bought way back in 1976. Remains one of my favourite symphonies.


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