# Gateway Recordings



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

This is about recordings which opened up composers to you which you had previously ignored or disliked.

For example, I hated Tchaikovsky's music until I heard Rozhdestvensky's recording of the Sixth Symphony. For some reason, then it all came together. 

This discovery of Rozhdestvensky as a conductor led me to his Glazunov series, and I became a fan of that composer also.

Are there any recordings which have become a gateway for you into a composer's output?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Manxfeeder said:


> Are there any recordings which have become a gateway for you into a composer's output?


More than I can count. Sibelius was problematic for me until someone gave me a set of Reader's Digest records that had the Barbirolli/Royal Philharmonic reading. Sensational! From then on Sibelius became a favorite. Mahler, too: I struggled to get through symphonies 1, 2, 5 which I borrowed from the public library. Then a patron came in to return the Bernstein 7th and said that I must give it a listen. I did, and was instantly hooked. That recording (still highly regarded) opened Mahler's sound workd to me.

Something that also used to matter, but now is largely irrelevant: cover art. Those LPs had some great art work sometimes and many of us bought records just because of the cover. Bought a boatload of Westminster Golds for sure.


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## Thomyum2 (Apr 18, 2018)

There were a couple recordings of Mozart that really changed my opinion of this work - the piano concertos played by Alicia de Larrocha, and _The Magic Flute_ conducted by James Levine in a live performance from the Salzburg Festival - I had though Mozart tedious and/or trite until both of these brought the music to life for me. Even to this day, I still find Mozart can be challenging to listen to unless in the hands the right performer.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

mbhaub said:


> . Those LPs had some great art work sometimes and many of us bought records just because of the cover. Bought a boatload of Westminster Golds for sure.


Ha! I can't say I've ever done that; I think I'm on the opposite spectrum; I have turned down a few recordings because the cover art was too pornographic/nasty/not suitable for my grandkids to see. (I puzzled over the cover of a Roger Sessions album, but I figured out it was a couple people's intertwined elbows.)


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

You mean like these:















I admit it; I bought those recordings (on cd) only because of the intriguing cover art. Being a Wagner fan and collectors of Opera without Words disks, I was pleased.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

mbhaub said:


> You mean like these:


I'd say those are good examples. Maybe the recordings are good, but they're not worth explaining to a 6-year-old what that's doing in my CD collection.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

I've stated I disliked Brahms' symphonies with a passion until Haitink's analytical, unromanticised LSO version. Mahler's 2 and 7 I never liked till Klemperer. Chopin and Rachmaninov until Kapell's unsentimental versions of certain works.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

After initial interest I found Bruckner bombastic and going nowhere. I tried lots of recordings - Harnncourt seemed more human but I still felt a lack of direction. Celibidache's recordings with the Munich Phil helped me over that one which gives the lie to those who say that they are not for Bruckner novices. Now I like all sorts of recordings of Bruckner.

Also, as a child I was not so taken with the wonderful symphonies of Brahms (in the wonderful performances of Bruno Walter). Klemperer got me over that. But, these days, I find Klemperer's Brahms lacking in warmth and I now see warmth as an essential quality in a successful Brahms performance.

There are probably other examples as well but these are the ones that come to mind.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Enthusiast said:


> AAlso, as a child I was not so taken with the wonderful symphonies of Brahms (in the wonderful performances of Bruno Walter). Klemperer got me over that. But, these days, I find Klemperer's Brahms lacking in warmth and I now see warmth as an essential quality in a successful Brahms performance.


Yes, Walter's recordings are warmer than Klemperer's, but as to Klemperer's recordings I think that it particularly is the recorded kind of analytical sound which is cold, and not so much Klemperer's interpretations.


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## Marinera (May 13, 2016)

Live Gardiner's version of Mozart's Requiem available on youtube.

I didn't get Requiem or choral music at all before I'd heard it, the only exceptions were - Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Orff's Carmina Burana. Before that, most choral music sounded the same to me. I couldn't recognise or even recollect any choral piece and of course Mozart's Requiem even 2 minutes after just hearing it.. oh well, I'll admit I couldn't understand the musical patterns even while I was _ intently_ listening to choral pieces and even less I could recognise them later afterwards - sometimes it was as if I was only hearing separate unrelated sounds that didn't make any sense to me. Add my extra dislike of lush orchestration and extra layer to fatten it all up with a large choir and it didn't seem like anything will help me to understand these pieces. It seems very strange now, because I hear the Requiem very clearly now, but Gardiner with Monteverdi Choir had literally broken some sort of ear/brain barrier I had before. It also I think helped that tempo was faster, the choir was smaller and had leaner less fuzzy sound. Also, loved the soloists in Tuba mirum, Anthony Rolfe Johnson's attack at the begining of his part especially. However, I didn't get what's so great about Lachrimosa until I heard Solti.

Yeah..aslo before that choral music for the most part sounded just like lots of howling to me. Not anymore of course.. Well there are still one or two exceptions..


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I think many "gateway" recordings are just happenstance -- the one you happened to be listening to when you were ready for a pariticular work to click.

For years, the Goldberg Variations performed for me their original function -- they put me to sleep. When I was ready to absorb them, I was listening to a CD by Andrew Rangell -- which is still one of my favorites.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

premont said:


> Yes, Walter's recordings are warmer than Klemperer's, but as to Klemperer's recordings I think that it particularly is the recorded kind of analytical sound which is cold, and not so much Klemperer's interpretations.


Interesting but I don't think it can come down to recorded sound alone. The granitic soundscapes that Klemperer conjured up do seem to preclude warmth. This doesn't worry me with his Beethoven or his Mozart or his Mahler.

I loved Klemperer's Brahms - and may have played my set to death? - but then I discovered other ways. I think it was Sanderling first and now it includes Kempe, Svetlanov and Abbado among many others. It was quite a while before I returned to Walter but now I know he is wonderful, too. I'm afraid I tend to think of Klemperer's Brahms almost as "Brahms for people who don't like Brahms"! It is just a matter of taste, of course.

In general, I do like variety in performances of great music (the examples above are very varied) and am allergic to the idea of there being a best. But there are some qualities that seem to me to be essential ingredients of a satisfactory performance of a given composer and, for me, a hint (at least) of warmth in Brahms is one of these. Of course, warm Brahms that lacked power or rigour would also not work for me. I do know that this is a personal matter (taste) and do remember how I loved the strength of Klemperer's Brahms for quite some time.


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## Weird Heather (Aug 24, 2016)

MarkW said:


> I think many "gateway" recordings are just happenstance -- the one you happened to be listening to when you were ready for a pariticular work to click.


Your experience matches mine. Sometimes, I have just happened to acquire a new recording, either as part of a large set or merely on a whim. Or sometimes I become curious to revisit something that hasn't quite "clicked" for me in the past, and I decide to pick up a new recording. I can think of a few instances in which I have gained a new appreciation for music that previously hadn't grabbed my attention. I think this situation is a combination of chance and readiness.

Beethoven's symphonies never really grabbed me in my earlier years. I enjoyed them well enough when I heard them, but I didn't seek them out. However, in time, I gained a greater understanding of the forms in which they are constructed, but I think I still needed a certain type of performance; the lush mid-20th century performances I found on records seemed to muddy the waters too much. Then, HIP came along, and the Gardiner and Hogwood sets ended up being my gateway recordings. I appreciated their clarity and vitality. I've since been able to go back to performance styles I didn't appreciate and find something to like there too.

Brahms is something of a similar story. While I loved his chamber music from the first time I heard it, the symphonies were slow to grow on me. Again, the lush mid-20th century performances may have been a bit much; I found the symphonies ponderous. First, I think I had to get to know and appreciate Beethoven's symphonies before I was ready for these. Then, the small orchestra approach (Mackerras/Scottish Chamber Orchestra) provided the clarity I craved. Now that I understand the symphonies better, the bigger orchestras don't always sound quite so ponderous anymore.

Just recently, I found a gateway to Tchaikovsky's symphonies, which I've always liked well enough but haven't felt like exploring in depth. Odd Grüner-Hegge, conducting the Oslo Philharmonic in the Fifth Symphony, came to the rescue. On the day I first listened to it, I think I was in the mood for something full of life and unabashedly sentimental. Tchaikovsky is often a good choice when I am in this mood, but this performance seems to have something special - a level of energy and emotional engagement with the music that many recordings lack. A mediocre performance of Tchaikovsky's symphonies will usually sound rather mushy to me, and I've heard many, both in recordings and in person. I've since started listening more closely to these symphonies, and I've acquired some new recordings. Thanks to chance and readiness, I've started to gain a new appreciation.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I've been listening to Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique for 40 years - but during most of that time just not "getting" it. I've owned several recordings including well known ones by Davis and Munch, but the work did not resonate for me until I discovered the Paray/Detroit Symphony performance from the Mercury box. That's the only one I'll listen to now.


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

Richter's recording of Rachmaninov's Etudes-tableaux. I had played quite a few Rachmaninov preludes as a student and was bored stiff of this composer, but Richter's hard-as-granite renditions introduced me to a new, more modern facet.


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