The Essential Music Library: Classical

Cafe Society
21

:feeling very intimidated and somewhat foolish:
How about Hyferdole? Schubert?

And I like Haydn. What about Pacabel?

I like the Four Seasons; I like the Water Music.
I realize that my tastes might be mundane and plebian to some–but should classical music aspire to be as obscure and (looking for a word here–need an antonym dictionary and don’t have one) inaccessible as possible?

I am not understanding that this is to be an essential list?

What of opera --does that “count”? How about “light opera”?

Noone has brought up Copland?

:confused:

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Opera and post-1900 classical music will have threads of their own later in the project. If there’s something you’d like to post there, keep an eye out, or subscribe to the project planning thread linked in the OP.

23

My apologies for not reading the OP closely enough.

24

Specifically, Gardiner’s 1989 recording at San Marco.

Also:
Josquin, “Ave Maria, gratia plena” which is such a solid piece it can tolerate all sorts of interpretations and still sound great.

25

To keep things manageable, I’m going to interpret the OP’s “absolutely necessary for a well-stocked library” to mean “Enough to give you a good idea of the what the major composers and their works are like, so that you can go on to further explore the ones that appeal to you,” and leaning towards the big hits rather than quirky personal favorites…

Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos, a sample of his vocal music (perhaps the St. Matthew’s Passion, the Mass in b minor, or one or two of the better known cantatas), and a sample of his keyboard music (perhaps the Italian Concerto or one or two preludes’n’fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier).

Handel: The Messiah (or at least a disc worth of highlights), Water Music, Royal Fireworks Music

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Yeah, it’s his greatest hit, for a good reason.)

Haydn: At least one symphony (preferably one of the later ones) and one string quartet (I like “The Lark” (Opus 64 #5), but one of his Opus 76 quartets would do just fine).

Mozart: Symphonies 40 and 41 (at least), Piano Concertos 20 and 21, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, at least one of his wind concertos (maybe the Clarinet, the Flute & Harp, or the fourth Horn) and maybe one of his violin concertos.

Beethoven: Symphonies 5, 6, and 9; one of the concertos (Piano Concerto #4 or 5, and/or the violin concerto); a few piano sonatas (Moonlight, Waldstein), the Archduke Piano Trio.

Schubert: The Trout Quintet, some piano music (maybe the Impromptus), some songs.

Mendelssohn: The Violin Concerto, the Italian Symphony, the Midsummer Night’s Dream overture.

Schumann: One of the symphonies (maybe #1), Carnaval, the Piano Quintet, Dichterliebe

Brahms: One of the symphonies, the Violin Concerto, the Piano Quintet

Chopin: At least a disc’s worth of piano music

Dvorak: The “New World” symphony, and maybe also one of the others; the “American” String Quartet; maybe a Slavonic dance or two

Tchaikovsky: The First Piano Concerto, the Violin Concerto, one of the last 3 symphonies, one of the ballet suites, the 1812 Overture

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherezade

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique

Mahler: 1st or 5th Symphony

Richard Strauss: At least one of the tone poems

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Some which haven’t been mentioned:

Handel: Coronation Anthems (OK, it’s a compilation but it’s good)

Vivaldi: Beatus Vir.

Charpentier: Prelude to Te Deum.

Mozart: some of his smaller pieces are really good. Try his Sleigh Ride or one whose title I forget but starts something like ‘Jaucet, frolochtet, auf preiset die tahg…’

Has anyone mentioned Thomas Tallis?

27

A Treasury of Gregorian Chants. I haven’t heard more than a dozen examples of chant other than this collection, but this is by far the definitive chant collection. Not only is it better than the others I’ve heard, but it not only exemplifies the style but also includes examples of harmony and musical accompanyment (you can include a lot in 4 CDs!)

As a subjective note, this is also my favorite classical or pre-classical music. It comes from an era where you could play this music without a hint of self-consciousness. Not only can I hear the 50’s-early-60s piety that the singers portray, I can almost feel the wind on the hill and the early morning mist rise over the abbey. This does not happen with other examples of chant.

28

YYEEEEURRrrrggghh.

I hate Rimsky-Korsakov’s pompous & predictable orchestration at the best of times. Coupled with the stretching of what should be a ten-minute tone-poem across nearly an hour, and I really start to get quite angry. :wink:

29

You are an apeman (semi-simian?) of strong opinions.

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Again right up to the edge of our time period…

Erik Satie: Trois Gymnopédies

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Well, isn’t it a sign of great music when it evokes a strong emotional response? :wink:

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Something like that. Sit down and listen to a collection of Sousa’s marches–say, about 15 of them–and see if you can even jokingly say this. “Stars and Stripes Forever” probably belongs on the list, but it goes a long way for such a short piece.

33

Nah, I make that sound first thing every morning :stuck_out_tongue:

34

Wow, if ever there was a thread tailor-made for me to contribute something, and just about everything’s already been said! :frowning:

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Oh, come on, just throw in some opinionated comments, like me! :wink:

36

Repeat your favorites. If I do any reporting at the end, it’ll be based on how many times something gets mentioned.

37

Ein Straussfest.

38

I am tempted to recommend all of Tchaikovsky, even the tacky, overplayed pieces.

Buuut… Piano Concerto #1.

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Oh, and I second Bricker’s suggestion of the Trois Gymnopedies.

40

…my friend, who studies music and who is loath to spend the 15 bucks it costs to post here himself (not to mention that his English is poorer yet than mine), tells me he wants to add his two cents…

Things you have to have listened to, in order of importance (if you REALLY have to choose):

  1. J.S. Bach, Magnificat – directed by J.E. Gardiner
  2. Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Vergine, the edition by Gardiner already mentioned…good call, rivulus
  3. Mozart, Requiem, unfortunately without a call as to which version, since he’s heard too view.
  4. Beethoven: “Wallstein” Sonata
  5. DeBussy: Prelude à l’aprés-midi d’un faune
  6. Carl Orff: Carmina Burana
  7. Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
  8. Maurice Durufflé: Quatre Motets
  9. Chopin: Scherzo B-flat Minor
  10. Verdi: Requiem
  11. Wagner: Tannhaueser Overture
  12. Haendel: Messiah, Music for the Royal Fireworks; again, Fireworks by Gardiner, Messiah he doesn’t really know, but should be on the list.
  13. Brahms: A German Requiem, the Symphonies – all of them, as they should be available on one CD
  14. William Byrd: Mass
  15. Cherubini: Requiem
  16. Gershwin, if he applies here: Rhapsody in Blue
  17. Sibelius: Finlandia
  18. Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
  19. Cavalli: Requiem
  20. Ildebrando Pizetti: Cade la Sera – although that’s just for the specialists.

Now, if you’re looking at getting the hang of classical music and don’t want to spend money on everybody, you’re safe to ignore a couple of people who occasionally wrote good music, but aren’t really crucial. And then there’s the point that he’d rather listen to a lot of Bach then to some of the people above, but if you need an overview, you’d better listen to all of these. He tells me that he’d be fine with just Bach and Monteverdi…

For what it’s worth, I guess :-)…