101 Classical Music CDs

Prior to today, I can't remember ever listening to a single work by Liszt in my life. What a spectacular oversight! ********************** Leonard Bernstein and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Franz Liszt (1811-1886) Faust Symphonie Deutsche Grammophon, 1977 ********************** In his day, Liszt was better known for his piano playing than his composing. His prowess at the keyboard was legendary, and he may have been the greatest pianist who ever lived. Just two quotes from my Essential Canon of Classical Music will suffice to illustrate how even the great composers of his era held him in awe: I should like to steal from him the way to play my own etudes. --Chopin I've just witnessed a miracle! I was with Liszt at Erard's [a piano maker], and I showed him the manuscript of my concerto. He played it at sight--it's hardly legible--and with the utmost perfection. It simply can't be played any better than he played it. It was miraculous. --Felix Mendelssohn Of course,...

Today's post will cover Beethoven's Second Symphony, the other symphony on my 1985 CD of the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. Like the First , this symphony is part of Beethoven's "backward looking" period. Most of what we hear in this symphony bears striking resemblance to what you'd hear from Mozart, Haydn or other composers of the Classical era. ********************** Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 Deutsche Grammophon, 1985 ********************** And yet, while the structure and many of the melodic and harmonic elements sound "Classical" you can also hear, at times, a level of stress and emotional content unheard of in a typical Classical-era symphony. Part of the increased emotional content of this symphony was doubtless a function of Beethoven's personal struggles. It was at this time he was beginning to suffer from ...

Today we will cover Beethoven's First Symphony, from a 1985 CD of the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. I can see why music critics and historians consider Beethoven's First Symphony to be backward looking. There are times when you can hear Beethoven's stormy temper lurking in the First, but otherwise this symphony work sounds stylistically and structurally quite a bit like the music of Haydn or Mozart, key composers of the Classical era. ********************** Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 Deutsche Grammophon, 1985 ********************** Most music historians group Beethoven with Classical-era composers. But he wasn't really of the Classical era, nor was he truly of the Romantic era. He straddled both. His work evolved from Classical in style into forerunner works of the Romantic era (the Third Symphony is arguably a proto-Romantic work), and th...

Today we will cover listener notes to Haydn's Symphony #40 and Symphony #50, the final two works on this exceptional CD of four Haydn symphonies. Haydn was a giant of the classical era of classical music, and if you're interested in getting a representative sample of his music, you should seriously consider buying today's recording, as well as a recording of either his "London" Symphonies, or his "Paris" Symphonies. Let me just repeat for emphasis from last post that the four symphonies on this CD are performed brilliantly, and nearly flawlessly, by the Heidelberger Sinfoniker. ********************** Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 39, 34, 40, 50 Hanssler Classic, 2001/2003 ********************** Listener Notes for Haydn's Symphony Nos. #40 and #50: Symphony #40: 1) 30 seconds into the first movement of #40 (and it happens again at 1:38 when the initial theme is repeated) there's a an ...

I've mentioned before how I had never really appreciated Haydn before starting this blog. I had always thought of his music as rigid, highly structured and filled with more ornamentation than emotion. ********************** Thomas Fey and the Heidelberger Sinfoniker Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 39, 34, 40, 50 Hanssler Classic, 2001/2003 ********************** This batch of four Haydn symphonies puts the lie to those assumptions just like all my other Haydn CDs . Haydn did amazing, facetious, challenging and even shocking things with the symphony. He was every bit the flexible risk taker that Mozart was, despite that era's relatively strict sense what the structure and format of a symphony should be. And this CD of the Heidelberger Sinfoniker, under the direction of Thomas Fey, is an exceptional performance across the board. There is hardly a mistake or off-key note in the entire CD, a particularly significant achievement as this recording was done with peri...

This blog's core purpose isn't really to address classical music in film, but I just spent the other day watching the full-length version of Fantasia, and I wanted to share on this blog how this movie can provide you and your family a fascinating way to experience classical music. The animation work in this 1940 film was revolutionary for its day, and of course it contains The Sorcerer's Apprentice, one of the best-known and most memorable animated film shorts of all time. And the rest of Fantasia is equally memorable. One of the film shorts is an animation of the geological and evolutionary history of Earth set to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, with underwater scenes of the first ocean life, scenes of fish evolving into amphibians, the birth and dying off of the dinosaurs, and a memorable (but paleontologically improbable) battle between a T-Rex and a triceratops. If you introduce your sons or daughters to this film at an age when they're showing interest in dinosau...

Just a quick link to share with readers today. This one stings a bit (a century beyond its relevance??), but it's still funny and oh, so true: Stuff White People Like: Appearing to Enjoy Classical Music

The most commonly told anecdote about Beethoven's Third Symphony is the story of its dedication. After completing the symphony in 1803, Beethoven initially dedicated it to Napoleon as a representative of the freedoms and ideals of the French Revolution. ********************** Herbert von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony #3; Leonore Overture III Deutsche Grammophon, 1966/1977 ********************** And then, of course, Napoleon crowned himself emporer. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say Beethoven literally wigged out when he heard the news. He flew into a rage and tore up the title page of the symphony manuscript. And as told by his longtime friend and assistant Ferdinand Ries in the book Beethoven Remembered, Beethoven shouted: "So he is no more than a common mortal! Now, too, he will trample the rights of man, indulge only his ambition. Now he will think himself superior to all men and become a tyrant!" An...