101 Classical Music CDs

We will take a few more tentative steps into modern classical music today as we listen to Béla Bartók's Second Violin Concerto. This is the first time I've listened to Bartok here at 101 Classical Music CDs, and despite the fact that I've been listening to classical music for some 30 years, it took me a surprisingly long time to acclimate to this work. This extremely complex concerto only started to make sense to me after three very close listens. ********************** Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Bela Bartok (1881-1945) Violin Concerto #2 Deutsche Grammophon, 1991 ********************** And this is why, if you are still new to classical music and are just starting up your collection of recordings , I would suggest you do not buy this CD until you've first become familiar with key works from earlier classical music eras. For some additional thoughts on the various challenges and rewards of listening to modern classical mus...

We return to Dvorak after an extremely long hiatus to listen to his Sixth Symphony, performed on a CD recorded live by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Colin Davis. ********************** Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) Dvorák: Symphony No. 6 LSO Live, 2004 ********************** If you're in the early stages of building a classical music collection and are wondering whether you should include this work, let me be brief: don't bother. Dvorak has more impressive symphonies. If you want his best-known work, get this excellent recording of his Ninth; if you want to impress your friends with your originality by owning one of Dvorak's less-well-known work, then get the Seventh or Eighth Symphony (or both--they can be found on one CD here). This symphony was beautiful and well-played, don't get me wrong. But I failed to connect with it on an emotional level, and the four movements just didn't seem to go ...

After last week's derisive post on Paganini, I thought I'd shift to a composer who writes difficult-to-play music that doesn't threaten the very health of the musicians who play his works. Chopin. The poet of the piano. Today's Four Scherzi are masterpieces, full of emotion, tension, lyricism and complexity. They were among Chopin's last publications before his untimely death from consumption at age 39. ********************** Maurizio Pollini, piano Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) Chopin: 4 Scherzi, Berceuse, Barcarolle Deutsche Grammophon, 1991 ********************** What is a scherzo, exactly? Usually the word refers to one of the middle movements of a traditional symphony; typically it will be a lively dance-like piece in 3/4 time. Unfortunately, the word scherzo also means "joke" in Italian, leaving us to wonder if Chopin was being ironic or serious in using this name for these deeply emotional one-movement works for solo piano: How are seriousness and gra...

Today's post is about not one, but two of history's greatest violin prodigies, and one of the most challenging collections of classical music ever written for the violin. Nicolo Paganini, our first prodigy, was not only the greatest violinist who ever lived, he can also be thought of as classical music's first rock star, with worldwide fame, groupies, mistresses, and stupefied audiences of weeping and crying fans, some of whom were convinced that Paganini was under the control of Satan himself. I like to think of him as a 19th century version of The Devil Went Down to Georgia . ********************** Michael Rabin, violin (1936-1972) Nicolo Paganini (1782-1840) 24 Caprices For Solo Violin EMI Classics, 1958/1993 ********************** On the other hand, our second prodigy, Michael Rabin, never made it to his 36th birthday. Widely seen as one of the 20th century's most gifted violinists, he died in a freak accident in his New York City apartment--he slipped on the floor...

Today's post will cover Felix Mendelssohn's Second Symphony, from disc 2 of our 3-CD set of his five symphonies. Admittedly, the Second is a bit of a marathon. It starts off innocently enough like any other symphony, with three instrumental movements. But instead of finishing things up with a predictable fourth movement, Mendelssohn takes us into a nine-movement choral work. Collectively, the entire work is as long as two "normal" Mendelssohn symphonies. Mendelssohn dedicated his Second Symphony to the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing, which he believed to be one of the most important events in history. ********************** Herbert Von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Five Symphonies Deutsche Grammophon, 1973 ********************** Listener Notes for Mendelssohn's Second Symphony: 1) I'll say this for Mendelssohn: in this symphony he finally puts the brass section to work. 2) I don't see what's so ...

We return to classical music's second best -known prodigy, Felix Mendelssohn. Today I'll be writing about his Fifth Symphony. ********************** Herbert Von Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Five Symphonies Deutsche Grammophon, 1973 ********************** It's been a long while since I returned to this three-CD set of Mendelssohn's five symphonies. I covered Symphony #1 way back in March 2008, and somehow eight months passed by before I came back to this collection (a side note: a commenter left a link on that post to a weirdly mesmerizing performance of Louis Farrakhan--yep, that Louis Farrakhan--playing a Mendelssohn violin concerto. You just never know who might be out there in cyberspace reading your blogs). In any event, what is taking me so long to finish off this CD? It's certainly not because the music isn't wonderful. But I will say that on some level, Mendelssohn's symphonies lack the powerful feeling of...