101 Classical Music CDs

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...

"I love music passionately. And because I love it I try to free it from barren traditions that stifle it." --Claude Debussy Today we'll listen for the first time to Debussy, one of the greatest rule-breakers in all of classical music. ********************** Los Angeles Philharmonic/Boston Symphony Orchestra Claude Debussy (1862-1918) La Mer; Images Deutsche Grammophon, 1971/1980 ********************** If you enjoy vivid musical imagery, this is a composer you should get to know. And if you enjoy salacious personal details, you'll want to read all about the controversies of Debussy's personal life (an example: not one, but two of his jilted lovers attempted suicide by shooting themselves after he left them. Both recovered). Fairly or unfairly, Debussy has been labeled an "impressionist"--many listeners consider his music to be an auditory representation of the well-known painting movement. I'll offer my own impression: if we have to define Debussy...

Just a brief post today: Here's an awesome t-shirt design of Strauss and Mahler available for sale that I thought I'd share with my readers. Available from the blog Soho the Dog in short and long-sleeved versions from $15.40. Proceeds go to the charity organization Christopher's Haven , which provides a housing for a nominal fee for pediatric cancer patients at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children. (Also a tip of the hat to Chantal at Mahler Owes Me Ten Bucks for bringing this to my attention!)

Today's CD, a glorious recording of Mozart's Horn Concertos, gives me a chance to share a few thoughts on the miserable difficulties of playing the french horn. ********************** Dennis Brain and the Philharmonia Orchestra Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Mozart: Horn Concertos; Quintet, K.452 EMI Classics, 1954, 1955 ********************** I may be a trumpet player, but I've fooled around with the french horn enough to appreciate how hard an instrument it can be to play. And the french horn is, at its core, an uncontrollable instrument. All it takes is a very, very tiny change in your embouchure (that's a fancy word for the shape and formation of your lips when they're up against the mouthpiece), and you'll play a completely different note from the one you expected to play. And in Mozart's day, brass instruments (including the horn) were valveless. Thus you changed notes entirely by changing your embouchure-- and probably every third note was off...

I've dealt with Brahms' Fourth once before in a recording by the Weiner Philharmoniker under Carlos Kleiber. Today's post will cover an alternate recording of Brahms' Fourth, and it will complete our journey through the Philadelphia Orchestra's recording of Brahms' complete symphonies. Recall how I said that the simple act of picking up that Klieber disc, dusting it off and playing it made this entire blog worthwhile ? Well, today's CD has helped me get to know Brahms' Fourth even more intimately. It's one of the greatest classical music works I've ever heard, and I'm starting to think it might be my favorite symphony of all time. And I never knew it existed until I started this blog and began systematically working through my collection of classical music CDs. ********************** Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) Complete Symphonies Philips, 1989 ********************** We've talked before about...