Buying Western Classical Music

ajay124 · Oct 23, 2011

thatguy · Oct 23, 2011

ajay124 said:
The kind of music I love to play LOUD on my system

Shostakovich Symphony No.8 3rd movement - YouTube

Thanks Ajay, for the clip. Just the kind of music I was looking for. A box set of his Symhponies (Haitink) is on the way. I had read some biographical information about Shostakovich and had bought a CD of his Jazz music. It was good, but not the kind that makes you want to rush out and buy everything from the store by the man. This clip did just that.

ajay124 · Oct 23, 2011

thatguy

Among the DS symphony box sets Haitink is probably the best choice. I am sure you will enjoy the music. And you will get a taste of the superb Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Both the 1995 and 2006 Decca releases are available on Amazon at a similar price. I hope you bought the 2006 set. The performances are probably the same but hopefully Decca has improved the SQ for the 2006 issue. Does not always happen. Sometimes the older issues sound better

Shostakovich: The Symphonies: D. Shostakovich: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Shostakovich: The Symphonies: Dmitry Shostakovich, Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Choir, Marius Rintzler, Julia Varady, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Sderstrm: Amazon.co.uk: Music

ajay124 · Oct 23, 2011

Playing the CD of the music from the You Tube clip at 2 o clock volumes

Symphony No.8. Third Movement. Mstislav Rostropovich. Rostropovich conducted the 8th symphony with both LSO and Washington Symphony Orchestra. I am not sure which orchestra is playing in the clip.

Red Book

Shostakovich - Symphony No 8 (LSO Rostropovich): London Symphony Orchestra, Dmitry Shostakovich, Mstislav Rostropovich: Amazon.co.uk: Music

SACD

Shostakovich - Symphony No 8 (LSO, Rostropovich): London Symphony Orchestra, Dmitry Shostakovich, Mstislav Rostropovich: Amazon.co.uk: Music

thatguy · Oct 23, 2011

ajay124 said:
I hope you bought the 2006 set.

Yes, I got the 2006 version:

Amazon.com: Shostakovich: The Complete Symphonies: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Dmitry Shostakovich, Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Julia Varady, Elisabeth Sderstrm, Ryszard Karcykowski: Music

I watched this clip when I had just finished watching about half of 'The Downfall'. The unrelenting intensity of the music fit almost perfectly with the mood of the movie.

ajay124 · Oct 23, 2011

I have bought a large number of CD's in recent months and I am very happy with most of the choices I made. I have barely heard 50% of the new CD's. I am enjoying the process of discovery and concentrating on modern composers rather than old favorites like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn and Schubert.

Liike diamonds some music is forever. From the multitude of new CD's some have already become as priceless as fine cut diamonds. I wonder how I could have lived without them for so many years. There are two small sets which I would recommend to everybody. Absolutely glorious music from a great set of musicians. Both sets feature Bernard Haitink and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Excellent packaging and sound quality. I have heard many versions of this music. But these recordings are pretty much definitive for me. They are forever.

The Sony set has 3 discs containing the 5 piano concertos of Beethoven. Among the Big B's finest compositions. Music will never get much better than this. Murray Perahia's performance on the piano is extraordinary. The Decca set has 7 discs containing the 4 symphonies, two piano concertos, violin concerto, double concerto and serenades of Brahms.

Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos: Ludwig van Beethoven, Bernard Haitink, Perahia Murray: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Brahms: The Symphonies & Concertos: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Claudio Arrau, Henryk Szeryng, Jnos Starker, Brahms, Bernard Haitink: Amazon.co.uk: Music

ajay124 · Oct 26, 2011

I was under the impression that CD's prices were immune to the surging inflation of the past couple of years but recent browsing on online sites like Amazon, Rhythm House and Flipkart seems to suggest that prices are shooting up!

Last year I had purchased Mahler's 150th Anniversary box set of 16 CD's issued by EMI. I was happy because I was getting the entire works of Mahler on 16 CD's although the recordings (with a few exceptions) were probably between 40-60 year old. But they were by famous conductors of the past like John Barbirolli, Otto Klemperer, Carlo Maria Giuluni, BNruno Walter, Jascha Horenstein, George Szell, Klaus Tennstedt etc. Decent sound quality in distinctly budget packaging. Definitely worth the 1995 INR I paid for the set. Otto Klemperer's superb interpretation of the second symphony was the standout recording on the set. But current prices on Flipkart and Rhythm House are close to 4000 INR!

mahler anniversary Rhythm House
Flipkart.com: Mahler: The Complete Works - 150th Anniversary Box: Music: Audio CD 2010
Flipkart.com: 150th Anniversary Box - Mahler: Music: Audio CD

Around the same time I had purchased a 5CD set of Schumann for 995. Current price on Flipkart is 1960.

Flipkart.com: Schumann-200th Anniversary-Chamber Music: Music: Audio CD

I browsed for CD's of Mahler and Shotakovich on Flipkart and found prices ranging from 400-1200 for single CD's of even very old recordings!

Mahler Music: Buy in India @ Flipkart.com
Shostakovich Music: Buy in India @ Flipkart.com

I am glad that my music collection is complete and I don't need to buy more music. At these prices I would have had to settle for a substantially smaller collection!

ajay124 · Oct 27, 2011

Ludwig Van Beethoven's 9 symphonies are one of the summits of western classical music. There are plenty of reasonably priced box sets of the complete symphonies to choose from.

Herbert Von Karajan recorded these symphonies for the first time with The Philharmonia Orchestra between 1951-1955. Symphony 1-8 were recorded at Kingsway Hall, London and the 9th at the Musikverein, Vienna. A remastered box set of these mono recordings was released by EMI in 2008.

Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies: Herbert von Karajan: Amazon.co.uk: Music

In the next three decades Karajan made three more recordings of the symphonies with the Berliner Philharmoniker. The best known and probably the best selling recordings are the ones made in the early 60's. This is the set with which most people are familiar.

Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies: Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert Von Karajan: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Wilhelm Furtwangler is considered to be one of the greatest conductors of Beethoven's symphonies. EMI released a remastered set of his mono recordings made in the late 40's.

Beethoven: Complete Symphonies: Ludwig van Beethoven, Wilhelm Furtwngler: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Another set of digitally remastered stereo recordings by EMI is conducted by Otto Klemperer with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the 50's. This set also contains Beethoven's piano concertos with Daniel Barenboim and the same orchestra.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beethoven-S...YA0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319696185&sr=8-1

The set which I am currently listening to is by Bernard Haitink and LSO. A superbly packaged Hybrid SACD set, with a slower, gentler take of the symphonies by Haitink. Very different from the Karajan 60's recordings which I have listened to the most. Sound quality is excellent but perhaps not as good as what one would expect from SACD's.

Beethoven: Complete Symphonies: London Symphony Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven, Bernard Haitink, Karen Cargill, Lars Vogt, Twyla Robinson, John MacMaster, London Symphony Chorus: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Carlos Kleiber has conducted excellent versions of these symphonies with the Weiner Philharmoniker and other orchestras. Next time I go shopping for Beethoven I intend to get some Kleiber, Klemperer and Furtwangler.

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7: Ludwig van Beethoven, Carlos Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, C. VPO/Kleiber: Amazon.co.uk: Music

More options, old and new:

Beethoven: The Symphonies: Riccardo Chailly, Ludwig Van Beethoven: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Beethoven: The Symphonies: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Beethoven: Symphonies: Andre Cluytens: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Beethoven: The Symphonies: Christian Thielemann, Ludwig van Beethoven: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 2, 4 & 5: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven, Karl Bhm: Amazon.co.uk: Music

ajay124 · Oct 28, 2011

I have never purchased any CD's of orchestral music conducted by one of the greatest conductors of the previous century-Wilhelm Furtwangler. I am generally not satisfied with the sound quality of recordings made in the 1930's and 1940's. I have no objection to mono but I don't like the hiss, lack of detail and dynamics which many historic recordings suffer from. Sometimes it is excessive filtering by the recording companies which robs these recordings of their vitality. But Furtwangler is too good a conductor not to have in one's collection. Therefore I decided to make amends and have ordered my first Furtwangler set. Ten CD's for 8.5 pounds! Great music at rack rates

Maestro: Wilhelm Furtwngler: Amazon.co.uk: Music

While surfing for information about Furtwangler I came across this great website dedicated to his work:

Furtw?ngler's recordings : SWF's best choice

Two of the most popular Furtwangler box sets are currently available at Rhythm House at better prices than Amazon.

Wilhelm Furtwangler-The Great EMI Recordings Rhythm House | Buy Online Music CD

Wagner-Der Ring Des Nibelungen Rhythm House | Buy Online Music CD

ajay124 · Oct 30, 2011

Great conductors of the twentieth century

Carlos Kleiber is reported to have commented that "Every unproduced record is a good record". Which would seem to suggest that a lot of music which is released every year, and perhaps even becomes a best seller, should have been left in the cans. Following his own dictum Kleiber made only a few recordings of the orchestral music of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms and Haydn. He also recorded some operas of Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Weber and Strauss. Most of these recordings are treasured by his fans and have been in circulation since the time of their original release, mostly by Duetsche Grammophon. His versions of famous symphonies like Beethoven's 5/7, Schubert's 8, Brahms 4 are considered to be among the best ever recorded. His recordings of Wagner's Tristan & Isolde, Verdi's La Traviata and Strauss' Die Fledermaus are equally revered by opera fans. I have placed an order for his complete recordings on DG. Can't wait to get my hands on it! It contains both the symphonies and the operas mentioned above. Individual recordings of these symphonies are also available in DG's "The Originals" collection.

Carlos-Kleiber.com: Video Clips

Deutsche Grammophon - Carlos Kleiber - Biography

The Classical Review CDs / DVDs ? Blog Archive ? CARLOS KLEIBER I Am Lost to the World; Traces to Nowhere

Kleiber - I Am Lost To The World DVD 2011 NTSC: Amazon.co.uk: Carlos Kleiber: Film & TV

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carlos-Kleiber-Traces-Nowhere-NTSC/dp/B004P96WRM/ref=pd_sim_d_h__1

Carlos Kleiber - Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon: Carlos Kleiber: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7: Ludwig van Beethoven, Carlos Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, C. VPO/Kleiber: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Brahms: Symphony No.4: Wiener Philharmoniker, Carlos Kleiber: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Schubert: Symphonies Nos 3 & 8: Franz Schubert, Carlos Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Verdi: La Traviata: Ileana Cotrubas, Plcido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Stefania Malagu, Bavarian State Orchestra, Carlos Kleiber: Amazon.co.uk: Music

ajay124 · Nov 2, 2011

In the past couple of years a big chunk of my music listening has been dedicated to Gustav Mahler's 9 symphonies. I still have not got around to listening frequently to his song cycles. Looking back I find it amusing that I bought my first Mahler set without even bothering to check the name of the conductor or the orchestra. I prized this set without actually playing it too many times. With time I started enjoying bits and pieces from symphonies 1-5. Some kind of a breakthrough happened when I bought the EMI box set from Rhythm House. This set has the complete symphonies and lieders composed by Mahler, recorded by various composers and orchestras. Sound quality is quite good but the DG set called Mahler Editions has better SQ and a marginally better choice of conductors. While listening to the CD's I surf for information about the music and the different versions which had been recorded since the 1950's. Tony Duggan's reviews on Music Web are very impressive.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/Mahler/index.html

Going by the large number of recordings made by so many major orchestras and conductors, the last 5 decades can truly be called a Mahler century. Earlier I could not really comprehend why collectors would buy several recordings of the same composition. But now I feel that even a basic journey into Mahler's symphonies requires traversing through the recordings of Bruno Walter, Rafael Kubelik, Klaus Tennstedt, Otto Klemperer, Leonard Bernstein, John Barbirolli, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Janson, Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, George Solti, Gary Bertini, Carlo Maria Guiluni, Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev....and many more.... requiring a lifetime of listening to Mahler!

Having no technical knowledge of classical music I can at best skim the surface of this music. I simply rely on my ears and the reviews I read on the net and enjoy the music, without understanding the notations or ever coming to grips with the enormous complexity of creating or performing these symphonies.

Among the conductors I have heard till now, I find the calm, collected and finely nuanced recordings of Pierre Boulez most to my liking. At the other end of the spectrum are the red hot and exuberant recordings of Leonard Bernstein which I rarely listen to anymore. The other conductors I really like for Mahler are Otto Klemperer and John Barbirolli. And Bernard Haitink when he is conducting the Royal Concertgebouw. I am looking forward to listening to 21st century versions by ValeryGergiev/LSO and Michael Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, when they are finally released as SACD box sets at affordable prices.

A good introduction to Mahler would be a box set with famous recordings by varoius conductors:

Gustav Mahler: Complete Works [150th Anniversary]: Gustav Mahler: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Complete Edition: Various Artists: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: The People's Edition: Various Artists: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Box sets featuring a single conductor:

Mahler: Complete Symphonies: Gustav Mahler, Rafael Kubelk, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Chorus, Edith Mathis, Norma Procter, Marjorie Thomas, Elsie Morison: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Symphonies 2, 4, 7, 9; Lieder (Emi France): 4, 7, 9; Lieder (Emi France) Mahler: Symphonies 2, Gustav Mahler, Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Complete Symphonies: Gustav Mahler, Bernard Haitink, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chorus, Elly Ameling, Aafje Heynis, Maureen Forrester, Ileana Cotrubas: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Complete Symphonies: G. Mahler: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: The Complete Symphonies: Leonard Bernstein: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Complete Symphonies 1-10 & Songs (Rattle) [14cd]: Simon Rattle, Gustav Mahler, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Complete Symphonies; Das Lied von der Erde: Marjana Lipovsek, Ben Heppner, Gustav Mahler, Gary Bertini, Kolner Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Symphonies 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10: James Levine: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Complete Symphonies Nos 1-9 / SOLTI /DECCA/10 CD BOX SET: Gustav Mahler, SOLTI: Amazon.co.uk: Music

For SACD recordings one can look for Michael Tilson Thomas or Valery Gergiev. And recordings by Pierre Boulez of various symphonies are available as individual CD's.

ajay124 · Nov 5, 2011

Gramophone awards 2011.

Gramophone Awards 2011 | gramophone.co.uk

Among the winners were exciting new conductors and musicians :

Milos Karadagalic. Young artist of the year.

Milos Karadaglic - No.5 Asturias - YouTube

Gustavo Dudamel. Artist of the year.

Gustavo Dudamel: Dvorak, Symphony no. 9, 4. Allegro con fuoco - YouTube

Vasily Petrenko with RLPO. Best orchestral album.

Introduction to the RLPO's 2010/2011 Season - YouTube

ajay124 · Nov 7, 2011

I have lost count of the number of CD's that I have bought from Amazon this year. Perhaps 400+ CD's of western classical music. Enough new music to last me the rest of my lifetime. Until Amazon came along, buying music was always a compromise. I could never find even a small percentage of the music I actually wanted to listen to. Because it was not available in India. Quite often when it was available it was not affordable. After I started surfing Amazon UK earlier this year, not only did I discover all the music that I really wanted to buy, but with free shipping and VAT deduction even the pricing was reasonable. I decided I would spend a maximum of 400 rupees for single red book CD's and 500 for single SACD's. For box sets I decided on a maximum price of 200 rupees for red book CD's and 300 for SACD's. Most of the time I kept within my budgeted prices. I made an exception for Pierre Boulez who happens to be my current conductor of choice. I have more or less bought all the music that I wanted to buy but I still surf Amazon regularly.

While buying from Amazon UK one has basically three options:

Buy new CD's which are directly being sold by Amazon
Buy new CD's which are being sold by other sellers on Amazon
Buy used CD's which are being sold by other sellers on Amazon

Until about a month ago I bought all my CD's directly from Amazon in order to avail free shipping and VAT deduction. I felt more secure buying directly from Amazon. But recently I have found a huge difference between the prices quoted by Amazon and those by the other sellers. Quite often the difference is so huge as to make the 'free shipping' offer meaningless. The shipping seems to have been included in the price! Quite often buying new or used from other sellers featured on Amazon works out cheaper. I have bought a few used CD's because the new was either very expensive or out of stock. One prominent seller that I have recently bought both new and used CD's from is zoverstocks. They seem to have an aggressive pricing policy of low margins and high volumes. Good news for the customers

Amazon.co.uk At a Glance: zoverstocks

Relative pricing of three CD's that I want to buy:

Mahler: Symphony No.6 "Tragic": Wiener Philharmoniker^Pierre Boulez: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Symphony No.9: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Symphony No.7 "Song Of The Night": Mahler: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Amazon prices are more than double those being offered by other sellers!

soundofmusic · Nov 8, 2011

ajay124 said:
I have lost count of the number of CD's that I have bought from Amazon this year. Perhaps 400+ CD's of western classical music. Enough new music to last me the rest of my lifetime. Until Amazon came along, buying music was always a compromise. I could never find even a small percentage of the music I actually wanted to listen to. Because it was not available in India. Quite often when it was available it was not affordable. After I started surfing Amazon UK earlier this year, not only did I discover all the music that I really wanted to buy, but with free shipping and VAT deduction even the pricing was reasonable. I decided I would spend a maximum of 400 rupees for single red book CD's and 500 for single SACD's. For box sets I decided on a maximum price of 200 rupees for red book CD's and 300 for SACD's. Most of the time I kept within my budgeted prices. I made an exception for Pierre Boulez who happens to be my current conductor of choice. I have more or less bought all the music that I wanted to buy but I still surf Amazon regularly.

While buying from Amazon UK one has basically three options:

Buy new CD's which are directly being sold by Amazon
Buy new CD's which are being sold by other sellers on Amazon
Buy used CD's which are being sold by other sellers on Amazon

Until about a month ago I bought all my CD's directly from Amazon in order to avail free shipping and VAT deduction. I felt more secure buying directly from Amazon. But recently I have found a huge difference between the prices quoted by Amazon and those by the other sellers. Quite often the difference is so huge as to make the 'free shipping' offer meaningless. The shipping seems to have been included in the price! Quite often buying new or used from other sellers featured on Amazon works out cheaper. I have bought a few used CD's because the new was either very expensive or out of stock. One prominent seller that I have recently bought both new and used CD's from is zoverstocks. They seem to have an aggressive pricing policy of low margins and high volumes. Good news for the customers

Amazon.co.uk At a Glance: zoverstocks

Relative pricing of three CD's that I want to buy:

Mahler: Symphony No.6 "Tragic": Wiener Philharmoniker^Pierre Boulez: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Symphony No.9: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mahler: Symphony No.7 "Song Of The Night": Mahler: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Amazon prices are more than double those being offered by other sellers!

I have bought CD's from Zoverstocks. Their pricing is very competitive and they also have a good collections. Thanks for the you tube links.

regards

arnprasad · Nov 8, 2011

soundofmusic said:
This is proving to be one of the best thread in HFV and thanks to AJAY for that. I have started to accumulate few Western Classical CD's. Have 6 CD's of Western Collection:sad:, but the number will go up in a couple of months.
But I am not able to understand many of the posts. I am reading it again and again and can follow a bit. But at end of the day , I just buy the CD's recommended by Ajay and enjoy the music

I know a bit of classical music myself and have attended few concerts in london at royal albert and barbican and have bought few tens of CDs and downloaded many others..but when I see the postings by Ajay....he is neck deep into this and his posts are not for people just getting in to Classical - I really appreciate his posts - but I too get lost and hence stick to few famous composers I know and have heard.

Kudos to Ajay for all the posts:clapping:

ajay124 · Nov 9, 2011

arnprasad

Thank you for the appreciation. It feels good to know that my musical ramblings are of interest to some people. Although I don't think I am neck deep into classical music! For many years I was dipping my toes in it and perhaps now I have got my feet a little wet

I missed out on the essential knowledge and experience which could have bought a deeper understanding of this music. I feel one has to grow up learning how to play instruments, read notes, listening to live concerts, to really understand classical music. Whereas my childhood in Simla and adulthood in Chandigarh is devoid of all this knowledge and experience.

Nothing has changed in all these years. In fact the environment seems to have become even more anti music now. Last year for the school annual function, my small daughter was taught to sing and dance to a song from Golmal. This year they are teaching her to sing and dance to something from Singham. This is the sum total of 'musical' education being provided by prestigious and pricey schools. Will my daughter grow up with a natural, spontaneous understanding of Mahler and Beethoven? Bhimsen Joshi and Ali Akbar Khan? I doubt it. She is part of a "Wanna be my chamak chalo?" world, and she will have to learn how to navigate this world on her own.

arnprasad · Nov 9, 2011

ajay124 said:
arnprasad

Thank you for the appreciation. It feels good to know that my musical ramblings are of interest to some people. Although I don't think I am neck deep into classical music! For many years I was dipping my toes in it and perhaps now I have got my feet a little wet

I missed out on the essential knowledge and experience which could have bought a deeper understanding of this music. I feel one has to grow up learning how to play instruments, read notes, listening to live concerts, to really understand classical music. Whereas my childhood in Simla and adulthood in Chandigarh is devoid of all this knowledge and experience.

Nothing has changed in all these years. In fact the environment seems to have become even more anti music now. Last year for the school annual function, my small daughter was taught to sing and dance to a song from Golmal. This year they are teaching her to sing and dance to something from Singham. This is the sum total of 'musical' education being provided by prestigious and pricey schools. Will my daughter grow up with a natural, spontaneous understanding of Mahler and Beethoven? Bhimsen Joshi and Ali Akbar Khan? I doubt it. She is part of a "Wanna be my chamak chalo?" world, and she will have to learn how to navigate this world on her own.

Thanks Ajay for thanking me...thats my first thanks in 87 posts. I know my posts are not that good but 0 thanks in 86 posts was a bit depressing.

Second thing on the famous composers bit - The reason I said that was my experience with western classical is like a non chinese guy looking at chinese people ( no offence meant)- they all look similar unless you have few friends you can pick out from the crowd. In spite of me spending countless hours researching, spending time on wikipedia, looking for documentaries on composers ....etc.....when I listen to a new piece of western classical music - 99% of the time I switch it off unless it has a very catchy tune because they all tend to sound the same. So for absolute beginners - its better if people stick to famous tunes used in car reversing gears or ring tones or best of classical music complilations. I still remember a concert in Barbican - I had gone there to hear a piece of music I liked - could be Griegs piano concerto - but in the same program there was another piece - shashtakovic 5th symphony I think -some sob story on how he was depressed and kicked off from USSR or some thing like that....anyways that music was new to me and really depressing with no catchy tunes and all sorts of loud noises - that I decided instead of experimenting with 100 different composers - stick to the 5-10 you know and get more info on them...guess thats just me...and a good reason I dont get too many thanks

In fact since I miss those concerts, I spend a lot of time on Youtube - god bless this website where I can atleast listen and see concerts in HD. In fact for past couple of months I have exceeded my 25GB a month limit on my broadband connection

hyeah:

regarding kids learning sheelas and munnis..I couldnt agree more - they are short, sweet and catchy and difficult to ignore. I got two sons 5 and 4 and I hope they can learn some carnatic instrument or vocals before they completely miss out on our cultural past:indifferent14:

ajay124 · Nov 10, 2011

arnprasad

Your reaction to the music of Shostakovich is understandable. I feel the same way about some music when I first hear it. Music which is too complex or depressing is (at least initially) a turn off. When I began listening to classical music, for many years I was primarily listening to the popular works of a handful of composers like Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Handel, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak etc. I bought a few tape's/cd's of modern composer like Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Mahler but I never played them for more than 10 minutes. Their music confused me, depressed me, made me feel uneasy. The sensation was akin to falling into a dark void or entering a night without end. The sense of peace, beauty and transcendence I felt while listening to classical composers was replaced by horror, anxiety and confusion.

There is no rule book or a best way of listening to music. It is perfectly fine to only listen to music which provides relaxation and pleasure. And it is perfectly fine to listen to music which (at least initially) provides tension, fear and despair. It depends on individual temperaments. Personally I enjoy both happy and playful music as well as depressing and complex music. But my natural tendency is towards depressing and complex music, books and cinema. Maybe I am a pessimist. Or a realist. We become what we are when we are very young. We can't help it. Or change it. There was no one in my family or environment who read the books, watched the films or heard the music that I did. The first person I met who thought like me, felt like me, and liked the same books, music and cinema was a girl. I proposed to her and fortunately she accepted

quad · Nov 10, 2011

Ajay, really appreciate your excellent, focused and knowledgeable
posts on music and cinema. I read them avidly.
I can't yet add any meaningful contribution to your threads, but
hopefully will get there in time.
Keep posting, and be sure there are many who are reading and
learning and enjoying from your posts.

ajay124 · Nov 11, 2011

Freidrich Gulda was an Austrian pianist who gained fame for his recordings of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. Yet he was never completely enamoured with, or a part of the classical establishment. He questioned the assumed superiority and rituals associated with concert halls and classical music programmes. He seldom, or perhaps never, appeared in ruffled shirts, tie and tailcoats for a classical performance. He considered some of the trappings of western classical music as bourgeois and boring. During the 50's and 60's he could have gained even greater fame as a classical pianists, yet he chose to play jazz music at Birdland, Newport and other venues. He collaborated and performed with jazz legends like Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Correa and Joe Zawinul. He recorded his version of the popular track 'Light My Fire' by the Doors.

I remember reading that in the early years of his career he was not impressed by the music of Mozart. He thought it was only good for 'warming up' and overtures. Yet in the early 80's he stopped playing jazz and 'came back' to classical music with a series of performances of Mozart's divine piano sonatas. Accompanied only by a sound engineer he recorded all of them on a Bosendorfer piano provided by the Hotel Zur Post situated near Salzburg. Mikes were placed close to the Bosendorfer and recordings were made on magnetic tape. The original master tapes were lost but the sound engineer had made a copy on cassette tape. Luckily these copies survived, and a few years ago the Gulda tapes were issued as a CD box set by Duetsche Grammaphon.

I have these recordings and also his excellent versions of Mozart's piano concerto's as well as some Bach recordings. Gulda's Mozart is wonderful music to play when you are 'actively' listening to music from your sweet spot, or 'passively' listening to music while driving, cooking, working or dozing off. Some purist may feel that Gulda's interpretation is not the way Mozart or Bach should sound. But I doubt if Bach or Mozart left behind detailed instructions about how their music is to be played. Personally I really enjoy listening to Mozart as played by Freidrich Gulda.

The Complete Gulda Mozart Tapes (Piano Sonatas etc.): Friedrich Gulda, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 21/25 & 27: Friedrich Gulda, Wiener Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Bach, J.S.: The Well-tempered Clavier Bk I: Friedrich Gulda: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Bach, J.S.: The Well-tempered Clavier, Book 2: Friedrich Gulda: Amazon.co.uk: Music

Gulda plays Chopin: Friedrich Gulda: Amazon.co.uk: Music

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