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06-16-2006, 05:03 PM
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#11 | |
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Marshal of the Eastmark
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 1,412
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Below I put some additions to that list. Let me opinionate on most important first. Most important is to create a good survey and position the pieces in time. At the library, do some taste testing as follows:
Start with the pre-Renaissance and the Troubadors and find which of those you like. Read the liner notes, of course. For me this turned up several compilation albums of merit, like the David Munrow albums. Eventually I came to realize what Guilaume de Machaut had done for humanity when he wrote that huge (for it's day) Mass in counterpoint, of all things. Then move to the full Rennaissance. It's possible to get lost there, so beware. At one end you have Dufay and Binchois. At the other you have Monteverdi. In the middle, there are a host of great forgotten composers. My personal favorite in the middle there is Josquin Des Prez. Then we get on to the Baroque. It's easy to confuse the early Baroque like Heinrich Schutz with the late Baroque like Buxtehude and Bach. If you think of them as totally different times, you'd probably do better. Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Frescobaldi, they all come out of the Monteverdian idea of a composer who is both secular and sacred. Bach comes later. Bach is my favorite composer. 'Nuff said? Then Classical. Well, Handel comes before Haydn and Mozart, and so it's not really fair to hold him up to them. In fact, he's kind of a contemporary of Bach so he was actually ahead of his time. Rossini is dated in the Romantic era, but musically he's classical. So then, and only then, play Beethoven. See, if you do all that before you hear Beethoven, you might find your jaw on the floor when the symphony is over. Then note that Schubert was a contemporary living in another city who died yound, and in that light, you see, Schubert is kind of the last classical composer. And then when you proceed the the middle Romantic era... Brahms, Schumann, Verdi, Berlioz, Tchaikofsky, Saint-Saens you have some way to compare. The Late Romantic works take their cue from Wagner. Bruckner's later pieces, and Mahler's Symphonies were unabashedly influenced by Wagner. Then comes post-Romanticism like Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky, etc. By that point you'll probably be ready to argue with Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. And you might find you disagree with me about the direction of music after that. Personally, I stick with Britten and Vaugh Williams and avoid any atonal pieces or minimalism. But to each his own.  Quote:
The dude also forget string quartets and other chamber pieces. none of the Adams Bach: St Matthew Passion (one of my desert island discs) Bach: Art of the Fugue, played on organ by Helmut Walcha none of the Barber Bartok: 6 String Quartets Beethoven: Missa Solemnis Beethoven: The Late Quartets Beethoven: The Complete Piano Sonatas (any opus number above 100 is essential!) Berlioz: Harold in Italy Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust Brahms: Double Concerto Brahms: Violin Concerto Brahms: Piano Quintet in Fm Britten: War Requiem Britten: er... um... that Good Samaritan piece (don't get old! hehehe) Bruckner: Symphony #9 not the Copland, puhlease... Debussy: Piano pieces, any and all! Debussy: Three Nocturnes Debussy: Jeux Poeme Danse Debussy: String Quartet not the Elgar, good gracious... Haydn: The Creation Liszt: Piano Concerto Mahler: Symphony of a Thousand (#8) Mozart: wow, so little Mozart there... first, The Clarinet Concerto Mozart: Piano Concerto #25 Mozart: The Haydn Quartets Mozart: Sonatas for Piano, played by Brendel on pianoforte, if you can still get that. Prokofiev: Lt. Kije Suite Prokofiev: Piano pieces like Sonatas, etc. He was a piano master. none of the Rachmaninoff, unless you need something to play when you have a girl over for dinner. ditch the Bolero, too Ravel: Piano Concerto for Left Hand Ravel: String Quartet Ravel: Tsigane Rossini... his contribution wasn't "overtures", but if you must have him, get a record of arias by a good soprano Schubert: Piano Sonata in C Schubert: Songs, there are several collections of them. It's what he did to buy food. These songs can sooth when nothing else will. why ANY J. Strauss? and why so much R. Strauss? All you need is Til Eugenspeigel and Zarathustra. But if you really like him, get some Wagner! Verdi: a good collection of overtures. Verdi operas that are core: Rigoletto, La Traviata, Il Trovatore OK, now I will add some guys. Bellini: a collection of arias Binchois: probably will have to stick with a selection on a renaissance compilation Bocherini: Cello Concerto Buxtehude: Organ music, if J.S. Bach would WALK 75 MILES to hear it, it had to belong on this list! Dowland: Lute Music, try to find it played on lute, not guitar. Bream plays him. Dufay: maybe you can find him on the same disk as Binchois Dukas: if you like the lighter stuff, then get the Sorceror's Apprentice Faure: Requiem Franck: Organ Music Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue Gershwin: Porgy and Bess Gounod: Romeo and Juliette Gregory: well, he only wrote it down, but you have to have some chant, it's the only music there was for hundreds of years. Josquin (De Prez): Missa Ave Maris Stella Josquin (De Prez): Marian Motets Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci (it changed opera) Machaut: Mass Monteverdi: Madrigals (he invented opera!) Monteverdi: The Coronation of the Pope Palestrina: Song of Songs Part: Passio Puccini: La Boheme Scarlatti, D.: Sonatas (some of the earliest ever) Sor: Guitar pieces (played by Segovia, of course!) Szymanofsky: Symphony #2 Vaughn Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem Vaughn Williams: A Sea Symphony Villa-Lobos: Guitar pieces (again, played by Segovia!) Wolf: Songs (there are only two record's full, he died young) |
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