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- Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
- Path: sparky!uunet!caen!nic.umass.edu!titan.ucc.umass.edu!yang
- From: yang@titan.ucc.umass.edu (HUAYONG YANG)
- Subject: Re: Beginning a classical collection
- Message-ID: <BzzAMr.AKD@nic.umass.edu>
- Sender: usenet@nic.umass.edu (USENET News System)
- Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- References: <1992Dec28.091408.16539@leland.Stanford.EDU>
- Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 16:47:15 GMT
- Lines: 67
-
- In article <1992Dec28.091408.16539@leland.Stanford.EDU> paulxxxx@leland.Stanford.EDU (paulastya gupta) writes:
- >Hello! Questions from an ignormaus:
- >
-
- Hello! Suggestions from an ignormaus:
-
- >1) How can one "break" into classical music? My current collection
- >includes the grand sum of *2* classical CD's. My current thoughts
- >are to get a book outlining the music of different ages (baroque,
- >romantic etc.), and start with the recommendations made as to great
- >works by the major composers.
- >
-
- I started with some popular/light classical music. Keep an eye on the
- albums with titles like '... Greatest Hits'. Then I collect some serious
- music CDs. Now I have ~60 CDs in classic. As a
- ignormaus, I find many 'great works' recommended by textbooks
- are boring. Bach's music is boring execpt Air on the G String (not his
- own version). Handel's music is better to my taste. Mozart has a lot of
- great and melodious music. Beethoven's Symphonies #5,9 and Piano
- Concerto #5 are great. I can go on and on. Ask me if you are interested.
- But beware that I am just a half-ignormaus.
-
- >2) Last time I was at the local music store, I compared several CDs
- >of Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture, and noticed that the times differed
- >by as much as 1 minute! Does this mean that it may be slightly cut
- >off in the shorter time performance? This complicates CD buying.
- >
-
- I think the difference in time is caused by the tempos in which the
- overture is conducted. No sure. And I don't care too much about it.
- I have two versions of Beethoven's Symphony #5, one by Karajan and one
- by Maazel. I notice that the the one by Karajan is faster than the one
- by Maazel. I prefer the one by Karajan. BTW, 1812 overture is very
- 'noisy', but cool.:-)
-
- >3) Should one look only for DDD recordings as opposed to ADD or AAD?
- >This further complicates CD purchasing.
- >
-
- I was told that one can notice the noise in some Karajan's CDs when they
- are played on a good stereo system, due to ADD or AAD. Since I don't
- have a good stereo system, I can't testify this. But whenever possible,
- I will go for DDD. I don't buy any AAD, like Toscanini's work.
-
- >4) Should one look for particular condutors/orchestras performing that
- >piece? This really complicates CD selection!
- >
-
- Yes. Karajan and Bernstein are top choices.
-
- >***************************************************
- >
- >Thanks. As a side note, I was recently listening to The Planets by
- >Holst. Strangely enough, as much as I liked "Mars", I thought the
- >remainder of the CD in its entirety was boring. I am in my early
- >20s, and seem to go for involved peices (I also like hard rock and metal).
- >
-
- You are welcome. As a side note, I am in my mid 20s, and I also like
- rock/pop. (I don't like hard rock and metal, sorry.)
-
- >Any recommendations for my tastes?
- >
- >- paulxxxx@leland.stanford.edu
-
-
-