Please help me educate myself!

[marvinbrown]

Thank you! And by all means, push Wagner!

What are your favorite Wagner recordings?

  This is wonderful:

  [asin]B0040UEI7W[/asin]

  And so are these:
 
  [asin]B000001GXS[/asin]

  [asin]B003Y3MYYU[/asin]

  [asin]B0000042H4[/asin]

  [asin]B00005IB5N[/asin]

  The Solti Ring is a classic. The Parsifal is legendary and the Bohm Tristan is "white hot"! The Bohm Ring is live the Solti is a studio recording. With the Ring Cycle I am of the opinion that one must have both a live (preferably from Bayreuth) and a studio recording. You can pick up the Bohm cheaply. The are many versions of this classic live recording:

  [asin]B00AX20AHI[/asin]

  marvin

 

 

[North Star]

I'll gladly second the recommendation of that Knappertsbusch Parsifal.

[jochanaan]

Do you want me to consider this a recommendation for the "Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky" box set, or particular individual recordings?

The box set on Amazon looks good, but seems only to include Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.  There's a lot more out there.  I'm very fond of the Symphony of Psalms and Symphony in C, with the CBC Symphony Orchestra.  Or if you can find a larger box set, I'm certain everything in there is worth having.

[Daverz]

If you're just starting out, you definitely need Parsifal.  You guys give such awesome advice.

[mc ukrneal]

  Nice collection...but at the risk of preaching you really need some opera masterpieces in there.  No don't worry I am not going to push you to buy any Wagner, not yet anyway  . In fact I shall only recommend one opera to you now.  THIS:

  [asin]B000001GLM[/asin]

  BUY THIS, it is one fo the BEST if not THE BEST opera Verdi ever composed!

  marvin



 

Good one. I would also suggest some Donizetti (and it doesn't get much better than this one):
[asin]B005G4YEF2[/asin]

[coffee]

Once again, over and over, thank you so much my friends! Thank you for the recommendations and particular thanks for seconding your favorites among others' recommendations, helping me to prioritize.

Mc ukrneal - What Donizetti did you mean? I'll guess Sutherland's Lucia di Lamermoor? That's my own hopeful guess, but if that's not right let me know!

[Wanderer]

Instead, please tell me what recordings you love most, or what recordings you think are the most important for me to know well.

Some suggestions:
[asin]B000JR0DVK[/asin][asin]B000ZB2V42[/asin][asin]B000001GQ5[/asin][asin]B000001GYE[/asin][asin]B000000SQX[/asin][asin]B007O3QC8K[/asin]

[mc ukrneal]

Mc ukrneal - What Donizetti did you mean? I'll guess Sutherland's Lucia di Lamermoor? That's my own hopeful guess, but if that's not right let me know!

Yup! There are a number of wonderful releases, including many on Opera Rara, a label I like to support for its great booklets and production value (plus their drive to bring us works not recorded or rarely recorded).

[coffee]

If you're just starting out, you definitely need Parsifal.  You guys give such awesome advice.

My sarcasm detector is very acute, but for now I'll treat this as a sincere comment. Let me know if I'm wrong to do so!

[coffee]

So, I think I've got the recommendations updated. Please do let me know which of each other's recommendations you most strongly support. I'm on my way to the CD shop right now to get that Parsifal....

To everyone: Thank you!

[Moonfish]

Coffee,
These previous threads will probably help you as well....

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1021.0.html

and


http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17151.0.html

[North Star]

And this one GMG Members' Personal Essentials Lists

[Moonfish]

And this one GMG Members' Personal Essentials Lists

Nice one, North Star!   

[Moonfish]

 Or your own list, Coffee....

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17174.msg577560.html#msg577560

[Jay F]

So, I think I've got the recommendations updated. Please do let me know which of each other's recommendations you most strongly support. I'm on my way to the CD shop right now to get that Parsifal....

To everyone: Thank you!

I will second Wanderer's recommendation of Harnoncourt's Beethoven. It would have been my first recommendation for orchestral Beethoven, but you said no box sets.

[mc ukrneal]

I will second Wanderer's recommendation of Harnoncourt's Beethoven. It would have been my first recommendation for orchestral Beethoven, but you said no box sets.

This was my first Beethoven box sets and one of my first boxsets ever. It is, in my opnion, overhyped and not recommendable. I hate to be negative - it just doesn't have enough ooomph.

[coffee]

Coffee,
These previous threads will probably help you as well....

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1021.0.html

and


http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17151.0.html

And this one GMG Members' Personal Essentials Lists

Or your own list, Coffee....

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17174.msg577560.html#msg577560

Thank you for those - I don't know how to use those for this project so I will just look them over.

The problem I have is that it's very easy to look at a set of lists like that and end up with literally thousands of things on my wish list, not counting the thousands of recordings that I already own. Look at all the recommendations I've gotten on this thread - there needs to be some form of prioritization!

Of course I can just look through everything, read a bunch of reviews, spend a bunch of money... and in fact I do and will continue to do those things.

But one of my main goals is to hear the most famous recordings of the most famous music, and even after several years of trying I still find very fundamental recordings that I not only don't even own but haven't even heard of! Like the Karajan Brahms/Schumann recording and the Knapperstbusch Parsifal. That is unacceptable to me! I want to have this stop happening ASAP!

That's why I'm so grateful to the people who have recommended stuff as well as to people who have seconded each others' recommendations. In an ideal world, there'll eventually be a few dozen people each recommending a dozen or so things and confirming each others' stuff, and I'll learn a lot from it - things that amazon reviews can't tell me, things that I haven't been able to figure out from browsing the threads there. There is so much to learn, and hopefully I'm just starting. I've been at this about six or seven years, hopefully forty or fifty or even sixty or even seventy more to go! (God bless all the people out there inventing ways to keep us alive longer and help us enjoy those last decades - and please God do not let my enemies on this earth destroy my retirement savings or Social Security!)

Getting off to a good start here will help me a lot! 

I love exploring these things and I'm soooooo grateful to people who've helped me so far. Please do keep going!

[Moonfish]

But one of my main goals is to hear the most famous recordings of the most famous music, and even after several years of trying I still find very fundamental recordings that I not only don't even own but haven't even heard of! Like the Karajan Brahms/Schumann recording and the Knapperstbusch Parsifal. That is unacceptable to me! I want to have this stop happening ASAP!

That's why I'm so grateful to the people who have recommended stuff as well as to people who have seconded each others' recommendations. In an ideal world, there'll eventually be a few dozen people each recommending a dozen or so things and confirming each others' stuff, and I'll learn a lot from it - things that amazon reviews can't tell me, things that I haven't been able to figure out from browsing the threads there. There is so much to learn, and hopefully I'm just starting. I've been at this about six or seven years, hopefully forty or fifty or even sixty or even seventy more to go! (God bless all the people out there inventing ways to keep us alive longer and help us enjoy those last decades - and please God do not let my enemies on this earth destroy my retirement savings or Social Security!)

Getting off to a good start here will help me a lot! 

I love exploring these things and I'm soooooo grateful to people who've helped me so far. Please do keep going!

Hmmm, in that case you will love this book.     


[asin] 0789315831[/asin]

[Ken B]

Hmmm, in that case you will love this book.     


[asin] 0789315831[/asin]

A few

Honegger symphonies 2 3 Karajan
Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra Karajan
Bartok Bluebeard's Castle Kertesz
Mendelssohn Sym 3 Maag

[amw]

I suggest subscribing to a streaming service. (Qobuz is probably the best if you can live without Naxos, Hyperion, ECM and MDG, but I freely admit my prejudice against Spotify is irrational.) Best way to listen to lots of things without spending lots of money. That or find a really well-stocked library.