Classical DVD Recordings

[Wrinkles]

Based on the recommendation of Larry C in a past forum folder I purchased the Carmina Burana DVD. What a wonderful DVD.

LarryC, thanks for recommending it. I am becoming a big fan of watching the orchestral performances.

I also purchased at the same time the Sheherazade-An Oriental Night With The Berliner Philharmoniker - Janine Jansen - Neeme Jarvi.. It is also a great performance.

Amazon ID#

http://www.amazon.com/Sheherazade-Oriental-Night-Berliner-Philharmoniker/dp/B000PE0JJ8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262306733&sr=1-2

LarryC or anyone else, can you recommend any other classical performance DVDs based on your actual viewing?

I am presenty looking to buy "Berliner Philharmikor 125 years" 5 DVD set. Anybody viewed these?

http://www.amazon.com/Berliner-Philharmoniker-Jubilee-Celebration-Philharmonic/dp/B000L42J4U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262309056&sr=1-2

Thanks to all who respond.

[LarryC]

Wrinkles,

Thanks for the nice comments, and going to the trouble of searching out that DVD that I played maybe 2 yrs ago. Since you saw that list, you probably saw my more recent one from the last Indy pilgrimage. I'd recommend some of those more than others, so here are the ones I recommend the most from that session:

J.S. Bach, Partita No. 3 for Solo Violin. Gidon Kremer, "Bach to Bach." EuroArts 2055638

• Like the similar Bach six sonatas for solo cello, the writing is CONTRAPUNTAL, in which the music is made up entirely of independent melodic lines rather than what we usually hear – a main melody set to harmony. One can hear more than one "voice" (high, middle, low) being played or inferred simultaneously. Although the camera does him no favors, this close-up of his flawless performance fully displays the piece’s extreme difficulty and his mastery of playing it. Note that Bach wrote EVERY note he plays, and that he plays EVERY note Bach wrote in this.

Hector Berlioz, Damnation de Faust. Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Solti cond. ArtHaus 102 023

• Berlioz was a phenomenal composer – an amazing innovator in melody, harmony, and orchestral effects, as displayed in the Hungarian March. He was a great song writer and wrote a major book on orchestration. Recorded in the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1989. Georg SOLTI is an electrifying conductor and a strong presence on the podium

Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," first movement (Adagio - Allegro molto). Berlin Philharmonic, Abbado cond. EuroArts 20560482 This is one of the best.

• Dvorak, son of a provincial butcher in what is now the Czech Republic, became a famous composer in Europe, which led to his being made Director of a new National Conservatory of Music in New York City in 1892, where he was introduced to the African-American spiritual. Dvorak wrote this symphony in 1893 using pentatonic-scale melodies that in his mind reflected Native American and African-American music. The first movement is a powerful, exciting opening to the symphony. The Largo second movement is a very famous symphony movement. This was recorded in Palermo, Italy, in 2002. The Berlin Philhamonic is one of the best orchestras in the world, and this is an outstanding taping and recording IMO. One can see precision playing and unified dynamic (loud-soft) shadings by its superb musicians. Abbado is an expressive conductor with a great connection with the orchestra.

Claudio Monteverdi, Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, Ave Maris Stella. John Eliot Gardiner, cond., et al. Archiv 073 035-9 This is a real favorite and top recommendation of mine.

• Monteverdi may have been the greatest composer of the early Baroque (early 1600s). He led the early transformation of music from the emotionally reserved Renaissance to the introduction of intensely emotional opera and the Italian madrigal. The Vespers, written in 1610, may be the greatest musical work before 1700. It combines psalms, earthy biblical songs, and Catholic vesper liturgy into a somewhat baffling but powerful whole. Although the writing of separate parts for instruments and voices had only been recently developed, the somewhat reconstructed orchestration shows remarkable skill. This was recorded in 1989 in the unique San Marco basilica in Venice, a world treasure over 1,100 years old with many lofts and domes, massively lined with precious gems and mosaic gold. Venice became a center of musical composition in part because of Monteverdi, and led as well in music printing and publishing. The vocal writing is beautiful and unsurpassingly sumptuous and rich. Ave Maris Stella (Hail, star of the sea) has an 8-part chorus (two 4-voice choirs) singing several stanzas (verses) with 4 instrumental "ritornellos" (returning passages) between them. Each ritornello is performed in turn by:

  o brass – (3 cornetti, 3 trombones)

  o strings – 4 violins (or 2 violins and 2 violas), cello

  o winds – 2 oboes, bassoon

  o recorder quartet.

  The chorus and the instruments all combine at the end in a final stanza and a stunning Amen.

I'll recommend some more after I get back home. Can you give me an idea of some pieces that you like? ALSO, search samples on Youtube -- there is an amazing variety of almost anything you want to see/hear. Often, you can decide what DVD to get by seeing it on Youtube! For example, I just bought a 2-DVD (!) album of Bach's St Matthew Passion by Richter and the Munich folks that is extremely well done (old-fashioned large chorus, though). Stay tuned....

[LarryC]

I am presenty looking to buy "Berliner Philharmikor 125 years" 5 DVD set. Anybody viewed these?

http://www.amazon.com/Berliner-Philharmoniker-Jubilee-Celebration-Philharmonic/dp/B000L42J4U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1262309056&sr=1-2

Kind of a big, expensive, sprawling mish-mosh. Some would be fascinating to see. I don't think I'd get it -- I suggest you see if you can find any of these selections on Youtube and see what you think.

[Wrinkles]

Hey LarryC,

Thanks for your quick response. Sorry mine was a little slow in coming.

You ask a tough question. What kinds of performances do I like? The answer will not be as clear as you would like probably, but I would still like your input.

As a homeschooling parent, we have for over 12-15 years almost every Sunday evening prior to putting the kiddos to bed have what we refer to as music appreciation night. It is during this approximate hour of time we listen to music, usually classical. But not always, as we have wandered in to big band, swing, dixieland, acapella, even some old radio shows and more.

Prior to Christmas this year my wife mentioned that if I did not give her some gift ideas that I would have little to open on Christmas morning with my kids. Then, I remembered your Carmina Burana recommendation from years past and ordered it. The Sheherazade piece I found on Amazon you did not recommend but is one of my favorites musical pieces so I was happy to see it offered as well.

One afternoon when the family was out shopping, I played these DVD through my LaScalas and was floored. I played them again. The visual and aural impact together of that scale I had not experienced in over 30 years or so (No we do not get out much).

Then it hit me. Here I was playing classical music to my kids and the huge scale and grandeur of a symphony orchestra they have never experienced. Prior to any listening we quickly discuss the composer and his life and time period of the composition. Sure, they can pick out most of the instruments, but they had never seen the size and complications a large orchestra setting gives and they have never felt, heard and seen the dynamics simultaneously. So, I see the DVDs as a major help in completing the classical music experience.

So to answer your question...

I am interested in performances that are considered excellent by those that know a lot about performances recorded on DVDs . They should be passionate, dynamic, well recorded and should be performances that can hold your interest. (Probably Opera is probably out of the question for now, although Carmina Burana held my interest. I have not played it for my kids to see what they think, maybe next Sunday).

Some music that comes to mind...

Performances of Brahms Symphonies, the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, Beethoven’s 6^th Pastoral Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Symphony #4 "Italian", and Overtures are usually enjoyable, and large choral works would be fun. I hope this answers your question sufficiently and gives an idea of my desires.

For now, I am not interested in theater acts that have orchestral music being played. I am only interested in the actual orchestral performances.

LarryC,

Thankyou very much for the time you spend on this and the knowledge you share with all of us. We all benefit.

[LarryC]

I am interested in performances that are considered excellent by those that know a lot about performances recorded on DVDs . They should be passionate, dynamic, well recorded and should be performances that can hold your interest. (Probably Opera is probably out of the question for now, although Carmina Burana held my interest. I have not played it for my kids to see what they think, maybe next Sunday).

Some music that comes to mind...

Performances of Brahms Symphonies, the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, Beethoven’s 6^th Pastoral Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Symphony #4 "Italian", and Overtures are usually enjoyable, and large choral works would be fun. I hope this answers your question sufficiently and gives an idea of my desires

Excellent story, and the factors I look for, too.

I think I "misunderestimated" (thank you, W.?) the value of the 5-disc BPO set on Amazon!

• The Haydn "Surprise" is very pretty and interesting in spite of the so-so "surprise."
• The Fastastique is as fascinating to watch as to hear.
• Gil Shaham is an outstanding violinist, the Brahms concerto is OK but not as interesting as, say, the Mendelssohn.
• Every Ozawa Waldbuehne BPO concert I've seen excerpted has been outstanding in my book, and you'll totally enjoy the brilliant Gershwin American in Paris as well as the others.
• I think the Brahms 1st piano concerto is a very powerful, lovely work.

The Brandenburgs are great works that are even much more appreciated seeing them played. You can't beat the Freiburg: http://www.amazon.com/Brandenburg-Concertos-Freiburger-Barockorchester-Bach/dp/B000EQHRVA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262459290&sr=8-2

The Beethoven 6th is a little too peacable for me compared with the others. May I suggest the San Fran SO's DVD of the Eroica (No. 3), with the added explanation by Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT)? http://www.keepingscore.org/, http://www.keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/swf/beethoven/beethoven-full. Depending on which of his DVD's, MTT also discusses instruments and what they do! I especially also recommend the MTT Tchaikovsky's 4th, which our group saw here at Strathmore last spring. The MTT/Keeping Score Rite of Spring is especially insightful re Russian classical music.

The "Italian" is an OUTSTANDING work, but I can't find a DVD. Youtube has a segment by the Gewandhaus SO, and you couldn't beat that, if you could find it. It may be DC'd. Here's his violin concerto, which should be excellent: http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/EuroArts/2056038.

For an amazingly powerful performance by orchestra AND chorus AND soloists of Verdi's Requiem, see the old 1960's von Karajan on DG, with a very young Pavarotti: http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Requiem-Pavarotti-Cossotto-Ghiaurov/dp/B0009DBXXQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262461398&sr=1-2. For an outstanding perf of Beethoven's Triple Concerto, see Ma/Barenboim/Perlman: http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Fantasy-Concerto-Barenboim-Perlman/dp/B000087F5C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1262461532&sr=1-3.

Finally, for a stupendous large-orchestra work of genius, see Richard Strauss's Alpine Symphony on Euroarts: http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/EuroArts/2056138. This is the ultimate romantic big-orchestra complicated musical composition, with plenty of power and deep meaning. The orchestra is almost the same size as the Rite of Spring.

Those should keep you busy!

Larry

[Wrinkles]

Thanks Larry for the info,

Please continue to list the better ones and some of your favorites.

Good recommendations will remain on this website for years which will maintain a list of good performances to track down.

I ordered some DVDs last night.

Much appreciated.

[LarryC]

I ordered some DVDs last night.

Please let us know what you get and what you think of them. Thanks!

[Groomlakearea51]

LarryC - [Y][Y][Y] I've followed some of your recommendations over the last couple years and my interest in classical has been "reborn"!