From: gustavo@dent.uchicago.edu (Gustavo Comezana)
Subject: Re: Beginning a classical collection
Organization: Dept. of Mathematics, U. of Chicago
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 18:26:26 GMT

In article <1992Dec28.091408.16539@leland.Stanford.EDU> paulxxxx@leland.Stanford.EDU (paulastya gupta) writes:
>Hello!  Questions 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.
>
Tough question. Some time ago I read a book written by a music critic
from TIME magazine which seemed a good introduction for the layman,
because it avoided two pitfalls that are all too common in that kind
of literature: pedantry and/or condescension towards the reader.
Unfortunately I can remember neither title nor author right now, but
I'll try to get them for you as soon as I can.


>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.
>
While it is not very unusual for conductors to make cuts, what
accounts for most differences in timing is the speed that a
conductor decides to set for the piece. You may ask "isn't that
specified by the composer?", to which the answer is that the
composer's instructions generally allow for a great deal of latitude,
and not only concerning tempo (hence the importance of "interpreation"
in classical music). Quite apart from that, conductors often take
liberties with the score which sometimes work and sometimes don't.
Naturally, this complicates matters, but it is in the nature of the
beast.

You mention timing diferences of about a minute; well, I can think of
an example of two recordings I own of the same piece (Mahler's 4th
Symphony), one conducted by Rafael Kubelik and another by Franz
Welser-Most in which the timing difference is even most striking:
Kubelik dispatches the third movement in about 12 minutes, while
Welser-Most takes over 18. Which one is better? Hard to say; I like
them both because both of them "work": each brings out an aspect of
the piece that the other does not.

There exist sources that may help you with purchasing decisions, such
as "The Good CD guide", the "Penguin guide to classical recordings"
and serious publications such as "Gramophone", "Fanfare", "American
Record Guide", etc. You should be aware of the fact that what you'll
read in the above sources merely represents the (informed) opinion of
a critic, and these very often (sharply) disagree about the merits of
a given recording. I said something about "serious" publications
above: you have probably seen magazines such as "CD review" and "Hi-Fi
News", but IMHO the quality of their reporting is far below that of
the ones I mentioned above.

>3) Should one look only for DDD recordings as opposed to ADD or AAD?
>This further complicates CD purchasing.
>
This means nothing. CD's may sport wonderful of perfectly awful sound
quite regardless of whether they are DDD, ADD or AAD.

>4) Should one look for particular condutors/orchestras performing that
>piece?  This really complicates CD selection!
>
Indeed. See my comments on sources of critical guidance.

>***************************************************
>
>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 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This may be the conductor's fault. May I ask who it was?

>20s, and seem to go for involved peices (I also like hard rock and metal).
>
>Any recommendations for my tastes?

I'll think of something suitable ASAP.

>
>- paulxxxx@leland.stanford.edu