Thanks Andrew. I haven't been to fatgen's place for quite a while, but he did bring the Moravec to my house. My first exposure to Beethoven was by Moravec when I was very young, so I have a soft spot for him.
Amir, so far I have avoided recommending works which are too difficult, or too obscure. If you ask for a top 10, it makes sense to me that I should only stick with works which belong in the great pantheon of universally acknowledged important works. I think anyone starting out in classical
needs to understand why Bach or Beethoven were considered the greatest composers who ever lived, which is why I focused on them. I have thought about it, and here are a few more recommendations.
Bach Cantatas
Bach wrote hundreds of these, at the rate of one per week. In fact he wrote so many that a large number of them remain obscure and unknown to people who specialize in collecting Bach, like myself. I have three complete collections of every Bach cantata known to man (Leonhardt/Harnoncourt, Karl Richter, and JE Gardiner), and I still don't know them all. In addition to laying the foundation for Western music and dozens of other accomplishments, Bach was also the greatest composer of religious music who ever lived. So I think that in any list that purports to show off the work of Bach, one would have to add a few examples of his cantatas.
There was some controversy as to how they should be performed. Up till the 1950's and as late as 1970, people performed Bach cantatas on modern instruments. This means, large ensembles of musicians and giant choirs. This gave Bach a scale and grandiosity that Bach himself probably never envisioned. As a result, people started pushing for "original instruments" - smaller ensembles, smaller choirs, which would have been what Bach himself would have heard. I myself sit in the middle - I love the work of Karl Richter and Otto Klemperer (proponents of the modern style), but lately every recording that comes out is on original instruments, or at least uses smaller musical forces. Many will recommend the work of John Eliot Gardiner, Masaaki Suzuki, the Netherlands Bach Choir, or Helmuth Rilling. As a bonus, all of these are well recorded. But for me, none of these surpass the consistent quality of the Niklaus Harnoncourt / Gustav Leonhardt collaboration:
http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Famous-Cantatas-BWV-131/dp/B000000SLU
Mahler 9th Symphony
This statement will cause a lot of consternation among classical music fans: the greatest composer of symphonies after Beethoven was Mahler. Not Bruckner, not Brahms, not Haydn, not Shostakovich, Prokofiev, or Mozart. And certainly not lightweights like Dvorak, Mendelssohn, or Tchaikovsky. I'll defend my assertion by holding up Mahler's 9th symphony. It is a gigantic work, with massive orchestral forces, yet at times Mahler directs them to play more like a quartet with most of the musicians sitting silent on the stage. But when the crescendos come, they are overwhelming and hit you with a physical force if you have the right system, or happen to be sitting near the front row. Unlike Beethoven's 9th, which is more like a triumph of humanity over evil forces, Mahler's 9th is inward looking, pessimistic, and sometimes ugly. Yet it is an astutely observed examination of the human condition.
Once again, nearly every important conductor has attempted this work. A "must hear" for any fan of Mahler's 9th is Bruno Walter's 1938 recording, which in my opinion is unequalled by any recording that has come since, and is even more electrifying than Walter's postwar recordings. My choice of Klemperer is a little unconventional, even for Mahler fans, so I should explain it. Klemperer maintains a clear-headed approach when dealing with the 9th. His tempo is not too slow, not too fast, but just right. Other conductors feel that the third movement (the rondo-burleske) is about disintegration, loss of control, and it is certainly so complex that few conductors are able to keep track of what is happening and keep their musicians playing together. So, most recordings of the rondo-burleske are chaotic and sound like bedlam. I understand that this is the whole point of it, but I simply prefer Klemperer's clarity:
http://www.amazon.com/Mahler-Sympho...1446363426&sr=1-1&keywords=mahler+9+klemperer
The Klemperer is an example of how clarity in classical music does not always depend on the quality of the recording (which is not bad, by classical standards - but certainly not great). Clarity also comes from getting your musicians to play together - if you can imagine 30 violins playing at slightly different times, the resulting note will be slurred. Clarity comes from tempo, so that each instrumental group has a few milliseconds to sound out and be heard. Others will recommend recordings by Bernstein, Abbado, Zander, Tilson-Thomas, Solti, and even von Karajan. IMO the best sounding recording is by Tilson-Thomas, but his is a somewhat lightweight interpretation when compared to the others. If it's not the Klemperer, I would go with Bernstein (who really "gets" Mahler). An obscure outsider is Jascha Horenstein, whose work I love.
Wagner Der Ring des Niebelungen
Learning
Der Ring is a bit like reading
War and Peace. It is a monumental work, and will take 16 hours of your time if you listened to it non-stop. I am not so crazy as to suggest to a beginner that they should attempt to do this, so my recommendation is a selection of the greatest scenes in Der Ring:
http://www.amazon.com/Nibelungen-LO...=1446364763&sr=1-7&keywords=wagner+ring+solti
The reason it belongs in the pantheon is because it is the most ambitious classical work ever attempted. It contains a lot of great music (which you would be familiar with if you have ever watched Loony Tunes cartoons). I don't think many people would dispute the fact that this work should be in the top 10. If you see my remarks in the other thread (Esoteric SACD's), you will know that I think the sound quality of these recordings is so-so, even with the lavish budget of the BBC and the work of John Culshaw. But the reason the Solti gets my nod is because EVERY performance of the Ring has failings. Nobody is able to grapple with the scale of this work and perform consistently over its length. The Solti has fewer failings than most.
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
This piece debuted to a famously raucous reception and actually sparked a riot. People made hooting animal sounds, or mimed monkeys, were told to shut up, and the two factions got into a fight. That should tell you something about how revolutionary it was (or if you are unkind, how ugly it is). This piece explores the more base aspects of humanity, is overtly sexual, naked, tribal, primitive, and animalistic. Its awkward thrusting notes were set to choreography by Ninjinsky. People who were used to the graceful moves of ballet dancers were treated to the dancers stomping, with the females prancing around with their thighs spread open in the most vulgar way possible.
I'm not sure if I have aroused your interest by now, or turned you off
Coming up with a recommendation is easy, get the Dudamel. He is the most exciting young conductor with a bunch of previously unknown musicians who has seemingly burst out of nowhere. He even looks like a primitive caveman depicted in the music:
http://www.amazon.com/Rite--Stravin...r=1-1&keywords=stravinsky+rite+spring+dudamel
... and that's it. My 10 recommendations are up. Six in my first post, four in my second.
