Classical Essentials
What is that makes a classical recording something that you simply must own? We're not just talking about a tune that you hear on the radio or in the concert hall that you come away humming and slips your mind a short time later, or even an album that you feel you "should" have, but somehow never get around to actually hearing.
Instead, we're talking here about melodies that invade your mind and don't let go. Harmonies that send a chill up your spine. Performances in which the notes written on the page and the performer become one single, living entity whose emotions leap straight out of your speakers. These are albums you'll return to again and again, savoring them slowly, digging in each time to find new meaning — in other words, recordings that can change your life.
Some of these dozen recordings are remarkable because the works they feature have propelled the centuries-long dialogue about music, such as Bach's Goldberg Variations, expertly played by Gustav Leonhardt, or the Wilhelm Furtwangler-led performances of Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 or Stravinsky's ballet "Petrouchka," conducted by Karel Ancerl. In other cases, the power and beauty of the musicians 'interpretations are justifiably legendary, like the great voices of tenor Enrico Caruso, soprano Maria Callas, cellist Pablo Casals or pianist Leon Fleisher. And finally, some of the following are contemporary treasures that give a vivid sense of how classical music is moving forward, as in the dynamic, world-embracing "St. Mark's Passion," written in 1999-2000 by the American-based Argentine Jewish composer Osvaldo Golijov.
As the most cursory glance of available recordings reveals, Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 "Pastoral," are, of course, amongst the most popular of all classical works. Regardless of how many other versions one has heard, these 1943 recordings with Wilhelm Furtwangler conducting the Berlin Philharmonic still hold a special place, revealing the conductor at his most vigorous and dramatic in the Fifth, and displaying a thoughtful lyricism in the Sixth.
Here, on one album, are three classic works that will have particular appeal for your little listeners: the 1947 version of Igor Stravinsky's milestone work "Petrouchka"; Sergei Prokofiev's ever-popular "Peter & the Wolf," narrated by British actor Eric Shilling; and Benjamin Britten's child-friendly work "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," also narrated by Shilling. Ancerl had a superb talent for drawing the full range of colors out of his players, and these works blossom under his baton.
This recording offers two legendary performances on a single album: Albert Sammon's confident, forceful 1929 reading of Elgar's bristling Violin Concerto, led by Henry Wood, and the magnetic, luminous Pablo Casals' 1945 interpretation of Elgar's extraordinarily moving Cello Concerto, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Even if Casals occasionally goes a bit astray technically, the emotional energy of both of these performances is transcendent and in both cases the marriage between composer and interpreter is a perfect, glorious match.
Few voices of the 20th century are as iconic of that of Maria Callas: nearly 30 years after her death, the soprano still holds a unique and formidable sway on new generations of listeners who are entranced by the charisma, darkly colored beauty and theatrical sensibility that "La Diva Assoluta" brought to all of her roles. Captured here as a fearless young singer in a 1952 Rome recital and again in 1954 in San Remo, Callas presents a staggeringly broad array of arias, capped off by a blazing performance of "D'Amore al dolce impero" from Rossini's opera "Armida."
Bach's elegant, deeply architectural, and yet fully imagined Goldberg Variations comprise an essential piece in the backbone of anyone's classical music collection. Of the hundreds of recordings available at any given time, few have had the impact of this 1953 recording by Gustav Leonhardt, who as one of the fathers of the period-practice tradition plays the harpsichord on this album. The clarity of Leonhardt's textures, the humor and wit that he brings to the piece and the nearly palpable passion with which he plays all make this a must-have, even if your tastes generally run to modern-instrument performances.
Taking as his inspiration Bach's famous Passion settings, Massachusetts-based composer Osvaldo Golijov -- born in a Jewish community in Argentina -- creates a sprawling work that is part music, part theater and part dance. Golijov gives audiences a new vision of Christ's death that embraces Bahian Brazilian drums, the Afro-Brazilian stringed percussion instrument berimbau, West African call-and-response singing, Cuban song, Argentine tango, Spanish flamenco and Jewish cantillation. The genuine drama and joy comes shining through this world-premiere recording.
Sixty years ago, if you had asked classical experts to predict the future popularity of countertenors -- that odd vocal category in which men sing sustained falsettos -- chances are quite good that they would have laughed at you. The idea of now-mainstream countertenor stars like David Daniels and Bejun Mehta would have been absurd. But thanks to the efforts of singer and conductor Alfred Deller (1912-1979) and other early music pioneers, the idea of singing pre-Baroque music in a period-practice style, using countertenors extensively, became a new norm. In this 1954 recording, Deller courses through music by three 17th-century English composers: Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke and John Jenkins.
Born to an improvished family in Naples in 1873, tenor Enrico Caruso might have started out as a long shot to claim his eventual title as the most celebrated, widely heard and perhaps even best compensated musician in the world, thanks to his status as the first true superstar of the gramophone era. The unbelievable power, beauty and golden sheen of Caruso's voice comes soaring through this collection of favorite duets, featuring the tenor paired with such other golden-era singers as Geraldine Farrar and Alma Gluck.
Throughout his vastly prolific (104, to be precise) excursions into the symphonic genre, Franz Joseph Haydn articulated a new kind of four-movement symphony that both broke ranks with its precursor, a three-movement form, and created the benchmark for all other composers to challenge. Conducting the Heidelberg Symphony, Thomas Fey brings a brilliant litheness to these consummate examples of Haydn's genius, from the Symphony No. 82 (nicknamed "The Bear"), the joyous No. 88 and the richly colored No. 95.
Steve Reich's milestone 1971 work "Drumming," written for nine percussionists, two vocalists and piccolo, accomplished two things: while elegantly distilling Reich's ideas about music -- merging Western, European-focused classical music with exuberant, sophisticated "world music" traditions (in this case, drumming styles of Ghana), it also fathered a whole new repertory of works for percussion ensemble. On this recording, the four ebullient and masterfully precise musicians of the Brooklyn-based So Percussion ensemble are unmatched for precision and enthusiasm, overdubbing themselves as needed.
When you think of a 1930's Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Choral," your sonic memory might be of an overwhelmingly massive sound, and a certain plushness that luxuriates in Beethoven's brilliance. Here, though, courtesy of a 1933 recording with soprano Luise Helletsgruber, contralto Rosette Anday, tenor Georg Maikl, bass Richard Mayr, the Vienna State Opera Chorus and the Vienna Philharmonic, Weingartner offers a far different take on the famous 9th: a lean interpretation in which the famous opening sounds entirely fresh and new, even as it roams over very well-charted territory.
Pianist Leon Fleisher has always been a musician's musician. After losing use of his right hand to a neurological condition called focal dystonia, Fleisher -- a fifth-generation student of Beethoven -- plunged himself into playing the limited left-hand repertoire, conducting and becoming a revered teacher to a new generation of artists. But when the modern miracle of Botox allowed him to regain use of both hands, a master artist whose life experiences deeply inform his playing was once again revealed. On this first recording of the re-born pianist, Fleisher gives a magnificent reading of Schubert's B-Flat Sonata.
