The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection by Ted Libbey

I recently read Ted Libbey's book published around 2001 The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection. It is chock-full of information on select composers and artists. For anyone with an interest in concert music it is probably a great place to start. I found the ending section with lists for starting collections to be the most useful. To that end, this posting will cover a few of my favorite lists along with three or four of my favorite pieces of all time. 

My favorite classical pieces:

1)      Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major

2)      Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

3)      Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings

4)      Wagner’s Ring Cycle

 As a former "band geek" these pieces had lasting impact on me as well as several of Beethoven's symphonies, some of which are covered in the following lists.

From The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection by Ted Libbey

“Top Ten CD Starter Set”

1)      Bach: B Minor Mass – Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner

2)      Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 – Vienna Philharmonic/Carlos Kleiber

3)      Bizet: Carmen – Baltsa, Carreras, Van Dam, Ricciarelli; Choris of the Paris Opera

4)      Chopin: Ballades and Scherzos – Artur Rubinstein

5)      Debussy: La Mer; Saint-Saens: Organ Symphony – Boston Symphony Orchestra/Charles Munch

6)      Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris; Grofe: Grand Canyon Suite

7)      Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 95, 96, 98, 102, 103, and 104 – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis

8)      Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 24 and 25 – Ivan Moravec, piano; Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields/Sir Neville Marriner

9)      Schubert: Trout Quintet; Mozart: Clarinet Quintet – Rudolf Serkin, paino; Harold Wright, clarinet; with string players from the Marlboro Festival

10)  Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 – Van Cliburn, piano; RCA Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Kondrashin; Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner

“The Next Ten”

11)  Bach: Brandenburg Concertos – Tafelmusik/Jeanne Lamon

12)  Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta [with Hungarian Sketches] – Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner

13)  Beethoven: Piano Sonatas in C, Op. 53 (Waldstein), in F Minor, Op. 57 (Appassionata), and in E Flat, Op. 81A (Les Adieux) – Emil Gilels

14)  Dvorak: Cello Concerto [with Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations] – Mstislav Rostropovich; Berlin Philharmonic/Herbert von Karajan

15)  Handel: Messiah – Marshall, Robbin, Rolfe-Johnson, Hale, Brett, Quirke; English Baroque Soloists & Monteverdi Chorus/John Eliot Gardiner

16)  Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor; Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto – Kyung Wha Chung; Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Charles Dutoit

17)  Mozart: Clarinet Concerto [with Oboe Concerto] – Antony Pay; Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood

18)  Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 – Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Sir Charles Mackerras

19)  Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite [with Suites from Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty] – Berlin Philharmonic/Mstislav Rostropovich

20)  Verdi: Otello – Domingo, Milnes, Scotto; National Philharmonic Orchestra/James Levine

From section: Music for Special Occasions

“Candlelight Dinners”

1)      Beethoven: Romances for Violin and Orchestra, Opp. 40 and 50

2)      Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120

3)      Chopin: Nocturnes

4)      Debussy: Suite Bergamasque

5)      Grieg: Lyric Pieces

6)      Mozart: Clarinet Quintet

7)      Josef Suk: Serenade for Strings, Op. 4

8)      Guitar Recital – Jason Vieaux

“Funerals”

1)      Bach: Violin Concertos in A Minor and E, Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor – Slow Movements

2)      Brahms: Vier Ernste Gesange, Op. 121

3)      Faure: Requiem—Pie Jesu OR In Paradisum

4)      Mahler: Symphony No. 5 Adagietto

5)      Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte, “Soave Sia Il Vento”

6)      Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil (Vespers)—“Svete Tikhi” (“Joyful Light”) OR “Ninye Otpushchayesi” (“Now Let Thy Servant Depart”)

7)      Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending

Concert music, or "classical music" can be quite enriching and tell more of the human story with music than many authors can with volumes of words. Don't believe me? Give it a chance! And as always, happy learning!