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Sun, 26 Feb 2006 Over the last week, I've been doing a metric assload of layout, which means I've consumed (in a manner of speaking) lots of music. Through a strange series of associations, I was thinking the other night about Nimrod from the Enigma Variations by Elgar, so I listened to it. Somehow this turned into listening to that entire CD, which contains what has become a new favorite among orchestral pieces, Elgar's In the South (Alassio) (check it out, it's hot). Having gone through that, I turned to some other standbys, including Mahler's 2nd and 5th symphonies (now do you get the title?), Beethoven, Shostakovich (a certain piano quintet never fails to bring a smile and a minor deluge of memory), Prokofiev, Strauss (Also Sprach Zarathustra remains, to my mind, the ultimate test of any speaker system), and more. Basically, what I'm saying is that I'm listening to more classical music than you can shake a stick at. Today when we were at Fry's, I picked up some more Mussorgsky, Stravinsy, and Prokofiev, and also got my hands on Sir Andrew Davis's complete Dvorak cycle—a 7 cd set for $30. Bad ass. Also on its way: more Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Brahms. You might be wondering why the hell I'm buying the CDs, and the answer is simple: you can't download good recordings of much of the more obscure stuff, and the recording makes a huge difference (my Beethoven cycle is an el cheapo one, and it's painfully obvious when you listen to it). Moreover, even the best classical recordings are pretty damn cheap compared to pop music. I'm not sure I agree with this list 100%, but it's a damn good start. Get to work. [ permalink | 0 comments (add one you lazy bastard!) ] |
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