What are some interesting classical recordings to share with my beloved?
Asked by
liminal (
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February 11th, 2010
My partner is a classically trained cellist. She hasn’t been able to touch her cello much in these past years (because life dealt us some unexpected twists). Yet, she still knows and adores her music! I, on the other hand, just know when I like the sounds of something and my tastes don’t veer very far from Holst’s The Planets.
Please suggest some classical recordings that will delight someone who knows her stuff. Don’t be shy about including any modern classical composers (i.e. Edmund Rubbra is a hit around here) and take a chance on some lesser known pieces.
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16 Answers
Elgar – Cello Concerto
Albioni – Adagio
try some Jordi Savall playing the Viola da Gamba. This was the precursor to the cello and it is hauntingly beautiful. You can check out “Les Voix Humaines”
One of my favorites, that has no cello in it by the way, is Schumann’s Dichterliebe. I’m also partial to trumpet music, and Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Trumpets is great, as well as Leopold (not Wolfgang) Mozart’s Trumpet Concerto in D major – well, this album in general. But maybe a cellist won’t be as partial to trumpet as I am.
Look for Chopin: Ballads & Scherzos.
My absolute favorite collection of classical pieces.
Thank you ever so much. Very interesting ! Keep them coming.
Almost any Italian music. its on Youtube.
Here are some cello pieces from my CD collection (I think the catalogue numbers are correct, but some of the CDs are 20+ years old). These are all considered “standard reference” recordings of the pieces:
*Dvorak – Cello Concerto in B Minor, Rostropovich/ Berlin Phil./Karajan – Deutsche Grammophon 413 819–2
*Elgar – Cello Concerto in E Minor, Schiff/ Staatskapelle Dresden/Marriner – Philips 412 880–2 (also includes the Dvorak)
*Bach – Cello Suites, Pierre Fournier – DG 419 359–2
*Beethoven – Cello Sonatas, Rostropovich/Richter – Philips 412 256–2
*Brahms Cello Sonatas in E Minor and F, du Pre/Barenboim – EMI Studio CDM 63298
Another, more modern piece: Elliot Carter’s Cello Sonata. I don’t have a recording of it and have only heard it twice. Carter is in his 102nd year and still working.
Since she’s a cellist, she probably already has this, but Pablo Casals playing the Bach Cello Suites is the gold standard. It never fails to bring chills to my spine and tears to my eyes.
@mammal Thank you for sharing that piece. Lovely.
From Wikipedia about one of my favorites.
Michael Tilson Thomas’s 1976 recording of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Columbia Jazz Band featured not only the original 1924 jazz band arrangement (as opposed to the more popular symphony orchestra arrangement, written in 1942), but also the piano part “played” by the late composer, via a piano roll Gershwin himself made in 1925.
Thank you. I am hunting all these down. I’ll get a cd together over the next few weeks then lest you know her reaction.
I agree with @simpleD on the Bach Cello Suites recording. The DG disc of Fournier is the only one I have, but Casals version is probably the “gold standard”, although an older recording.
Another recording which I don’t have, but have heard broadcast recently, is Samuel Barbers Cello Concerto.
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