The
Best CDs in the World
by
Jeffrey A. Tucker
After blogging
about La Traviata, a friend writes to ask me to make a list
of my favorite "classical" composers and their pieces
and possibly performances. Of course every music fan plans such
an article as this, "someday," and I’ve often thought
about what I would pick. Well, the time for thinking is over, and
the time for writing is now. Rather than just answer him back in
an email, I’ll make the email public.
The format
will be in the usual top-ten-style list, by composer. There are
some obvious omissions, such as Beethoven: exclusion means nothing
in this case. His music is amazing and spectacular. The same goes
for Schubert, Machaut, and Handel. But limited to ten, one has to
make choices.
 Brahms,
Johannes. I can recall spending endless hours as a child trying
but failing to appreciate Brahms through his famous four symphonies.
But I could never get the hang of his music. It seemed too big and
mushy for my tastes then, and, sadly, one thing about music is that
once you have made a judgment on something, even as a child, that
judgment tends to last a lifetime (which explains why there are
so many aging rock fans around). But it turns out that the proper
path to Brahms is through his chamber work. This might the most
extraordinary CD that you will ever own, a lifetime of engaging
listening: the Violin
Sonatas, with Anastasia Khitruk. Actually, it seems like this
might be out of print, but in any case, it is work owning many different
versions, including the one by Ashkenazy
or Zukerman.
The cello sonatas are also amazing: Rostopovich
or du
Pre. And while you are at it, why not just splurge and get the
whole piano works by the master of masters of Brahms, Julius
Katchen? That’s a decision you will never regret. Some of these
pieces could bring tears to your eyes.
 Mozart,
W.A. I might have left him out of the list because, well, never
mind because it seems like sacrilege to express even a hint of doubt
about this incredible genius. But of all his work, which do you
listen to? My personal favorites are the string quintets: they provide
a fuller sound than the quartets but not as much busyness as the
symphonies or operas. They are endlessly inventive and charming.
You can get the complete quintets at a bargain price: Grumiaux
Trio, Eva
Czako, and Bohuslav
Zahradnik.
 Josquin.
Yes, there was music before Bach, hundreds of years before Bach,
and not just those ridiculous madrigals you are always hearing about.
Josquin is particularly mysterious, his music reflective and penetrating,
sounds that are striving for a glimpse of Heaven but reveal the
pains of Earth just beneath the surface. If you are unfamiliar with
the polyphonic tradition, an eternity awaits. This Missa
Pange Lingua by the Ensemble Organum is splendid (we are thankfully
spared the sound of boys on the soprano parts). If you want motets,
you are very fortunate that this
impeccable recording is still available. I do think that it
is the only recording available of the Ave Christe, which should
really rank as one of the masterpieces of the 16th century.
 Tallis
et al. There is so much great music from the early modern period
of the 16th century. You hear the spiritual depth we
associate with the Age of Faith but also see the lights of beauty
and prosperity that we associate with the modern world – a time
when a millennium of discovery, learning, entrepreneurship, and
science was beginning to impact the world and changes the lives
of all people. What a time to celebrate! Thomas Tallis’s music represents
the height of the English aspect of this genre, a Catholic who kept
his faith and his life in the Elizabethan age, which is no small
accomplishment. But there are so many others: Byrd, Vitoria, Allegri,
Guerrero (Spain), etc. I would suggest that the best approach is
to buy this one package: 2 CDs for $15. It includes many of the
towering works, including the greatest of the great and the most
audibly challenging piece from the late renaissance, the famed Spem
in Alium, Tallis’s 40-part motet.
 Guerrero,
Francisco. Okay, I cannot resist listing just one more CD from
the period which is so horribly neglected. If you hear this
marvelous CD of the music of Guerrero, you will think what I
did: why isn’t this a bestseller? It is so balanced and perfect.
What the director Saval did was variously substitute other instruments
for voice parts – mostly some darkly hued brass instruments you
don’t hear much (like alto trombones) – and thereby replicating
what was probably a performance practice at the time. The balance,
tempos, timbres, acoustics, and luxurious sound will introduce you
to a world you only dreamed about. It is from the late period of
the Spanish empire, a time when the priests at the universities
were discovering economics and when the Church doctrine on the merit
of perfect religious freedom was becoming clear. This CD then becomes
like a portrait of all that was glorious in the latter half of the
16th century.
 Mahler,
Gustav. Why some people are impossibly drawn to Mahler and others
completely indifferent remains one of those mysteries of the universe.
For someone like me who just recoils at huge and overblown musical
endeavors, I can’t entirely understand my lifetime obsession with
knowing every note of his nine symphonies. Someone suggested that
Mahler wrote symphonies with the same chamber sensibility that Schubert
wrote songs. I don’t know if that is true. But nonetheless, whatever
"it" is, Mahler had it. Such a range of emotion and mental
energy, often indescribable, has never before been heard by the
human ear. I can’t choose which among the nine, but I guess I would
have to settle on the 3rd
and the 4th
(though I admit to not knowing the 7th, 8th,
or 9th, because I’m deliberately saving them for old
age). Just as Mahler had a superstition that he would die after
completing his 9th, I have the superstition that I will
die after I know all 9 well.
 Bach,
J.S. Everyone loves the Brandenburg Concertos, and they are
brilliant to be sure. Also, you can buy any one of the 300 plus
cantatas and be very happy. Actually, have you ever heard any Bach
that wasn’t perfect? Yes, some are more perfect that others (The
B-Minor Mass!). I’m assuming that all the Bach you think you need
is at the local bargain bin, and truly you should get it all. But
here is what you will miss, what one philosopher described to me
as the greatest musical creation of Western civilization: the solo
violin sonatas and partitas. It will take years for your ears to
absorb it all and to come to understand their complexity and demands.
But there is no better time to start than now. Try Perlman,
or, for the daring, Kremer.
(Please don’t get an early-instrument rendition of these!).
 Joplin,
Scott. Hey, how about an American here! There were and are many
great American composers but to my ear, ragtime is the most notable
of many forms (far more notable than rock!). Is there a human being
alive for whom ragtime music doesn’t bring utter joy? It may sound
like popular music, and it is, but to do it right requires extraordinary
technique and control. You might say that it takes a specialist
in the keyboard work of Bach to do it justice. Fortunately, we have
just such an edition available. Joshua Rifkin will be forever immortalized
by this
recording. I don’t understand how Rifkin did it, how he achieves
the energy and bounce and yet controls it all the while, but it
is all here for you. Joplin was and is a legend, and so is Rifkin
for having given of himself so completely in this CD.
 Rossini,
Gioacchino. I’ve always had my doubts that opera is something
that should be listened to at home as versus attended live. At least
for my part, I have a hard time making sense of recordings of 19th
century opera that I’ve never seen. It all begins to sound the same.
But certainly "The Barber of Seville" is different – or
perhaps Rossini is different. It is sheer delight. He could never
resist a chance to charm the listener or dazzle with vocal technique.
How he loved his performers! If you are unfamiliar with his genre,
you will be amazed at how many music clichés have their origin
in this opera. I like
the one with Cecilia Bartoli, who, despite endless accolades,
manages to be better than her reputation.
 Verdi,
Giuseppe. Perhaps it is because I had just been listening to
this but this piece has to be on the list. My goodness, what a parade
of virtuosity and joy, not to mention tragedy and death. This is
another one of those staples of the literature that launched a thousand
clichés, but nothing improves on the original.
The sociological elements alone are fascinating, with aristocracy
coming to terms with the reality of scarcity and death. You can
put it on just to listen to in the background (yes, heresy, I know)
or listen for intense study. I like the version with the Romanian
wonder Angela
Gheorghiu.
December
21, 2005
Jeffrey
Tucker [send him mail]
is editorial vice president of www.Mises.org.
Copyright
© 2005 LewRockwell.com
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