Greatest Classical Music Works of All Time (In-Progress) - Music Diaries

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

AfterHours wrote:

Main focus is Opera right now, revisiting and unearthing its masterpieces. I am also busy coming up with each work's best recordings. Addition to those I hope to find worthy Youtube videos w/ English subtitles (extra essential when initiating oneself to an Opera).

Right now I am mid going through Wagner's massive Ring Cycle -- THE epic to end all epics. Yes, roughly 13 hours (!!!) for those unfamiliar! I am about 1/2 way through the cycle on this series of listens. Ive never felt confident enough to rate The Ring in the past -- and its one of those works that maybe one can never actually be sure it isnt really an 11 out of 10 -- but I do hope to have a rating and ranking this time (Ive long thought at least 8.8+ [obviously] ... currently trying to determine if and where it stands among the works at or above 9.3...)

I also am about 1/2 way through Britten's Opera Peter Grimes, which will be a "new" one for me. Utterly amazing so far.

Awesome - it's been about 5 years since I've listened to, read, and watched the full cycle.

I highly recommend the following on top of the recording of your choosing (what are you trying out right now if you don't mind me asking?)

https://www.amazon.com/Nibelung-Andrew-...-2-catcorr

https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Nibelunge...-1-catcorr

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Also the magic flute has some really interesting ties to the masons and German philosophy of the time. Probably my second favorite German opera.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

sethmadsen wrote:

AfterHours wrote:

Main focus is Opera right now, revisiting and unearthing its masterpieces. I am also busy coming up with each work's best recordings. Addition to those I hope to find worthy Youtube videos w/ English subtitles (extra essential when initiating oneself to an Opera).

Right now I am mid going through Wagner's massive Ring Cycle -- THE epic to end all epics. Yes, roughly 13 hours (!!!) for those unfamiliar! I am about 1/2 way through the cycle on this series of listens. Ive never felt confident enough to rate The Ring in the past -- and its one of those works that maybe one can never actually be sure it isnt really an 11 out of 10 -- but I do hope to have a rating and ranking this time (Ive long thought at least 8.8+ [obviously] ... currently trying to determine if and where it stands among the works at or above 9.3...)

I also am about 1/2 way through Britten's Opera Peter Grimes, which will be a "new" one for me. Utterly amazing so far.

Awesome - it's been about 5 years since I've listened to, read, and watched the full cycle.

I highly recommend the following on top of the recording of your choosing (what are you trying out right now if you don't mind me asking?)

https://www.amazon.com/Nibelung-Andrew-...-2-catcorr

https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Nibelunge...-1-catcorr

It's a tough call. Levine's is superb, and among the best choices -- possibly the best. Consistency of performance and especially sound quality-wise, I'm not sure if Barenboim's (Beyreuth, 1992) has been surpassed. This one: https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Ring-Nibe...f=sr_1_2?k eywords=barenboim+wagner+ring&qid=1554058051&s=gateway&sr=8-2
The non-traditional costumes and staging may be controversial for some though, even if compelling in its unique, modernist take on the work. The performance though, is incredible.

For CD recordings, I probably lean towards the legendary Solti (Decca): https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Ring-Nibe..._1_2?keywo rds=solti+ring+wagner&qid=1554058394&s=gateway&sr=8-2
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

sethmadsen wrote:

Also the magic flute has some really interesting ties to the masons and German philosophy of the time. Probably my second favorite German opera.

Yes - up there for me too! Most likely will be 9/10-range when I get around to rating it. Not quite my favorite Mozart (Don Giovanni) but not far off.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

AfterHours wrote:

Yes - up there for me too! Most likely will be 9/10-range when I get around to rating it. Not quite my favorite Mozart (Don Giovanni) but not far off.

That is a damn good one.

AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

@ seth

re: Wagner's Ring

I've been going through Boulez's recently, his 1979/80 (Live/Video) rendition. Boulez is among my favorite conductors and one of the 20th century greats, but to me his Ring is simply a serviceable but not particularly extraordinary rendition like Levine/Solti/Barenboim.
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

Along with my recent (and ongoing) dive into Opera (both revisits and new works), I am in the midst of one of my quarterly/bi-yearly unbridled obsessions with the incredible genius of Mozart.

Ive been revisiting his major symphonies (along with several different recordings of each) over the last week, as well as his Requiem, various Piano Concertos, interspersed with revisiting Don Giovanni in sections, which will soon lead to his other Opera masterpieces.

The closer you get, the more unfathomable and astonishing his works become.

This can also mean the full impact of his genius is easy to miss.

He almost always sounds flippant and effortless and almost never seems like he is "trying to produce a MASTERPIECE". And then one day ... perpetual awe and disbelief at the miracle that stands before you... (providing some very key observations have been made).
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"Mozart is the most inaccessible of the great masters."

(Artur Schnabel)

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"The most tremendous genius raised Mozart above all masters, in all centuries and in all the arts."

(Richard Wagner)

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"Before Mozart, all ambition turns to despair."

(Charles Gounod)

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"Mozart shows a creative power of such magnitude that one can virtually say that he tossed out of himself one great masterpiece after another."

(Claudio Arrau)

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"Together with the puzzle, Mozart gives you the solution."

(Ferruccio Busoni)

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"Mozart tapped the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness."

(Aaron Copland)

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"I never heard so much content in so short a period."

(Pinchas Zukerman)

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"Mozart 's music is very mysterious."

(W. J. Turner)

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"Mozart's music is the mysterious language of a distant spiritual kingdom, whose marvelous accents echo in our inner being and arouse a higher, intensive life."

(E. T. A. Hoffmann)

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"Mozart is the greatest composer of all. Beethoven created his music, but the music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it-that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed."

(Albert Einstein)

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"Give Mozart a fairy tale and he creates without effort an immortal masterpiece."

(Saint Saens)

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"What was evident was that Mozart was simply transcribing music completely finished in his head. And finished as most music is never finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase and structure would fall. I was staring through the cage of those meticulous ink strokes at Absolute Beauty."

(Peter Shaffer)
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"I listened to the pure crystalline notes of one of Mozart's concertos dropping at my feet like leaves from the trees."

(Virgil Thompson)
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

NOTE (To All / Anyone Interested) ... ...

Want to give you a heads up that I am strongly considering deleting this list/thread, and instead having it on the same page as the "Best Recorded Performances".

This makes sense, and is a bit more user friendly as it allows one to more easily refer to the ordered list on the same page as the "Best Recorded Performances".

I am in the process of adding over 1000 recordings to that list (roughly 1/2 way done, from the top down, though the details of many of them still need to be added) ...and it is becoming so extensive and the list so huge that it is easy to get lost in it and lose sight of where one is in relation to the overall ratings/rankings when scrolling through or looking for a recording or Classical work, so having the overall "Greatest" list up top to refer to is helpful. It also shows one very quickly what is on the "recordings" list instead of having to search through it to see if your favorites are on there and so forth...

As a note: I will also be adding another version of the Best Recorded Performances list which will be ordered "alphabetically by composer, and ". So there will be one "by rating/ranking" and one "alphabetically", for two types of reference.

I have already transferred a copy of this "Greatest Classical Works" list over to the top of "Best Recorded Performances" list to see how I like it. For now this is just a "test". But I will say that it is likely I will be deleting this and making that its permanent residence, so if there are any conversations or posts or recommendations from this that you want to keep or "quote" and transfer over to that one, I recommend copying and pasting them within the next 2 days, as I will probably make this change by Tuesday. If I change my mind I'll let you know. And if you have any feedback/suggestions also, I will take that into consideration.
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AfterHours

Gender: Male
Location: originally from scaruffi.com ;-)

Ok, fwiw, I will be deleting this list and thread within the next hour-ish.

The thread contains mainly update announcements, various conversations (mainly relaying recommendations), and some cool quotes from composers or about composers, and some passing comments/analysis about some of them. If there is anything you want to save, now would be the time to do so. You are welcome to copy and paste/"quote" anything you want over to the new location for this list, which has been merged with the "Best Recordings" list. Here: https://www.besteveralbums.com/phpBB2/v...&start =0
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