Classical Music Recommendations - For all ages

BOOKS for ADULTS

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A History of Western Music

by Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca
Norton, 1996

If you would like to give yourself a course in the history of Western music or learn about the origins of the symphony or sonata or about the life of Schubert or Chopin, this is the standard survey. The authors begin with "Musical Life and Thought in Ancient Greece and Rome" and conclude with "The American Twentieth Century." In between you can learn about musical forms, periods, composers, and instruments as well as about specific pieces of music. This authoritative and accessible text places music into its historic context as well. The numerous recommendations for further reading include titles like the "definitive life" or the "best short life."

Alfred Brendel on Music

by Alfred Brendel
A Capella, 2001

Alfred Brendel, one of the greatest pianists of our time, writes for serious readers,listeners, and musicians. In these essays by the self described "practical musician" Brendel says that he is "always conscious of the fact that feeling must remain the alpha and omega of a musician." Brendel takes the reader through the steps of his analyses of Beethoven, Schubert, Liszt, and others to show how he arrives at his interpretations of their music. As an interpreter, Brendel assigns himself the functions of "curator, executor, and obstetrician."

Classical Music 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Classical Music

by Fred Plotkin
Hyperion, 2002

Plotkin's guide to classical music helps readers learn to listen to and not just hear music. In a conversational style Plotkin introduces the reader to over one hundred great musical works. For example, he quotes Beethoven's own description of the opening of the Fifth Symphony, "Thus Fate knocks at the door." Then Plotkin invites the reader to listen again to Beethoven's many approaches to the insistent knocking or "da-da-da-DUM."

Orchestra

by Andre Previn
Doubleday, 1979

Andre Previn lets the orchestra players speak for themselves in this collection of interviews with thirty-one musicians. These usually anonymous men and women explain what playing in an orchestra means to them. They talk about their instruments (for better and for worse), relationships with the conductor, practicing, music education, travel schedules, and more. For example, violinist and concert master, Hugh Maguire, when asked how he followed a conductor responded, "One looks at the conductor, the whole man. The message comes from the balls of the feet, right through to the top of the head, not just what he does with his hands." Maguire even admits that he may not have ever looked at a conductor's beat.

Piano Lessons: Music, Love & True Adventures

by Noah Adams
Delacorte Press, 1996

Piano Lessons is Noah Adam's candid and moving chronicle of his fifty-second year, the year he responded to his lifelong call of learning to play the piano. Of the year Adams says, "It was an unanticipated, almost reckless year. I was at first surprised and delighted by the piano, then daunted, then discouraged. By the fall I had almost given up. By October's end, though, I was learning. In November and December, as now I wanted to spend all my time practicing." In between his piano lessons Adams takes the reader along on his NPR assignments as well.

The New Oxford Companion to Music

by Denis Arnold
Oxford University Press, 1995

This two volume encyclopedia includes over 6,600 entries on all aspects of music: composers, individual works, musical periods, music in various countries and civilizations. The entries are written by a team of ninety experts. If you are looking for a quick summary of Carmen, a short but authoritative account of Beethoven's life, a definition of "fuge," an introduction to the history of music in Germany, or pictures and descriptions of clarinets through the ages this is a excellent place to start. Like any good encyclopedia this work invites browsing.

The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music

by Tim Smith
Perigee, 2002

In his basic and subjective guide to listening to "classical music" Tim Smith invites the reader "to get your ears wet and keep them open to the possibilities." Smith presents concise overviews of the varieties of classical music, such as "art songs," "chamber music," and "symphonic music." He also provides opinionated sketches of fifty-one notable composers and a "very selective, subjective list of fifty-five towering compositions." If you are looking for recommendations for recordings there is a list of sixty CDs.

What to Listen for in Music

by Aaron Copland
1957

Aaron Copland,the composer of Appalachian Spring and Rodeo, explains in an engaging manner how the listener can learn to hear from the composer's point of view. Copland introduces the four essential elements of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, and tone color. After pithy introductions to each section of the orchestra and its instruments, he discusses principal musical forms such as the sonata. To learn to listen to music with more enjoyment this book is an excellent place to start.

KIDS BOOKS

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Great Composers

by Piero Ventura
Putman's, 1988

In this lovely picture book Ventura introduces children to music from the time of prehistoric cultures to the Beatles. In between Ventura presents brief introductions to the troubadours, Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and many others. One of the strenghts of the book is the illustrations which capture a setting appropriate to each subject. A lonely Beethoven is shown walking in the courtyard of his house in Heiligenstadt with Vienna in the distance. With the Opera in the background nineteenth century Parisians are shown strolling by their richly ornamented new opera house.

MULTIMEDIA

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Beethoven Lives Upstairs

by Barbara Nichol
Orchard Books, 1994

Beethoven

Leonard Berstein at Harvard: The Unanswered Questions

by Leonard Bernstein
Kulter International Films, 1992

In six video cassettes the reknowned composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein, presents six lectures with accompanying music by the Boston Symphony Orchestra to demonstrate his ideas. For example, in video tape number 3 Berstein discusses and demonstrates "layers of meaning" in Beethoven's Sixth Symphony.

Orchestra!

by Sir Georg Solti and Dudley Moore
Polygram Video, 1991

With these three videos you can listen, learn, watch, and enjoy. The reknowned conductor Sir George Solti and Dudley Moore (actor and musician) present an entertaining and informative introduction to the symphony orchestra. Volume One introduces the upper strings and woodwind. Volulme Two introduces the lower strings, brass, and percussion. Volume Three introduces the piano and the conductor.

MUSIC

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9 Symphonien

by Anton Bruckner
Deutsche Grammophon, [1990?]

Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum Did Anton Bruckner compose nine symphonies or one symphony nine times? Or if one includes the Symphony No. 0, the revisions and variants of the standard nine is the number higher? This recording is a compilation of the 9 recorded in the 1960s by the Bruckner interpreter Eugen Jocham.

Crossing the Stone

by Various
Odyssey 2003

Catrin Finch with the Prague Philharmonic Not your ordinary solo instrument with orchestra Catrin Finch weaves elements of rock and jazz into her classical debut album

Eiene Alpensinfonie: An Alpine Symphony…Vier Letzte Lieder:

by Richard Strauss
Collins Classics, p1991.

Sharon Sweet, London Symphony Orchestra, Rafael Frubeck de Burgos. The largest of Strauss’s purely orchestral works requiring over 140 orchestral personnel, Alpine Symphony is a contrast to the Serenade (13 winds) and the Metomorphosen (23 strings). Taking the listener on an alpine climb starting before dawn, crossing the peak and finishing again after dark. In between we pause to see the sights (note the cowbells) and get caught in the storm It also has the subtler meaning of man’s journey through life.

Fidelio

by Ludwig Van Beethoven
MCA Classics, p1988

Sena Jurinac, Jan Peerce, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munchen conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch Beethoven’s only opera is short by comparison with the works of Verdi, Wagner or Richard Strauss but in this we have love, revolution, tyranny, cross dressing even, and a rescue in the nick of time heralded by approaching trumpet calls.

Oriental Landscapes

by Chen Yi, Thea Musgrave, Zhou Long and Alan Hovhanness
BIS p2002

Evelyn Glennie percussion and others, Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lan Shui Evelyn Glennie, has fashioned a career as a solo percussionist with over 100 performances worldwide each year. She has also commissioned numerous new works for percussion and collaborated with others on many new works. On this album she is joined by Deng Haiqiong, gu-zheng, Wang Guiying, er-hu, and Zhang Lei, pi-pa to perform Out of Tang Court: for Tang ensemble and orchestra by Zhou Long.

Pini di Roma; Fontane di Roma; Feste romane

by Ottorino Respighi
Philips, p1991

After the success of Fountains of Rome; Respighi followed with two more paens to Roman sights and sounds. In all these Respighi shows his mastery of orchestral color

Polovtsian Dances, Symphonies 2 & 3

by Alexander Borodin
London, 1990

L’Orchestra de la Suisse Romande conducted by Ernest Ansermet Alexander Borodin was a medical doctor, professor of chemistry and composer in his spare time. Consequently many compositions he started remain incomplete such as the third symphony

Rhapsody in Blue; Concerto in F; An American in Paris;

by George Gershwin
RCA, p1987

Eric Wild, piano, the Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by Arthur Fiedler. George Gershwin was already established on Broadway when he wrote Rhapsody in Blue in 1924. Although successful as a Broadway and Tin Pan Alley composer, he continued to study “serious” composition. The Piano Concerto is a product of this study.

Symphonie no. 9, D 944

by Franz Schubert
Deutsche Grammophon, p1988

Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Claudio Abbado From its solo horn opening to its lengthy coda (at least according to Allan Sherman), Schubert’s 9th is lyrical, coloristic and expansive (al least according to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians) And don’t forget those trombones, especially in the first movement.

Symphony no 2 in E Flat major

by Edward Elgar
EMI Records 1984

Philharmonia Orchestra (London, England) conducted by Bernard Haitink For many, Edward Elgar’s music is akin to a large brass band blaring down B Flat street. and for a composer of six marches titled “Pomp and Circumstance” this might be so. However, the symphonies, the cello concerto and other works show the profound, thoughtful and even melancholy side of this composer.

Symphony no. 1 in C minor, op. 68

by Johannes Brahms
Musical Heritage Society, p1986, c1979.

Sir Georg conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brahms had worked on his first symphony for almost twenty years before its premiere in 1876 almost a decade after the Requiem. The first symphony was regarded as a successor to the symphonic tradition of Beethoven.