Recommendations of Classical Music
Jan Dejnožka
November 15, 2003; updated October 8, 2008
Introduction: Reminiscence of Louis Krasner
My instruments are violin and viola. I started on violin around the age of eight. I have played only violin for the last seven years due to a casualty to my viola, and on average probably less than once a month. I played viola in middle school and high school, and studied viola for one year with Louis Krasner-- my freshman year at Syracuse University, 1969-70. I had no idea of who he was. I was just a philosophy major coming to the school of music to continue viola after high school. Some music student told me that Krasner had been a touring virtuoso in the '30's and '40's, but he never talked about it. After listening to me play for about a minute, he said my technique would have to be completely relearned. Later he said I could develop a professional tone. He eventually wanted me to practice so hard that I decided I could only do that much work in my chosen profession, and did not return after the first year. But his technical advice grew on me over the years. My tone began to come together around 1994, and starting around 2001, it came to intoxicate me to work on it, if not my wife and children, however occasionally.
Around 1995, I went on one of my occasional forays of escape from the law school to the school of music to sign out LPs and CDs, venturing into Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. It was then that I discovered that Krasner had commissioned Alban Berg's violin concerto and had given its world premiere, and the world premieres of Arnold Schoenberg's violin concerto, Alfredo Casella’s violin concerto, and Roger Sessions’ violin concerto, and of many other works by various composers.
I was probably his worst student, or one of his worst. I am sorry to say that I do not play in tune as well as I would like even now. But even if I had never learned about the famous things he did, I would still remember him because he was always nice to me and, as was clear from the start, the best music teacher I could ever hope to have. He was remarkably patient with me. But then I was just a duffer, or just another duffer, from liberal arts.
I remember once when I was getting ready for a lesson, he started playing the most beautiful and pure but unknown music. I asked him which concerto that was. He said, "I'm just fooling around." When I came to a lesson in January or February 1970 very sick and unable to play, he was extremely solicitous and sent me to the infirmary. There I was diagnosed as having flu and told to stay overnight.
Once he asked me which violinists I liked. I thought for a moment and said Josef Suk. He seemed pleased and said Suk was a good violinist.
I came back to attend his farewell concert in 1971 or 1972. He played the Bach double concerto for violin with his wife as the other soloist (I learned who she was in 1995 as well-- Adrienne Galimir, second violinist of the Galimir Quartet, a brother and three sisters who championed twelve tone music, as did Krasner). I remember the extra-heavy flourish he put on the final note, to the general merriment of the audience. Even his wife laughed, right on the stage. I was glad to see he had a sense of humor.
He continued teaching elsewhere until he died in 1995 at the age of 91. According to one of his obituaries, he was famous among students for his cryptic, Yoda-like sage counsel as well as for his technical advice, and indeed, early in the year he ventured, didn't I agree that as people grow older and learn more, the less they find they know? I readily agreed. I had not only heard the saying before, but knew exactly what he meant. He was surprised and told me that most music majors did not understand what he meant.
The following are scarcely the only compositions, performances, performers, or composers I like. In fact, you might be surprised by what I am leaving out from my library of over 600 LPs and twenty CDs. (People will remark with pleasure on our living room with its turntable and shelves of LPs.) I rarely listen to them now, perhaps because I have listened to them too many times, but they are my recommendations.
I start with a special recommendation: Alban Berg, Violin Concerto, Louis Krasner, vn, Anton Webern conducts BBC Symphony Orchestra, May 1, 1936 (soon after the world premiere), and Berg, Lyric Suite, performed by the Galimir Quartet, on a 1991 CD, Continuum-Testament SBT 1004. Berg dedicated the Lyric Suite to Felix Galimir for performing it in 1931 at the age of twenty with his three sisters. Krasner’s live performances of the Berg and Schoenberg concertos in 1938 and 1954 respectively are available together on CD, GM 2006.
THE RECOMMENDATIONS
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Art of the Fugue, Part Two: Contrapuncti Twelve through Fifteen. Also "Vor deinem Thron." The Fine Arts Quartet and The New York Woodwind Quintet. Concert-Disc Connoisseur Series M-1250. Very good in tone and spirit. I have loved the album for over thirty years. Other recordings I have heard range from the pompous and emphatic Neville Marriner conducting Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields, Philips BVW 1080 6599-10, to the rewarding harpsichord solo by Gunnar Johansen, which he recorded in his own studio. (Johansen also recorded lots of Busoni and Liszt.) Good luck in finding Part Two, Connoisseur M-1250. I have not found evidence on the Web that Part One ever existed.
Four Sonatas: in G major, E minor, F major, and G minor. Steven Staryk, vn, Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichord. Baroque Records BC 2858. I especially love the Allegro from the Allegro-Adagio, first movement of Sonata in E minor, at least according to the album jacket. It is listed as Sonata in c, meaning C minor, on the actual record label. I first listened to this album over thirty years ago.
Violin Concerto #1 in A minor and #2 in E major, and Concerto in D minor for two violins. Josef Suk, vn, Ladislav Jásek, vn. Václav Smetacek conducts The Prague Symphony Orchestra. Supraphon (a product of Epic Records) stereo Crossroads 22 16 0038. I have been listening to this album for over thirty years.
Bach Recital. Toccata & Fugue in D minor, Fantasia & Fugue in G minor (The Great), Fugue in G minor (The Little), Preludes and Fugues in F minor, C, and G. Albert Schweitzer, organ. Angel COLC 89. I have loved this album for some thirty-five years.
Switched-on Bach. Brandenburg Co. #3 and various other works. Walter Carlos, Moog synthesizer, with the assistance of Benjamin Folkman. Columbia MS 7194. Different and fun. I think I bought it in 1969 or 1970.
BELA BÁRTOK
Piano Concerto #3. Also Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. Eva Bernathová, po. Karel Ancerl conducts Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Artia ALP 199. The music meant nothing to me at first. About two years later I found it warm, sensitive, loving, unassuming. More recently it seemed like a good blend of Bartok's austerity (though he is colorful in his way) and Czech colorfulness in performance. (Sometimes a colorful performance comes off as sugar-coating, as in Suk's performance of the Berg concerto; or compare any performance of Ravel's colorful orchestral transcription of Mussorsky's Pictures to Hans Richter's performance of the original piano score.) I listened to it again just this month (February 2003). This time I found myself focusing on the deep intuitive logic of the performance, and all the warmth and color disappeared! It seems that every time I listen to it, it is a different piece of music. That reflects on my growth, but I think it also reflects on the music. I am not sure why I am recommending the piece, or why I keep coming back to it. Perhaps it is the very intrigue. Nor am I sure why I was never interested in the viola concerto; it seems about as well-performed as the piano concerto. I have had the album over thirty years.
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Fifth Symphony. Leonard Bernstein cond. New York Philharmonic. Columbia Monaural MLC 5868. I probably first listened to this album over thirty years ago.
Grosse Fuge. The Late Quartets. The Budapest String Quartet. Columbia Stereo M5S 677. I have not listened to it very much, but the Grosse Fuge impresses me as the best fugal writing after Bach's Art of the Fugue. After the Grosse Fuge, for me there is Brahms' fugue in his Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Händel, which I like by Walter Klien, po.
Violin Concerto. Isaac Stern, Vn, Leonard Bernstein conducts New York Philharmonic. Columbia ML 5415. I probably first listened to this album over thirty years ago.
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Concerto for Violin and Cello. Jascha Heifetz, vn, Gregor Piatigorksy, co. Alfred Wallenstein, conductor. RCA Victor LD 2513. Beautiful for over thirty years of listening.
Clarinet Quintet in B minor. David Oppenheim, cl, The Budapest String Quartet. Columbia stereo MS 6226. I list this not as a favorite but as a best version. It is a beautiful performance, but not of one of my favorite Brahms compositions. I first heard it over thirty years ago. An autumnal work.
Two Sonatas, Op. 120. William Primrose, va, Rudolf Firkusný, po. Seraphim 60011. I list this not as a favorite but as a best version. It is a fine performance, but not of one of my favorite Brahms compositions. I first heard it over thirty years ago. An autumnal work. The sonatas are for viola or clarinet; I once heard part of a beautiful clarinet performance on the radio.
Piano Quintet. Clifford Curzon, po, The Budapest String Quartet. Odyssey monaural 32 16 0173. My favorite album for about eight years, ca. 1970-78. Truly listed under Legendary Performances. Written when Brahms was under thirty. It is unbelievable to me that this is not available on CD. This is one of the two or three albums I have loved the most. The Budapest also plays this with the famous conductor George Szell on the piano, but I am sorry to say I think that Szell just cannot keep up with the Budapest.
The Three Piano Quartets. Also Schumann, Piano Quintet. Artur Rubinstein, po, The Guarneri Quartet. RCA stereo LSC 6188. Copyright 1969. I do not usually like Rubinstein, though I love him with Heifetz and Piatigorsky. I have enjoyed this album for at least twenty-five years. I love the chemistry, the warmth and cordiality. I have seen the Brahms on CD. I love the Schumann as well-- some beautiful moments.
Piano Concerto #1. Gary Graffman, po, Charles Munch conducts Boston Symphony. RCA Victrola stereo VICS 1109. I have enjoyed it for some thirty years.
Piano Concerto #2. Emil Gilels, po, Fritz Reiner conducts Chicago Symphony. RCA Victrola stereo VICS 1025. It overwhelmed me in 1970. It is probably too overwhelming for me now. I include it for romantics in their late teens or early twenties.
ELLIOTT CARTER
String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2. The Composers Quartet. Nonesuch H-71249. I have listened to this album only fifteen years at most, and probably more like ten. For years I had thought of Carter as the American Bártok. Then I signed out Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. This inspired me to listen to about a dozen other compositions by Carter, in another law student foray to the music library, but I liked none as much as these string quartets. Sometimes I feel I would like to hear a warmer, more loving (though not sugar-coated) interpretation. But the music does lend itself to the performance given here. After all, it is meant to describe the desert (No.1), and the nature of time (both quartets in different ways). Thus I am not sure how much I am recommending the composition and how much the performance. But when I listen to the performance again, I remember why I find it rewarding.
ANTONÍN DVORÁK
Violin Concerto in A Minor. Also Romance, Op. 11. Josef Suk, vn, Karel Ancerl conducts Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. I loved this in the late '60's and early '70s. This is the younger Josef Suk whose playing I praised to Krasner. Around 2001 I came to love the older Josef Suk's three volumes of chamber music compositions--(perhaps deceptively) simple, refreshing, and beautiful: Supraphon 11-1531-2 series of CDs.
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN
Harpsichord Concerto, F Major and Harpsichord Concerto, C Major. Helma Elsner, harpsichord, Michael Gielen conducts Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart. Vox ultra high fidelity PLIO 300. This is the secret cult favorite on my list, a sleeper if there ever was one. I never heard of these guys before or since! Yet for the last thirty-five years, it has been my favorite music-indeed, except for the Staryk-Gilbert album, almost the only music I can stand -while doing intellectual work. The performances are fresh, lovely, and just right, but do not demand my active attention. Recently, though, Barbara Bonney's Fairest Isle has become a strong contender in this category, and the Berg violin concerto and Suk chamber music as well. This is an important category! I need silence for my deepest philosophical thinking, though.
LEOS JANÁCEK
String Quartet #1 and #2. The Smetana Quartet. Artia ALP 109. I loved it in the late '60s and early '70s. Since then, I have moved away from it. The performers are on their home ground. Also on CD.
FRANZ LISZT
All-Liszt Program. Erwin Nyiregyházi. Columbia M2 34598. Nyiregyházi is my favorite pianist after Busoni. Please see the Favorites page on my Web site. Cloudy, moody, gloomy, slowly despairing, wanly hopeful, proud, and great. I first heard the album over twenty years ago. Some magnificent moments to treasure. What they say is true: nobody else plays like this.
LISZT-LEWENTHAL
Totentanz. Also Henselt, Piano Concerto, which I have been unable to sit through. Raymond Lewenthal, po, Charles Mackerra conducts London Symphony Orchestra. Columbia MS 7252. This is the wonderful version I listen to, since Michelangeli's version is too frightening and extreme for me to enjoy. There is a whole section Lewenthal restored or added which I have heard in no other version. I think I heard it at least twenty-five years ago.
LISZT, BACH-BUSONI, AND CHOPIN
Liszt, Bach-Busoni & Chopin. Ferruccio Busoni, po. Nimbus 8810 CD. This is transcendental. I believe Busoni is the greatest pianist since Liszt, and the greatest who recorded. Please see my entry on my Favorites page for the very few other available Busoni recordings. Some use Welte Vorsetzer piano rolls made as early as 1906, others are RCA recordings from the early 1920s. I usually start with Track 4, La Campanella by Liszt. The Bach is wonderful, and the longest performance I know of by Busoni. My favorite Chopin is "The Raindrop" prelude. A slightly different (and I think earlier) performance of "The Raindrop" is on Legendary Masters of the Piano, a three-record album available from Book of the Month Club in the 1970s.
BOHUSLAV MARTINU
Piano Concerto #3. Josef Palenicek, po, Karel Ancerl conducts Czech Philharmonic. Also Violin Concerto, Bruno Belcik, vn, Václav Neumann conducts Prague Symphony Orchestra. Rich, colorful, lively, fun, off-beat, improbable. Strangely, I do not care much for his other works, especially his choral works. But I can plead I have not yet had time to listen carefully to his string quartets, which I recently learned about, and which seem very interesting. I do not know if this is the best performance, but it is zany enough for me. I have probably listened to it for over thirty years.
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Trio in D Minor for Po, Vn, Co, op. 49. Also Couperin, Schumann, and Song of the Birds (Catalan Folk Songs). A Concer at the White House, November 13, 1961. Alexander Schneider, vn, Pablo Casals, co, Miecyslaw Horszowski, po. Columbia Monaural KL 5726. I also recommend the Heifetz-Rubinstein-Piatigorsky performance of the Trio; see my entry for Tchaikovsky.
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDE
Vespro della Beata Vergine. Also other music by other composers. EMI 7243 5 68631 2 5. I was first stunned by Monteverde when I heard the Consorte of Musick sing his madrigals in Ann Arbor in 1992 or 1993. He was so fresh and inventive I could not believe it. When I returned to law school, I signed out six versions of Vespro from the music school. All were good, but I liked this one the best. More recently I heard part of a version by Italian performers which I might like just as much or more, but I would not make a judgment based on hearing just a short part of it on the radio.
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
Second Piano Concerto and Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. Gary Graffman, po, Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic. Columbia MS 6634. This was my favorite music for setting a romantic mood while serving dinner through the 1970s and 80s. Its rich warmth seems to go well with my original three-color spaghetti sauce with zucchini and scallions for green, squash for yellow, and fresh cut tomatoes and tomato paste for red (also lots of whole mushrooms and several kinds of cheese). It may seem that Graffman and Bernstein are favorites of mine, and they are, but the performances on this list are pretty much all I listen to by them, except for Liszt Piano Concerto #1, debut album by André Watts with Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic.
MAX REGER
Music for Solo Viola. Suites 1 and 3. Also Hindemith, Sonata, and Stravinsky, Élégie. Walter Trampler, viola. The composers write with desolate beauty and with full consciousness of the irretrievable loss of the old order. Each writes as if he were Bach born again in the modernist era. I have loved Reger's suites for some thirty years. The comparison is to Bach's suites for unaccompanied 'cello. Sometimes it is even as if Reger forgets for a moment that the lights went out, and writes as if the old world were still there, lovingly like sunlight in our memory. I have listened to the Hindemith and Stravinsky less, but they are good companions to the Reger.
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Songs, also by Schumann and Strauss. I am not sure what the title is supposed to be. Hans Hotter (Bass), Gerald Moore, po. Seraphim 60025. My favorite song performances by my favorite singer. I know of no singer who sings with Hotter's intelligence, maturity, and beauty. I have been enjoying the Schubert for some thirty years. Hotter is also famous for his opera singing, but I listen to little opera.
Quintet in C. Also Rondo in A. Vivarte-Sony SK 46669 CD. Performed by a group of diverse individuals using Stradivarius instruments from the Smithsonian Institution. I recommend this even though I first heard it only some seven years ago, and have not listened to it much since. Usually I immediately listen repeatedly to music that interests me. But my time has rarely been my own the last few years.
RAVI SHANKAR
India's Master Musician. With Chatur Lal, tabla, and N. C. Mullick, tamboura, World Pacific EALP 1283. I have perhaps eight of his albums. I think this one is by far the best. It is the showcase album which establishes his mastery of his instrument. In that sense it is much like Leo Kottke's 6 and 12 String Guitar, and Heifetz's master performances. I particularly like the second side with three pieces, the second of which, Dhun (Folk Airs), includes popular melodies. (Popular melodies are often found in Western classical music as well.) I have loved the album for over thirty years. I also enjoyed hearing Shankar play outdoors at Syracuse in the early '70s. I am glad that he is still with us, and that his daughter plays the sitar.
SPANISH MUSIC OF THE RENAISSANCE.
Spanish Music of the Renaissance. Various composers, including Anonymous. New York Pro Musica. Decca DL 9409. There is much beautiful medieval and Renaissance music, but I have loved this album the most for some thirty-five years. Like some of the Baroque albums listed above, it was a present from my parents while I was in high school, 1965-69. I studied Spanish for seven and a half years; the Spanish here is often close to Latin. Some selections are religious or spiritual. Others might be called humanist; at least, they are concerned with very human themes.
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVKSY
Trio in A Minor. Heifetz, Rubinstein, Piatigorsky. RCA LCM 1120. This is another one I have loved for over thirty years. I can hardly imagine a better performance. The Mendelssohn Trio is on the same CD.
There is so much beautiful music in this world, but I wanted to keep the list short, so I weighted it heavily with favorites of long standing. For variety, I have found at least one good classical radio station within range of every town I have lived in. I currently enjoy CBC-2 from Canada.