Dad, Why Do You Have So Many CDs of the Same Classical Music?

 

 

 

It took me a while to understand the classical music industry, at least in terms of "Why do we need another version of Beethoven's 9th Symphony?" I figured, it's not like jazz -- the classical repertory is written down, I mean, they have a score to follow -- what else can you do with it?

Silly me. An example: CBC the other day played a version of Sibelius' 5th Symphony, a favorite of mine. I love the crisp, brisk feel of Neeme Jarvi's interpretation: icy, monumental and sharp like a glacier slicing through cold waters -- and what I heard on the radio was limp, opaque and totally lacking in precision. I'd never want to hear Sibelius again if that was my first exposure.

Librarian love note excerpt: I was very blessed to have heard exemplary renditions when I first explored classical music via my local libraries (thank you, Oak Harbor and Bellingham Public!). Debussy? Ah, the Walter Gieseking Debussy piano albums, still my touchstone. Thomas Tallis, Beethoven, Bach, Holst (via Adrian Boult) ... so many wonderful first impressions, so vital to encouraging a desire to continue exploring.

So I have both the Charles Dutoit version of Holst's "The Planets" ( sounds like Boult with the benefit of modern recording techniques), compared to the Nimbus recording, which isn't nearly as good but the recorded ambiance is fascinating -- once again (I repeat myself), real people performing in a real acoustic space. There's a Nimbus version of Stravinsky's "Petrouchka" that I'd swear begins out of tune -- but as I got used to it, I recognized a different interpretation, performed imperfectly as a local street band, not as a "professional orchestra", almost as an actor would reinterpret a well-worn view of Hamlet.

Never been a big fan of Rachmaninoff; my parents owned an LP of the Second Piano Concerto with some babe in VERY red lipstick draped over a piano on the cover, and I just found it plodding and turgid, and have ever since. Then a few weeks ago I heard Sviatoslav Richter's version on CBC Radio -- wow, what a difference! Dynamic, forceful and utterly captivating -- it managed to eclipse my 40+ years of Racmaninoff indifference right away.

As luck would have it, someone must have been unloading their classical CD collection because I found half a dozen great CDs at Value Village recently, and since classical music isn't very popular in these parts, they were all $1.99. Snagged "Laude Novelle" by the Medieval Women's Choir (recorded at the Northwest's own Bastyr University), some excellent Middle Ages and Renaissance by a group from Sweden (Finland?) called Kiili. Notes are all in Swedish (or Finnish) but I recognized one song that Jethro Tull fashioned into "King Henry's Madrigal"! Another copy of the Tallis Fantasia with Sir John Barbirolli (a different version but on a par with the Marriner/ASMF recording, which for me is the ultimate compliment), some Charles Ives, Aaron Copland and French Renaissance Wind Music performed by Piffaro. What a wonderful treat  -- I sat in the front porch swing listening with my headphones on, as I will again as soon as the weather warms up. Maybe I'll even learn something by comparing the various liner notes!