All Strings Considered
A Subjective List of Classical Works & Recordings
All Recordings are available from the Lake Oswego Public Library
These are my faves, your mileage may vary. Bill Baars, Director
- Composer / Title
- Performer(s)
- Comments
Middle Ages and Renaissance Sequentia
HILDEGARD OF BINGEN Antiphons
We carry a lot of plainsong and chant; recordings by the Anonymous 4 are also highly recommended.
Various, Renaissance vocal and instrumental collections.
King’s Consort, Folger Consort
- or
- Baltimore
Consort
Baroque Era
VIVALDI
The Four Seasons
Biondi/Europa Galante or Loveday/Marriner.
Vivaldi wrote several hundred concerti; try the concerti for multiple instruments, and the Mandolin concerti. Also, Corelli's op. 6 and Tartini (my fave is his op.96).
HANDEL
Messiah
Asch/Scholars Baroque Ensemble, Shaw/Atlanta Symphony Orch. or Jacobs/Freiberg Baroque orch.
For more Baroque vocal, Bach’s cantatas - start with 80 & 140, and his Bach B Minor Mass with John Gardiner conducting. And for
fun, Bach's “Coffee” cantata.
HANDEL
Water Music Suites
Lamon/Tafelmusik
For an encore, Handel's “Music for the Royal Fireworks.”
- J.S. BACH
- Akademie für Alte Musik
- Also, the Suites for Orchestra; the Violin and
- Brandenburg Concertos
- Berlin or Koopman, Pinnock, Harpsicord Concerti are delightful, too.
or Tafelmusik
J.S. BACH Works for Lute
- Walter Gerwig
- More lute - anything by Paul O'Dette, Ronn
McFarlane & Jakob Lindberg. Also interesting, the Lute-Harpsichord.
J.S. BACH Cello Suites
Bylsma on period cellos, Fournier on a modern
- instrument;
- Casals'
recording was the standard DuPre/Barenboim/ECO & Barbirolli/LSO
Classical Era
HAYDN Cello Concerti
- HAYDN
- Fischer, Davis or Kuijiken
"London" Symphonies (93-101)
- HAYDN
- Mosaiques or Kodaly quartets Or start with opus 9, and take it from there.
String Quartets op. 20, #2&4 MOZART Clarinet Concerto MOZART Piano Concertos Nos. 19 & 20 MOZART Symphonies Nos. 35-41
Romantic Era
BEETHOVEN
Meyer, Brymer or Shifrin. Serkin/Szell
Next, try the Clarinet Quintet & the Sinfonia Concertante. Mozart wrote 27 concertos for piano and 5 for violin; all are worth seeking out.
Karl Böhm/Berlin Philharmonic
Rudolf Serkin.
Piano Sonatas Nos. 8, 14 and 23.
- BEETHOVEN
- Mosaiques, Lindsay quartet. Start with the opus 18s and work your way
The String Quartets BEETHOVEN up from there.
Hanover Band
Symphony No. 3
- BEETHOVEN
- Perlman/Giulini or
Violin Concerto BEETHOVEN
Heifetz/Reiner Carlos Kleiber/Vienna
Symphony No. 5 in c minor, Op. Philharmonic 67
- BEETHOVEN
- Bruno Walter
Symphony No. 6 BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto #5
- Arrau/Davis
- All 5 have moments of great beauty, as does
the “Triple” concerto, often on cd with
Brahms' Double concerto.
BEETHOVEN
Piano trio op.97, “Archduke”
Istomin/Schneider/Casals, Kempf/Szeryng/Fournier or Immerseel/Beths/Bylsma Curzon/Vienna or or
SCHUBERT
“Trout” Quintet
Serkin/Laredo/Naegele/Parna s/Levine
SCHUBERT
Symphony No. 8, “Unfinished”
Walter/Columbia Symphony Orch.
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 SCHUBERT
Walter/Columbia Symphony Orch. Murray Perahia
Impromptus
- SCHUBERT
- Szell/Cleveland
Symphony #no. 9, “The Great”
- BERLIOZ
- Colin Davis/ London
Symphony Orchestra Mackerras/Orchestra of the Age of Enlghtenment Timmerman/Davis or Lincer/Bernstein
A psychedelic symphony if ever there was one.
Also. A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture
Op. 21 & Incidental Music Op. 61
Symphonie Fantastique
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 4 "Italian" BERLIOZ Harold in Italy STRAUSS (Johann II) Waltzes
Boskovsky
- MUSSORGSKY
- Richter, for piano solo
- And who can forget the recording by
- Pictures at an Exhibition
- Solti or Maazel for orchestral Emerson, Lake & Palmer?
- BRAHMS
- Abbado/Berlin Philharmonic
- And Symphony No. 2. And 3. And 4
Symphony No. 1 BORODIN String quartet No. 2
Borodin quartet Emerson quartet
Check out his Polovtsian Dances, too. And his Symphony No. 2
- BRAHMS
- Jascha Heifetz/Reiner/ChicagoAlso try his version of the Beethoven,
- Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77
- Symphony
- Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin
concerti.
- MAHLER
- Fischer-Dieskau
- Songs of a Wayfarer.
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen
- MAHLER
- Abbado/Berlin Philharmonic
Symphony No. 1 RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Schererazade
Beecham/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- DVORÁK
- Emerson String Quartet
- The Bagatelles are fabulous, too.
String Quartet, op. 96,
“American”
DVORAK Serenade for Strings
Marriner/Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
While you're at it, Dvorak's Serenade for Winds is wonderful, too; so is Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings.
- DVORAK
- Kertesz/London Symphony
- 7 and 8 are great, too.
Symphony No. 9, “From the New Orchestra
World”
DVORÁK Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.
Fournier/Szell/Berlin Philharmonic
Often combined on cd with Tchaikovsky's splendid Rococo Variations.
104 PUCCINI La Bohème
DelosAngeles/Björling/Corena Opera – It's not as bad as it sounds. Really. /Merrill/Tozzi RCA /Beecham
RAVEL Introduction and Allegro
Martinon/Chicago Symphony Also worth checking out - Ma Mere L'Oye, Tokyo Strinq Quartet/Galway Bolero. et al.
Modern Era
STRAVINSKY
Stravinsky/Columbia Symphony
Other great Stravinsky ballets - The Firebird, Apollo.
The Rite of Spring
VAUGHAM-WILLIAMS The Lark Ascending
Ozawa/Boston Symphony Bean/Boult/New Philharmonia And if you like this, try his Fantasia on a
- Orch.
- Theme by Thomas Tallis and his Fantasia on
Greensleeves.
RESPIGHI Pines of Rome
Lane/Atlanta Symphony Orch. And Fountains of Rome, Roman Festivals, DePriest/Oregon Symphony The Birds, Ancient Airs and Dances. Dutoit/Montreal Symphony
- ELGAR
- Jacqueline DuPre/Barbirolli
Elgar's “Enigma” Variations are fascinating.
And his violin concerto, too. For the non-vocal Pulcinella Suite, Neville Marriner. Follow with Dumbarton Oaks
Cello concerto STRAVINSKY Pulcinella
Stravinsky/Columbia Symphony
- GERSHWIN
- Leonard Bernstein/Columbia
Symphony Orch. Tilson Thomas/Los Angeles Philharmonic
Rhapsody in Blue
PROKOFIEV Lieutenant Kije Suite RODRIGO
Symphony #1, “Classical;” and Peter and
the Wolf.
- Also, Fantasia para un gentilhombre
- Bonnell/Dutoit
Concierto de Aranjuez COPLAND
Appalachian Spring
HEATH
Tilson Thomas/San Francisco Rodeo Sym. Warren-Green/London Chamber Orchestra
This cd is a good introduction to Glass,
- Adams and the minimalist school.
- Frontier