Hi everyone, I have several classical cd's but not as many as a pianist and teacher should have. I have always borrowed cd's from libraries. I think it is time I do some investing. I am looking to start a classical cd collection having the obvious Bach, Mozart, Choping, Beethoven, Debussy, Rachminoff, etc...... I went to our HMV here and boy was I overwhelmed. I am also get this questions from some of my more advanced and older students. Where does one start? This question is probably very general but any input would be great.

Thanks Cathy

-- Cathy Morabito (cathym@videotron.ca), April 06, 2001

Answers

Well, I started off with Sony Classical's GREATEST HITS of Composers series, which gave me an idea of what I liked. You should discover different styles and genres and then you'll find out which ones you like and which ones you don't. I developed a great love for Mozart's Piano Concertos - in fact, all piano concertos - be it Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, I could go on. You can't really start at a fixed point. Just read more about certain compositions e.g. the Revolutionary Etude of Chopin, then go find the CD and listen. Hope this helps!

-- Vipercat (noname_poster@yahoo.com), April 07, 2001.

Hi,

When I realized how much I love the piano playing of arthur rubinstein, I started buying his recordings, thats how I pretty much started my CD-collection that has now increased to about 800 classical music CD's. If you really like a composer (Maybe Chopin), just buy one of his Cd's, then, if you learn about his compositions, you'll foind that there are 27 Etudes, 21 Nocturnes, 26 prreludes etc, you can buy them step by step. If you ask for really essential stuff, you I would make sure to have the top-5-famous Beethoven Sonatas,(pathetique, waldstein, appassionata, les adieux, moonlight), some of the bach fugues, one Cd with Mozart sonatas, some chopin (mentioned above), Brahms Rhapsodies and Intermezzi, some of the debussy preludes, one greatest hits mendelsohn cd (rondo capriccioso, variations serieux). the more you lesten to music, the more you will discover and the more you CD's you will collect.

-- they called him "Andy" (amb7078@griffon.mwsc.edu), April 07, 2001.

I would suggest joining the BMG Classical Music club. That way you can get the introductory of 11 CD's for the price of 1, and lots of sales. They have good stuff to choose from. Their website is www.bmgmusicservice.com

Happy buying!

-- Julie2 (knerr@uiuc.edu), April 09, 2001.

Hi! We live in a time of great technology, with all its advantages and disadvantages. There's tons of stuff out there on the internet, for free. If you have internet access, look for radiostations, download pages, etc. That gives you the opportunity to learn a lot of new music for free. If you happen to like a CD, you still can buy it (of course the radiostations have a link right to where you can buy the CD). You also mentioned the libraries, check things out and if you really like them you can buy them. I hope that helps!

-- Christian (cpb7079@mwsc.edu), April 11, 2001.

Hi...no matter what, try not to buy Naxos collection. Even though it is cheap, the quality is not that good.

-- ting (ting1002@yahoo.com), April 12, 2001.

Forget what the previous person says about Naxos CD's!! Most of them are VERY good; besides you can get onto Amazon.com and see the reviews of past buyers. I recommend the Mozart, Bach, Chopin, Sibelius, Haydn, and Beethoven CD's from Naxos. For the price you can't go wrong and can build a respectable collection of classical music.

-- Nathan Cooper (njcooper5@yahoo.com), February 14, 2005.