Double Bass Must have recordings

[Meddle771]

I know in jazz a very heavy emphasis is placed on listening from the beginning. Now that I'm headed in more of a classical direction, I want to be more knowledgeable about the music and it's history.

Could you guys recommend some must have classical recordings? Any composer, as well as any instrumentation. Solo stuff with piano (could be any instrument not just bass), all the way to full orchestral works. Thanks.

 

[Andrew McGregor]

The Bach 'cello suites and violin partitas, all the symphonies of Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mahler, Brahms and Dvorak, a good selection of symphonies and piano concertos by Mozart and Rachmaninoff, a bunch of Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel, Haydn, Kodaly, Stravinsky and Prokofieff, some string quartets by Beethoven, Haydn and Shostakovich... and anything else you can find.

 

[David Potts]

Since you are heading towards classical music perhaps start with some bass recordings, eg Gary Karr, Francois Rabbath , Ludwig Streicher, Franticek Posta, Edgar Meyer.

Otherwise, do you belong to a library? Do they have a sound section from which to borrow CDs?

Perhaps consider some milestone composers in different periods of music, eg Baroque (Bach, Vivaldi 4 Seasons, Telemann, Handel concerti grosso), Classical (Mozart concertos for different instruments,operas, symphonies, and Haydn ditto), Early Romantic (Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann), Later Romantic (Mahler, Richard Strauss, the Russian composers, the French Impressionists, etc), Modern (Stravinsky, Berg, et al) and Contemporary (Adams, Cage etc).

Also find books to read about these periods and their composers. I have often heard it said that the listener coming to Classical Music needs a little bit of education to get the most from listening. As a "student" of "classical" (orchestral) bass it might also help to study some theory about the different formal structures, harmony and counterpoint that will help analyse the music you are listening to or working on.

Best wishes,

DP

 

[eerbrev]

*insert David Potts being the man here*

Best wishes,

DP

What he said. The biggest difference you'll find between looking at recordings of classical versus jazz is that there is just so muc more material by virtue of the fact that there's several hundred years of music as opposed to just the past 100 years. Don't let it daunt you, just take your time.

eerbrev

 

[tstone]

Many Music History textbooks are paired with a set of recordings. Those can be useful because the text discusses the significance of the music, has at least excerpts of the score, and points out specific things to listen for.

Some typical examples would be Listen, by Kerman and Tomlinson, and The Norton Anthology of Western Music, by Palisca.

 

[Cory Palmer]

When you are getting recordings try to get good quality recordings. I remember getting a recording of Brahms Symphony No. 1 when I firsted started playing orchestral music and it didn't particularly move me. It was cool but I didn't think the piece was anything mind blowing. A few years later I got a recording of the Cleveland Orchestra with George Szell conducting and it completely blew me away. It seemed like a totally different piece.

In general you are not going to go wrong with recordings of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. The Cleveland Orchestra with Szell and the New Philharmonic with Bernstein are always some of my favorites. If you google best recordings of any given piece you'll probably get some good recommendations. Most budget recordings are cheap for a reason so try to avoid them. School libraries can be a great resource for good recordings.

 

[Rob Thompson]

It sounds like OP is looking for recommendations of specific recordings, so I'll give a few of my favorites. (I linked to amazon, but try to find what you can at your library....)

Anner Bylsma playing Bach cello suites (there are two versions and this one is better IMO)

Pinnock and Brandenburg ensemble: Bach Brandenburg concertos or Pinnock with English concert

Mackerras and Prague chamber orch: Mozart 40 and 41 (widely available and really good)

Karajan and Berlin Phil: Beethoven 3 (and 4) (1962 version of symphony 3 is classic)

Kleiber and Vienna phil: Beethoven 7 (and 5) (the best 7!)

Abbado and Berlin Phil: Brahms 1 or Szell and Cleveland

Slatkin and Saint Louis: Mahler 2

Abbado and Vienna Phil: Mahler 3

Rostropovich and Natioinal symphony: Shostakovich 5

Stravinsky and Columbia symphony: Petrushka and Rite of spring

Wolff and Saint Paul chamber orch: Copland Appalachian spring (my favorite recording of all time)

Okay, I've got better things to do now... so go to the library and find some of these.

 

[Jordan M]

I'd say the Karajan/Berlin recordings of the Beethoven symphonies are something everyone either has a copy of, or should, even if there are better recordings out there. Those just seem to be the baseline that people go off of.

 

[Andrew McGregor]

For the Bach 'cello suites, the Steven Isserlis version is magic.

 

[irbassist]

All Mahler symphonies with Leonard Bernstein

 

[RobTwiss]

A lot of good comments and suggestions here, but don't forget the wealth of material on youtube. Videos of many of the best orchestras with the best conductors playing the standard rep. are on youtube, and you can save a lot of money this way!

 

[jaff]

I bought the Craig Wright (6th edition) of 'Listening to Music' a 5 CD Set. A real education for me.

 

[nicechuck]

The Royal Edition from Sony with Leonard Bernstein conducting is a great series, there are alot of them, the Beethoven symphonies especially are really well done, but I like all of the ones that I have.

 

[weary gill]

What about Strauss tone poems? My default is usually Berlin Phil but I am pretty ignorant of the "best" versions of a lot of these works.