bissie said it's live!

mommio

His last post, this morning at 7:55 Eastern time:

It is live now. Might take a few hours for the whole world, but the button has been pushed.

www.eclassical.com

If there's something you don't like, please tell me. robert@bis.se
If you do like it, tell others.

With this I am stopping from using this board for this.

Best - Robert

pzeke

Mommio, I looked at the website a few nights ago. I've always wondered why Bissie pays so much attention to mp3 subscribers (other than that he is a very gracious individual), given that his record company has always set such a high standard for sound reproduction. I suspect that this new website is the answer to my question.

Doofy

Wow, I didn't even know about the 24-bit thing. This is a very cool endeavor which I plan to support, so those of you with reccs, let's have 'em! I may even try to get a couple Xmas gifts out of this.

thomnottom

Damn, makes me wish I was more into classical music. Looks like the kind of site I would happily get behind.

Bad Thoughts

I just sent my observations to Bissie after making a purchase. At the price, the sound quality is a lot better than you'd get anywhere else. It's really great for picking up individual works, rather than whole albums, given the per second price scheme. BIS has several big projects worth exploring: the Bach Collegium's work on JS Bach's choral work and Miklos Spanyi's exploration of CPE Bach's keyboard work on period intruments. It's also a great label for Scandinavian composers, particularly Sibelius and Aho, Bissie's fave. Both BIS and H

pzeke

I signed up for it, but, like thom, I wish I felt the same passion for even one piece of "classical" music as I do for, say, the New York Dolls. Also, with nothing but my little notepad computer and PX-100 Sennheiser headphones for playback these days, I think the sound quality improvement would be lost on me. Still, I think it's a great site and I hope it does well.

Music Lover

Here's where I would properly quote pzeke, if I knew how to do it. Since I don't here is my attempt at quoting: I wish I felt the same passion for even one piece of "classical" music as I do for, say, the New York Dolls.

I think getting hooked on classical is a matter of repeated listenings to some of the more accessible works.

Would suggest good recordings (since bad recordings can be boring) of some of the following:

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Beethoven: Fifth Symphony.
Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherazade
Chopin: 24 Preludes; Polonaise in A-flat Minor, Op.53
Tchaikovsky: 1st Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto
Prokofiev: Toccata, Op.11
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos (maybe start with Concerto #2)
Vivaldi: Four Seasons (for example, Trevor Pinnock's recording)
Mozart: Symphony 25, 29, 40, 41
Schumann: Scenes from Childhood
Schubert: 8th Symphony
Mendelssohn: Violin Concert, Symphony 4 (Italian)
Dukas: Sorcerers Apprentice
Debussy: Golliwog's Cakewalk
Joplin: Elite Syncopations, Maple Leaf Rag
Zelenka: Oboe Trio Sonatas (ECM version with Heinz Holliger)
Wagner: Overtures, Ride of the Valkyries
Machaut (London Ambrosian Singers -- other versions vary from exciting to humdrum)
Copland: Billy The Kid, Rodeo

The romantic era (includng late romanticism and nationalism) of classical music is often challenging for beginners, as many quiet passages, so these may be of higher risk:

Mahler: Symphony 1
Brahms: Symphony 1, Symphony 4
Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique
Greig: Piano Concerto 1
Dvorak: Symphony1, New World Symphony
Smetana: the Moldau
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
Stavinsky: Firebird
Holst: The Planets
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Original Piano version, or ELP version)

More challenging, more modern:

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Debussy: Preludes, Afternoon of a Faun
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Shostakovich: Symphony 5, First movement of 4th Symphony
Prokofiev: Classical Symphony, Third Piano Concerto

(Have to run -- may add to later.)

BigD-Bluez

Here's a slightly different take on learning to appreciate Classical Music for all its possibilities, taken from my misspent youth before I learned the value of sobriety - get blotto and put on, real loud, the 2nd Movement of Beethoven's Ninth, preferably the Herbert von Karajan Berlin Philharmonic version, and enjoy. It made numerous New Year's Eves memorable, sort of.

Bad Thoughts

Music Lover's list is fine, although I've known more than a few people turned off by a discography geared more to the symphony hall. On the other hand, I've seen people develop fine ears for Classical music after repeat listenings of Einstein on the Beach. If there were one place to start, I'd recommend Bach's Cello Sonatas: one instrument exploring it's harmonic and melodic potential. It would also be wise to take advantage of as much free music as possible, such as the free samplers on Amazon or radio broadcast and such you can find through Scirel.

mommio

And it's time for Nereffid to chime in.

You know where my love of classical music developed? Bugs Bunny cartoons. I didn't realize much of it was classical at the time, but recognition kicked in when I really began to listen to classical in late teens/early adulthood.

BigD-Bluez

" I killed da wabbit. I killed da wabbit" One of my all time favorites. Loonie Tunes, come to think of it, may have helped me to retain some fondness for opera in spite of my parents drunken revels.

amclark2

You know I think the same thing. Bugs Bunny and Sesame Street too, and not just classical music, but there's a lot of other art references in those kid shows too, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rodin's Thinker, Shakespeare, etc. Not to mention that Bob Clampett's cartoons were basically surrealist art on their own. (e.g. Porky in Wackyland). I miss those Bugs Bunny cartoons.

cafreema

I'm trying to get all the classic Loony Tunes "Golden Collections" to show Mac as he grows up. I love The Rabbit of Seville.

"Welcome to my shop,
Let me cut your mop,
Let me shave your crop!"

Craig

Bad Thoughts

So it wasn't the thrill of flying into a warzone that got you into classical?

pzeke

Much thanks to everyone for their suggestions (BigD-Bluez, I too learned the value of sobriety after a misspent youth, but I appreciate the idea). Music Lover, you quoted me perfectly, and I thank you for taking the time to put together such a comprehensive list. I also thank Bad Thoughts for his insights; I've never heard Einstein on the Beach (Philip Glass, right?), but I do know of people who have no other use for "classical" music yet very much like it.

pzeke

Bugs Bunny is my favorite American hero. Bar none.

MrV

I still watch Bugs and his pals on DVD and my 11 year old grand daughter loves all of them. So perhaps there is hope for the world after all.

Bad Thoughts

pzeke: If you think you might be at all interested in Glass, check out the Orange Mountain Music sampler at Amazon--FREE.

pzeke

Thank you! just downloaded.

I feel slightly guilty. I should have added in my original post that I've been listening to classical music for 25 years, bought & downloaded (which is how I originally discovered eMu in 2005) CDs, read guide books, listened extensively to classical radio stations (via terrestial radio & Internet), have developed a certain sense of what I like and don't like (early music through Baroque, yes; Mozart, eh; most symphonic/Romantic works, no; anything played by "Pops" outfits, absolutely no way). Just haven't found anything that moves me as it should. Yet.

This Glass does sound beautiful, though. Again, many thanks for the suggestion.

Bad Thoughts

early music through Baroque, yes

In the last year I've been coming back to pre-18th C: Heinrich Schütz, lute and recorder music, early dance music. Kez's thread at the other place is fun to read. More recently I've been thrilled by Poème Harmonique, whose works just appeared at the other place. Their arrangement emphasize movement and drama, though I don't think they go over the top. amclark2 pointed out that the two centerpieces of their most recent album can be had for $1 a piece at amazon, giving almost the entire album. Here's a taste of their work.

pzeke

Bad Thoughts, thank you again for your suggestions and your links! I enjoed the Poeme (can I do an accent on this keyboard? Probably not) Harmonique video; about 2/3rds through the Glass sampler and love everything but the synthesized remix track. And I used to read Kez's Baroque thread at the "other place" with great pleasure (no Wanderer!); wish she would come over here.

Bad Thoughts

I received an email saying that eClassical would sell it's music at 25% off through Monday. That's perhaps interesting in itself, but what struck me was that the number of labels that eClassical sells has expanded greatly. Moreover, it includes a few that are popular here: Cantaloupe, Innova, Chandos, Glossa, and New Amsterdam.

kez

@Bad Thoughts - thanks for the heads up on eClassical!

Doofy

It sux. Where's Linkin Park?