Classical Music For The Weekends

To quote the introduction from Deutsche Grammophon's official site:

"Weekend Classics lets you discover the world and power of classical music while offering its services as a companion to your weekend and leisure activities.  Whether you are looking to go active, relaxing, romantic or adventurous during your time off, your weekend starts here! These beautifully packaged mood-boosters will be hard to resist."

I guess this "Weekend Classics" series must have been bashed by purists, but these recordings are much more sincere than most other "chill out classical" stuff, which were mainly made up of fragments of earcandies. In fact this series could be a great introduction to classical music, especially for the faint-hearted ones. Just remember, classical music could do much more than just relax your mind, and you could go further after you regroup your forces with the help of these "relaxing" pieces.

Here's the Spotify playlist: DG: A Classical Weekend (458 tracks, total time: 1day)

Classical Music Inspired by Shakespeare

The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, 
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; 
The motions of his spirit are dull as night 
And his affections dark as Erebus: 
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.

- The Merchant of Venice, 5.1.91-7

The Bard of Avon's works is undoubtedly the is most inspiring literary source for musical ideas in western classical music, after the Bible. Generations of composers, from Haydn to Henze, set his sonnets and plays into music.  Some of the greatest examples are: Ralph Vaughan Williams' enchanting Serenade to Music, which drew the text from the discussion about music in The Merchant of Venice, Elgar's Symphonic Study Falstaff, which the composer himself regarded as his finest orchestral piece, and Berlioz's most comprehensive and detailed programmatic piece, Roméo et Juliette. To name but a few. The love scene of the Berlioz symphony contains some of the most tender music I've ever heard.

Here's to William, the Spotify playlist: The Bard: Shakespeare in Music (166 tracks, total time: 12 hours) To keep the playlist neat, for the large scale works like the operas I only put in one track per album, if you want to listen to Verdi the Othello in its entirety, just go the the full album page from this playlist. I will add in more works when I find them. "If music be the food of love, play on."

And below is one of the finest moments in Orson Welles' career, and in the history of cinema.

Music On the Voyager Golden Record

Looks like our Voyager probes are getting sentient, or even a bit sentimental as they leave the solar system, I hope an alien Buzz Lightyear find them soon, and play the awesome Voyager Golden Record at blasting volume. The music part of this business card of Earth is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music from many cultures, including Eastern and Western classics. A fascinating listen for humans, and the aliens, as NASA believe.

Here's the Spotify playlist: Voyager Golden Record (28 tracks, total time: 1 hour) Spotify is also ridiculously good for world music, thanks to the great field recordings collection from the Smithsonian label. I substituted a few tracks which I couldn't find exact matches, with the closest thing I could get. Check out this Nasa page for the full original tracklist.

And before the Voyages see the light of a new sun, all they can hear is some ultra-cool electronic music as in this video below. Gosh, what an attack of homesickness this sound can provoke!

Deutsche Grammophon's Spotlight Series

Spotlight is a new Deutsche Grammophon series that puts the focus on great vocal recitals of great artists from the Sixties and Seventies. These are one-to-one transfers of original LPs.

Here's the Spotify playlist: DG: Spotlight Series (182 tracks, total time: 12 hours) Check out DG's official site for more info. I put this video below because Wolfgang Windgassen looks like a lost twin of Mr.Love and Hate from this hauntingly beautiful film:)

ABC Classic FM's Classic 100 Symphony

During 2009, the Australian ABC Classic FM radio station conducted a survey of listeners' favourite symphonies. Participants were permitted to vote for their three preferred symphonies. The result is a very decent list of great symphonies. All of Sibelius's symphonies are in the list, so do all of Rachmaninov's, plus his choral symphony The Bells. Eight out of Mahler's nine numbered and finished symphonies, as well as Das Lied von der Erde made the list.

Check out the official site and wiki for the full list and other info.

I compiled a playlist according to this ABC list. Only three symphonies by Australian contemporary composers are missing on Spotify. For every symphony I tried to use my favourite recording. For Mahler, I chose Kubelik for No.1, Abbado and Lucerne Festival Orchestra for No.2, Bernstein and NYPO for No.3, Boulez for No.4 (because the Szell recording is not on Spotify for now), Barbirolli for No.5, Mitropoulos for No.6, Solti for No.8, Klemperer for The Song of the Earth, and Haitink for No.9. It would be great if you can share your oponions on the best performances of these symphonies.

Here's the Spotify playlist: ABC Classic FM's Classic 100 Symphony (451 tracks, total time: 2 days) Arranged from from No. 100 to No.1.

Classical Music For Absolute Beginners: DG's entrée Series

Below is extracted from the introduction on DG's official entrée site, I like the Chinese restaurant parable, and I hope Spotify starts to offer ad-supported free food service soon:)

"Think of eating at a Chinese restaurant. You can't read Chinese, but the menu is in Chinese only - and there are 150 different dishes from which to choose. You need help from someone so you can decide what to eat. The food arrives. Do you like it? Do you like it a lot? Maybe next time you'll have something similar? Or experiment further by trying a completely different dish? Perhaps you ordered the wrong thing - we've all done it! Chances are you'll find something that appeals next time.

entrée offers you more than 40 world-famous dishes on a plate, building a classical library that anyone would be proud to own. And the covers - striking black and white photographs - are really classy.

Like anyone starting to paint or fish, or learning a foreign language, the first steps are a daunting prospect. Once you've taken the plunge, though, you quickly realize the rewards. Bit by bit, you find out more and more. A little knowledge enhances your enjoyment and appreciation. It's just the same with classical music, and the booklets with the new entrée series provide the perfect introduction to each composer and the music on the CD. Nothing academic. No technical language. Just engaging, informative, and friendly."

Here's the Spotify playlist: DG: Entrée Series (453 tracks, total time: 1 day). If you are not familiar with most of the works here, congratulations, enjoy your first adventure into a lifelong journey. And if you do, it is still a wonderful collection of execllent performences of the core repertoire.

An Awakening From Unconsciousness And Darkness To Light And Clarity

"To a normal man, time is what comes after the beginning. To Bruckner, time is what comes after the end. All his apocalyptical finals, the hope for another world, the hope of being saved, of being again baptised in light. It exists nowhere else.“ Sergiu Celibidache on Anton Bruckner

"Not only his Masses, his Te Deum, his devotional choral works, but his symphonies also (and these before all) sprang from this fundamental religious feeling that swayed Bruckner's entire spirit. He did not have to struggle toward God; he believed. Mahler sought God. ... Bruckner sang of his God and for his God, Who ever and unalterably occupied his soul. Mahler struggled toward Him." Bruno Walter on Bruckner and Mahler

"The coda to the first movement is how it is when one is on his deathbed, and opposite hangs a clock, which, while his life comes to an end, beats on ever steadily: tick, tock, tick, tock, while in the slow movement I have gazed too deeply into a maiden's eyes." - Bruckner on his 8th symphony

Here's the Spotify playlist: Bruckner: Celibidache & MPO (58 tracks, total time: 15 hours) It includes all the officially released Bruckner recordings of Celibidache and his Munich Philharmonic Orchestra.

Michael Tilson Thomas' Mahler Cycle Is Now On Spotify

Here's the Spotify playlist: Mahler: MTT & SFS (69 tracks, 15 hours) It includes the nine symphonies and Das Lied von Der Erde. I also put their Das klagende Lied at the end, though unlike the other recordings, it was released by BMG, not San Francisco Symphony's own publishing company.

Also check out SFS' wonderful site Keeping Score for some cool stuff.

Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv Blue Series

Another great early music collection: Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv Blue series. Quote the intro from the official site:

"This is the dedicated reduced price catalogue series for Archiv Produktion.  It offers the same wide selection of Early Music and features all the top artists on the label, including Trevor Pinnock, Paul McCreesh, Reinhard Goebel and Marc Minkowski.

Archiv Produktion has established itself as a landmark label for early music, documenting since 1947 the rediscovery and innovative interpretation of early music by the great performers of the day.  From the early recordings of Helmut Walcha, through Karl Richter, and more recently, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Trevor Pinnock to today's lineup of Reinhard Goebel, Paul McCreesh and Marc Minkowski, Archiv Produktion continues to offer a wide palette of recordings in which today's great artists focus on the areas of their greatest expertise. "

Here's the Spotify playlist: DG: Archiv Blue Series (467 track, total time 1 day) It's a great addition to the Naxos Early Music Collection I posted last week, the Pérotin and Notre Dame school recordings are magnificent. Do check DG's official site for the introduction text to every recording.

Naxos Early Music Collection

"This collection focuses on music from the early Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Enjoy our albums and listen to early music from Italy, France, Flanders, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Finland, England, among others, performed by outstanding ensembles and soloists playing on authentic or modern instruments." from Naxos' official page.

Here's the Spotify playlist: Naxos Early Music Collection (1659 tracks, total time: 4 days) The recordings are arranged alphabetically by composer names, just like in the Naxos page, and I put the sampler disk An Introduction To Early Music at the beginning.

For those of you who think that mp3 downloads is still necessary, Amazon is now offering Very Best of Naxos Early Music for free.