Henryk Górecki: Chronological Collection

When the Zinman/Upshaw recording of Polish composer Henryk Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs was released in 1992, it reached No. 6 of the UK album chart; stayed at the top of Billboard classical chart for 38 weeks; and sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Sorrowfully, this success has failed to generate interest in Górecki's other works.

Personally I adore that symphony, and also found many of his other works absorbing: Amen, Beatus Vir, and Totus Tuus are all music of sweeping power and beauty; late works like Kleines Requiem for a Polka and the three String Quartets (No.1, 2, 3) are also fresh and distinctive.

This playlist features all Górecki's recorded works available; sorted in chronological order. From op. 1 (1955) to op. 75 (1999), plus one unnumbered piece Three Dances in Old Style (1963). For Symphony No.3 I used the Zinman recording. The composer's own favorite: Wlodzimierz Kamirski conducting the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin with soprano Stefania Woytowicz, is hard to find in the west and not on Spotify, though another recording featuring the soprano, and the conductor who premiered the symphony with her, is on Spotify US.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Henryk Górecki: Chronological Collection (83 tracks from 23 albums, total time: 10 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view.

In another playlist Pop Songs Based On Classical Works, you can find Lamb's 1997 single Górecki, a minor trip-hop classic which quoted the 2nd movement of the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

Eric Whitacre: Complete Recordings on Spotify

"Whitacre is that rare thing, a modern composer who is both popular and original." - The Daily Telegraph, London

""What hits you straight between the eyes is the honesty, optimism and sheer belief that passes any pretension. This is music that can actually make you smile." - Radio 3 review.

Eric Whitacre (born 1970) is an American composer best known for his choral music. He has also written a large number of wind band compositions and some electronic music. In addition, he has composed works for orchestra and an opera, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings. His style is quite approachable and features trademark chords (sevenths and ninths, sometimes heard against a background of sustained seconds and fourths), unexpected chord progressions, aleatoric elements, finger snapping by choral singers, and a host of other typically recognizable characteristics. His soundworld, though modern and quite individual, is invested with certain elements out of the past, however: his orchestral version of Water Night, originally written for chorus, carries echoes of Barber's famous Adagio for Strings, and some have compared Whitacre's style to that of Morten Lauridsen. That said, Whitacre is among the most original American voices of his time. His music is widely performed, especially in the U.S., and recordings of his music, particularly his choral works, are available on Hyperion, Clarion, Albany, and many other labels. - AllMusic

I became a Whitacre addict after listening to Water Night on Spotify - I wish the city I live in had a decent choir that got me into his music earlier, but better late than never. Anyway I did a thorough search on Spotify and found more than 80 albums with his music, including 13 recordings of Cloudburst (choral and wind band versions) and no less than 15 Water Night. Arvo Pärt fans who don't know Whitacre yet, please do yourself a favor and give him a listen.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Eric Whitacre: Complete Recordings on Spotify (222 tracks, total time: 18 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Ctrl (CMD) + F to bring out the filter bar and look for the works. For example: type in Cloudburst and browse all 13 recordings. Looking forward to more new recordings and new works.

Frank Zappa as Composer

"Composer, guitarist, singer, and bandleader Frank Zappa was a singular musical figure during a performing and recording career that lasted from the 1960s to the '90s. His disparate influences included doo wop music and avant-garde classical music; although he led groups that could be called rock & roll bands for much of his career, he used them to create a hybrid style that bordered on jazz and complicated, modern serious music, sometimes inducing orchestras to play along." - AllMusic

This playlist is a collection of Zappa's music played by various orchestras and ensembles. Including:

• Zomby Woof, by Asphalt Orchestra
• A to Z of Jazz – Fine Arts Brass Quintet (2 Zappa tunes)
• Ear Mind I; Prime Meridian; Smart Went Crazy - Meridian Arts Ensemble (3 Zappa suites on three albums)
• Plastic People, by Ron Kobayashi Trio
• The Grand Wazoo, by Bobby Sanabria
• Oh No, by David Kikoski Trio
• The Little House I Used to Live In, by George Winston
• Chunga's Revenge, by Gotan Project
• Help, I'm A Rock, by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (The only cover version by a rock group in this playlist)
• Songs And Dances, by Cincinnati Wind Symphony (2 Zappa tunes)
• The Zappa Album, by Ensemble Ambrosius
• Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions, by Ensemble Modern (The ensemble rehearsed with Zappa for this recording)
• Harmonia Meets Zappa
• The Purple Cucumber: A Zappa Tribute
• Strictly off Limits -  Accademia Amiata Ensemble (5 Zappa tunes)
• King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa (A hidden Zappa album by all means. Zappa composed, arranged all tracks and played guitar on one section; various members of Zappa's band were also involved)
• A Captain Beefheart live recording with Zappa and an interview.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Frank Zappa as Composer (93 tracks, total time: 6 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Thank these performers for keeping Zappa's music alive, while The Zappa Family Trust is doing their best to make sure kids today can't hear his original recordings (no Amazon MP3, no iTunes, no streaming). The man himself came up with an idea for music subscription in 1983.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Chronological Collection on Spotify

Mieczysław Weinberg (1919 - 1996) was a Soviet composer of Polish-Jewish origin. From 1939 he lived in the Soviet Union and Russia and lost most of his family in the Holocaust. He left a large body of work that included 22 symphonies and 17 string quartets; according to one reviewer he ranked as, "the third great Soviet composer, along with Prokofiev and Shostakovich". - Wikipedia

I discovered Weinberg through Alex Ross's tweet last year, and was astonished by what I heard, even before I found out how prolific this composer was. If you like Schnittke, Szymanowski, Lutosławski or the two aforementioned Soviet masters, you definitely should give Weinberg a try. His works are still not often recorded, so I put aside the one-work-one-recording rule and arranged all recordings available by opus number; two early works written before opus 1 were placed at the beginning.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Chronological Collection (405 tracks, total time: 37 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. See complete list of works here. Use Alex Ross's 30-track, 4-hour playlist as an intro. Also recommend: Weinberg's Holocaust opera The Passenger, available on Blue-ray.

Frédéric Chopin: Complete Works, 100 Pianists

In this playlist, you get the complete works of Frédéric Chopin recorded by 100 pianists. Most are outstanding performances from the stereo era, including such great Chopin interpreters as Martha Argerich, Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Jorge Bolet, Shura Cherkassky, Nelson Freire, Andrei Gavrilov, Vladimir Horowitz, Evgeny Kissin, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Murray Perahia, Maurizio Pollini, Arthur Rubinstein, Mitsuko Uchida, Earl Wild, Krystian Zimerman, and many more. I also put in a few important historical recordings by Alfred Cortot, Dinu Lipatti and Samson Francois. All winners of the International Chopin Piano Competition are included, except Yakov Zak and the 2010 winner Yulianna Avdeeva.

This playlist can be used as an index of great pianists on Spotify. I only selected from recordings that are available on both Spotify UK and US, so William Kapell's recording of the Mazurkas (Spotify UK only) is not included. As for Lang Lang, personally I dislike almost every recording he made, except for the Chopin concertos (no.2 is featured here).

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Frédéric Chopin: Complete Works by 100 Pianists (268 tracks, total time: 19 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Works are sorted by opus number and year of publication, as listed here. Do not play from the start, the op.1 rondo composed by a teenage Chopin is not much of a good opening track. Put this playlist on shuffle for Radio Chopin, or use Ctrl (CMD) + F to search for Nocturnes, Mazurkas, Preludes etc. Also check out the 4-hour audiobook Life & Works of Chopin in Naxos Educational.

A list of pianists in this playlist, with Spotify links.

• Abbey Simon
• Abdel Rahman El Bacha
• Adam Harasiewicz
• Alexandre Tharaud 
• Alexandre Uninsky 
• Alexis Weissenberg 
• Alfred Cortot 
• Alice Sara Ott 
• Anatol Ugorski 
• Andrei Gavrilov
• Anne-Marie McDermott
• Antonio Barbosa 
• Arthur Greene 
• Arthur Rubinstein 
• Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli 
• Barbara Hesse Bukowska 
• Bella Davidovich 
• Bogdan Czapiewski 
• Bruno Rigutto 
• Claudio Arrau 
• Costantino Mastroprimiano 
• Cyprien Katsaris 
• Dang Thai Son 
• Daniel Barenboim 
• Danielle Laval 
• Dinu Lipatti 
• Dmitri Alexeev 
• Dmitri Vorobiev 
• Earl Wild 
• Emanuel Ax
• Emil Gilels 
• Eva Osinska 
• Evgeny Kissin 
• Faina Lushtak 
• Fou Ts'ong
• Francois-Rene Duchable 
• Frederic Chiu 
• Friedrich Gulda 
• Garrick Ohlsson 
• Georges Cziffra 
• Grigory Sokolov 
• Halina Czerny Stefanska 
• Hélène Grimaud 
• Henryk Sztompka 
• Ian Hobson 
• Idil Biret 
• Ingolf Wunder
• Ingrid Fliter 
• Ivo Pogorelich 
• Jean-Marc Luisada 
• Jerzy Sterczynski 
• Jorge Bolet
• Josef Hofmann 
• Kathryn Stott 
• Kemal Gekic 
• Krystian Zimerman
• Kungsbacka Piano Trio 
• Lang Lang
• Leif Ove Andsnes 
• Leszek Mozdzer 
• Maria João Pires
• Marianna Shirinyan
• Martha Argerich 
• Martin Martineau 
• Maurizio Pollini 
• Mieczyslaw Horszowski
• Mikhail Pletnev
• Mirian Conti 
• Mitsuko Uchida 
• Murray Perahia 
• Nelson Freire 
• Nelson Goerner 
• Nikita Magaloff 
• Peter Katin 
• Pierre Barbizet 
• Piotr Anderszewski
• Rafal Blechacz 
• Richard Goode
• Roland Pontinen 
• Ronald Smith
• Samson Francois 
• See Siang Wong 
• Shura Cherkassky
• Stanislav Bunin 
• Stefan Askenase 
• Stephen Kovacevich 
• Sviatoslav Richter 
• Tamás Vásáry 
• Tatiana Shebanova 
• Ulrich Staerk
• Van Cliburn 
• Vladimir Ashkenazy 
• Vladimir Horowitz
• Vladmir Feltsman 
• Vlado Perlemuter 
• Wanda Klimowicz
• Wilhelm Kempff 
• Yundi Li
• Zbigniew Raubo 
• Zoltán Kocsis

Maximum Clarity: Ben Johnston On Spotify

Ben Johnston (born 1926) is a composer of contemporary music in just intonation, and one of the foremost composers of microtonal music. He was called "one of the best non-famous composers this country has to offer" in 1990 by American critic John Rockwell.

Ben Johnston is best known for extending Harry Partch's experiments in just intonation tuning to traditional instruments through his system of notation. Johnston's compositional style is eclectic, employing serial processes, folksong idioms (String Quartets 4, 5 and 10), repetitive processes, traditional forms like fugue and variations, and intuitive processes. However, his main goal, "has been to reestablish just intonation as a viable part of our musical tradition" and "ultimately, what Johnston has done, more than any other composer with roots in the great American musical experiments of the '50's and '60's, is to translate those radical approaches to the nature of music into a music that is immediately apprehensive" - Wikipeida

Works in this playlist:

• String quartets, including "Amazing Grace"
• Palindromes, for snare drum
• O Waly Waly Variations, for saxophone quartet
• Ponder Nothing, for clarinet
• Sonata, for Microtonal piano
• Sleep and Waking, for percussion ensemble
• Duo for flute & string bass
• Twelve Partials, for flute and microtonal piano

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Ben Johnston: Complete Recordings on Spotify (50 tracks, total time: 3 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Started this playlist in 2010, and finally the string quartets became available on Spoitfy now. Do give it a listen if you never went beyond Shostakovich, Schnittke or the great Villa-Lobos in 20th century string quartets.

133 Recordings Produced by Rick Rubin on Spotify

The co-founder of the legendary Def Jam label, producer Rick Rubin was one of the key figures behind the commercial and artistic rise of hip-hop, and the mastermind behind the revival (some might say artistic redemption too) of Johnny Cash. He raised more than a few eyebrows producing Slayer in 1986 but now everybody knows he is going to produce the next new album for Metallica, and Black Sabbath. He produced Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's final studio recordings. Dr. Dre called him "hands down, the dopest producer ever that anyone would ever want to be, ever." MTV called him "the most important producer of the last 20 years." Last year he produced Adele's 21.

In 2007, Rubin was listed among Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World.

This one-track-per-album, chronological playlist can be used as an index of the Rick Rubin production discography. Some albums were partially produced by Rubin, like the lovely Pork And Beans from Weezer's Red Album was produced by Jacknife Lee, so I used another Rubin-produced track from that record. In some albums that I am familiar with, I also tried to select tracks that were significantly influenced by Rubin, thus Give It Away was chosen (an overall "dryer" guitar sound attributed to producer) instead of Under The Bridge, though the later song might never see the light of day if not for Rubin.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Rick Rubin Production Chronological Discography (133 tracks from 133 albums) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view (most useful feature for a playlist like this). See this Wikipedia page for more information about every album included.

30 Jennifer Higdon Recordings on Spotify

Jennifer Higdon (born 1962) is not only one of the most acclaimed of contemporary women composers, but one of the most widely performed and appreciated of contemporary American composers in general. She has won, among many other awards, the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto ("deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity") and the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto.

Spotify's Jennifer Higdon page lists 7 albums; searching for the composer's name gets you a dozen; in this playlist you can find 30 (time to fix the metadata, no?). I fully recommend her music to classical fans who think that classical music died with Mahler, Puccini or Shostakovich. Start with aforementioned works and the Concerto For Orchestra; then try: Blue Cathedral, City Scape, and the Piano Trio.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Jennifer Higdon: Complete Recordings on Spotify (82 tracks from 30 albums, total time: 9 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. See the composer's official site for a a noted discography.

Rehearsals: The Birth of a Performance

Recordings of rehearsals offer a unique opportunity to look at the classical warhorses in a new way. Highlights in this playlist include:

• Britten rehearsals his War Requiem; 
• Bruno Walter rehearsals Mozart's Linz Symphony (a 2-hour recording), Beethoven's 5th and Mahler's 9th; 
• Mariss Jansons rehearsals Shostakovich's 8th; 
• Boult rehearsals Vaughan Williams's The Pilgrim's Progress;  
• Celibidache rehearsals Bruckner's 9th;
• Karajan rehearsals Mozart's 40th & 41st, and Beethoven's 9th.
• Maria Callas in rehearsal, in Dallas, 1957
• Toscanini rehearsals Verdi and Wagner.
• Furtwängler rehearsals Beethoven and Ravel.
• Gershwin conducts the studio orchestra and plays the solo piano part in a rehearsal performance of his Second Rhapsody, recorded one month after the work's completion.

Get this playlist in one Spotify collection here: Rehearsals: The Birth of a Performance (183 tracks, total time: 22 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view.

Flea on Bass: Guest Appearances

Just one of my occasional forays into pop music, enjoy.

Flea, originally a jazz trumpet prodigy, is best know as the bassist and co-founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Due to his musical versatility, he has also become a much in-demand session musician, appearing on over 40 albums. This playlist is a collection of his guest appearances, covering a great range of styles, from his 1995 collaboration with Robert Fripp and Cheikha Remitti, the Queen of Raï, to the brand new album he made with Damon Albarn (Rocket Juice & The Moon). Full track list:

• Banyan – Grease The System, on Anytime At All (1999)
• Jane's Addiction – Kettle Whistle, on Kettle Whistle (1997)
• Rocket Juice & The Moon – Hey, Shooter (feat. Erykah Badu), on Rocket Juice & The Moon (2012)
• Ronnie Wood – Spoonful, on I Feel Like Playing (2010)
• Ziggy Marley – Rainbow In The Sky, on Dragonfly (2003)
• Tracy Chapman – Change, on Where You Live (2005)
• John Frusciante – Unreachable, on The Empyrean (2009)
• Sir Mix-A-Lot – Chief Boot Knocka', on Chief Boot Knocka (1994)
• Rambient – Birth Of A Girl, on So Many Worlds (2001)
• Tricky – #1 da Woman, on Blowback (2001)
• Bryan Ferry – You Can Dance, on Olympia (2010)
• Gov't Mule – Down And Out In New York City, on The Deep End, Vol. 1 (2001)
• Pigface – Divebomber, on Notes from Thee Underground (1994)
• Slash – Baby Can't Drive, on Slash (2010)
• Cheikha Rimitti – Sidi Mansour, on  Sidi Mansour (1995)
• Jewel – Barcelona, on Spirit (1998)
• Keith Caputo – Bleed For Something Beautiful, on A Fondness for Hometown Scars (2008)
• Young MC – Bust A Move, on Stone Cold Rhymin' (1989)
• The Mars Volta – Inertiatic Esp, on De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003)
• PORNO FOR PYROS – Freeway, on Good God's Urge (1996)
• Patti Smith – Gimme Shelter, on Twelve (2007)
• PORNO FOR PYROS – Hard Charger, on Rev (1999)
• Johnny Cash – Heart Of Gold, on Unearthed (2003)
• Young MC – I Come Off, on Stone Cold Rhymin' (1989)
• Jane's Addiction – Idiots Rule, on Nothing's Shocking (1988)
• Michael Brook – Ill Wind (You’re Blowing Me No Good), on Albino Alligator (1997)
• The Mars Volta – Miranda That Ghost Just Isn't Holy Anymore, on Frances the Mute (2005)
• Alanis Morissette – Narcissus, on Under Rug Swept (2002)
• Incubus – 4th Movement Of The Odyssey, on Halo 2 Original Soundtrack (2004)
• Jane's Addiction – So What!, on Kettle Whistle (1997)
• Johnny Cash – Spiritual, on Unchained (1996)
• The Mars Volta – The Widow, on Frances the Mute (2005)
• Janet Jackson – What'll I Do (Dave Navarro Mix), on Janet Remixed (2005)
• Alanis Morissette – You Oughta Know, on Jagged Little Pill (1995)
• Mike Watt – Against The 70's, on Ball-Hog or Tugboat? (1995)
• Mick Jagger – Out Of Focus, on Wandering Spirit (1993)
• Action Figure Party – Flow, on Action Figure Party (2001)
• Tom Waits – Raised Right Men, on Bad As Me (2011)
• The Weirdos – Cyclops Helicopter, on Condor (1990)
• Jack Irons – Watersong, on Attention Dimension (2004)

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Flea Outside RHCP: Guest Appearances (40 tracks, 3 hours of groove) In some of the albums, he played on more tracks than I selected here, and on a few track he played the trumpet or horn. Click the album titles above for more info.