Klavier Wind Recording Project on Spotify

"Since its inception in 1989, the Klavier Wind Recording Project, under the creative direction of Eugene Migliaro Corporon. has been praised worldwide by composers, conductors, critics and listeners for its innovation, excellence and professional standards. These state-of-the-art digital recordings have indentified and preserved the standard repertoire and encouraged composers around the world to contribute to the ever-growing legacy of quality literature by making their new works immediately available to thousands of listening enthusiasts. The series highlights the fact that wind symphony, in its many forms thoughout hundreds of years of music history, has been and continues to be a significant original medium for serious artistic expression. In the last 18 years the project has yielded 34 recordings which feature the creative work of hundreds of world renowned composers." - Official site

8th New York State Militia Band, in Arlington, Virginia, 1861. Source

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Klavier Wind Recording Project (Concert Band Music) (437 tracks, total time: 41 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. It features all 34 recordings in this series, sorted by release date, with the latest albums at the top. Look up the official site for more information about each recording.

Leonard Bernstein the Composer: Complete Chronological Catalogue on Spotify

"As composer, conductor, and educator, Leonard Bernstein emerged as one of a handful of figures in the twentieth century who truly changed the face of music. As a composer, Bernstein left a far-reaching legacy that includes three symphonies, a film score of singular distinction, (On the Waterfront), and an important body of stage works, including one of the cornerstones of American musical theater, West Side Story. The first American-born conductor to attain international superstardom, Bernstein made a profound impression on audiences; his podium manner was dynamic, even flamboyant, to an extent never before witnessed. Bernstein's extroverted manner attracted much criticism from those who dismissed him as a mere exhibitionist; his advocates, however, far outnumbered his detractors." - AllMusic

Works in this playlist, with links to program notes:

• Psalm 148, for voice & piano, 1935 
• Music for Two Pianos, 1937
• Piano Trio, 1937
• Piano Sonata, 1938
• Sonata for violin & piano, 1940
• Sonata for clarinet & piano, 1942
• Symphony No.1 ("Jeremiah"), for mezzo-soprano & orchestra, 1942
• 7 Anniversaries, for piano, 1943
• I Hate Music, cycle of "5 kid songs" for soprano & piano, 1943
• Dream With Me, song for voice & piano with obbligato cello, 1944
• Fancy Free, ballet, 1944
• New York, New York, song for voice & piano (from "On the Town"), 1944
• Some Other Time, song (from "On the Town"), 1944
• On the Town, musical, 1944
• 3 Dance Episodes from "On the Town", for orchestra, 1945
• Hashkiveinu, for tenor, chorus & organ, 1945
• Lonely Me, song for voice & piano (originally written for "On the Town"), 1945
• Facsimile, ballet, 1946
• La Bonne Cuisine: 4 recipes, for voice & piano, 1947
• Rinah, Hebrew folksong arranged for chorus & orchestra, 1947
• Simchu Na, for chorus & piano, 1947
• 4 Anniversaries, for piano, 1948
• Brass Music, pieces (5) for piano, trumpet, horn, trombone & tuba, 1948
• 5 Anniversaries, for piano, 1949
• Prelude, Fugue & Riffs, for clarinet & jazz ensemble, 1949
• Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety"), for piano & orchestra or 2 pianos, 1949
• Peter Pan, musical, 1950
• Yigdal, Hebrew liturgical melody for chorus & piano, 1950
• Silhouette (Galilee), song for voice & piano, 1950
• Trouble in Tahiti, opera in 1 act, 1951
• It's Love, song (from "Wonderful Town"), 1953
• Wonderful Town, musical in 2 acts, 1953
• Serenade (after Plato: Symposium), for violin, harp, percussion & strings; also for violin & piano, 1954
• Candide, operetta in 2 acts, 1955
• On the Waterfront, symphonic suite, 1955
• Sabras (4), for piano, 1955
• The Lark, incidental music for countertenor, chorus & percussion, 1955
• Glitter and Be Gay, for soprano & orchestra (from "Candide"), 1956
• Make Our Garden Grow, song for voice & orchestra or piano (from "Candide"), 1956
• Overture to Candide, for orchestra, 1956
• West Side Story, musical, 1957
• I Feel Pretty, song (from "West Side Story"), 1957
• Maria, song (from "West Side Story"), 1957
• Somewhere, song (from "West Side Story"), 1957
• Tonight, song (from "West Side Story"), 1957
• The Firstborn, incidental music for voice & chorus, 1958
• Bridal Suite, for 2 pianos, 1960
• Symphonic Dances from "West Side Story", 1961
• Fanfare for the inauguration of J. F. Kennedy, for brass ensemble, 1961
• Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish"), for soprano, speakers, choruses & orchestra, 1963
• Chichester Psalms, for boy soloist, chorus & orchestra, 1965
• So Pretty, song for voice & piano, 1968
• A Simple Song, for voice & piano, 1971
• Mass, theatre piece for singers, players & dancers, 1971
• Meditations (2) from "Mass", for orchestra, 1971
• Dybbuk, ballet, 1974 
• Dybbuk, Suite No.1, for tenor, bass & orchestra, 1974 
• Dybbuk, Suite No.2 (Eight Dances), for orchestra, 1974
• 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, musical, 1976
• A White House Cantata, for soloists, chorus & orchestra, 1976
• Candide, suite from the operetta in 2 parts for voices, chorus & orchestra, 1977
• 3 Meditations from "Mass", for cello & orchestra; also for cello & piano, 1977
• Slava! A Political Overture, for orchestra, 1977
• Songfest, song cycle for 6 singers & orchestra or piano, 1977
• Piccola Serenata, vocalise for voice & piano, 1979
• A Musical Toast, for orchestra, 1980
• Divertimento, for orchestra, 1980
• Halil, nocturne for flute solo, piccolo, alto flute, percussion & harp; also for flute, piano & percussion, 1981
• Olympic Hymn, for chorus & orchestra, 1981
• Touches (Chorale, 8 Variations & Coda), competition test piece for piano, 1981
• A Quiet Place, opera, 1984
• Concerto for Orchestra (Jubilee Games), for orchestra, 1986
• 13 Anniversaries, for piano, 1988
• Arias & Barcarolles, for mezzo-soprano, baritone, strings & percussion (or piano duet), 1988
• Missa Brevis, for alto, chorus & percussion (or 7 violins & percussion), 1988
• Dance Suite, for brass quintet & optional percussion, 1989
• Vayomer Elohim (Let There Be Light), for voice & piano, 1989

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Leonard Bernstein the Composer: Complete Chronological Catalogue (485 tracks, total time: 27 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. For Bernstein's music lectures, see this playlist. Photo by George Zimbel.

György Ligeti: Complete Chronological Catalogue & Études Mix

"György Ligeti was one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century. He stood with Boulez, Berio, Stockhausen, and Cage as one of the most innovative and influential among progressive figures of his time. His early works show the influence of Bartók and Kodály, and like them, he studied folk music and made transcriptions from folk material. In Apparitions (1958-1959) and Atmosphères (1961), he developed a style forged from chromatic cluster chords that are devoid of conventional melody, pitch and rhythm, but instead grow into timbres and textures that yield new sonic possibilities. The composer referred to this method as "micropolyphony." In Aventures (1962), Ligeti devised a vocal technique in which the singers are required to make a full range of vocalizations, cries and nonsense noises to fashion a kind of imaginary, non-specific drama, but with rather specifically expressed emotions. Ligeti was almost alone among progressive composers from the latter twentieth century who have written popular and widely performed music." AllMusic

This chronological playlist was compiled after the lists of works on Wikipedia, Schott Music, and gyorgy-ligeti.com. It features recordings from the Ligeti Edition (Sony), Ligeti Project (Teldec) and dozens more albums. At the end,I added another set of the 18 Études from 18 different albums, including notable new releases from Yuja Wang, Jeremy Denk, and Pour Irina played by its dedicatee Irina Kataeva.

Get this collection in one the Spotify playlist: György Ligeti: Complete Chronological Catalogue & Études Mix (299 tracks, total time: 16 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. For Ligeti's music used in Kubrick's films, see this previous playlist.

Robert Fripp: Collaborations & Guest Appearances

I used to be a big fan of King Crimson, and collected over 50 DGM CDs (by the way I am 28). I still regard Robert Fripp as a formidable guitarist; his attempt to fight unlicensed services like Grooveshark has my utmost support, but his dogmatic attitude towards digital music finally made me give up listening to King Crimson regularly.

What are successful artists doing nowadays? Beastie Boys gave 50 cameras to fans before a concert, asked them to shoot the gig in different angles and made a feature film. Grateful Dead had a long history of helping bootleggers to tape their concerts, and guess what? When they released a giant 73-CD, $450 box-set of the Europe '72 tour last year, the initial 7200 copies of the limited edition were sold out in four days, and made the Dead $3.24 million. I wonder if the annual revenue of DGM exceeds that figure.

I have no intention to embarrass Mr. Fripp as a businessman. It is his music and his call. But as a fan, I can't help but feel sorry for King Crimson, because the decision of not having their music available on iTunes, Amazon MP3 or any digital service including Spotify is damaging their own legacy. Kids today couldn't care less about your too-precious-to-be-digitized music.

I compiled a playlist for recordings that Fripp played guitar on, or contributed Soundscapes. Including David Bowie's Heroes, Brian Eno's St. Elmo's Fire, Future Sound of London's Flak, various projects with King Crimson alumni (Trey Gunn, Tony Levin, Adrian Belew & John Wetton) and many more.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist here: Robert Fripp: Collaborations & Guest Appearances (75 tracks from 75 albums) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Complete discography here. I noticed that when Europa String Choir's album The Starving Moon, originally a DGM release, was re-licensed to other labels and became available on Spotify, the sole track Fripp played on (ironically, it's titled The Saving Grace) was deleted. I admire Mr. Fripp's determination, and sincerely hope he leaves Bowie and Eno alone.

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.