Advice to a classical music beginner?

[Kokordilos]

[RebLem]

Since you are a cellist, start with the Dvorak Cello Concerto. Mstislav Rostropovich has recorded it many times, but the best is still his first, in glorious monoaural sound, from 1953 with Vaclav Talich and the Czech Philharmonic.

Then there is the Brahms Double Concerto (for violin and cello)--the recording by George Szell and the Cleveland Orch with Rostropoivich and violinist David Oistrakh is very good.

[Ralph]

nd welcome! You have a great world of exploration ahead of you. You can't go wrong if you start by listening to Bach, Mozart, Dittersdorf, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi and Schumann. Just sample different works and see what you like.

[jbuck919]

Sixteen going on seventeen. God help us.

However, you are most welcome here. The problem with your request is that inevitably you will be given suggestions that span the entire worthy repertory. This has already started to happen on this thread.

Go to your library and check out works at random as they interest you. I had a librarian who was a Stravinsky nut, so I knew Stravinsky before I knew Beethoven, and did not suffer for it. And go with your music teachers' advice, even though modern music teachers often have little taste. At the age of 16 you cannot possibly go wrong, and hang in there. And post again. We are a friendly bunch, and I am a high school teacher, and would welcome a more specific question.

[CharmNewton]

Hello, new to the forum.
Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place, hope it isn't a problem.
Only 16 years old, 17 in a few weeks.
I have developed an interest in classical music.
I already played the cell at school for some years.
I began to listen to classical music only recently. I always listened a little, but I really started developing a taste for it recently.
So far, I found that my favorite era is the Baroque Era, I more dislike the Romantic Era. I seem to like Bach a lot. I liked his Brandenburg stuff, the Bach Cello Suites (having played some of them) and his Well Tempered Clavier. I also have heard some Verdi and some Beethoven, but very little.

So what I came here to ask is, can someone give me recommendations on some good composers you think I will enjoy? What are some "must" artists to listen to? And what in particular, that they wrote, should I listen to? I think I should be able to get most the CD's I need from the library. Any advice would be appreciated. I am most interested in learning as much as I can about all the diffeent artists, so I am more looking towards variety, like the top 5 or maybe top 10 artists I should take a look at and what pieces, with an emphasis on Baroque, but certainly not limited to that because I want to expand my knowledge of classical music.

Since you like Bach, you might try his Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo, his Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard and his Sonatas for Flute and Keyboard. I'd also recommend Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 3 and Op. 6, the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti--very different from Bach, and music of Georg Phillip Telemann.

John

[Kokordilos]

Sixteen going on seventeen. God help us.

And to think you're a highschool teacher
Thanks, I've already made some holds at the library.
I also went through my dad's CD collection and found some Telemann.

[Teresa B]

Welcome! I really started to appreciate classical music at about your age, too. I can tell you what I liked best, but everyone is different. I loved:

Beethoven's 6th Symphony

Mozart's Piano Concerto no 20

The Bach Brandenburgs

Mendelsson's Violin Concerto

Those are not so difficult to listen to or comprehend, but in my mind, never tiresome.

Have fun--
Teresa

[Corlyss_D]

Advice to a classical music beginner?

Flee! Run! Now! Don't do it! It's expensive and impoverishing. Your friends won't understand what makes you tick. You will have trouble getting dates, especially if you want to take your date to a concert. It could lead to your taking up an instrument, which is just more expense and more isolating! Your peers will denounce you as an intellectual, and your mother's hairdresser will console her about your aberrant behavior with such sage advice as "Don't worry! He'll grow out of it." It could lead to reading real books instead of comic books and playing video games. In short, it will mark you as an outsider and lead to habits that could get you classified as "a loner" and unsociable.

If you don't mind all of that, however, a beautiful world of magic and mystery awaits you. Welcome to the boards, Koko.

Sixteen going on seventeen. God help us.

And to think you're a highschool teacher

That's just John. Don't let his harumphing dismay you. As you hang here, you will learn what a knowledgeable source and terrific guy he is.

My recommendations:
Try some Vivaldi, Handel, and Telemann
Also some Massenet and Saint Saens orchestral music.

[jbuck919]

Sixteen going on seventeen. God help us.

And to think you're a highschool teacher

That's just John. Don't let his harumphing dismay you. As you hang here, you will learn what a knowledgeable source and terrific guy he is.

I was only quoting from The Sound of Music, which I assume this student has heard, just as I assume anyone who is 16 has a sense of humor. I am the one who encounters them every day, you know.

You are 16, going on 17, baby it's time to think.
Better beware, be canny and careful, baby, you're on the brink.
You need someone older and wiser telling you what to do.
I am 17 going on 18, I'll take care of you.

[PJME]

Hi Kokor, you've already been given good & sound advice....but it is a bit on the "safe" side!
Music has been written before Bach - composers all over the world continue to combine inspiration and craftmanship untill today.
So, if you go to the library again ,pick up some very old and some new music aswell.
I loved discovering the instrumental families, from soft recorders and lutes to hardhitting xylophones and the bronze echoes of gongs and tamtams. Don't forget organs and harpsichords, celestas,mandolins and guitars, Wagner tubas, congas and castanets.
Olivier Messiaen and André Jolivet wrote for the ondes Martenot , and Edgard Varèse uses a siren in "Amériques". Claude Debussy wrote some very refined pianomusic and Bela Bartok a piece called "Allegro barbaro".
Think of Josquin Desprez, Dietrich Buxtehude and Leopold Sylvius Weiss...No Queen ever died more serenely than Purcell's Dido and Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem will terrify and move you. Heinrich Schütz' Psalmen David's are overwhelmingly grand
Maurice Ravel 's concerto for piano lefthand & orchestra is a dramatic stunner and Schubert's Fantasie for piano 4 hands a romantic gem...
Sorry for getting carried away.... keep us informed.

[Corlyss_D]

I was only quoting from The Sound of Music, which I assume this student has heard, just as I assume anyone who is 16 has a sense of humor.

You should use emoticons when you are kidding, especially with newcomers to the forum who don't know you or us. It puts the wrong tone on your greetings. People can have a sense of humor only when they realize they are being kidded. How would one know without a hint that they are being kidded? Haven't we had this conversation before?

[Kokordilos]

Hehehe, everything's fine.

I've heard a little Claude Debussy, but a lot of those names seem unknown to me; I'll be sure to check them out. I'll go and put another hold on some Handel too.

[Jack Kelso]

Welcome, Kokordilos! You're in for some great discussions on these threads. Don't be afraid to participate.

Many folks here leave it to me to mention Schumann---and so it is even here. His Violoncello Concerto, opus 129 is one of the absolute high points of the 'cello repertoire---and it wouldn't surprise me if you already know it. Pure inspiration from start to finish!

Also, Schumann's "Fünf Stücke im Volkston" for 'Cello and Piano, op. 102 is a wonderfully rewarding introduction into Romantic Era chamber music for your instrument. Tough to play---try to get Casals' recording---and you can hum along with him. He LOVED that work.....

Try to get the Haydn violoncello concerti (in C and in D), they are among the finest of the 18th century.

Best regards---and good listening (and playing!)
Jack

[Sapphire]

Jack

Another big Schumann fan here.

I have the Steven Isserlis version of Op 129. Fantastic. This CD contains the "offertorium" from Op 147. Gorgeous.

What are your favourite Schumann piano solo pieces? I went through the whole lot (or nearly all) and picked out the best sections IMO, and the best recordings etc. I have it on my PC as a playlist; it lasts about 4 hours. There's so much I love but I guess if I had to pick just one short piece it would have to be Romance in F, Op 28/2. For a whole piece it would have to be Fantasie, Op 17.

Oh, as you will gather from the quote below I love Schubert too.


Saphire

[Jack Kelso]

It is very good to have another Schumannian on board here (they are rather rare birds!).

Yes, the opus 17 is one of my absolute favorites---also the "Symphonic Etudes", op. 13 (greatest keyboard variations since Bach), "Carnaval", "Kreisleriana", "Davidsbündler Tänze", etc., etc. oh, the problem with Schumann's music is that there are so few weak works. As pianist Andras Schiff exclaimed in an interview, "Everything by Schumann is wonderful!".

We might be the only ones here who know the Mass (1952-53), another work which belies the (now refuted) theory about Schumann's Third Period being weaker than the first two.

I like Schubert very much, but not compared with Schumann; the former is a bit too sweet and prolix at times, but I always enjoy him---even the early symphonies, masses and chamber/piano works.

Jack

[Sapphire]

You're right. I usually get either a blank stare when I mention the name of Schumann or some comment about his mental condition and his last days. Even those who know a bit more about him are generally unfamiliar with the grand scale of his achivements across so many genres.

For me it's his piano solos in which he particularly excelled. Let's see if we can make a few converts. For anyone who isn't familar with any of Schumann's piano works, and wants to give it a try, a good starting point might be:

• Papillons Op 2
  Kinderszenen Op 15
  Fantasie Op 17
  Arabesque Op 18
  Romance in F, Op 28/2

There's roughly a CD's worth here. For an initial list I don't know if you might want to add anything or disagree?

Saphire

[Jack Kelso]

Well, Saphire---when it comes to sublime piano music I would also add the "Waldszenen", op. 82. It has great charm and creative power!

For beginning listeners, it might be rash for me to recommend the 3 string quartets (op. 41) or the Trio No. 1 in D Minor, op. 63. These are very personal testaments---and should probably only be approached after the Schumann style has become more familiar.

The "3 Romanzen" op. 94 for oboe and piano are any oboist's dream. But it seems everyone else loves them, too---I have arrangements for piano with: clarinet, violin, 'cello (arr. by Müller-Schott) and viola!

Jack

[Sapphire]

Jack

I fully agree. Those are very good pieces. So too is Bunte Blatter Op 99.

On a change of theme, I have been trying to find out whether Schumann has any living descendents. There was mention of it on another thread. I've tried all the Schumann websites I know but there's nothing all that focused on this aspect.

The nearest I could get, using internet sources, was a grandson, Ferdinand, who died in the 1950's. His diary about his memory of Clara with whom he lived for a short while in the 1890's was published in the 1970'a. He seems the most likely candidate to have had children but I don't know. I'm not aware of any other grandchildren from any of the other 7 children of Robert & Clara.

Saphire

[Jack Kelso]

Jack

I fully agree. Those are very good pieces. So too is Bunte Blatter Op 99.

On a change of theme, I have been trying to find out whether Schumann has any living descendents. There was mention of it on another thread. I've tried all the Schumann websites I know but there's nothing all that focused on this aspect.

The nearest I could get, using internet sources, was a grandson, Ferdinand, who died in the 1950's. His diary about his memory of Clara with whom he lived for a short while in the 1890's was published in the 1970'a. He seems the most likely candidate to have had children but I don't know. I'm not aware of any other grandchildren from any of the other 7 children of Robert & Clara.

Saphire

Interesting that you ask about descendants----there is a German actor, Erik Schumann (sometimes "Schuman"), who is directly related to the composer, but I cannot tell you right now from which of the Schumann children he is descended. He even looks a bit like Robert. Erik appeared in many B/W films of the late 1950's and later---I believe he's still living.

Jack

[Dalibor]

Hello, new to the forum.
Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place, hope it isn't a problem.
Only 16 years old, 17 in a few weeks.
I have developed an interest in classical music.
I already played the cell at school for some years.
I began to listen to classical music only recently. I always listened a little, but I really started developing a taste for it recently.
So far, I found that my favorite era is the Baroque Era, I more dislike the Romantic Era. I seem to like Bach a lot. I liked his Brandenburg stuff, the Bach Cello Suites (having played some of them) and his Well Tempered Clavier. I also have heard some Verdi and some Beethoven, but very little.

So what I came here to ask is, can someone give me recommendations on some good composers you think I will enjoy? What are some "must" artists to listen to? And what in particular, that they wrote, should I listen to? I think I should be able to get most the CD's I need from the library. Any advice would be appreciated. I am most interested in learning as much as I can about all the diffeent artists, so I am more looking towards variety, like the top 5 or maybe top 10 artists I should take a look at and what pieces, with an emphasis on Baroque, but certainly not limited to that because I want to expand my knowledge of classical music.

That you preffer Bach is a great sign, because he is about the best music goes. He is the only musician who appears in a video game "civilisation" after all.

I am going to give you an advice no one else here will give you for sure. Try to experiment with electronic instruments in your musical activities. Bach would love them, and you will have a chance to do something that is contemporary

[Lance]

Hello, new to the forum.
Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place, hope it isn't a problem.
Only 16 years old, 17 in a few weeks.
I have developed an interest in classical music.
I already played the cell at school for some years.
I began to listen to classical music only recently. I always listened a little, but I really started developing a taste for it recently.
So far, I found that my favorite era is the Baroque Era, I more dislike the Romantic Era. I seem to like Bach a lot. I liked his Brandenburg stuff, the Bach Cello Suites (having played some of them) and his Well Tempered Clavier. I also have heard some Verdi and some Beethoven, but very little.

So what I came here to ask is, can someone give me recommendations on some good composers you think I will enjoy? What are some "must" artists to listen to? And what in particular, that they wrote, should I listen to? I think I should be able to get most the CD's I need from the library. Any advice would be appreciated. I am most interested in learning as much as I can about all the diffeent artists, so I am more looking towards variety, like the top 5 or maybe top 10 artists I should take a look at and what pieces, with an emphasis on Baroque, but certainly not limited to that because I want to expand my knowledge of classical music.

That you preffer Bach is a great sign, because he is about the best music goes. He is the only musician who appears in a video game "civilisation" after all.

I am going to give you an advice no one else here will give you for sure. [How do you KNOW this, Dalibor?] Try to experiment with electronic instruments in your musical activities. Bach would love them [How do you know this, too, Dalibor? Aren't you taking things for granted? He might NOT like them, too!] and you will have a chance to do something that is contemporary

[Opus132]

Hello, new to the forum.
Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place, hope it isn't a problem.
Only 16 years old, 17 in a few weeks.
I have developed an interest in classical music.
I already played the cell at school for some years.
I began to listen to classical music only recently. I always listened a little, but I really started developing a taste for it recently.
So far, I found that my favorite era is the Baroque Era, I more dislike the Romantic Era. I seem to like Bach a lot. I liked his Brandenburg stuff, the Bach Cello Suites (having played some of them) and his Well Tempered Clavier. I also have heard some Verdi and some Beethoven, but very little.

So what I came here to ask is, can someone give me recommendations on some good composers you think I will enjoy? What are some "must" artists to listen to? And what in particular, that they wrote, should I listen to? I think I shFrédéric François Chopinould be able to get most the CD's I need from the library. Any advice would be appreciated. I am most interested in learning as much as I can about all the diffeent artists, so I am more looking towards variety, like the top 5 or maybe top 10 artists I should take a look at and what pieces, with an emphasis on Baroque, but certainly not limited to that because I want to expand my knowledge of classical music.

My list of 'must' composers, by period (those in bold are my personal favored):

1] Medieval

Perotin
Guillaume de Machaut
Francesco Landini
Matteo da Perugia
Johannes Ciconia

2] Renaissance

Guillaume Dufay
Johannes Ockeghem
Josquin Des Prez
Nicolas Gombert
Thomas Tallis
Cipriano de Rore
Giovanni Palestrina
Orlando de Lassus
William Byrd
Tomas Luis de Victoria
Carlo Gesualdo de Venosa

3] Early Baroque

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
Claudio Monteverdi
Girolamo Frescobaldi
Heinrich Schutz
Johann Jakob Froberger
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Dietrich Buxtehude
Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Arcangelo Corelli
Henry Purcell

4] High Baroque

Alessandro Scarlatti
François Couperin
Antonio Vivaldi
Jan Dismas Zelenka
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Johann Sebastian Bach
Domenico Scarlatti
George Frideric Handel

5] Classical

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Christoph W. Gluck
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Joseph Haydn
Muzio Clementi
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Luigi Cherubini
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Carl Maria von Weber

6] Romantic

Niccolò Paganini
Franz Schubert
Hector Berlioz
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Norbert Burgmüller
Frédéric François Chopin
Robert Schumann
Franz Liszt
Richard Wagner
Giuseppe Verdi
Anton Bruckner
Johannes Brahms
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Antonin Dvorak
Gabriel Faure
Leos Janacek
Hugo Wolf
Gustav Mahler

7] Early Modern

Claude Debussy
Richard Strauss
Jean Sibelius
Alexander Scriabin
Max Reger
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Arnold Schoenberg
Maurice Ravel
Béla Bartók
George Enescu
Igor Stravinsky
Anton von Webern
Edgar Varese
Alban Berg
Sergei Prokofiev
Dimitri Shostakovich

8] Modern/Contemporary

Olivier Messiaen
Allan Pettersson
Henri Dutilleux
Iannis Xenakis
György Ligeti
Luciano Berio
Pierre Boulez
György Kurtág
Krzysztof Penderecki
Alfred Schnittke
Wolfgang Rihm
Thomas Ades

[Opus132]

My personal top '10', in order:

1 ) Bach
2 ) Beethoven
3 ) Bartok
4 ) Mozart
5 ) Brahms
6 ) Monteverdi
7 ) Schubert
8 ) Chopin
9 ) Debussy
10 ) Ligeti

Runner ups, in no order:

1 ) Stravinsky
2 ) Anton von Webern
3 ) George Enescu
4 ) Handel
5 ) Schutz
6 ) Gesualdo
7 ) Lassus
8 ) Palestrina
9 ) Gombert
10 ) Schoenberg

Sadly, this list will propably look completely different in a week. Heh.

[Opus132]

Now, since you are interested in the Baroque in particular, here's a more detailed overview of that era, along with significant works by each composer:

Sweelinck (Organ works)
John Dowland (Songs)
Monteverdi(Madrigals from Book 5 to Book 8. Vespri e Selva Spirituale. Missa 'In Illo Tempore'. Orfeo, Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria and L'incoronazione di Poppea)
Girolamo Frescobaldi (Toccate, Capricci, Fiori Musicali)
Heinrich Schutz (Cantiones and Symphoniae sacrae. Psalmen Davids. Musicalische Exequien. Opus Ultimum)
Samuel Scheidt (Organ works. Ludi Misici)
Scipione Lacorcia (Madrigali Book 3)
Heinrich Scheidemann (Organ works)
Giacomo Carissimi (Oratorios, Cantatas)
Froberger (Harpsichord works. Suites)
Louis Couperin (Organ works)
Jean-Henry d'Anglebert (Keyboard Suites)
Jean-Baptiste Lully (Alceste. Orchestral overtures)
Dietrich Buxtehude (Organ and Harpsichord works. Cantatas. Chamber music)
Heinrich Ignaz Biber (Sonatas for Violin. Sacred music)
Arcangelo Corelli (Sonatas Opus 5. Concerti Grossi Opus 6)
Henry Purcell (Dido and Aeneas)
Alessandro Scarlatti (Concerti Grossi. Il Primo Omicidio. Griselda. Sabat Mater)
François Couperin (Keyboard pieces)
Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (Concerti Opus 9)
Antonio Vivaldi (Concerti Opus 3 and 8. Cello Sonatas. Gloria.)
Jan Dismas Zelenka (Trio sonatas. Last Masses)
George Philipp Telemann (Tafelmusik. Fantasias for Violin. Paris Quartets.)
Jean-Philippe Rameau (Keyboard music. Zoroastre).
Johann Sebastian Bach (See detail below)
Domenico Scarlatti (Sonate)
George Frideric Handel (Giulio Cesare. Messiah. Great Keyboard Suite from 1720. Concerti Grossi Opus 12)
Leopold Sylvius Weiss (Works of Lute)
Giuseppe Tartini (Sonatas and Concerti)
Pietro Antonio Locatelli (L'arte del violino)

[Opus132]

Bach most important works:

English Suites
Sonatas for solo Violin
Cello Suites
Well Tempered Clavier Book I and II
Violin Concertos
Brunderburg Concertos
Orchestral Suites
Harpsichord Concertos
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue
Cantatas
Magnificat
Christmas Oratorio
Easter Oratorio
Toccata and Fugue in F (BWV 540)
Fantasia and Fugue in g ''Grand'' (BWV 542)
Mass in b
St Matthew Passion
St John Passion
Chorale Preludes (BWV 645^650)
Musical Offerings
Clavier Übung (Part I : Partitas. Part II : Italian Concerto and French Overture. Part III : Organ Mass. Part IV : Goldberg Variations)
Art of Fugue

[Corlyss_D]

He is the only musician who appears in a video game "civilisation" after all.

Well, that endorsement is a sure sign of Bach's genius.

[J Nguyen]

Hello, new to the forum.
Sorry if I am posting this in the wrong place, hope it isn't a problem.
Only 16 years old, 17 in a few weeks.
I have developed an interest in classical music.
I already played the cell at school for some years.
I began to listen to classical music only recently. I always listened a little, but I really started developing a taste for it recently.
So far, I found that my favorite era is the Baroque Era, I more dislike the Romantic Era. I seem to like Bach a lot. I liked his Brandenburg stuff, the Bach Cello Suites (having played some of them) and his Well Tempered Clavier. I also have heard some Verdi and some Beethoven, but very little.

So what I came here to ask is, can someone give me recommendations on some good composers you think I will enjoy? What are some "must" artists to listen to? And what in particular, that they wrote, should I listen to? I think I should be able to get most the CD's I need from the library. Any advice would be appreciated. I am most interested in learning as much as I can about all the diffeent artists, so I am more looking towards variety, like the top 5 or maybe top 10 artists I should take a look at and what pieces, with an emphasis on Baroque, but certainly not limited to that because I want to expand my knowledge of classical music.

Hey, I'm new to this place and classical music too. I'm actually about the same age as you too; I'm turning seventeen in two weeks. It's nice knowing that there's people our age who listen to classical music. Anyways, I think the best way to go about your venture in classical music is to either just randomly start listening to composers if you have no idea where to start. If you have a specific composer to who you like to listen, you should listen to more of his works and then find out who is similar in style and listen to their works. Another thing you should do is to just figure out what type of music you enjoy the most and then ask others for recommendations based on your taste.

From the looks of it, it's possible that you're not a fan of dissonance. Am I mistaken? I just assumed since you preferred the Baroque era over the Romantic you probably don't like the increasing use of dissonance. If this is the case, you should probably stay away from many modern era composers. Check out more Baroque works and also Classical works. You'll probably like Ravel as well; his orchestral works are amazing as are his piano works. Pergolesi's Stabat Mater is great too.

If you just have absolutely no idea where to start then just listen to some of the major stuff like Beethoven's symphonies, Beethoven's piano sonatas, Vivaldi's violin concertos, Bach's Brandenburgs, Chopin's piano works in general, etc.

[Dalibor]

He is the only musician who appears in a video game "civilisation" after all.

Well, that endorsement is a sure sign of Bach's genius.

He is in the company of the very most important names throughout human history there. And he is the only musician

[PolskiKrol]

I got interested in classical music much younger than the OP, 16 is hardly young.

Here's some free classical music to expand your horizons, recorded by and released to the public by the Peabody Institute:

http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/743

http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/584

Although I must admit it is much nicer to hear them in person.

[Harvested Sorrow]

It could lead to reading real books instead of comic books and playing video games.

Those two habits are NOT mutually exclusive, sorry. As for the rest of that paragraph which was left unquoted....brilliant. Perhaps a bit more truth there than most would care to admit, though.



I'm glad to see that he's getting some good advice in this thread.

[gperkins151]

I am more looking towards variety, like the top 5 or maybe top 10 artists I should take a look at and what pieces, with an emphasis on Baroque, but certainly not limited to that because I want to expand my knowledge of classical music.

Hmmm.

Baroque:
I love Vivaldi, especially newer performances by Carmigniola or Biondi.
Also for Bach, I would say Glenn Gould is great in the Goldberg Variations, Inventions and French Suites. I very much enjoy Sviatoslav Richter's Well Tempered Clavier.

Classic Period:
Schubert is one of my favorites, especially piano recordings by Sviatoslav Richter. Mozart's last 6 symphonies are classics! Here I like Szell.

Romantic:
You said you didn't like this period, but I would bet that following Beethoven's Symphonies, Piano Sonatas or String Quartets chronologically would get you in. For Symphonies, Karajan '63 is great. For piano sonatas Gulda on Brilliant is excellent and cheap. For the string quartets I like Italiano on Philips.