I find that I need more than just a harpsichord. I have Trevor Pinnock's recording of Bach's Partitas, Italian Concerto, and French Suite, as well as the Goldberg Variations on harpsichord, and I can't listen to the whole thing at once. As a solo instrument, I prefer the piano to the harpsichord. That being said, I love the sound of the harpsichord when accompanying other instruments.

I also have a limited endurance for the harpsichord sound. But Murray Perahia's recordings of Bach (the Goldberg Variations), Handel, and Scarlatti should be able to win over any harpsichord fans:

So, Dom, I have been exploring Chopin!

Thus far, I have listened to his 7 Polonaises, his Nocturnes, and then, after hearing it on YouTube, I picked up the "Tristesse" Etude - all by Pollini. I read a lot of reviews about different people performing Chopin. Some recommended Ashkenazy, some Gilels, some Arrau. I remember you mentioning in an earlier post that you were not impressed with Arrau's playing of Chopin.

I went with Pollini, because I was familiar with him from the recordings of Beethoven's and Schubert's late piano works, and loved both of those recordings. I also listened to a few performances on YouTube, and decided I wouldn't be disappointed, so I went to iTunes and picked up those recordings, as well as the "Tristesse" Etude.

Beautiful work. I love the Polonaises right now - I was more familiar with them starting out.

For the last couple of days, though, I have been on a Beethoven kick - specifically for his chamber music. Yesterday I listened to his late string quartets - today it is the middle string quartets (the Rasumovsky and Harp quartets). The late quartets were performed by the Emerson String Quartet, and the middle quartets were performed by the Takacs Quartet. Great stuff. Maybe the piano trios will be next.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I checked out from my library a recording of Rubinstein playing the Chopin Polonaises, as well as some recordings by Horowitz - his last recording and a studio performance from 1985. There are a variety of works on those.

I also took your advice, Dom (from some time ago), and looked into Mahler - I bought his first symphony (Bernstein/Concertgebouw Orchestra), and checked out his 6th (Abbado/Berlin Philharmonic) and 9th (Haitink/Concertgebouw Orchestra), as well as his "Das Lied von der Erde" (Bernstein/Vienna Philharmonic).

To round things out, I also picked up Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique (Davis/Concertgebouw Orchestra) and 6 of Haydn's London Symphonies (Davis/Concertgebouw Orchestra). I'm still making my way through everything to decide what I think.

Today, it will likely be Mahler. My playlist contains Mahler, Chopin, and Berlioz, but with as much Mahler as there is, I doubt I'll get beyond him.

Right now, I am listening to his "Das Lied von der Erde," performed by Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic, with James King and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing.

Finally picked up another version of Mozart's Requiem - conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. I prefer this version to the one conducted by von Karajan that I already had. Not quite as heavy, but still has the gravity of this piece. I really enjoy Gardiner's work.

Dr. Mike
As to the Mahler - Bernstein is generally regarded as a good interpreter of his symphonies, but I think that Mehta got the first and second symphonies better. For the later ones I prefer Bruno Walter.....especially the ninth.

I do like Rubinstein's versions of Chopin's nocturnes, though I haven't tried all the performers you mentioned (only Ashkenazy).

I'm on a Sibelius trip lately. Colin Davis' versions of the symphonies are great, and a cheap buy.

Incidentally, I lived in Columbus (Upper Arlington, actually) for a long time, but have moved to Boston. I miss the Columbus library system.

Wabbit,
Thanks for the tips. I'll have to give Mehta's and Walter's conducting of Mahler a hearing.

I have Rubinstein performing Chopin's Polonaises, and enjoy it. I'll probably eventually listen to some of the other works as well.

I haven't given Sibelius a shot yet. A friend of mine, who plays violin, has recommended I listen to his Violin Concerto, performed by Mutter. Haven't gotten around to it yet. As I mentioned in another thread, my MP3 player is filled with ~1800 files, and that still doesn't get all my classical on there - I left off some that I just didn't enjoy as much - Bartok's quartets, and some piano concertos by Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev.

Columbus is great. I live in Gahanna, and have branches nearby in both New Albany and Gahanna. Most of the really good CDs seem to be over in the main Worthington branch - you can have them delivered to your local branch for pick up, but one of these days I intend to go peruse the selection there.

Incidentally, would you happen to know of good places here to buy music? Right now, the only thing I have found are Barnes and Noble stores around town. Do you know if there is any place else to try?

Well, for the most part, Barnes and Noble and Borders are your best shots. There may be some places in the bigger malls (Polaris etc) but they tend to have only a very small classical selection. I used to do my research and then buy from Amazon. B&N used to let you return CD's that were opened if you didn't like them, but they stopped that years ago (for obvious reasons).

One place I really used to like checking out was Used Kids Records on High Street just off the OSU campus. They tend to have a better used classical section than most places.

I've never listened to Mutter's version of the violin concerto, I must look that up.

Since you're into John Eliot Gardiner; have you tried his version of the Mass in B minor? That's a great recording!! He also likes the same speakers I do , so he must be good, huh!!

I'm getting into Wagner now, and luckily I have a neighbour who has a great collection of operas, and lets me borrow them.

Yeah, I do have Gardiner doing the Mass in B Minor. I also have his performance of Brahms' German Requiem, Bach's St. John's Passion, Mozart Requiem, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, and Haydn's Creation.

If you enjoy opera, have you listened to Mozart's Magic Flute? It is actually the only opera I own - I have the performance on EMI from Otto Klemperer, and I love it.

I love classical music. Never liked any other music. Started to listen to classical since age 12.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLOig_N14Dg

Up for today, I think I am in the mood for orchestral and symphonic works. First up, I think I'll go with Schumann's 4 symphonies, directed by George Szell.

Big fan of classical music...(the original long hair music). Have many favourites but if I have to mention one it would be Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Right now, I am evaluating whether my purchase of Mahler's 8th by Solti was a good choice.

Wonderful discovery today amidst stuff I have had sitting around for a while - a friend a while back gave me a CD with Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto and Prokofiev's 5th piano concerto - Richter is playing piano, I can't remember who is backing him. Anyways, I thought I didn't like them upon first hearing. However, I gave them another chance today. I still don't care for Prokofiev's concerto, but the Rachmaninov concerto is very nice. Must not have been listening too carefully that first time!

Hmm....I've listened to Solti's recordings of the 8th symphony (and the rest of them too). I've always thought he was a mediocre interpreter of Mahler, at best. What's your impression of Solti's recording?

I haven't heard that recording of Rachmaninov, though there are many, many recordings of the second I haven't heard. My personal favourites are the recordings Rachmaninov himself made. They're old, so the orchestral sound is tinny, but his brilliance at the piano comes through anyway.

Currently listening to Strauss' Salome --- Leinsdorf's recording with Caballe, Milnes et al. Very good. Not yet convinced about opera....apart from Wagner, of course.

Dr. Mike, when do you find the time to listen to music? I've been married for a few years, and find my music time has dwindled to almost nothing.

Still listening to Mahler's 8th. The Walter recordings you mentioned aren't as easy to come by - I get most of my stuff off of iTunes. The Solti performance got a lot of good reviews on Amazon. I also saw it as one of the recommended recordings for this symphony on Classical.net.

I know nothing of Rachmaninov, and that is my only piece of his. A friend of mine, who plays piano, said that it was her favorite piano concerto. She had this CD, and let me have it. She didn't say if it was her favorite recording, although I suspect if it was, she might not have given it away so quickly.

How do I listen to so much music? Well, I am a scientist, and most of my day is spent back in a small room, sitting at a biological containment hood, running experiments, or sitting at my desk typing stuff. Practically everybody I work with has an iPod or some kind of MP3 player permanently attached to their head. In a typical day, I get anywhere from 4-8 hours of listening time. I can easily go through 2-3 albums worth of music. It has helped my expanding interest in classical music. I enjoy "discovering" new composers and expanding what I think it is I like. And the library helps introduce me to stuff.

Today at the library I checked out Gluck's Orphee et Eurydice (Berlioz version, Gardiner conducting), Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro (Bohm conducting), Mutter performing Mozart's Violin Concertos, and Perhia playing Bach's 1, 3, and 6th English Suites.

For opera, I'm not a whole lot of help. I really prefer oratorios. There are a few operas I enjoy. Mozart's Magic Flute is hands down my favorite. I'm trying out the Figaro, and Gluck's as well. Other than that, the only other opera I have is Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, which I enjoy. I tried Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, but had a hard time getting through it. Luckily it was just checked out from the library. I have a reserve on Wagner's complete Ring of the Nibelungen, conducted by Bohm, at the library. Try Mozart for opera. I am told that Don Giovanni is a must have, and I'll have to look into it if Figaro ends up to my liking.

Glad you enjoyed the Vivaldi recording and that you started looking into Chopin.

I've never heard of Ingrid Fliter. How was the recording?

I love the sound of the harpsichord. I've got a key that'll open up a locked room holding a harpsichord at my Alma Matter. It's such a beautiful instrument to play both in a sonic manner and a physical manner (pressing down on the keys feels completely different than pressing on a piano - they give a very satisfying plucking feel).

Of course, I love the piano too and wouldn't choose one over the other.

Perahia's Bach recordings are fantastic. For me, you don't need to look any further than Perahia and Gould for good recordings of Bach's keyboard works played on the piano.

Glad to hear you're listening to more Chopin. His Nocturnes are some of my favorite classical pieces.

You made a good call with the Pollini. His sense of rhythm is fantastic. Arrau's Chopin is awful (he uses rubato excessively for no good reason) and Ashkenazy just isn't as delicate and contemplative as I'd like to see in Chopin (or most pieces, for that matter. He does shine in some of the more powerful pieces as he has some strong fingers and very good tone). I haven't heard Gilels' recordings of Chopin - I'm a huge fan of his Beethoven, though.

Enjoy the quartets and trios.

Rubinstein is my go to for Chopin. I've got Rubinstein's Chopin set that includes almost all of Chopin's work. I've got recordings of Pollini supplementing a few pieces and filling in the few gaps that Rubinstein left. I hope you enjoyed it.

I haven't listened to much Horowitz (I intend to one of these days). My piano teacher from college actually met Horowitz at some point in her life. I've also only listened to Bernstein's Mahler. I have a box set of it and have seen no need to go beyond him. He does a very good job overall, I think.

Gardiner actually does a fantastic version of Symphonie Fantastique. It's a marvelous and quite innovative piece - take a look at the liner notes or possibly the Wikipedia Article. Read up about the col legno playing in the fifth movement, too.

Give us reviews on those Davis recordings, Mike.

I own seven recordings of Mozart's Requiem. My recommendation, hands down, is the Karl Böhm recording. If you want, I can send you a copy you can take a listen to to decide if you like it.

You should try Beethoven's Fidelio, Mike. It's not as refined as Mozart's operas, but it is a very nice opera in itself.

It's possible I had a different recording from the one they're referring to. I had a complete set of Mahler symphonies recorded by Solti. After listening to it over a period of a year or so, I got rid of it. By that time, I'd completed my Bernstein set, and augmented it with Mehta and Walter. Maybe the Solti recording wasn't as bad as I remember (a matter of more than a decade now).

The second piano concerto is really lovely, and is highly recommended. Also his Variations on a theme of Paganini. For modern recordings, you can't go wrong with Rubinstein or Ashkenazy.

I'm a scientist too, though I'm in industry now. I can't listen to music as I work, though . If I do that, I'll stop working to listen. I don't think that will be popular with my boss.

Well, I'll look up the Mozart operas. As I said, I just beginning to move on from Wagner, so there's a lot to look up, and not much time to do it in, especially as I only listen to classical on the music system at home. Thanks for the recommendations, I'm sure my neighbour has them.

I'm still pretty new to all of this, so my tastes may very well change as I listen to multiple versions of the same piece. I haven't disliked anything I have heard yet in Solti's performance. There was a screw-up in loading it onto my MP3 player, so I only listened to half of it. I'm giving it another go this afternoon.

Side note: how do you enjoy working in industry? My postdoc is coming to an end, and I am weighing my options. From what I have read of industry, it sounds like it might be what I am interested in. What is your area of research? Did you do the whole PhD route/postdoc?