Several folks have pointed out that one of the good things about classical music is that there is so much of it available cheap. Several others have sagely pointed out that in some cases you get what you pay for.

I figured on opening this topic to pass along tips not only some of the bargain labels, but on places where you can find quality classical music downloads for free. The BBC, for example, has offered entire performances of key works for a limited time.

I saw some skepticism elsewhere for the Naxos label, which I can understand. They put out a lot of music from a lot of relatively unknown artists at a very low price. The reality is, there are a lot of sub-par recording in their catalog, but about a third of the time, they come up with one that would be a welcome addition to any collection.

Commontone launched this corner of the forums for us looking for Brahms recommendations, so why don't we start there? I find Brahms hard to describe. Not the music so much, his music is enjoyable and challenging and generally well-received. I think, though, that worked against him a bit in his lifetime and in the years following his death. Some of his contemporaries like Listz and Wagner challenged their audiences a bit more agressively, so I think there can be a misperception that Brahms is light or easy music and nothing could be further from the truth. I admit, though, that I may not be the best individual to comment on such matters since I'm not as well versed in Brahms as I am some other composers.

I can, however, recommend Brahms' Symphony No. 1 and the Variations on a Theme of Haydn without reservation. I've played the latter several times and always enjoy it. The Naxos recording features the BRT Symphony Orchestra led by Alexander Rahbari and I can't tell you much more about them except that for a $10 list, they give you a helluva deal on a good performance of Brahms.

Amazon is probably as smart a source to link to for details on the recording, but I'll bet you can find it cheaper elsewhere.

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It's interesting to me that some people seem perfectly willing to pay $16 for a Radiohead CD, or a John Coltrane CD or whatever, but find that a totally exorbitant price to pay for a classical CD. Maybe the mere existence of Naxos and other cheapo labels makes them feel that way. Fortunately, there is a pretty solid middle ground between the questionable Naxos-type CDs and the $19 Deutsche Gramophone CDs.

If you can spend about $12, or less on sale, Decca's Penguin Classics series is a great way to go. It's a budget line of CDs selected from The Penguin Guide to Classical CDs and DVDs. The Penguin Guide is what you'd expect -- it's a book that lists several stand-out recordings of almost every classical piece that people listen to.

There are several classical CD guides out there, put out by Penguin, Gramophone and National Public Radio among others, that are a good place to start. Most of them take price into consideration for their recommendations, and some even have separate sections devoted to worthwhile budget recordings.

Since we're talking about Brahms, I'd urge people to check out this CD. It's one of the aforementioned Penguin CDs, Brahms' 2nd Symphony performed by Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony. His 2nd symphony is probably his most popular work. It contains the famous "lullabye" theme that spawned the song (Go to sleep, go to sleep...). This recording is excellent, and is less than $12 new.

If you're on a budget, or if you're not and would like to easily save a few bucks, get your classical CDs used from Amazon. In my opinion that's the best way to go -- you can get high quality CDs usually for about half their list price, and 4 out of 5 times you'll barely be able to tell they've been used. The above Brahms CD can be found on Amazon for $6 used (add $1-2 shipping). I just got a "used" 3-CD Stravinsky set for $15 (compared to $35 new) and it's literally in perfect condition.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Commontone,

quote:

Originally posted by LinnTate:

I saw some skepticism elsewhere for the Naxos label, which I can understand. They put out a lot of music from a lot of relatively unknown artists at a very low price. The reality is, there are a lot of sub-par recording in their catalog, but about a third of the time, they come up with one that would be a welcome addition to any collection.

I would like to add here that almost the whole collection of Early Music (up to 17th century roughly) is very good. Great ensembles, and also a good selection of works. And I do know what I am talking about here, I have listened to (and performed) alot of early music.

I only have a few Naxos CDs, but their release of "Death and Transfiguration" by Richard Strauss is excellent. It's my second favorite recording of that piece, better (to my ears) than many more famous versions, with the exception of Karajan's with the Berlin Philharmonic.

quote:

Originally posted by Malondron:
I would like to add here that almost the whole collection of Early Music (up to 17th century roughly) is very good. Great ensembles, and also a good selection of works.

Check to that, M. When I was getting into early music, the library available to me was pretty limited and a lot of the highly regarded recordings were way expensive. Naxos was a real boon at that time.

quote:

Originally posted by Commontone:
I only have a few Naxos CDs, but their release of "Death and Transfiguration" by Richard Strauss is excellent. It's my second favorite recording of that piece, better (to my ears) than many more famous versions, with the exception of Karajan's with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Never heard the Naxos, C. Thanks for the tip!

Okay, I promised cheap and free. There are some good recommendation of the former, here's a real treasure trove of the latter.

Baltimore's Peabody Institute was, I believe, the first musical conservatory founded in the United States and is still one of the best training grounds for world-class classical musicians. I was delighted to find recently that they have made selections from six seasons of performances from their Symphony Orchestra (their top student large ensemble) available for free download from their website in mp3 format. These aren't going to be definitive performances of these works, but I've listened to several and they are extremely well-done and the range of composers is impressive.

It's a great resource if you want to test drive a lot of great music.

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Even though their recordings are not always cheap, a great outfit to look at is The Academy of Saint Martin in th Fields. I highly reccomend the recording of Mozart's 38 & 39 symphonies.

I've gotten a large portion of my classical music for free from the library. My library lets you check out 10 cds at a time. That's a lot of shit, you can build a significant collecition fairly quickly.