I have to disagree. People have better instincts than that. If you were passionate about Shakespeare and wanted to introduce someone to his work, would you discount the performance aspect? Shakespeare can be pretty boring without talent behind it, and the same is true of Beethoven or Stravinsky. I own a cheapo recording of "The Planets" that I picked up out of curiosity, and I would bet a lot of money that the average person off the street would experience a huge difference of enjoyment between that and the Montreal Symphony's version (which is phenomenal).

I almost would say that the performance of classical music takes precedence over the pieces themselves. We already know the music itself is great; that's why it's survived a century or three. The interpretation of the music is everything at this point. When you go to an orchestra concert, you're not just going to hear some Beethoven. You're going to watch and hear a group of people who have some level of talent in bringing that Beethoven to life. Of course the same can be said about a recording.

A beginner might not know *why* Rachmaninov is more enjoyable when played by Horowitz as opposed to Joe Schmo, but I firmly believe they will pick up on that fact.

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

This is a bit off topic, but the Virginian Pilot recently had a crossword using composers as the butt of a joke.
"Give a bad review to a composer?" - PANHANDEL
"Tolerate a composer?" - STANDBACH
"Portray a composer?" - PLAYLISZT
It was clever, and fun.

I am thinking about the power of music - great guitar riffs, vocals that defy definition. Classical music is powerful as well, but although it has been around for a very long time, it perseveres rather than being really popular, at least as popular as rock and roll and pop. Still it will outlast most pop (thank goodness) and much else in the musical world.

Well said, this music is amazing. It will last forever...hopefully. Listen to WHRO online, it has some great programs.

there are some bargains to be had for sure. The trick is to know what to chose and just how does one do that repeatedly without getting burned. Some of the monophonic recordings from the sixties are great music. To ignore them because the are not stereophonic is a mistake.