Rev. Rogers asked on another thread for a list of CDs that might be good for one entering the joy of classicla music. Rather than specific CDs, let me suggest a few fundamental works that might form the cornerstone of such a library, and invite others to "revise and extend my remarks".

• Pre-Classical. Gregorian chants are a bellwether of "western" Music, so you may want to look for CDs produced by the Benedictine Monks. They were very popular a few years back, and you may find them on-line at your favorite Internet kiosk.
• Baroque. Several artists contribute to this era spanning the mid-to-late 1600s to about 1750.
  1. Pachobel - Canon in D
  2. Vivaldi - The Four Seasons
  3. Bach, J. S. (Big Papa: get ready...) - St. Matthew Passion, Mass in B Minor, Well-Tempered Clavier, The Brandenburg Concertos, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, The Great and Little Fugues in G, Toccata, Adiago and Fugue in C, Toccata in F, The Little Organ Book, The Anna Magdalena Suite, the Goldberg Variations, and hundreds more, almost all worth listening to.
  4. Handel - Messiah, Samson, Music for th Royal Firewarks, Water Music.
• Classical
  1. Haydn - any number of symphonies, but look for "the Surprise" symphony
  2. Mozart (get ready again...) - Symphony #40, 41; Piano Conerto # 20, 21, 22; Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Requiem Mass, The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Gloria in Excelsis Deo (where's that from ,Bro. Matthews?); and hundreds more.
  3. Beethoven - Symphony #3, 5, 7, 9 (and for springtime, #6); Piano Contcertos especially # 5 (see if you can find this performed by Rudolf Serkin, Van Cliburn, or Andre Watts); Christ on the Mount of Olives (Concludes with the majestic "Hallelujah"), the Piano Sonatas.
  4. Brahms - Symphony #4
• Romantic
  1. Tschaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty, the Nutcracker Suite, Swan Lake
  2. Richard Strauss - Tone Poems ( especially "Also Sprach Zarathustra", the theme from 2001)
  3. Johann Strauss - a good waltz compendium should do here.
• Post-Romantic
• Ravel - Bolero, Orchestral transcription of "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky
• Debussy - Clouds, Clair De Lune
• Mahler - Symphony #9 (I think - it's very complex)
• Stravinsky - Sacre Du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), The Firebird
• Copland - Symphony #3, the Rodeo, Appalachian Suite
• Dvorak - Symphony # 1
• Bizet - Carmen
• Gershwin - Porgy and Bess, Rhapsody in Blue, various collections

Symphony music has had several excellent conductors and orchestras over the years. I am hard-presed to remember many, but a few that come to mind are Bruno Walter (New York or Berlin?), Leopold Stolkowsky (Philadelphia?), Eugene Ormandy (Philadelphia), Leonard Bernstein and Zubin mehta (New York), Arturo Toscannini (NBC Orchestra), Sir Georg Solti (Chicago?), Andre Previn (Pittsburgh), Herbert Von Karajan (Berlin), and Seiji Ozawa (Boston)

This, plus the additions to come from others, should get you well started on your trek down Classical Lane.

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2001

Answers

Jerryl, God bless you I will definitely get started on your list.

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2001

Jerryl,

I think the "Gloria in Excelsis you asked about is from the "Coronation Mass", so named because it was performed at the Coronation of Franz I, as Emperor of Austria, after Mozart had died. There is also the famous Gloria from Mozart's "Twelfth Mass".

Your list is pretty thorough and most nearly perfect. So, I will simply add a few of my own choice to it.

--A musical form invented by Handel---His "Organ Concertos", as well as his "Chandos Anthems", "Judas Macabeus" and "Israel in Egypt".

--The many masses of Haydn and Mozart, Haydn's "Organ Concertos" and his "Creation."

--Beethoven's great choral work,--"Missa Solemnis".

--Franz Schubert's--"Mass in G" and his "Unfinished Symphony".

-- Tschaikovsky's -- "1812 Overture"

-- Arthur Honegger-- "Le Roi David"

---Also PLEASE try to find a good collection of Negro Spirituals and "My Favorite Hymns" by Leontynne Price--each of which seem to be fast becoming a lost art in the African American community.

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2001

Our Music Director is 19 and a student at the university in town. Her primary instrument is the cello. At our second worship service we do not have a piano (yet) and she has brought her cello. It really has sparked an interest among the congregation for classical music that is written for the church. Do you have any ideas? P.S one of my friends who often attends our service says our church has such a great variety of music, every Sunday I sing a gospel song, we have classical music, contemporary christian and hymns. I like that we have added classical music to the worship experience.

-- Anonymous, December 27, 2001

I guarantee almost anyone will enjoy any recording by Itzhak Perlman.  He plays the violin so passionately!

In Excellence,

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001

I know when I was a child I hated classical music, and felt it was not "black enough for me" But as I have gotten older I really love classical music also. Do you think that there is still the mindset that classical music isn't black music?

-- Anonymous, December 30, 2001