Grendel13G
Member
Hi QQers!
Recently I decided to start getting into classical music in surround sound, but I didn’t know where to start. So I scoured the QQ forums and compiled a list of titles that were recommended by QQ members. I thought I would share the recommendations with you!
If you’re new to classical music in surround (or new to classical music, period, like I am), I hope you’ll find this list useful! If you have some experience with classical music in surround, I hope you will share your own recommendations, or better yet, comment on the recommendations already listed! Once a title has multiple recommendations, I’ll move it up to the highly-sought-after “spotlight” list below.
First, some background information and a few things I’ve learned in my classical journey so far.
Threads: I copied all the recommendations from the following threads on the QQ forums:
Favorite Classical 5.1 Disc
Classical for rock fans
Best classical released in surround sound?
What's a good classical surround demo???
Classical Music in surround
The Tacet Thread (Reviews/Latest News & Releases/General Discussion)
It seems that most classical titles have “ambient” information in the surrounds, which is how most classical aficionados prefer it. However, a number of these threads specifically asked for more discrete recordings or demo disks, which is handy for those of us who were weaned on discrete rock albums. I’ve carried over a snippet of information on each title from these threads where applicable (other QQ members’ quotes are in italics), but for a more in-depth discussion, be sure to check out the original threads.
Format: I hope you like SACDs. Most classical releases are on SACD, and most SACDs are classical. (To put this in perspective, sa-cd.net lists 299 multichannel SACDs in the Pop/Rock genre, and 5,004 in the Classical genre. Yikes!) As I’ve listened to most of my music digitally for years now, SACD is by far the least-convenient modern format for me. To help out others who are in the same boat, I tried to list alternative recommendations on DVD-A, BD, or digital download where I could.
Helpful Sites: I found sa-cd.net to be a fantastic resource for tracking down classical titles on SACD (and some BD). It’s easy to search for alternative recordings of the same title (though watch out for the same title in different languages, like “The Right of Spring” and “Le Sacre du Printemps”), and the ratings and reviews are great. Unfortunately, there’s no real equivalent for DVD-A; dvd-a.net is pretty limited in comparison. It took me forever to discover this, but you can search for DVD-As on amazon.com by going to the CDs & Vinyl department and clicking “Advanced Search” at the top right, which is probably as good as it gets for DVD-A. For digital downloads, findhdmusic.com is a great meta-search engine that searches many digital music sites, and you can filter for multichannel, though it may not include some titles that are offered directly by their labels.
General Recommendations: A few recording labels really stood out in the above threads. Here are the ones that were mentioned the most:
===== The Spotlight Section (titles with multiple recommendations) =====
Bach: Four Toccatas and Fugues. Very discrete. Huge amounts of very low bass.
Here are the titles that received one recommendation. Most of them mentioned a specific release, but for those that didn't, I provided one based on a balance of sa-cd.net ratings, availability on multiple formats, and affordability:
:51banana:
-Grendel
Originally posted 6/1/2015
Recently I decided to start getting into classical music in surround sound, but I didn’t know where to start. So I scoured the QQ forums and compiled a list of titles that were recommended by QQ members. I thought I would share the recommendations with you!
If you’re new to classical music in surround (or new to classical music, period, like I am), I hope you’ll find this list useful! If you have some experience with classical music in surround, I hope you will share your own recommendations, or better yet, comment on the recommendations already listed! Once a title has multiple recommendations, I’ll move it up to the highly-sought-after “spotlight” list below.
First, some background information and a few things I’ve learned in my classical journey so far.
Threads: I copied all the recommendations from the following threads on the QQ forums:
Favorite Classical 5.1 Disc
Classical for rock fans
Best classical released in surround sound?
What's a good classical surround demo???
Classical Music in surround
The Tacet Thread (Reviews/Latest News & Releases/General Discussion)
It seems that most classical titles have “ambient” information in the surrounds, which is how most classical aficionados prefer it. However, a number of these threads specifically asked for more discrete recordings or demo disks, which is handy for those of us who were weaned on discrete rock albums. I’ve carried over a snippet of information on each title from these threads where applicable (other QQ members’ quotes are in italics), but for a more in-depth discussion, be sure to check out the original threads.
Format: I hope you like SACDs. Most classical releases are on SACD, and most SACDs are classical. (To put this in perspective, sa-cd.net lists 299 multichannel SACDs in the Pop/Rock genre, and 5,004 in the Classical genre. Yikes!) As I’ve listened to most of my music digitally for years now, SACD is by far the least-convenient modern format for me. To help out others who are in the same boat, I tried to list alternative recommendations on DVD-A, BD, or digital download where I could.
Helpful Sites: I found sa-cd.net to be a fantastic resource for tracking down classical titles on SACD (and some BD). It’s easy to search for alternative recordings of the same title (though watch out for the same title in different languages, like “The Right of Spring” and “Le Sacre du Printemps”), and the ratings and reviews are great. Unfortunately, there’s no real equivalent for DVD-A; dvd-a.net is pretty limited in comparison. It took me forever to discover this, but you can search for DVD-As on amazon.com by going to the CDs & Vinyl department and clicking “Advanced Search” at the top right, which is probably as good as it gets for DVD-A. For digital downloads, findhdmusic.com is a great meta-search engine that searches many digital music sites, and you can filter for multichannel, though it may not include some titles that are offered directly by their labels.
General Recommendations: A few recording labels really stood out in the above threads. Here are the ones that were mentioned the most:
- Tacet (tacet.de): Specializes in more discrete, immersive recordings of surround material, and has drawn rave reviews from many QQ members (though the love isn’t quite unanimous, in large part because the immersive approach isn’t really true to how most classical pieces were intended to be heard). There’s at least one whole thread devoted specifically to Tacet: The Tacet Thread (Reviews/Latest News & Releases/General Discussion)
- AIX (www.aixrecords.com): Many AIX titles have tracks with a standard “audience” perspective as well as an immersive “on stage” perspective (albeit sometimes in lossy formats like DTS or DD). They also have a great selection of titles available for digital download, and I found that at least some of these include lossless versions of the stage perspective.
- RCA “Living Stereo” SACD series: These are only 3-channel titles, but drew very favorable reviews both for their quality and for their representation of the classical genre.
===== The Spotlight Section (titles with multiple recommendations) =====
Bach: Four Toccatas and Fugues. Very discrete. Huge amounts of very low bass.
- Bach: Four Toccatas and Fugues (E. Power Biggs). SACD. <sa-cd.net> QQ rating: 9.5; sa-cd.net recommended: 56 out of 58; Price: $$$$$
- Beethoven: 9th Symphony (Jarvi). RCA; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 25 out of 26; Price: $
- Berlioz: Requiem (Spano). Telarc; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 13 out of 21; Price: $
- Berlioz: Requiem (Norrington). Hanssler; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 28 out of 34; Price: $$
- Berlioz: Requiem (Abravanel). Vanguard/Artemis; DVD-A/SACD. <sa-cd.net> <amazon.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 3 out of 3; Price: $$
- Holst: The Planets suite (David Lloyd-Jones). DVD-A/SACD. <sa-cd.net> <amazon.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 7 out of 12; Price: $
- Holst: Orchestral Works Vol. 2: Planets (Davis). Chandos; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 33 out of 37; Price: $$
- Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony (Chailly). Decca; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 20 out of 22; Price: $$$$
- Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony (Previn). EMI; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$$$
- Music for Organ, Brass and Timpani. Sonoma; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 18 out of 18; Price: $$
- Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bare Mountain (Serebrier, Godunov). Naxos; DVD-A/SACD. <sa-cd.net> <amazon.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 27 out of 27; Price: $$$
- Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bare Mountain (Slatkin). MoFi; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 12 out of 12; Price: $$$$$
- Orff: Carmina Burana (Mehta). Teldec; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$
- Shostakovich: Piano Quintet (Chamber Music Palisades). AIX; BD/DVD-A/Digital. <amazon.com> <findhdmusic.com> Price: $$$
- Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra (Kempe). EMI; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$$
- Stravinsky: The Firebird (complete ballet) (Litton). BIS; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 26 out of 30; Price: $$
- Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Salonen). Deutsche Grammophon; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 33 out of 44; Price: $
- Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (Jansons). RCO Live; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 27 out of 28; Price: $$
- Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, etc (Kunzel). Telarc; DVD-A/SACD. <sa-cd.net> <amazon.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 25 out of 45; Price: $$
- Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture etc (Gergiev). Mariinsky; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 23 out of 34; Price: $$
- Vivaldi: Four Seasons, Concertos for Double Orchestra (Juritz). Naxos; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$
Here are the titles that received one recommendation. Most of them mentioned a specific release, but for those that didn't, I provided one based on a balance of sa-cd.net ratings, availability on multiple formats, and affordability:
- Aho: Symphony No. 12 (Storgårds). BIS; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 27 out of 30; Price: $$
- Bach: Brandenberg Concertos (Stuttgarter Kammerorchester). Tacet; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$$
- Bach: Solo & Double Violin Concertos (Podger/Manze). Harmonia Mundi; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 17 out of 23; Price: $$$
- Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra etc (Reiner). Living Stereo; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 92 out of 93; Price: $
- Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste etc (Mackerras). Linn; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 14 out of 14; Price: $$
- Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin (Alsop). Naxos; DVD-A/SACD. <sa-cd.net> <amazon.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 7 out of 8; Price: $$
- Beethoven: Symphonies 1 & 2 (Rajski). Tacet; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$
- Beethoven: 5th Symphony (unspecified; I would suggest Tacet or your favorite complete set).
- Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1-9 (Haitink). LSO Live; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 51 out of 60; Price: $$$
- Berlioz: Symphony Fantastique (Gergiev). LSO Live; BD+SACD. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 9 out of 10; Price: $$
- Biber: Missa Christi Resurgentis (Manze). Harmonia Mundi; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 22 out of 26; Price: $$
- Bizet: Carmen (Rosi). BD. <amazon.com> Price: $$$
- Brubeck, Chris: Convergence . Koch; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 1 out of 1; Price: $
- Chopin: Four Ballades (Chang). AIX; DVD-A. <amazon.com> <findhdmusic.com> Price: $$$$$
- Chopin: Selected Piano Works (Prosseda). AIX; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$
- Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring, etc (Ellis/LSO). Membran; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 6 out of 7; Price: $$
- Coronation of King George II (King's Consort/Robert King). Hyperion; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 22 out of 23; Price: $$$
- Debussy & Ravel: String Quartets (Parkanyi Quartet). Praga; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 26 out of 27; Price: $$
- Divertimenti (TrondheimSolistene). 2L; BD+SACD. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 32 out of 34; Price: $$$
- Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 (Jansons). RCO Live; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 17 out of 20; Price: $$
- Elgar & Vaughan Williams: Enigma, The Wasps, Greensleeves (Stern). Reference Recordings; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 6 out of 7; Price: $$
- Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (Nakamatsu, Tyzik). Harmonia Mundi; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 21 out of 21; Price: $$
- Immersion . Starkland; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $
- Los Angeles Guitar Quartet : Guitar Heroes . SACD. <sa-cd.net> QQ rating: 9.44; sa-cd.net recommended: 27 out of 27; Price: $$
- Los Angeles Guitar Quartet : Latin . SACD. <sa-cd.net> QQ rating: 8.83; sa-cd.net recommended: 23 out of 24; Price: $$
- Mahler: Symphony No. 1 (Abravanel). Silverline; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $
- Mahler: Symphony No. 2 (Abravanel). Silverline; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$$$
- Mendelssohn: Octet E flat major op. 20, Quartet D major op. 44 No. 1 (Auryn Quartet). Tacet; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$
- Mozart: Requiem (Harnoncourt). DHM; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 51 out of 58; Price: $
- Pärt: De Profundis (Theatre of Voices, Hillier). Harmonia Mundi; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 16 out of 16; Price: $$$$$
- Ravel, Debussy, Faure (Guarneri String Quartet). DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$$$$
- Saint-Saëns: Complete Piano Concertos (Malikova/Sanderling). Audite; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 9 out of 9; Price: $$$
- Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 (Rostropovich). LSO Live; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 14 out of 18; Price: $
- Sonar (Bodtker). 2L; BD/SACD. <sa-cd.net> <amazon.com> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 8 out of 10; Price: $$$
- Stravinsky: Petrushka (Jansons). RCO Live; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 34 out of 35; Price: $$
- Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos (Van Cliburn). Living Stereo; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 78 out of 84; Price: $$
- Tchaikovsky/Saint-Saens/Bruch (Wispelwey). Channel Classics; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 30 out of 31; Price: $
- Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (Jarvi). Chandos; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 9 out of 9; Price: $$$
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4, Nutcracker Suite (Bernstein). Sony; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 4 out of 4; Price: $$$$$
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (Korngold). Naxos; DVD-A. <amazon.com> Price: $$
- Vaughan Williams: London Symphony (Hickox). Chandos; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> sa-cd.net recommended: 38 out of 38; Price: $
- Verdi: Requiem (Harnoncourt). RCA; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 21 out of 25; Price: $$$$
- Vivaldi: La Stravaganza, 12 Violin Concertos (Rachel Podger). Channel Classics; SACD/Digital. <sa-cd.net> <findhdmusic.com> QQ rating: 9.46; sa-cd.net recommended: 123 out of 129; Price: $$$
- Wagner: Die Walküre (Fisch). Melba; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 20 out of 21; Price: $$$
- Walton: Symphony #1 (Davis). LSO Live; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 11 out of 20; Price: $
- West Side Story (Bernstein). Deutsche Grammophon; SACD. <sa-cd.net> sa-cd.net recommended: 23 out of 26; Price: $$$
:51banana:
-Grendel
Originally posted 6/1/2015