Classical music for $100

Tyler Cowen started it with his suggestions on how to put together an introduction-kit for classical music not to exceed 100 dollars. It’s difficult to generalize*, because every newcomer responds to different stimuli: having guided a few friends and acquaintances in their first music-purchase steps, the notable constant was the surprisingly different paths they took. One lovely lass would lap up Bruckner and Prokofiev like nobody’s business and turn the lights out to fully enjoy Lohengrin. Another needed baby-steps through the early romantic repertoire into both directions, only eventually arriving at Bach and Mahler. And the logic/philosophy of science/math types I’ve met best respond to early music, baroque, and strategically placed modernism.
Still, the challenge is fun enough, and with the benefit of the experience of a few years spent slaving at Tower Records, I’ll try to come up with a generic character who has appreciation written all over him or her, but had no proper exposure to classical music. The selection is not supposed to be a survey—much less a representative one—of classical music; merely the most efficient bait.

* I wonder if perhaps it should be pointed out more forcefully that such one-size-fit-all lists are daft, because tastes and preferences really do vary so much more than lists could ever account for.

It's a bit like giving out a fixed list of the the ten "best" medications to prospective patients, sight unseen.

First, a few rules:

1.) Tyler’s fourth point being the most important. “Never buy an inferior recording simply because it is cheaper. In the long run it is more expensive.” Maybe not so much more expensive as “less efficient”. It may leave you unimpressed with Beethoven where Beethoven is truly not at fault. We all hear the same things; it’s only those who have nothing to compare their impressions with who can’t pinpoint the blame correctly, if they don’t like it. That’s not to say compromise of some sort isn’t involved. The below choices may still not be my absolute favorites… but where that is the case the interpretations will still be very good and the couplings and price-point superior to whatever my actual top choice might be.

2.) No box sets. I know it’s tempting when you can get the complete works of Bach, Mozart, and Brahms for $85.93. But it’s useless to the early-comer in classical music. Not so much because it’s quantity over quality (there are some very high quality dirt-cheap box sets out there) but because it’s an overwhelming quantity. The experience will be like an argument without cohesion; a narrative without structure. Even all the Beethoven Symphonies, just five CDs, is overkill. Experiencing this music for the first time is a piece-by-piece event and needs to be as focused as possible. Too many CDs are more a distraction to that end than they are an aid. The Beethoven Piano Concertos is as close as I’ll come to bending that rule.

3.) No harpsichord or organ. Love both, but not ideally suited to the virgin ear.

4.) Pricing as per Amazon. (Hard copy, not mp3, reasonable average between “new” price and official price, where the discrepancy is vast.)

For technical reasons (not purposes of suspense), my choices can be seen after the jump:

D.Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonatas, Pletnev Virgin Classics	$10
S.Rachmaninoff / P.Tchaikovsky, PC no. 3 & PC no.1, Argerich et al. Philips / Decca	$13
A.Dvořák / P.Tchaikovsky , Cello Concerto, Rococo Variations, Rostropovich / Karajan / BPh DG	$10
L.v.Beethoven Piano Concertos, Triple Concerto, Pollini / Abbado / BPh DG	$22
E.Grieg, Piano Concerto, Lyric Pieces, Andsnes / Kitajenko / Bergen PO Virgin Classics	$10
Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Bruch, Bloch, Works for Cello & Orchestra, Fournier et al. DG	$11
J.S.Bach, Goldberg Variations (both versions), Glenn Gould Sony	$14
W.A.Mozart, F.Schubert, Sonatas for Two Pianos, Perahia & Lupu Sony	$11
Cello Sonatas, Rostropovich / Serkin DG	$12
Though, truth be told, if pressed to put a package like that together for someone, I’d probably throw out the Brahms and replace the Gould Goldbergs with Alexandre Tharaud’s concertos italiens.	Total: $102