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CD Reviews | CTD (Briefly Noted) | JFL (Dip Your Ears) | DVD Reviews
Introduction
The Why, How, and What
This is a reposting (edited and expanded) of an article that George A. Pieler and I wrote for Forbes.com, back in March of 2013 and picks off from these musings: How To Build A Top Quality Classical Music Library For $100 (Prelude), where you can read all about the idea behind the idea. I am re-posting and editing the articles to makes sure they don’t disappear, to give them the formatting they were meant to have, and as a tribute to George. Also, the articles are behind a paywall in the US, I just found out – so now they are out in the open again, where they belong.
Almost 13 years ago, George A. Pieler and I wrote a column (Two Cents About Classical Music For $100) for Forbes.com on some of the market- and technology-changes that affect this still growing, more-important-than-you-think niche in 21st century entertainment: classical music. The idea of building a classical music starter kit for $100 means we have to define price in an age where the very media of music consumption are in a permanent state of change. It also raises the question of what ownership of digital files actually means. We tackle some of these questions in upcoming columns [Ed. we didn’t], but first we present “the list”. (Incidentally, the Forbes article is itself based on the ionarts-response to Tyler Cowen’s article in 2011, which was promptly criticized for being too cello-heavy.)
[The entire list on Amazon can be found here.]
First, let’s talk about what “Classical Music for $100” is not: It is not a historical survey. It is certainly not meant to be representative of (Western) classical music – the very attempt would be absurd for a genre that spans at least 600 years (and counting). It is not a list of what is or should be considered “great” in classical music, nor just a list of classic recordings. We may overlap with all of these criteria in some parts, but our goal was simply (not so simple, as it turns out) this: “Bait!”. To create a list – within the confines of $100 (measured, old fashioned style, by CD*) – that is most likely to convert the uninitiated, intrigue the newcomer, and still delight the veteran. If you spend your first hundred bucks on classical music this way (or consume this list on Spotify), our rationale goes, you’ll find something—plenty—that will hook you and keep you coming back for more. In which case we’ll happily supply more lists to aid the discovery.
(*Cost was measured as-per-Amazon-pricing-averages at the times and iTunes cost. As recordings (or these iterations thereof) wander in and out of print, these can fluctuate wildly. I have updated the Amazon links below – but not necessarily the cover images – to reflect the most readily available iterations of these recordings.)
If one album alone could do the trick, we would have chosen just one. That’s not likely, though, since every newcomer responds to different stimuli. A one-size-fits-all list is a bit like handing out the “ten best medications” to prospective patients, sight unseen. But between classical disc-jockeying, slaving at Tower Records (The Tower That Fell), writing for classical radio stations, and emulating a classical music critic, we have channeled our experience to come up with a generic model-listener who has appreciation written all over him or her (enough to have read on thus far, certainly), but relatively little previous exposure. (And if you’re a veteran but this sounds like someone you know, why not share this list with them!?)
With that in mind we set ourselves a few rules. The first is adopted from Tyler Cowen who gave us the idea: “Never buy an inferior recording simply because it is cheaper. In the long run it is more expensive.”
True, it’s hard to tell what inferior (or “best”) really means in a market saturated with the greatest artists from seven decades competing with each other, often with multiple entries each, in the crowded field of recording classical evergreens. We interpret it thus: include it only if it really knocks your socks off. This uncompromising approach does conflict with the budget limit and the urge to cover a good deal of territory. But wherever compromise attempted to sneak in at the expense of absolute quality, we tried to resist it.
Another rule was not to include box sets. It’s tempting when you can get the complete works of Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven for $99.99… and all the Wagner operas for $32.66. But that’s unstructured overkill and, in our experience, detrimental to listening habits. Each recording included in this list, and each composer, deserves at least the focus and concentration (and, yes, the expense!) that goes with listening specifically to one album. The kind of focus that used to happen necessarily when people put a vinyl album on their record player. (It makes all the difference: many of them still think vinyl sounds better for this reason.) Experiencing this music for the first time should be a piece-by-piece event, even in an age where the media—hard drives, clouds—have practically no physical confines.
Finally, we tried—and failed—to make the list compatible for iTunes downloading, hard-copy-purchasing, andSpotify streaming. We’ve come close, and picked only albums [then] in print (which might, granted, [and did] change tomorrow). At the time, Spotify (which shares exceedingly little revenue with the artists and record companies, it might be pointed out) didn’t carry three essential labels: Hyperion, ECM, and Harmonia Mundi – so the initial playlist had to substitute the relevant recordings. They do now and the list has since updated accordingly. If you have access to the Naxos Music Library, that should enable you to hear every one of these albums, too.)
The relative prominence of time-tested, ‘classic recordings’ on this list (four out of nine—out of ten, if you count the ‘iTunes bonus’) is not primarily one of nostalgia but economics. These are recordings that are exceptional – and widely acknowledged as such, but they have also earned their money many times over and can be re-released in various guises at ever decreasing price points. But there is also a reason why new recordings are still made and listened to: every generation needs its Beethoven, its Bach, its John Adams. A few classic interpretations are truly exceptional and a few favorite artists really were unique, but often the focus on older recordings by collectors is a sentimental one; a disease called “Golden Ageism”, caused by the emotional footprint that the first exposure to a particular interpretation leaves. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… with any luck, you will acquire it with some of these choices!
The List
Hooked in under $100
And here now are, in order of recommended listening, the recordings we would recommend to hook you.
These two lists started with this preliminary musing which was, in turn, prompted by a post of Tyler Cowen’s Marginal Revolution, who had done the same thing a few years earlier – asking, along the way, how music could actually be measured anymore, both as regards cost and medium (length), given the proliferation of “free” music and the changes in consumption of music as online bits & bobs. That this question, 13 years after our pondering it superficially, has not yet been definitively answered, despite the dominance of streaming services of one kind or another as our primary music-conduits, is interesting in and of itself. The measure as to what “$100” in music might be, probably has been further softened. The idea how best to look at music as units, meanwhile, remains the traditional album. That’s certainly true in classical music which is (not surprisingly) a somewhat more traditional corner of the music-appreciation niche. Our lists, therefore, retain some value as general “introduction to classical music” essays – and if they bring a few people closer to the genre, we feel we’ve done our job. (Incidentally, we probably did: For years, if you clicked on any one of the albums especially of the first list, Amazon would show you, under the rubric “Frequently bought together”, all the other albums we listed. But here we go, with the first of the three articles:
Two Cents About Classical Music For $100
ByJens F. Laurson and George Pieler
The Grammys (see full list of winners) put classical music in a ghetto of its own, an afterthought following folk, reggae, and spoken word. Is that because classical music, once culture-defining beyond its actual household reach, isn’t a market-driven, profit-potential line of entertainment and culture anymore? Recently on Forbes.com, Connie Guglielmo pondered iTunes’ Top Ten classical music picks, part of an Apple campaign that promotes “essential” classical music (which constitutes about 12% of sales, though heavy on crossover and light classics). A few years ago, Tyler Cowen (Marginal Revolution) took a more sophisticated look at what kind of starter-kit classical music collection could be put together with $100.
The way these two surveys approach classical music, beautifully frames two key aspects of the classical music world today: availability and affordability. Classical (ditto jazz) is a fascinating niche industry annually pronounced dead but more alive than ever. It’s just changing in all possible kinds of ways, at different speeds, in different countries. Pricing, production, distribution, listening and purchasing habits, even the very medium itself and its long-accepted norms (like album playtime, the concept of ‘album’ itself etc.) change or vanish.
Let’s focus just on what Cowen and Guglielmo touch on: price, medium, and the idea of “essentials”.
Now that Tower Records and the HMV Shop are history, how do we consumers determine price? By the cost of a CD on ArkivMusic.com, the specialty on-line seller of classical music owned by Steinway & Sons? [Note: Once a great resource for research and checking on what was available and new – but now quite useless.] Or Amazon, taking an average of prices offered and considering shipping? By the album cost on iTunes, or dedicated classical download sites like [Ed. Long defunct] The Classical Shop (which was run by Chandos, offering Digital Rights Management-free, high audio-quality downloads), Classics Online (Naxos, Ed.: also defunct), or (for the francophone) Qobuz? [Ed. A survivor and definitely not just for the francophone anymore. Arguably the best and most fair source for purchasing/streaming classical music online!]
But even downloading, which opens the intriguing question of whether you own or lease a digital file (more on that in a future column [Ed. That didn’t alas, happen]), may be a thing of the future past: left in the dust as streaming becomes ever more available, reliable, and cheaper. Your tunes are in the cloud, ready when you want them, where you want them. Assuming the internet isn’t down and that you can live with—as yet—modest sound quality or little clicks between tracks (because we can send people to Mars but struggle with Gapless Playback, apparently).
If you are serious about music, it’s a rough transition, though. Catch-all services like Spotify and Rhapsody make finding specific recordings hard, thanks to sloppy meta data and limited catalogs, and can frustrate the inquiring listener and overwhelm the newcomer. [Ed. Also, they aren’t all that great for the participating artists.] For a full dose of Beethoven Symphonies, Haydn String Quartets, or Bach Cantata streaming, they’re quite practical, however. If a standard bearer like Herbert von Karajan suffices, Spotify has all four of his complete cycles. But if you don’t know how the cover of the zesty 60s cycle looks, or which edition contains the savvy 70s recordings, and which box the mannered, digital 80s run-through (all with the Berlin Philharmonic), you will be left guessing. And if you want the sprightly punchy, historically informed musicianship of Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna (Zig Zag Territories), you are out of luck altogether.
The [wonderful] Naxos Music Library (and versatile Qobuz) offers a well-honed, classical-only streaming experience with plenty of relevant information, and Immerseel on both services, but on the Naxos Music Library only select early Beethoven recordings of Karajan (made for HMV with the Philharmonia Orchestra, now EMI, just sold to Warner as part of the Parlophone auction) are available, and early post-war broadcasts from Berlin (Audite). [Ed.: ALL the standard Karajan Beethoven is now available on the Naxos Music Library.] Only Qobuz emerged from this random test with all five cycles available. [Ed. The two live Japanese cycles and the two for-video-cycles are still out of reach for streaming.]
All this is by way of suggesting that the very idea of what $100 worth of music means, is changing by the day, if not the hour, and impossible to define. You could probably get the complete works of Mozart or Beethoven as downloads for that money. You would get fine music, too, though probably not all quality performances or snappy interpretations, which is what makes classical music so different from other genres. And for most, the bulk approach won’t yield the most memorable experience.
For our own list of how a relative newcomer might most satisfactorily invest $100 in classical music, we turn to the anachronism of the familiar CD—a medium that will be with us for decades to come, however outdated it may already seem. Certainly as a unit of price and music, CDs remain a trusty standard, perhaps akin to the way horses still define how we measure rail gauge and the engine power of an aircraft carrier. (Ed.: See list here: How To Build A Top Quality Classical Music Library For $100 Part I & Part II)
Amazon is currently merging the two worlds of hard copy (satisfying the collector) and digital availability (for immediate gratification and portability) with a function called ‘auto rip’. This delivers a free cloud–version to your Amazon cloud player when you purchase a hard copy of the CD from Amazon. Selection is limited so far, especially in classical, but fast expanding [Ed.: OK, that didn’t take off, massively, but it is still alive and available to consumers with billing addresses in the United States who have a U.S. bank-issued credit card] and it does include two of the Karajan cycles (1950s EMI and 1960s DG, if you find the right one among various editions of just that particular set [Ed.: I don’t think it does, anymore].
For skeptics who still think this kind of music is a dead-white-male cultural relic, we suggest the very profusion of listening options—in repertoire, medium, and listening mode—tells us classical is not just very much alive, but a great case study in market evolution. We hope to offer a glimpse into that (from our alive-white-male point of view) when we put together a sophisticated introductory list, available across various formats. We might ignore vinyl, though, which is making its own fascinating niche-within-a-niche comeback. 
