Here is another oldie, but being my first Medieval Christmas album, it has always been my favorite. They do get a bit heavy on the sackbuts and such, but still a fun record. At Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahMHg2 iTunes download: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-medieval-christmas-feast/id265297033
Joel Cohen and the Boston Camerata recorded this Christmas LP in 1975. A great mixture of ancient texts and melodies. From the album notes: The midwinter date of the festival of Christ’s nativity coincides with many pagan celebrations of the winter solstice, and most particularly with the Roman Dies sol invictus (“the day of the unconquered sun”), December 25. Certain pre-Christmas forms and practices survived and intermingled with the Christian holiday, and elements of the Roman Saturnalia, a year-end bacchanal,…
It’s that time of year when Christmas Music floats thru the air. Check out all of my recommendations at goodstonechristmas.com.
Toscanini: NBC Broadcast November 22nd 1947 – Music of the 18th Century
String Symphonies of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Debussy: Suite from “Pelléas and Mélisande” (Arr. Erich Leinsdorf)
Along with the previously recommended Antal Dorati Respighi recordings, here are some of my favorite alternatives.
Related to the last post we have Dorati again performing Respighi’s Works: ‘The Fountains of Rome’ , ‘The Pines of Rome’ , ‘Brazillian Windows’ and ‘The Birds’.
Respighi is best known for his Rome suites: ‘Pines of Rome’, ‘Fountains of Rome’, ‘Roman Festivals’, etc, but there are also some other works that are just as enjoyable. The ‘Ancient Airs and Dances Suites for Lute’ are excellent, and the old Antal Dorati recording for Mercury is about the best. All of the works are based on older compositions from various composers (see below). Amazon: http://amzn.to/1KuLKIW iTunes link from Wikipedia: Suite No. 1 (1917) Suite No. 2 (1923)[edit]Balletto, “Il…
Spotify playlist of the basic works of Berlioz. Included in the playlist are the following works: Symphonie Fantastique – Mehta / NY Philharmonic Harold in Italy – Munch / Primrose / Boston SO Overtures – Colin Davis I prefer the Toscanini ‘Harold’ with Carlton Cooley but it is not available on Spotify. Albums at Amazon: Symphonie Fantastique recording from above LP. Harold in Italy – Charles Munch with William Primrose / Boston SO. Harold in Italy – Toscanini with Carlton…
Lily Pons – Kostelanetz Concert / With Andre Kostelanetz
Ted Libbey and others have compiled 50 classical works over at the NPR site.
Another 99 cent bargain box download full of wonderful Purcell. Big Purcell Box // Amazon.com Widgets
Vox has released the Leonard Slatkin / St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s Rachmaninov symphony recordings in a 99 cent download set. Included are the Piano Concertos with Abbey Simon. These are good performances in nice sound, and well worth the download. Rachmaninoff: Complete Symphonies, Piano Concertos, & Orchestral Works (The VoxBox Edition)
Beethoven: Moonlight and Pathetique Sonatas