Arkiv's Top 5 Recordings of the Week
Every week we ask our staff to tell us about some of their favorite recordings. This month is we are looking at music from the “classical era”, meaning from around the time of Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. Here are some of our favorites, we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Classical Era – Orchestral Music: My favorite classical orchestral pieces, music by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Boccherini and Johann Mayr.
I couldn’t decide which Beethoven Symphony to recommend, so I chose one album with two of my favorites – No. 4 and No. 7. Both symphonies begin with a slow introduction that builds up the musical tension for the roller coaster ride that follows.
Haydn wrote at least 104 symphonies; we will let musicologists argue about the exact number. His symphony No. 30, subtitled the “Alleluia” brims over with optimism and energy from the very first note.
Mozart wrote music with a kind of balance and poise that makes it so wonderful to listen to, and with a sense of drama too. Listening to this symphony it is easy to understand why Mozart was also such a great opera composer.
Some Rossini’s tunes are among the best-known in classical music; think of The Barber of Seville and Bugs Bunny, that’s Rossini’s music. Rossini’s first opera was performed when he was 18 years old, and over the next 13 years he wrote another 33 operas ending with William Tell. The overtures for his operas are delight and a great way to discover his music, and this album is a good place to start.
CPE Bach, one of JS Bach’s sons, is a bridge composer between baroque music like his father’s, and music of the classical era. All of the symphonies were commissioned by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who encouraged Bach to let his imagination soar.
Check out the full collection here
Do you have a piece of classical music that you particular like? Tell us what it is, and we will add it to our “reader's favorites” section
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