| My four favorite composers... |
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| I had always enjoyed classical music, but I knew little about it until I met my first partner, Terry. He introduced me to his large record collection, and eventually I became interested in a variety of areas. While I have no talent for performing, I enjoy collecting and listening to CD's (have about 5,500) and regularly attend concerts. I think the appeal of baroque music came to me partly because of Terry's interest in the subject but also partly because of my educational background in mathermatics. I arrived at an interest in Renaissance music, especially polyphony, more on my own accord. My specific interests in music are renaissance, baroque, lieder, and chamber music. In addition to my four favorities listed above, I also especially enjoy the music (in order) of Josquin, Tallis, Victoria, Monteverdi, Sch�tz, Lully, Vivaldi, Telemann, Rameau, Haydn, J. C. Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms and Shostakovich. Some musical groups in Chicago that I attend or have attended in the past are listed below. Some of these may be quite familiar; others are more specialized. I hope you will support these organ izations: Ars Antigua � Period Instrument Chamber Ensemble Bella Voce � A Capella Choral Group Chicago Opera Theater Chicago Symphony Orchestra Lyric Opera of Chicago Music of the Baroque Vermeer Quartet University Of Chicago Early Music Series � Visiting Artists For renaissance, baroque, and some classical period music, I tend to prefer "authentic" performance practice using period instruments. Here is a link to a site which gives a reasonably complete list of CD recordings on period instruments. You should be aware that many of the recordings on this list, however, are either no longer available or are on labels that are either not distributed or not well distributed in the USA. Some performers I especially enjoy on CD or occasionally in concert are listed below: Les Arts Florissants Cecilia Bartoli Barbara Bonney Chanticleer The Clerkes Group Le Concert Sprituel David Daniels The English Concert Emma Kirkby Musica Antiqua K�ln Les Musiciens du Louvre (French only) Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra The Tallis Scholars There are a lot of sites that sell classical CD's, but I particularly wanted to recommend the one run by Qualtion Imports. Not only do their labels record a good deal of baroque music, but they sell their own recordings at prices which considerabley discount those of the large commercial vendors. I suppose, with such a large collection as I have, I would be remiss if I did not list a few of my "desert island" recordings. I have done so below, with purchase links where avaiable. I'll add more as time goes on and I think about what else to put on the list. Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua, etc. / Tallis Scholars Monteverdi: L'Orfeo / Rogers, Chiaroscuro Handel: Belshazzar / Pinnock, English Concert (nla) Handel: Israel in Egypt / Parrott, Taverner Players (nla) Bach: Goldberg Variations / Hanta� (nla) Bach: St. Matthew Passion / Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir. English Baroque Soloists Mozart: Don Giovanni / Giulini Schubert: Schubert Edition Volume 6 / Anthony Rolfe-Johnson. Graham Johnson Mahler: Kindertotenlieder, Songs of a Wayfarer, etc. / Janet Baker, Barbirolli Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier / von Karajan |
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