Again the same vien as the listening thread, this works well on other forums and I have had some fantastic discussion in such threads. Simply post what you have been buying or are considering buying!

For me..

Interesting choices there. Verdi's "La Traviata" is excellent.

Here's what I most recently ordered and have yet to listen to:

These are my new orders.

Messiaen- Quartet For The End of Time

I wish I knew how to use the internet properly. But don't have a scanner at home and wouldn't know how to post pictures of anything on the net anyway.

Anyway, one CD which I listened to in Virgin Megastores in Leeds which will definitely be on my shopping list in the new year is by Szymanowski - some piano music of his. Rather good. He is very underrated.

I spent more time listening to pop music but hey I'm sure I'll be forgiven

Re your last sentence, me too. I used to love pop, metal, rock, and country too. I still like a lot of it. My next concerts are Deep Purple and a Pink Floyd tribute band. I hasten to add, followed by Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet.

So don't feel you're somehow unique. I reckon most people who like classical like at least one other type of music. I bet too that most started out liking some kind of pop/rock. It's just that when you really do get the "classical" bug it can take over, sometimes completely.

You mention piano music. I hope you have seen the relevant threads elsewhere here. There are many recommendations there from various people who especially like the piano genre. Some pieces you most probably know, but there will be others (I guarantee it) you won't have heard of. It's all good stuff, and far better than taking pot luck.

The bad news with classical music is that it's in fixed supply (ignoring all the so-called modern classical "music"). The good news is that there's plenty of it. Just when you've exhausted Bach, there's Mozart. And it gets better: there's Beethoven and Schubert. Then Chopin, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms. It's a bit downhill after that but it's not bad (only joking you Mahler fans, not to mention Debussy fans!)


Topaz

riverbank - We didn't scan those images. We used the [img] code to display them in the thread. Just find a picture online, right click it, go to properties, and you'll see its URL Address. Copy that and paste it in between [img] and [/img]. It would look like this without the asterisks: *[img]*http://www.beethoven.com/gif.html*[/img]*

I just brought a Naxos CD with some music by Howard Hanson - I already have his Romantic and Nordic symphonies and I like them though I don't listen to them that often nowadays. So I thought I'd give it a try. And after one listen I think it is one of my favourite classical CDs. The pieces on there are:
Concerto for Organ Harp and Strings
Nymphs and Satyr Ballet Suite
Fantasy Variations on a Theme of Youth for Piano and Strings
Serenade for Flute, Harp and Strings
Summer Seascape No 2 for Viola and Strings
Pastorale for Oboe, Harp and Strings.

There are a lot of little known American mainly 20th century composers that Naxos have done recordings of their music. Most that I've heard haven't really done much for me but Hanson is a definite exception. I think his music is lovely. Money very well spent.

My latest purchases as of last Night:

1) Highlights from the Messiah, performed by the Union Symphony and Chorus. I allready have a complete Messiah as well as a few other Highlight-style versions myself. I shall probably gift this.

2) A Cd containing Tchaikovsky's Symphony for Strings (Moskow Soliosts), Concert Fancasy for Piano and Orchestra (Barry Doublas and the Philharmonia), Aria from Eugeve Onegin (Placido Domingo and the Royal Philharmonic), and Serenade meancolique (London Philharmonic).

3) Verdi's Aida by the Sophia Philharmonic.

4) Samual Barber' Adagio, First and Second Essay's, School for Scandal Overature, and more by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

I'm surprised this thread hasn't picked up!


Here are my most recent purchases:

The complete string quartets of Beethoven by the Alban Berg Quartet (I've listened to the early quartets, and I like 1 and 6.)

The Glory of Rostropovich - it's basically 8 CD's of Rostropovich playing and conducting, from Baroque to 20th century, with a fairly large gap in the Classical. (Site)

Vieuxtemps violin concertos 5, 6 and 7 - Misha Keylin (Naxos)

__________________
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Navneeth

Want a piece of classical music identified? Post a link or upload a clip here. Someone might have an answer.

2009: It's the International Year of Astronomy
http://www.astronomy2009.org/

I've been consolidating my Mozart opera DVD collection. I have ordered Mitridate, Idomeneo, Le nozze di Figaro and La Clemenzia di Tito... I already have many recordings of Don Juan, Die Zauberflöte, Così and die Entführung...

I also bought l'Elisir d'amore... brilliant!

That is exactly what happened to me. I never had really regular tastes for music and listened to the occasional piano music but old American folk aka mountain music and bluegrass were my thing. I was really into that style, i even bought/learned the banjo and joined a band. I still play in the band and enjoy it but i listen to almost exclusively classical now. Other music just sortove seems boring.

My latest purchases though are:
Mahler's 9th
Bruckner's 5th and 9th
Barber's Agnus Dei

I tunes is currently crippling my bank account!

The Maderna is a sweet disc. I have the first issue, from 1980. I was very pleased when DG decided to reissue this. (Now all my friend's have that reissue. I mean it. All of them. They had a simple choice. Buy the cd or cease being my friends. So all of my remaining friends, both of them, have this.)

There's another thread called "most underrated..." that ChamberNut just started. Maderna would be a good choice for that, as his work covered both acoustic and electroacoustic music, and is consistently good, and his conducting of Mahler's symphonies is very interesting.