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Re: Recommend 5 top classical recordings

Hmmmm, lots of nineteenth century aural wallpaper being recommended. Let's try the tough end of the 20th century for some variety here. These are discs I know and like, but there's a lot of stuff out there that I've never even heard and it's very different to what I'm going to suggest so you can hate my suggestions, get a bad fix on contemporary classical music, and ignore the fact that there's going to be a lot of good stuff out there that you might like.

So, let's step into real flame territory with:

John Adams: Chamber Symphony/Grand Pianola Music - London Sinfonietta conducted by Adams, Nonesuch

Alvin Curran: Songs and Views of the Magnetic Garden - Curran, Catalyst

Lou Harrison: Lo Koro Sutro - New Albion Records

Meredith Monk: Mercy - Monk & ensemble, ECM

Arvo Part: pretty well anything. Try "Passio" on ECM. I don't have it but it was the first Part I heard and it has stuck with me, or try "Kanon Pokajanen", also on ECM, which I do have and which is music for the Orthodox rather than the Catholic church for which Part normally writes.

Nothing in that selection is too prickly or aggressive, and some of it is downright sweet.

There was a time when people listening to what is now called 'classical music' listened mostly to music that was contemporary with them, after all they had to listen to what was being played live because there were no recordings and there also wasn't a down on contemporary music. If Mozart and Beethoven's contemporaries hadn't played and listened to their music, neither would we, yet many people seem happy to ignore what's being written today. Traditions last while innovation still occurs within them. When the innovation stops, the tradition stagnates and dies. The quickest way to relegate Mozart, Beethoven, and a lot of other great music to the scrap heap of history is to ignore contemporary music and allow that whole tradition to stagnate and die.

David Aiken

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