Classical Music

I have noticed in the past few years a growing indifference to popular music. Whether a sign of age or merely a change in tastes, I no longer find much pleasure in all but my most preferred popular CDs. Luckily, at the same time my interest in classical music has risen dramatically. I always had an above-average appreciation for classical, and violin-centered music in particular. But not until the past few weeks have I really started being serious. I picked up a copy of the Penguin Guide and added about a dozen titles to my nascent collection. Here's what I now own:

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra - Reiner
Bartok: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-3 - Anda
Beethoven: Late Quartets - Quartetto Italiano
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 - Klemperer
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7 - Kleiber
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - Furtwangler
Beethoven: Violin Concerto - Perlman/Giulini
Brahms: Violin Concerto - Perlman
Brahms: Violin Sonatas - Perlman/Ashkenazy
Debussy: La Mer, Nocturnes - Boulez
Dvorak: Cello Concerto - Yo-Yo Ma
Dvorak: Cello Concerto - Rostropovich/Giulini
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 - Kondrashin
Elgar: Cello Concerto - Du Pre
Elgar: Sea Pictures - Baker
Herbert, Cello Concerto No. 2 - Yo-Yo Ma
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 - Maag
Mozart: Requiem - Marriner
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante - Perlman
Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 35-41 - Bohm
Mozart: Violin Concertos - Perlman/Levine
Orff: Carmina Burana - Jochum
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Cliburn
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Ashkenazy
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini - Ashkenazy
Saint-Saens: Cello Concerto No. 1 - Rostropovich/Giulini
Schubert: Late Quartets & Quintet - Emerson String Quartet
Tchaihovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Cliburn

As you can see, I've already crossed what I consider a most important threshold demarcating the boundary between amateurs and amateurs with serious pretensions: I purchased second copies of pieces I already owned, because I wanted to hear how different performers would play them. Too much fun.