The Blackwell Guide to Classical Recordings (v. 1)

The Blackwell guide to classical recordings

Blackwell Music specialists review their personal choices of those classical Must have CDs for anyone who would like to build up their own library Music.

A collection of recordings are reviewed and recommended by our Blackwell music specialists. Includes our top ten recommendations that no collection should be without plus a further 50 suggestions which act as an invaluable guide to anyone trying to navigate the confusing wealth of recordings available. Aimed at expanding your horizons and helping with direction if you’re feeling a little more adventurous.

Foreword by Jeremy Summerly conductor & Founder of Oxford Camerata

ISBN 0955593700   DEWEY edition DC22 ISBN13 9780955593703 (What's this?)   Pages 51 Publisher B H Blackwell   Published in Oxford Imprint B H Blackwell   Height (mm) 150 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 142 Publication date 01 May 2007   Academic level General DEWEY 016.780266

I arrived as an undergraduate in Oxford in the year of the Blackwell centenary. In those days Blackwell Music Shop was in Holywell Street, and it nestled neatly between the Holywell Music Room and the King’s Arms. As a music student at New College there were few incentives for me to venture beyond this quaint street. This should have been because the University Music Faculty was itself located in the Holywell, but my memory is that - however shamefully - the allure of Blackwell and the King’s Arms was that much greater. After three years of study, my Blackwell account revealed that I had spent exactly one-third of my entire outgoings in their Music Shop (sensibly the King’s Arms did not allow me credit). This was seen as extravagant by some, although a quarter of a century later that early collection of books, scores, and records forms the foundation of a substantial library that I would hate to be without.

Although I am a professional musician, I recognise that I am also a boffin. I love music and I get excited about the way that it sounds and the way that people write about it. This little book is the work of boffins, and it is a mine of enthusiastic and opinionated information compiled by people whose hobby, as well as their job, is music.

When I was a student, the commercial medium of music was the vinyl record rather than the compact disc. Consequently I have a large collection of LPs, many of which I still listen to today. Some of these LPs have been re-mastered, but by no means all of them. Fortunately, my very favourite recording of all time has been transferred onto CD, moreover at budget price, and I mention it here because it is my pick of the recordings reviewed in this guide. It’s the RCA 1966 studio recording of Sir William Walton’s First Symphony played by the London Symphony Orchestra under André Previn. Previn conducted (and continues to do so) this piece so well that BBC 2 once made an entire television programme about his performance of it alongside footage of Sir William himself. It strikes me that Walton is too often underrated - his First Symphony is a masterpiece by any standards. And yes, Sir William studied at Oxford University. I imagine he also shopped at Blackwell.

Jeremy Summerly - Conductor and founder of the Oxford Camerata

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