Here are my suggestions for novice listeners.  They were part of an article
I wrote for the Arizona Daily Star in August of 1998.

Here are 10 recordings to get you started in classical music:

 * Early Music:  "The Recorder:  Four Centuries of Recorder Music,"
 performed by the Pro Arte Recorder Ensemble.  Lyrichord.

 The bubbly recorder was an instrument of choice before 1750.  For another
 good introduction to Early Music, try a collection of dances and motets by
 Michael Praetorius, performed by David Munrow's Early Music Consort of
 London on Virgin Classics.

 * Bach:  Selections from the cantatas, passions, harpsichord and organ
 works, featuring countertenor Rene Jacobs and other crack specialists.
 Harmonia Mundi.

 No CD selection would be complete without something by J.S.  Bach, music's
 first towering genius, and this offers a broad sampling.  After this
 CD, try Vladimir Feltsman's account of Bach's "Goldberg Variations."

 * Mozart: Piano Concerto Nos. 21 and 24. Robert Casadesus solos; George

 Szell conducts the Cleveland Orchestra. CBS/Sony.

 Mozart was without peer in music for piano solo with orchestral
 partnership.  I can't imagine tiring of his concertos.  Not one note in
 them seems out of place, they're inventive and deceptively difficult, and
 their slower sections sing to you like great love songs.  After these
 piano concertos, try the composer's Clarinet Concerto.

 * Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76. Tokyo String Quartet. Sony Classical.

 These six quartets abound in charm, compositional grace, elegance and
 moments of humor.  Even people who can't stand chamber music tell me they
 like them.  After these pieces, listen to Beethoven's slightly later 16
 string quartets; some of them reflect the influence of Haydn, while others
 will take you to worlds only Beethoven could inhabit.

 * Beethoven: Symphony No. 5. Carlos Kleiber conducts the Vienna
 Philharmonic (Symphony No. 7 included as well). Deutsche Grammophon.

 If you can experience only one symphony, Beethoven's Fifth should be it -
 for the commanding four-note motif in the opening bars, the noble
 theme-and-variations movement and a relentlessly explosive finale that
 just won't quit.  After Symphony No.  5, take on Beethoven's Ninth.

 * Choral Music: "A Choral Tapestry," performed by The St. Olaf Choir
 directed by Anton Armstrong. Privately issued.

 Armstrong brought this magnificent Minnesota college choir to Tucson last
 season.  This eclectic CD, which spans several centuries, should give you
 a sweeping view of all that choral literature has to offer.  After
 listening to these shorter pieces, you'll be ready for Handel's "Messiah"
 at Christmas (or Easter, the holiday for which the beloved oratorio
 originally was written).

 To order this and other St. Olaf recordings, call (507) 646-3048.

 * Georges Bizet's "Carmen": Victoria de los Angeles and Nicolai Gedda
 sing the leading roles, with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the French
 National Radio Orchestra and Chorus. EMI Classics.

 The familiar, catchy tunes, coupled with an engaging story about a Gypsy
 who seduces and ruins a respectable Spanish officer, make "Carmen" the
 first great opera to try.  Coming in a close second is Mozart's "The Magic
 Flute."

 * Van Cliburn: "A Romantic Collection." RCA Gold Seal.

 This CD pleasantly introduces some of the most popular pieces for solo
 piano, played by one of America's most popular pianists.  After this,
 buy some Chopin, preferably played by Arthur Rubinstein.

 * Igor Stravinsky: "The Rite of Spring." The composer conducts the
 Columbia Symphony Orchestra. ("Petrushka" included.) CBS/Sony.

 This ballet's brutal dissonance, coupled with its daring use of dueling
 rhythms, caused a riot at the work's 1913 premiere - but launched an
 aesthetic for this century.  After Stravinsky, try Dmitri Shostakovich's
 milder but still-bold Symphony No.  5, written about 25 years later.

 * Steve Reich: "Different Trains." Kronos Quartet. (Disc includes Pat
 Metheny performing Reich's "Electric Counterpoint.") Elektra/Nonesuch.

 Classical music of the 1990s comes in many styles, but the most
 commercially successful is Minimalism - a format relying on the obsessive
 repetition of little bits of melody or rhythmic patterns.  Reich's
 "Different Trains" shows how audacious yet accessible contemporary music
 can be.  Reich fashions themes and rhythms from a few phrases of human
 speech and train noises, mixes these recorded sounds with an aggressive
 string quartet, and produces a compelling piece about rail travel, the
 Holocaust, loss and survival.

"Ken Keuffel Jr." <[log in to unmask]>