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Heard on the radio that 327 years ago my favourite composer was born.
Perhaps it's an idea to make a recommendation list to celebrate his art. Let's stick to short pieces to keep things accessible. I'll kick off.
Goldberg Variations BWV988, Variation 12.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B_2toF7 … ge#t=1210s (Till 21m44s.)
Sorry I missed this one yesterday, this one is nice and short, Minuet in G Major: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on1DDSLd … re=related
One of the first things I learned to play on guitar 
Saw your post, but I've been very pressed for time (and this question surely needs to be given sufficient time to think about the response).
Sorry it's not a short piece, but the St Matthew Passion has to be one of the greatest pieces of music ever created (in the classical tradition - for me, ever in any tradition). I've been lucky to sing bass in the chorus 6 or 7 times, and have never found anything surpassed the experience.
But one part of it "Ebarme dich ("Have mercy Lord, My God, because of this my weeping") has to be the high point It has extraordinary power at the place it is sung in the piece in performance, and the voice and solo violin lines are sublime. The Suzuki recording of it (BIS "highlights"disc) is one of the audition pieces I listen to on equipment (as I did for the ADM's and the sub) and Robin Blaze is very fine.
Found this
"For me, the emotional high point is the aria "Erbarme dich" with the violin solo weeping away with the mezzo. It's just one of the finest arias ever written."
– Nicholas McGegan,
Sorry, not tried to look on You tube, I think the music deserves the best reproduction.
Stephen
p.s. - posters on HDD don't often make reference to classical music, but I'd like to know the pros and cons of iTunes for large collections and multi CD recordings (it will take a lot to re-assure me I should get rid of my shelf yards of the physical disks). Any other mainly classical forum members out there, especially with larger collections?
I love Classical Music and have 200 Gig stored on my Mini as well as quite bit in the Cloud. I agree on the Bach too, but if you try importing a few CDs into iTunes, you'll need to edit the way it is listed or accept and enjoy Apple's pop music approach.
I haven't had a CD player for five years now and wouldn't go back.
As you're on the topic of classical music, I'm sure I remember a very good website that had detailed reviews of a huge amount of versions of everything, with some comparison/recommendations between the versions. Anybody know what that site is?
iTunes is totally unsuitable for classical collections, especially large ones. You can torture yourself into complying with the Apple way, but the pain is too great.
I use JRiver Media Centre on the PC. It has a completely configurable database structure, so you can create your own categories and define the way they are displayed however you want. It is capable of handling very large databases well. My classical collection is not that big, 1200 albums, 304GB losslessly compressed, but it handles it well.
The programme is very actively developed (although most of the development is aimed at Video these days) and there is a very good forum with lots of knowledgable users who can help with the most arcane questions. I am not aware of any other music player that has the capability of cataloguing classical music well.
The main problem with classical music is that the publicly available catalogue databases are unreliable and inconsistent, so you are going to have to do a good deal of database editing, but that is going to be needed whatever player you use.
I'm a fan of the 6 'cello suites, for a sample try the bourees from number 4.
Billt -
Agree the Cellos suites too - there is so much, no wonder musicians regard Bach as just pre-eminent, above all others.
As I suspected - it seems administering all my music could absorb a large amount of time. (CD's are shallow shelves and I think I'll compromise by keeping them (building more in a functional storage area) - so some time will be spent on physical indexing and replacing (which is preferable (bending and stretching) as I already spend far too long in front of a computer at work all day) and using a player - I suppose I'll take forward use of iTunes for compatibility(have added a few CDs, just bought my third track !) - for music I want to sync to an Ipod touch and or play at the moment. So the idea is it will be what I am playing at the moment, and I'll use playlists to categrise that. And I'll try an AEX I got from the refurb store at some point.
I've started to acquire some good value downloads (Hyperion offers (+ prepay discount) also the Classical shop is doing a monthly free download and hourly half price offers) and I'm storing those as FLAC as I want an independant format which I will copy into the player for current playing. I also have a reservation as to tying the music I have to any particular format or company - looking over the long term I trust my CDs, vinyl and Hard Disks will be there, but I don't want to be at the mercy of the commercial decisions of anyone - Windows, Sony or Apple. (Bit like putting all my music on the Phillips digital cassette - where would I be now if I'd done that?). I know there is no 100% safe haven (applies to FLAC too) but I'll watch out for any better "archive" format for back up HDDs, as time goes on. I'm not ruling out iTunes in the cloud if it will take up the FLAC imports for music I have only ever had as a file.
When I get some more time I'm not ruling out J River but I don't have much spare time and I either want to listen to or make** the music (I'm as keen on opera in performance as I am on
the dizzy heights of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart's most "intellectual" works) .
**No special claims here, I'm a singer in a choir, not an instrumentalist and not a professional.
MCLOG -
At the moment I can only think of the website for "The Gramophone" - have to register (I subscribe to the magazine, at the moment, so not sure how they give access). They have copied their editions back into the 1920's (I think that far back) and leaving out the last 5-7-10 years the reviews were comparative and authoritative. And a search of the right kind there will turn up the reviews. I won't elaborate on what seems is the recent trend of far less comparison but they do run features each month comparing all the recordings of a piece (a la Radio 3 Building a library) - hope this isn't teaching you to suck eggs !
I'd like to discuss some matters of interest to classical collectors but unfortunately this week is the worst of timing - my Internet broadband has been down (think it's the router, just got limited service back) Im extremely busy with work (independant system, not for private use), and I have to ramp up my phonetic Russian pronunciation for the Rachmaninov Vespers which I am singing tomorrow.
So if you'll forgive me I probably won't be able to add anything to any discussion until Sunday or Monday. Sorry Rednaxela (and in respect of JS Bach's anniversary) for the thread drift. Perhaps one or some of us (regular/non- regular posters) could, at some point, start some classical collectors/users topics ?
Regards, Stephen
iTunes is totally unsuitable for classical collections, especially large ones. You can torture yourself into complying with the Apple way, but the pain is too great.
Well, it's just to put the disc into the computer, and in the very worst case choose between two different sets of online metadata. Or, if you buy from a web shop that only offers FLAC (do they still exist?) let XLD do the job after the download is complete...
I missed the Bach birthday — but I'll play his Coffee Cantata for Sunday breakfast. I've always wondered if this work proves that Bach had a sense of humor, or if he was just fooled by the librettist to think he was writing a piece of moralism...
I don't think you need worry about AAC or MP3 and, in my opinion, the goal is not be be computer dependant at all. I think many start as you have with FLACs, but they aren't necessary and they take a lot of space.
I'm doing lots of Dems and often to families, so use an Apple TV and the Cloud controlled by the handset it comes with. Anyone can use it and it's easy. Once the music has been selected the ATV scrolls all your photos across the screen in a mosaic, which people love, before the screen turns off until you select something else. I then move the another room with an AEX and use the iPad.
I don't like using computers if it can be avoided because most people would prefer not too. I have a 13" MacBook Pro too, which is a lovely thing, but not as nice to handle on a lap and not as slick as iOS for media.
I'm sorry If you've heard all this a million times over, but it does make a superb system and it avoids computers.
Ash
I've been intended to respond to this thread but Bach's song titles are not catchy, so I need to look in my cloud and check titles.
The track in my head was the second movement of the concerto for violin and oboe, BWV1060.
Thanks for the suggestions guys, great to see this thread taking off a bit. 
Billt, agree on the cello suites. (Though I must say I can only listen to one a session.) That bourree is lovely!
Stephen, the MP is probably my #1 favourite piece of classical music. I've attended about twelve performances now and it never fails to amaze me. So nice to hear you sing it yourself! When you'd click on my user name and then 'view latest posts' you'd find a couple of recent ones mentioning the work. (It's that time of the year again you know. )
T.B., I've never heard the coffee cantata actually. Time to work on that one, thanks!
Darren, terrific.
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