Presbyterian College > Academic Web Server > Jon Bell > Classical Music

What Do I Listen To?

I'll listen to just about anything that's labeled "classical music", but I tend to concentrate on the following areas:

• Finnish composers, from Sibelius onwards
• Other Scandinavian and Baltic composers
• Early American composers (Paine, Chadwick, etc.)
• Mid-20th century Americans (Hanson, Copland, Diamond, etc.)
• Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
• Anything recorded by the Cleveland Orchestra
• Anything recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Some Links

This list is not intended to be comprehensive... just a few links that I have found useful, to sites that have some connection with classical music.

• Dave Lampson's wonderful Classical Net, which has lots of information about classical music, and links to lots of other related Web sites.

• H&B Recordings Direct: one of my favorite places for ordering classical music CD's by mail. Their prices aren't the very lowest, but they can get just about anything for you, no matter how obscure.

• Berkshire Record Outlet is a good place to look for bargains in recordings that have been deleted from manufacturers' or distributors' catalogs, or overstocked. If you're a "serious record collector," shopping here can be addictive.

• MDT in the UK is a good place to buy recordings that are available in Europe but not in the US.

• BIS is a Swedish record company that has traditionally focused on Scandinavian composers and performers, although they have branched out in recent years to cover other areas. Their productions are high quality and generally well worth the premium price (usually $15-$19 depending on where you buy them).

• Ondine is a Finnish record company that has released many recordings of Finnish music, most notably the contemporary composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, who is possibly Finland's best-known composer since Sibelius.

• Naxos is a budget label that has developed into one of the major players in the classical recording business in the 1990s. Many of their recordings could easily compete at full price against recordings by major labels. I especially like their current American Classics project, which is covering many American composers (from the 1800s until the present) who have never or seldom been recorded before.

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