The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection: The 350 Essential Works

by Ted Libbey

Book Overview

Berlioz. Vaughan Williams. Schubert and Schumann. Mozart after the Jupiter Symphony, Bach beyond the Brandenburg Concertos, opera after The Magic Flute. In his informed and indispensible guide with over 157,000 copies in print, National Public Radio's Ted Libbey takes listeners by the hand through the classical repertory to build a music library. For the second edition, with five years of new performances to consider, five years of new releases to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761104879
• ISBN13: 9780761104872
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Workman Publishing
• Length: 536 Pages
• Weight: 1.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

My guide for 9 years

In 1994 I sought a guide for building my collection. I bought the first edition, and promised myself to acquire a copy of every work listed, over a leisurely span of seven to nine years. I continued the process with the second edition. Yesterday (8/18/03), I acquired the last CD. This book has been my "goodie list" for the last nine years, as I searched online and in stores/ basements/ shelves for what has been the most protracted and immensely enjoyable musical scavenger hunt of my life. My issues are dog eared, thumbworn, scrawled with across with notes, sprouting Post-It notes, and a personal source of immense pride and happiness. I trusted this book to lead me and my pockebook. Now I look at and listen to my collection as I reread Mr. Libbey's text. One day, I hope my children will do the same. Thanks, Mr. Libbey, for providing me the blueprint that I followed, word for word, as I built my classical musical hierloom.

A Guide to the Greats

Ted Libbey, of NPR fame, is a compelling guide to the 350 "essential" works of classical music presented in this book. Not only does he provide a convincing listing of the basic canon and recommended recordings to go with it, but he also supplies a wealth of absorbing anecdotal information to liven up the proceedings. For example, I had always been impressed by the mood of suspense and foreboding conjured up by the first movement of Mozart's C Minor Piano Concerto (K. 491); Mr. Libbey reproduces the "grotesque face" that the composer drew on the mansucript to show that Mozart felt the same way. The musical works in the book are grouped in six sections: orchestral works, concertos, chamber music, solo keyboard works, sacred and choral music and finally opera. I must admit that I have been strongly influenced by this book when beginning my own explorations of chamber music and solo piano pieces, and I am convinced that "The NPR Guide" will prove equally useful to other readers interested in classical music.

Bravo, Ted!

This is a terrific guide - extraordinarily well-written and beautifully presented - that will appeal equally well to the classical music beginner, the intermediate, and also to those who consider themselves "experts" in the classical music listening field. Ted's insight into the music, and to those who have composed and performed it, is astounding, and delivered to the reader in a narrative style that is, like his radio commentary, as warm and down to earth as it is eloquent and well-informed. Rarely has anyone in the field matched Ted's gift for being able to discuss the "rarified air" of classical music in such a natural and appealing manner without crossing that dreaded line into expert snobbery and snootiness.This new edition has been expanded to feature 350 Essential Works (up from 300), and also includes several interesting new sections designed to augment the recommended recordings while providing additional advice and insight to those starting to build, and to those continuing to expand, their classical music library. While any "Essential Works" collection in any field of endeavor will, by definition, be exclusionary and therefore leave itself open to debate (try ranking the greatest baseball players of all time, for example, or the finest works of art), Ted has done a truly thoughtful and admirable job in making his selections. No doubt he could have picked 500 Essential Works, or even 1000, to cover all the bases and insure that everyone's personal favorites were included. But then the book wouldn't be nearly as interesting, and it would also weigh a ton when you lay in bed reading it.

Recommendations from the experts

An outstanding guide to building a classical CD collection.As a classical music collector and a listener of public radio, I find this guide to be very essential,even for those who already have a CD collection.The book is in six chapters:Chapter one tells about music for orchestra,chapter two about concertos,chapter three on chamber music, chapter four on solo keyboard work on chapters five and six Mr.Libbey tells about vocal works,including, sacred music, secular choral music,and opera by various composers of different times.Mr.Libbey also offers great details about each work that he tells about. The book also has funny illustrations about composers and performers and about circumstances sorrounding certain compositions.My favourite is the illustration of the violinist where Mr.Libbey explains about Beethoven`s Razumosvsky quartet #1 on page 305,the chapter about chamber music. The book also shows pictures of composers, performers,and conductors.This book is of great value and help for classical music lovers everywhere.Mr.Libbey you did a marvelous job. Thanks for this great guide.A five stars indeed!