What do you consider your favorite classical music?

I started looking back on the works that I've written about here and I'm starting to doubt this whole experiment. Maybe it's where I find the albums, but with few exceptions, I don't think anything that I've found would make it on a Top 10 list.

I mean, there is Luciano Pavarotti's quasi- "Greatest Hits" album, which is a fun record. And the "Strauss Waltzes" has some classics on there. But the Brahms Symphony No. 1? I like it, but he knew he was no Beethoven. He was right, too. And the less I can say about Ravel's "Bolero," the better. (But I do like the album cover.)

So over the next couple of weeks I'm going to step it up a little bit. The aim is to find inexpensive classical music, right? So I'm going to write about records I found that are better than inexpensive: They're free.

To me, at least.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine -- and regular reader of this blog -- gave me about a half-dozen vintage classical albums, featuring the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn and some other big names.

But before I get into writing about that, let's open up the floor. This site has some top 10 lists of classical CDs. What would make your list? Discuss in the comments.

A full listen to "Benvenuto Cellini Overture" by Hector Berlioz

I am not an expert on the "fair use" doctrine in copyright law. That's why I only post snippets of the recordings I write about here. I don't believe in giving away music, but I would like to provide you, the reader, a chance to hear the records I find.

So barring the risk of a lawsuit, I figure I'll just post YouTube videos every now and then of pieces that I like. I couldn't find any videos of Charles Munch conducting the Paris Conservatory Orchestra (as I wrote about earlier), but in the video below you can listen to the entire "Benvenuto Cellini Overture." I wouldn't post "Bolero." I don't want to bore you.

Why are classical albums so cheap?

You're looking at $3 worth of music right here. 

The whole basis for this blog is the contention – supported by lots of inexpensive evidence – that it is possible to amass a respectable collection of classical music without going broke. Vinyl these days is inexpensive, if you know where to look. I’m not talking about the 180g records that new artists now release alongside their CDs. That’s a welcome marketing strategy, believe me, but I didn’t start this blog to write about new records.

My interest lies in the forgotten gems: albums that you can find in the $1 bin at a thrift store, yard sale or music store. Because if you search those bins, the only records available are:

1. lousy pop/rock/easy listening records; or
2. classical albums by the likes of Mozart, Brahms, Ravel and others.

This is not to say that classical music is inherently great and pop music is inherently bad. I love all kinds of music. But once you reach into the bargain bin, the choices seem to be reduced to the above. Given a choice between Ronnie Milsap and Leonard Bernstein, which would you choose?

Yeah, me too.

Part of it may lie in the ubiquity of classical recordings. For one thing, they’ve been around longer than rock ‘n’ roll albums, which only date to the 1950s. And the works of the great composers have been performed and recorded over and over again. So perhaps there’s a glut in classical music that doesn’t exist in later genres.

You could go your entire life without acquiring every recorded version of, say, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. But there are only so many versions of “London Calling” by The Clash, for instance, or “Abbey Road” by The Beatles. Record collectors are more willing to hold on to rock records – I suspect, based on no scientific evidence.

You know what they say: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. The upside is that classical albums are more accessible than pop, rock or jazz records – if you have a turntable. (Of course, you can still find bargain-basement classical CDs cheaper than some rock albums).

Since I’ve started this blog in January, I have spent maybe $20 on classical albums. At a respectable independent record shop, that will get you one copy of “Heaven is Whenever” by The Hold Steady and it won’t even buy you the reissue of “Exile on Main Street” by The Rolling Stones. In terms of both quantity and quality, music lovers get a better deal when they go with classical.

Other sites, like the excellent Classical Convert and Get Into Classical, explain why the genre is not just for snooty elitists. So I won’t do that here. But I maintain that if you want to acquire music cheaply, classical is the way to go. Then there’s the added benefit of getting to listen to great music.

In a later post I’ll explain how I get the music from my record player onto this blog, if you’re interested.

Charles Munch and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra: "Bolero"

Like the music or not, you have to admit the album cover's got style.

Proper classical critics never ask the juicy questions, like:

Who was a better French composer: Maurice Ravel or Hector Berlioz?

Luckily, I am not a proper classical critic and thus have no qualms about comparing the two composers, whose lives never overlapped. 

Berlioz, of course, is most famous for his “Symphonie Fantastique” and Ravel for works like “Bolero” and “Sheherezade.” The two men wrote in different styles, in different eras. It’s like comparing Alice Cooper to Mozart or something.

Maybe it’s unfair. But a comparison between Ravel and Berlioz seems inevitable, when the former’s “Bolero” is placed on the same album as two Berlioz overtures: “Corsair” and “Benvenuto Cellini.”

I have to admit – and this is no fault of the recording itself – “Bolero” doesn’t interest me much. Conductor Charles Munch and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra do what they can with limited material, playing the single melody from a single woodwind to a majestic finale with the full sound of the orchestra. But it takes a long time to get from point A to point B, and the journey doesn’t take enough interesting detours.

Again, I blame the source material; “Bolero” was written as a single melody, so conductors had to do what they could to stretch it to an appropriate length (in this case, just over 16 ½ minutes). Ravel may have been ahead of his time with this piece; I bet “Bolero” would make a great basis for an electronica piece.

Side two features the two Berlioz overtures, starting with “Benvenuto Cellini.” Both it and “Corsair” have greater range in mood, though both pieces are shorter than “Bolero.” That’s to be expected from an overture, I suppose, but both work well as stand-alone pieces. Here’s a sample from “Benvetnuto Cellini:”

Despite the scratchiness of the album, the songs are in pretty good shape. The strings stand out in particular on “Corsair,” which has a wonderfully playful bit featuring the strings and brass toward the end:

From what I can tell, this recording of “Bolero” by Charles Munch and the Paris Conservatory Orchestra dates to 1954, according to a University of California-Davis website detailing the orchestra’s chronology and discography. But it must have been recorded before then. Another website indicates Munch was conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra starting in 1949 and was conductor of the Paris Conservatory Orchestra from 1938 to 1946.

So I’m inclined to think this particular recording dates to before 1950, even if the packaging comes from later.

Finding copies is tough, unless you happen upon the LP, as I did. Amazon has several CDs and mp3s featuring “Bolero” with Munch as conductor. A British website has copies of Munch conducting the Paris Conservatory Orchestra on The Corsair Overture. But I would look for the vinyl copy if you’re really interested in this particular recording of these particular pieces.

In my opinion, it’s even suitable for framing.