Recordings that opened a door?
Posted by: u5227470736789439 on 13 March 2010
I thought about this a few days ago, and wanted to make it inclusive, and avoid a classics only approach.
So two parallel questions perhaps.
Which recording has introduced you to enjoyment of a group that you knew of before but did not actually understand or like much?
And for the classicists - which record has unlocked a piece that you knew, but did not quite comprehend or like much?
For me there have been a few. Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto in B flat. Known for thirty years before I bought the recording that Solomon Cutner made in 1955, and this opened the work up for me, and the other recordings I had then made perfect sense as well after that!
Another was Helmut Walcha's recording of Bach's "Art Of Fugue," which served to remove the element of terrifying severity, which previous recordings I had listened to seemed to bring out for me. Strangely once I had digested the Walcha performance, all the others made sense as well!
So please mention recordings which have opened doors to love and a sense of understanding for music previously known and not so well loved, be it which, for example, AC/DC recording made you love the band, or which classical recording brought you to loving the work contained, in a similar way ...
ATB from George
PS: This has happened to me this week with Dinu Lipati's recording of 14 Chopin Waltzes. I knew them before, but re-acquainting myself with them via Lipati's recording has brought with the confrontation a tremendous pleasure!
So two parallel questions perhaps.
Which recording has introduced you to enjoyment of a group that you knew of before but did not actually understand or like much?
And for the classicists - which record has unlocked a piece that you knew, but did not quite comprehend or like much?
For me there have been a few. Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto in B flat. Known for thirty years before I bought the recording that Solomon Cutner made in 1955, and this opened the work up for me, and the other recordings I had then made perfect sense as well after that!
Another was Helmut Walcha's recording of Bach's "Art Of Fugue," which served to remove the element of terrifying severity, which previous recordings I had listened to seemed to bring out for me. Strangely once I had digested the Walcha performance, all the others made sense as well!
So please mention recordings which have opened doors to love and a sense of understanding for music previously known and not so well loved, be it which, for example, AC/DC recording made you love the band, or which classical recording brought you to loving the work contained, in a similar way ...
ATB from George
PS: This has happened to me this week with Dinu Lipati's recording of 14 Chopin Waltzes. I knew them before, but re-acquainting myself with them via Lipati's recording has brought with the confrontation a tremendous pleasure!
Three immediately spring to mind:
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Introduced me, at the tender age of nine, to the vast range of pop and rock music beyond the charts. From there, it was a short hop to the likes of Todd Rundgren, The Fall, Talking Heads, Steely Dan, etc. The passion for music this album stirred will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Bach - Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (played by Grumiaux)
Listening to this in the dark, night after night, for weeks on end, cemented my love of Bach, and encouraged me to explore classical music more widely. To borrow a term from another thread, I felt that I understood "pure" music for the first time - music stripped of all the incidsental effects (of loudness, instrumental timbre, and the like) after immersion in these works.
Jimmy Giuffre - 1961
Getting into jazz was a much more gradual process for me. Like many pop/rock fans, I enjoyed "Kind of Blue" but found making further headway very difficult. This ECM reissue of a couple of classic Giuffre albums kept the door open. I bought it after a friend dragged me to see the classic trio of Giuffre, Bley and Swallow when they "reformed" in the late 80s. What a great stroke of fortune that was! I was intrigued enough to buy this double CD after the concert, and it kept my interest in jazz alive. It's one of my desert island discs.
There are other albums that opened up new vistas, but these are the main ones for me.
I haven't heard Tubular Bells for years, but I still play the other two regularly.
Regards
Nigel
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Introduced me, at the tender age of nine, to the vast range of pop and rock music beyond the charts. From there, it was a short hop to the likes of Todd Rundgren, The Fall, Talking Heads, Steely Dan, etc. The passion for music this album stirred will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Bach - Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (played by Grumiaux)
Listening to this in the dark, night after night, for weeks on end, cemented my love of Bach, and encouraged me to explore classical music more widely. To borrow a term from another thread, I felt that I understood "pure" music for the first time - music stripped of all the incidsental effects (of loudness, instrumental timbre, and the like) after immersion in these works.
Jimmy Giuffre - 1961
Getting into jazz was a much more gradual process for me. Like many pop/rock fans, I enjoyed "Kind of Blue" but found making further headway very difficult. This ECM reissue of a couple of classic Giuffre albums kept the door open. I bought it after a friend dragged me to see the classic trio of Giuffre, Bley and Swallow when they "reformed" in the late 80s. What a great stroke of fortune that was! I was intrigued enough to buy this double CD after the concert, and it kept my interest in jazz alive. It's one of my desert island discs.
There are other albums that opened up new vistas, but these are the main ones for me.
I haven't heard Tubular Bells for years, but I still play the other two regularly.
Regards
Nigel
After KOB this was what got me into jazz:
As regards 'classical' music, it wasn't recorded works but going to The Proms. That was when it "clicked" for me.
steve
As regards 'classical' music, it wasn't recorded works but going to The Proms. That was when it "clicked" for me.
steve
This one opened up a whole new spectrum of music to me.
recommended by Fred Simon for which I am very grateful.
and this recommended by George when he was Fredrik
which opened my way into (some) classical music.
SJB
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan/Michael Brook: Night Song
The album that really opened my ears to a whole new world of music.
Bruce
For me it was hearing this for the first time. It suggested so many possibilities of folk and rock beyond the prototype metal I had heard previously.
For me this was unlike anything else from the 70's and struck a chord so deep that I worship the Analogue Synthesiser to this day. 
Dean...
Dean...
Well, I bought the follwing album about 18 months ago:
Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head
To me, they were just the very well known and successful band who sang "In my place". Then I heard "Politik" for the first time and, well, the door opened
Coldplay: A Rush of Blood to the Head
To me, they were just the very well known and successful band who sang "In my place". Then I heard "Politik" for the first time and, well, the door opened
Big impresion for me came with these albums. Still have my original copies on the black.
Jono
I first heard this in an English lesson of all things in the late 60s. My English teacher was quite 'progressive' (not in the musical sense) for the time as we often studied music lyrics rather than just dusty old poetry out of book.
He regularly invited us to bring in records to listen to and discuss and one of my classmates one day brought in 'It's A Beautiful Day'. This opened my ears to music beyond the charts and I soon found my self listening to Jefferson Airplane, Doors, Yes, Blodwyn Pig, King Crimson, Soft Machine, Warm Dust, Black Sabbath, Led Zep ........
I still play the album regularly after 40 years - I guess it became imprinted in my brain.
Peter Gabriel - Passion
Cleared the wax from my ears.