I came very early to Tchaikovsky, we had the violin concert at home (78 lp) and we studied at college Capriccio Italien, so when I was around 17-18 I bought all his symphonies and really liked no 2, 5 and the 6th. And then of course Ouverture 1812 and Slavic March. Then the Piano Concert no1 and the Manfred Symphony.
Also I loved the Balllets; Swanlake, Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty.
Much later I discovered Andante Cantabile, which is a jewel by itself.
Once I came to Mussorgsky I explored his other works and soon came to the more or less complete repertoire sung by Nesterenko; Here hos recording of Songs and Dances of Death.
Next is an excellent performance of Savishna and here you can see that not only the composer, but also the performer can bring forth the ability to empathize with other people
Here the Song and Dances of Death by Galina Vishnevskaya with Rostrapovich on Piano.
Shostakovitch really appreciated Mussorgsky and orchestrated the cycle in an excellent way. Also sung by Galina Vishnevskaya
Here the last two songs from the same cycle sung by Dmitry Hvorostovsky.
Next ; Cradle Song, Magpie Whitesides Night, Where Art Thou, Little Star, Street The Urchin aka Ragamuffin Yarema's Song aka On the Dnieper; Galina Vishnevskaya Russian State Symphony Orchestra Igor Markevitch
Then there is another song cycle called Sunless, which is rather 'Dostoevskian' and the melody is very subtle. Also sung by Galina Vishnevskay
And then there is the song cycle called the Nursery, which is very original.
I know very well the excellent version by Boris Christoff, but can't find it at the moment, so here an old version
And here a recent version
Then there are plenty of other songs which I will present in due time
My first encounter with Pentangle was the LP Basket of Light which my friend had, but it was only later that I really appreciated it and then slowly collected all their albums, even some of them much later in my life.
My favorites were the songs Sweet Child (From Sweet Child) and Once I had a Sweetheart (From Basket of Light)
Only recently I discovered Janine Jansen. She really make a performance worthwhile and it becomes an event.
All young violinist start with Mozart and Bach, but sooner or later they they find there own way or pick out particular aspects of Bach and Mozart.
Here below her Bach Album with all the violin concerts
How do I come to the Kinks? And to Ray Davies? And to the song 20th Century Man and so the title of my blog
Apart from hearing their hits in the sixties, one of my friends was a real fan around the time of their album Arthur. It was only when visited my ex-girl friend that when they (she with her new boyfriend) were out that I went through their music and discovered Muswell Hillbillies and I really liked it.
Even then it was only when I was in England that I started to really appreciate not only the music, but their texts and their message etc. That was around the time of Sleepwalker, Misfits etc.
After they stopped, Ray Davies went on with Storyteller in which he tells the story of the Kinks and I went to see it two or three times. It is an interesting story, and intimate and at the same time fun.
After that a few more solo albums which show very much all where the Kinks were about.
Also Mussorgksy I came to know around the time when a friend of mine gave me the biography of Galina Vishnevskaya. If it was because of the book I can't remember, as I was then in the "Russian" phase. (My second one)
Once Ihad the film produced by Nupend about Ashkenazy, where he performed the piano version and the original orchestral version and was interviewed at the same time; Alas videos are out of date!
Anyway here a piano version by Ashkenazy in three parts.
