Let's say I'm off to buy a recording of Tchaikovsky's underrated 2nd Piano Concerto. The first page of an Amazon search result lists over 15 different recordings. And that's just the first page. How should I pick which recording to buy?
Reviews
Amazon reviews are the great go-to for product evaluation. Their value to companies has become such that websites are popping up that offer to publish positive reviews for a commission. Hopefully, however, this practice will not become widespread, because reviews are a useful way to guard yourself from making a dumb purchase. First, a few caveats:
Watch for fanboy reviews. They promise the moon; don't believe them. Dedicated fans aside, even the best reviewers may disagree with you. (They don't call them opinions for nothing.) Collective experience are, after all, more of a guide than a guarantee.
So reviews are a guide. What kind of guide if people disagree so vastly? I see reviews as a way to gather information, not to assign a value (4 stars, whatever) to whatever option I'm considering. The information, whether explicit or implicit, informs a careful buyer of relevant information:
Performer names
Recording date
Sound quality
Performance quality (tempo, interpretive decisions, voice types, etc)
Performance style (period, modern)
Most folks have read their share of Amazon reviews. To go the extra mile, purchase or borrow a guide that collects the opinions of a few writers on a vast number of recordings. My three recommendations are The Gramophone Guide, The Penguin Guide, and Classical Music: Third Ear. They are elitist, uneven, and out of date respectively, but should provide hours of pleasure to anyone who enjoys professional reviews.
CD Labels
As unfair as it seems, deciding between two recordings based on the CD label is often effective. More than in other genres, CD labels imply quality in classical music. When presented with a recording of Lakmé from Decca and one from a random CD company founded in 1993, which one are you going to buy? Probably the Decca one, everything else being equal.
I'm not saying big labels are always better. I'd much rather buy from the small BBC live label than from Sony. I recommend spending some time soaking in recordings from the library and learn which companies deliver their artists' performances most consistently.
In the mean time, here's my breakdown of the larger companies in Classical Music:
- EMI - The primary competitor to Universal. Loves to discontinue CDs and reissue them later.
- Virgin - EMI's bargain labels. Performances range from decent to superb
- Decca - One of the Universal labels. Robust sound, vast operatic catalog
- Deutsche Grammaphon - Another Universal label. Many superb instrumental recordings
- Phillips - Third Universal label. Smaller scope than Decca or DG; many lovely piano recordings
- Naxos - The bargain label, exclusively digital recordings; good to great performances for the price
- Marco Polo - Subsidiary of Naxos devoted to unknown music; decent sound, variable performances
- Chandos - Digital; typically top-of-the-line sound, but full price
- Hyperion - Digital; unparalleled sound, but full price
- Sony - Something about Sony rubs me the wrong way. A lot of DMR, ranging sound quality, I guess.
Some labels, such as Sterling, offer far smaller catalogs but at the same level of quality. Also, reliable labels such Unicorn are now defunct.
The above pertains primarily to studio recordings. Options shrink when you start looking for live performances. Occasionally, larger companies will release live performances (sometimes not very well. Looking at you, EMI). More often, you'll be confronted with labels that do nothing but reissue old tapes of live opera performances. In my search for everything Joan Sutherland, I've dealt with my share of live opera shame and regret. Here's my guide to the more common labels:
- Gala: Pretty reliable, usually generous enough to include bonus tracks from other performances. Good retail price.
- Bella Voce: Similar to Gala, bonus tracks and all. I've had a few duds, but my absolute favorite live recording was also issued by Bella Voce
- Opera d'Oro/Grand Tier: Shamelessly undiscerning in what it releases. Take reviews to heart before investing in Opera d'Oro recordings. It's "Grand Tier" sublabel, however, is excellent. Great sound quality, libretto, the whole nine yards
- Nuova Era: Dabbles in studio recordings as well. Usually great sound (for live performances)
- Opera Depot (independent website): Wide catalog with honest sound evaluations posted for each recording
Some truly outstanding labels have been created exclusively to tout live performances of particular musicians. An example is LSO Live, which splices together live performances with no audience noise and excellent sound (see Sir Colin Davis' late Berlioz recordings). Glyndebourne has created a similarly excellent line of older recordings with surprisingly good inhouse recordings and characteristically restrained British applause.
Experience
My last bit of advice is my favorite. Listen to your own tastes and experiences. No amount of reviews or new SACD releases are going to change what you love about music. My original experience with Classical music was with a 5-CD compilation featuring eastern European orchestras even more obscure than those appearing on the Naxos label. I loved listening to those CDs, but when I started reading The Penguin Guide and Amazon reviews, I assumed these enlightened people made my enjoyment of a Laserlight set ignorant.
Today, I can affirm that some of those performances were lackluster, but also that many of them were full of felicitous music-making. My point is, don't let people bash what you like. Are you a fan of Mstislav Rostropovich? Mady Mesplé? Leif Ove Andsnes? Don't let the haters destroy the joy you take in your musical experience.
Recognize those artists weaknesses, but enjoy their strengths. The vast majority of classical musicians who make it onto a commercially-marketed record deserve an ear, even if they don't make you entirely rethink Grieg's Piano Concerto.
I like analogue recordings, and have no qualms about buying them over digital. I prefer Joan Sutherland over Maria Callas, and Gilbert and Sullivan over Rodgers and Hammerstein (though I enjoy all of these). Desperate fanboys of the opposing faction will gasp and holler, but in the end, music is for enjoyment.
Don't let other people's pleasure stamp all over yours. Buy the recording that fits in with what you've enjoyed in the past. If I had followed that advice, I wouldn't have invested in Harnoncourt's avant-garde Slavonic Dances or Marriner's dry Barber of Seville.
To answer my original conundrum, I can narrow my choices down to a few options. I like complete editions, so I'll want a set that includes all of Tchaikovsky's works for Piano and Orchestra. I enjoy Mikhail Pletnev's work, but the reviews of the Donohoe set tell me the sound is warm, which I prefer. They're both bargain priced, and the Penguin Guide gives special recognition to the Donohoe set, so it seems worth a shot.
I hope all this helps the reader who wants to become a more active collector of Classical Music, opera or otherwise. May you find many bargains and many more hours of happy listening.
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