I’ve been getting some CD box sets lately. I Got the George Szell one, for example. That was after I purchased the Vladimir Ashkenazy one. We are talking about classical music, here. George Szell was a conductor who directed the Cleveland Symphonic Orchestra. Ashkenazy is a pianist who’s taste and interpretation happen to coincide a lot with mine.
Where I am going is there: although both of these sets contain pieces by other composers, the three big ones dominate the field. Here they are: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven. The work from these three has been done and redone by all the greats.
Now, of course, you get a lot of exception, that’s why I said maybe four. In orchestra, the fourth one could be Schubert or Haydn. For the piano, the fourth one is definitely Chopin. The polish pianist didn’t write much for orchestra, there are no symphonies in his output, for example.
You also get quite a bit of Wagner if you have a Symphonic orchestra. I haven’t dived into that composer just yet, but he’s very present in the collection. Honorable mention for Mahler or Dvorak: not people that belong among the big three, but still greatly represented. As for piano, I could say Liszt, Schubert (yes, I know, I mentioned him earlier as one of the big ones. Well, he happens to have composed quite a bit for the piano.) or Rachmaninoff.
Anyway, my point is this: the big three, to this day are played in overwhelming quantities compared to the others. I understand why: the audience demands it and orchestras have to eat, just like everybody else.
Now, for the super famous Beethoven symphonies, my favorite conductor is Gunter Wand, followed closely by Otto Klemperer. Check it out!
