Absolutely love it! Great pick. Yo Yo Ma has recorded the Bach suites 3 times. This one is my favourite!
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I agree with your point about people’s tastes being different Pete (in Swedish there is a lovely saying that “people’s tastes, like their bottoms, are split down the middle”) but don’t agree that that makes giving specific recommendations meaningless. I actually think that is what Ben is asking for (but if not please say so!).
So in that vein I will offer not just a recommendation but a whole list. @all2ofme You might like to work your way through this list which covers very many of the “essential” basics and see what you like and don’t like. This is a nice representative selection which will give you a great foundation to start moving forward with Pete’s approach and discovering more based on what you have learned about your own tastes. You will also recognise many of these tunes from films and commercials, which will hopefully provide you with some fun moments of recognition along the way.
PS If you do actually listen all the way through it you will also qualify for your scouts “Classical Appreciater” badge and no longer be allowed to refer to yourself as a “Classical Idiot”.
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Thanks, @struts001 and @PAR, and I hope @Leggie doesn’t mind the interruption. Fingers crossed it’s useful for them too.
All points taken gratefully, but it’s perhaps worth prodding a bit further around the “how to search” topic. There seems to be a real code to crack on what those in the know call a particular item.
Does it make more sense to lead with the composer’s name? The orchestra (or soloist/quartet etc.) involved? The conductor? And so on. Does ALL of this matter in most cases, and it’s just a matter of mashing all of it into the search field and finding the one you’re after from there?
There are things in your heads — I’m sure of it! — that mean you likely spend half the time searching that I do. You probably just don’t realise what the rest of us DON’T know.
It’s almost enough to drive me back into the arms of every other genre out there 
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The quick answer is “yes and no”.
All of these things do matter if you are searching for the exact version of the exact recording being recommended, but my personal opinion is that that is not really necessary at this stage. If I have understood you correctly you are primarily asking for recommendations of music, i.e. compositions. If recommending a composition I would generally want to recommend a specific recording that I personally think is a good one but that is secondary. As Pete says, there are not just multiple versions by different orchestras/soloists but even in many cases multiple versions by the same orchestras/soloists. Try searching for Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations (2 studio recordings and 4 or five live) or the Berlin Philharmonic’s Beethoven Symphonies (countless) for example!
But as I say, in the first instance it is the composition that is of Interest, in which case just searching on the name will suffice, e.g. “Goldberg” or “Beethoven 5th” or if you want a version by that orchestra/soloist just add their name to the search “Gould Goldberg” or “Berlin Beethoven 5th”. It only really gets complicated if you really want to make sure you are listening to a very specific version. The latter may be of interest if ultimate sound quality is important but I would argue it is relatively unimportant from a musical discovery perspective.
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I can’t guarantee that a specific set of search terms will be optimum for one search engine to another. I guess I can only talk about Qobuz and Mosaic.
I do not anticipate that my first go will always produce to goods. I will normally try to think of a combination of terms that may produce what I want. so, by example, lets say I am looking for Beethoven Symphony 5. If I just enter Beethoven this will produce too many matches. So I would probably enter Beethoven Symphony 5. This will also produce a lot of matches. Experienced listeners like me will probably not be searching for such popular work with dozens of versions without having some further idea to narrow the choices. Two ways I approach this.
I read Gramophone each month and , aside from the reviews, I also check the listings of monthly releases at the rear of the magazine ( other magazines exist of course). and the advertisements. So I might find that a new Beethoven 5th is released and want to hear it on Qobuz. Be aware that Qobuz allows you to enter mixed terms. However I know that I need to narrow the choice. It’s no good using just the orchestra to search as they may have recorded it many times. So to find the release I can enter the composer, work and artist in a short version ( Beethoven 5 , Smith) This is where experience comes into it. If I know, say, that the artist has only recorded the work once all I need to enter is Beethoven and artist surname. I will get several recordings match but only one 5th Symphony. So few enough in the Qobuz display to easily click on the cover image that Qobuz displays. However sometimes it does not work and I will think of another search term combination. For example Qobuz can search on record label, So my second try may be: Beethoven, artist, label.
Be more familair with Mosaic as for UpnP searches ( for example), Mosaic will allow various ways of searching MinimServer. Licensed MimServer also allows you to add new search terms.
My other tip is to use the Discover option on the home page of Qobuz making sure that you click only the Classical genre option. You will see " See All New Releases" in blue type. Click this three times and each time the list shown will expand. Then see what you fancy and click the heart icon. This will add it to your Favourites list. This list also appears automatically in Mosaic so the album is selectable for play. An easy way to manage the large number of new recordings each week.
There is no foolproof way. in the end. However the better you can narrow down what you want to find the easier it is. Putting in very general terms produces too many matches.
@struts001 posted whilst I was writing this so there is repetition for which I apologise. BTW, I like his idea of a list for you.
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I think the key is don’t overcomplicate it. Doing so will more likely hinder than help your journey of musical discovery. I have well over a hundred recordings of the Goldberg Variations. My favourite happens to be Ekaterina Dershavina’s, but you don’t have to listen to that particular one to figure out if you like the Goldbergs or not. Make it easy to start with and don’t sweat the details. That way you can learn the intricacies of classical search at the same pace you learn the repertoire. Just my opinion of course.
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Yeah. I was going about it from a totally different direction. I have very broad music tastes with classical being much a newer interest. I find much of the better music and everything else for that matter comes to me from less on the surface and more as i am more deeply immersed. With only piano and cello as a hint i default to my earlier recommendation with levin on piano and kashkashian on viola as it is well executed and very friendly to a lesser trained ear which invited me in. I still love it and have probably 4 copies on the shelf because ultimately someone says they love it and im happy to go to the shelf and give them a copy. A quartet that pete recommended to me a while back would have appealed to me less a few years ago because of style but i find that i listen to it quite often now. Fwiw
Good tip. Checking it out. I think that cello frequency range is particularly well replicated and the warmth is very appealing.
hi Ben,
I would add Jonathan (@Bauer) to your list of classical “followers” as he is, to my knowledge, the most prolific poster of classical music on this forum (in the What’s Spinning section). I have acquired many great recordings (and also fixed my Roon playback protocol) thanks to him.
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Richard, if I were in your current situation it might cause me to consider a few things:
a) finding some means to get educated in a history of “classical” music (so history, instrumentation, etc.) for example https://learningpath.org/articles/Free_Online_Music_History_and_Appreciation_Courses_from_Top_Universities.html
b) maybe getting a taste of it via local orchestras and chamber groups, etc.;
c) honing in on periods and/or composers that strike your fancy.
If you don’t already have a subscription to Qobuz or another service, that’s another means for sampling the enormous variety of composers and players of music of all kinds.
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for the info. I do have a qobuz subscription and I’m exploring classical music. My musical taste is changing over the years and I’m more into classical music now. For now my taste is limited to camber music which is not to chaotic. Love piano and cello and for time period I like baroque but modern as well.
This is a great place for getting some nice album tips.
Hi Richard, Did you check out the Faust/Melnikov Beethoven set I linked earlier? Did you like it? Not cello admittedly but if that can’t sell you on the violin I don’t know what will!
Hi @struts001 that is a very lovely album and part of my favorites sinds you posted it. Thanks. 
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Thanks, Richard and everyone else, for a discussion that has prompted me to contribute to this forum for the first time.
I agree with all of the suggestions above, but my best suggestion is to go to some concerts. Only there do we really see what the event our systems try to replicate is really about. We get the chance to see the musicians communicating with each other and the audience, the sheer dynamic range of a tutti or the rapt concentration of an audience focusing on a ppp solo. We are forced to put away all distractions and focus only on the performance. Sometimes (when it all comes together) we get the rare opportunity to “eavesdrop on genius”.
Try to find performances where you have checked via Qobuz that you will enjoy the main works, and with performers who at least have recording contracts.
I’m afraid you may then find your system and Qobuz a little disappointing (am I breaking a rule here?) The compression in the recording, room acoustics and the unconscious need to respect our neighbours will mean that we can’t recreate the same event at home even with “perfect” equipment, but don’t we all enjoy trying! At the same time, we can build the mental picture of a performance that really increases involvement with each recording.
Hope you enjoy the experience.
Andrew
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Hi @AndrewP, thanks for your contribution to this thread.
Agree on the part where you advise to go see classical music live.
I’m not really trying to pursue the live experience of classical music at home, don’t have the funds or perfect listening room. That’s why I’m looking for decent recorded chamber music. I don’t like big orchestras and besides that they sound like crap in my listening room. Compressed recordings on qobuz is something we got to life with and although I’m living in a crowded part of the Netherlands the house is detached so no neighbors to frustrate 
Richard
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Great points Andrew. For me that “recreating the live experience” is that last few percent of the journey, that I realise is probably an asymptote. You can get nearer and nearer and nearer (and it generally costs exponentially more!) but you never actually make it.
For me it is the difference between:
- sounds awful
- sounds OK but some significant flaws
- sounds good
- sounds really good!
- almost sounds like they are here
- I can almost fool myself that I am there
- wow, teleportation!
This is struts’s “seven ages of audiophile”. My last upgrade (most significantly a DRC filter) took me to a 5.8-ish. My latest upgrade (Vivaldi + darTZeel) takes me to a 6.0 on frequent occasions, albeit only briefly. To put that in context, I would rank the very best systems I have ever heard as a 6.2 or a 6.3.
But I (maybe foolishly) continue to pursue that mirage. My point being that without any sense of how live music sounds, levels 5 onwards become irrelevant because one has no yardstick to judge against.
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And if you’re going to listen to the Bach cello suites, you should also listen to the solo violin pieces. My favorite performances are by Szerying.
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