After Bach organ music and big chorus with Handel, after Stravinsky and Shostakovich, I thought I'd post something smaller, perhaps something more traditional in the Classical world. So here's a string quartet. 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello.

It's Beethoven but it is not 'traditional Beethoven.' This is music he was afraid to publish or have performed because he thought his friends would not understand it -- and they didn't. To me this is music from the future from 1826 when he wrote it, among his final works before his death. Having heard it, Schubert supposedly said: "After this, what is left for us to write?" Along with B's Opus 127 it has a "grandeur ... which no words can express. They seem to me to stand ... on the extreme boundary of all that has hitherto been attained by human art and imagination." (ref) This could easily be 20th Century music.

Here's the video: https://youtu.be/Saee3Kc8dQA

This is by the Végh Quartet, Hungarians, on the Valois label: cmb 83, recorded 1972-74. Founded by Sandor Végh in 1940. It is part of a 10-LP box set of Beethoven's late string quartets. I won't say it is the best because there are a few other fine recordings of these works, but it is one of the best. The box set in vinyl is still available and I think it is on CD as well. The works also can be purchased individually.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5279

Végh Quartet, Valois cmb 83
Beethoven
Quartet No. 14
Opus 131
V.Presto
VI. Adagio Quasi Un Poco Andante (~5:43)
VII. Allegro (~7:52)

Someone wanted to hear something modern. I don't generally listen to pop but here is rather unique offering.
Three tunes from the two-person group Musica Nuda.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5772

Double bassist Ferrucio Spinetti and soprano Petra Magoni team up on their LP Musica Nuda [Fonè ‎– 8012871010615 ] to offer jazzy covers of popular songs sung in English and Italian. Given the instrumentation, the music is very sparse and the combination of different tonalities is, well, different. The recording thrusts at you, and the JBL Lamm system conveys its raw immediacy and naturalness with open-eared clarity.

Magoni’s voice is raucous and rangy and Spinetti’s classical training belies an inventive spontaneity that runs all over the octaves. Several tunes, such as the group’s covers of "Roxanne" and "Eleanor Rigby," feature Spinetti’s martelé technique of punching or hammering a string with his bow. Near the end of "Guarda che Luna," Ms. Magoni demonstrates incredible breath control as her voice jumps octaves instantly, pulling notes into the ether for what seemed like eternity.

Here are Eleanor Rigby, Roxanne and Guarda che Luna.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkd72jPiRn4

Back to big classical...

Here is one of the most famous symphonies in the classical world, Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Opus 67 in C-minor. Performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the iron fist of Hungarian-American conductor Fritz Reiner. This recording was made in August 1959 - a time when the Chicago orchestra was at its peak and had what was likely the best collection of horn players in the world.

The video here is from an original RCA Shaded Dog, (LSC-2343). The LP was made in Chicago's Orchestra Hall, engineered by Lewis Layton and produced by Richard Mohr.

The opening movement is dramatic and often characterized as "Fate knocking at the door.." The video covers the entire 1st Movement.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5776

Video: https://youtu.be/NvWjnF7AuFM

Belated congratulations! From the Mahler 2, Beethoven 5, and Shostakovich 8 videos, it is clear that the system sounds like it truly puts you into the performance physically and emotionally. I could not play the Bach organ video...YT states it is "private".

Thank you very much for your kind remarks. I'm happy you can get a sense of that from the youtube video. The in-room experience is compelling. My goal is large orchestral which I personally consider among the most challenging full-range music for a home stereo. Try the Bach Toccata & Fugue again - if it still doesn't play for you, please send me a PM. I'm still new to the youtube video settings.

Very rarely do I listen to folk music but I bought this album a few years back and do enjoy the song writing.

The Harrow & the Harvest was released in 2011 by the songwriting team of Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. It was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category. On the Acony label: ACNY-1109. It is on digital as well.

A harrow is a farm implement for breaking up clods of dirt. Gillian Welch is from Manhatten New York.

The following selection, written by Welch, is pretty straightforward pickin' and strummin' acoustic music without post production artifice. The lyrics are different. Several cool songs on this album - check it out.

That's the Way that it Goes.

https://youtu.be/bZPaASAXY_k

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5818

Haven't made a post here for a while. A brief JBL foray outside my usual classical - got a couple of late '60s rockers for you recorded in my room with my phone. These sound a lot better than some contemporary rock I've heard, but that's just my preference. Great horns and bass - ha! - Wagner might have liked these.

Highly advisable to turn it up. ;-)

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5855

Blood, Sweat & Tears: Spinning Wheel: https://youtu.be/f9FuvhFeiPQ?si=_WDxSM4Lixdvgsya
Columbia CS 9720

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5853

Cchicago II: 25 or 6 2 4 https://youtu.be/nvNWcBeWLyA?si=YShBMPugQOlN6j9U
Columbia KGP 24

Here is a classical music classic. Scheherazade with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakoff in 1888 and inspired by the Tales of the Arabian Nights.

R-K wrote a brief introduction to the work:

The Sultan Schakhriar, convinced that all women are false and faithless, vowed to put to death each of his wives after the first nuptial night. But the Sultana Scheherazade saved her life by entertaining her lord with fascinating tales, told seriatim, for a thousand and one nights. The Sultan, consumed with curiosity, postponed from day to day the execution of his wife, and finally repudiated his bloody vow entirely. ref

Recorded with my phone in my room, here is the finale, part IV: Festival In Bagdad; The Sea; The Ship Goes To Pieces On A Rock Surmounted By A Bronze Warrior

https://youtu.be/lHSFS1Yh9R0?si=hD8rb6OkTcZ2U3Ra

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5883

Here is Siegfried's Funeral March from the newly reissued box set (3 LPs) "Klemperer Conducts Wagner" on Warner Classics (5419757987). It's nice to have this music on new clean Lps. Recorded with my phone in my listening room.

https://i.discogs.com/ONN0ew1bewi91S...wNy5qcGVn.jpeg

As the final piece in Wagner's epic Ring Cycle, Götterdämmerung (Ragnorak) is a depiction of the burning, flooding, and renewal of the world. It's gravitas music meant for volume, and I use it to assess my room’s acoustic integrity while listening for congestion or distortion.

Wagner’s orchestration for Siegfried's Funeral March in Götterdämmerung includes: three tenor trombones, one bass trombone, four Wagner tubas, one contrabass tuba, three trumpets, one bass trumpet, and four horns. There are also 2 harps - in my room, in the full face of it all, the harps come through. What you will hear depends on your playback -- phones and laptop speakers won't give you the experience.

Let's just call this what it is: power music. Some say Klemperer is the greatest Wagner conductor yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iok5nJ0JKHQ

I made a few more videos ...

If you are a classical music lover, you probably know Jan Sibelius' Violin Concerto, and chances are you know it through Jascha Heifetz's magnificent Shaded Dog performance -- he is the Master.

And yet, there are others. Here is the 3rd Movement (finale) performed by Ida Haendel with Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on EMI ASD 3199.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/pict...pictureid=5962

The video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/zWTd7WNijfE?si=rGn85Xkp1JqPUs_u

Ida is very good!