Andre Rieu - His Top Ten Picks Of Classical Recordings
Ten of the greatest classical recordings, by Andre Rieu
By ANDRE RIEU, Violinist, conductor and composer
Last updated at 10:00 PM on 03rd April 2010
The conductor's top ten list includes Bach's Mass In B Minor to Beethovan's Pastoral Symphonies
Carl Orff's Carmina Burana
1. CARL ORFF: CARMINA BURANA
Conductor: Hermann Prey, Munich Radio Orchestra
Everyone knows this piece, or at least they know little bits of it from TV commercials and movies such as Excalibur. It's been in my life as far back as I can remember. Growing up with a father as classical conductor, music was always around us. Music was our food and drink. My father (Andre Rieu, Sr) would nominate a recording of the week and it would play always constantly. Carmina Burana was a regular choice. As I washed and prepared for school in the morning this music would waft around the house. It's not the most meaningful classical piece. You might say that it is a work of medieval nothingness. But that doesn't take away from the extraordinary power and beauty of it. Listen closely and it will take you into an imaginary world. It completely deserves its place in the international classic repertory and I can't see that it will ever lose its vast appeal. This version brings all the wonderful textures out of the music. I never get tired with it. Every time I hear it, I find it as exciting as the first time.
Ravel's Ma Mere L'oye
2. RAVEL: MA MERE L'OYE
Charles Dutoit, Montreal Symphony Orchestra
It should surprise no one that Ravel composed this piece with children in mind. It is music that connects with the child in us all. Even at the age of 60 I am still a child. That's what keeps me fascinated in this enchanting piece. It perfectly captures that sense of innocence and wonder we all feel at a young age. I am a natural dreamer and Ma Mère l'Oye appeals to the dreamer in me. When I'm listening to it I float o ff and nothing from the outside world can interfere with my listening pleasure. It's incredibly beautiful, and you are left in no doubt that Ravel was a genius. There are so many great recordings of this piece and they're impossible to choose between. I have opted for the Charles Dutoit version as it is the one I have listened to most. There are others as good, but none better. Every time I hear it I find something new to love about it. The older I get the younger it makes me feel.
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
3. STRAVINSKY: RITE OF SPRING
Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic
This is very special to me because I was actually born at the precise moment that my father was conducting the piece in a concert hall in Maastricht. It's so enormously popular now but we can never forget how controversial it was when first performed. At its Paris premiere in 1913 it caused a riot. The music was so revolutionary that the audience reacted by booing and fighting among themselves. It was because they had never heard anything like it. All these years later everybody seems to love it. It's still revolutionary but maybe people can hear the beauty in it now. That's true for myself. It's not the easiest music on the ears and it demands that you pay close attention to it. But I don't think you need to understand it intellectually to appreciate it. Maybe it helps to know a little of its controversial history. It's enough to lose yourself in the music. It might be popular now but it could never be described as a mainstream piece. It's never lost its power.
Beethoven's The Violin Concerto
4. BEETHOVEN: THE VIOLIN CONCERTO
Herman Krebbers
This music always makes me think of my father. He worked for the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra for 35 years. Every year the great Dutch violinist Herman Krebbers would come to Masstricht and would often play this concerto. He and my father had a kind of musical telepathy. They could glance at each other on stage and know what the other was thinking. To see them perform this piece together was mesmerising. Krebbers became one of my earliest teachers and has been a huge influence on me. Not only was he a brilliant violinist, he was a complete showman. He taught me how to involve an audience in a show. There are so many magnificent Beethoven pieces to choose from. Maybe I've chosen this because I'm a violinist. But this concerto is not part of my repertoire. I'm a di fferent kind of violinist. It means that I can listen to this piece without thinking how I would play it di fferently. I'm free to submit to the sheer beauty of the music.
5. BACH: MASS IN B MINOR
Karl Richter, Munich Bach Orchestra
Is there any music that goes deeper into the human soul? I can't think of any. I was ten years old when I first saw my father conduct this piece in concert. I attended all the rehearsals, then saw the concert in Maastricht. It left such an impression on me. I had a religious education when I was young and I always felt that Bach must have been deeply religious to compose such a piece, otherwise he could not have written it. It's hard to imagine even the most hardened atheist being unmoved by it. To enjoy this music, you just need to appreciate that you are alive in the universe. I have many other versions at home but the Richter version is the one I always reach for. It's the consummate recording in that it's the most subtle of them all. I would be tempted to say that this is the piece I would like played at my funeral. But I have decided not to have a funeral. I intend to donate my body to science and have no wish to be buried in a co n. When I finally go, there will be no funeral ceremony. I want people to have a party. I want them to dance and laugh and drink. While they are doing all that, hopefully they will think about me and remember how my music made people happy. That's all I ask for.
Herbert von Karajan conducting in 1989
Herbert von Karajan conducting in 1989
Beethoven's Pastoral Symphonies
6. BEETHOVAN: PASTORAL SYMPHONIES
Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic
I first heard this when I was a small child. As I listened I looked out at the garden and felt completely connected with nature. I can imagine that Beethoven's aim with this piece was to connect us all to nature. This music always made me think about the glory of the natural world. In my teenage years I realised that it also made me think about beautiful women. Now, when I walk in the fields around my castle in Maastricht with my wife and my dogs, this is the music I hear in my head. I don't think I'd be exaggerating if I was to say that this is the most beautiful music ever composed. Certainly it's difficult to imagine anything more beautiful or more moving than this. I'm simply in awe of it. When I sit down to compose, this is the music I have in my mind. Not that I could ever write anything so astonishing.
But, even to aim in the direction of the Pastoral Symphonies is a noble ambition. No composer has come so close to describing nature. This piece reminds me how much music means to me. In all truth I would die without music. It is in my breath, my blood, my bones.
Bernard Mahler's 4th Symphony
7. MAHLER: 4TH SYMPHONY
Bernard Haitink, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
I was ten when I discovered Mahler. My father went to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to conduct Mahler's 4th and took me along. I was seated just behind the orchestra and was swept away by the music. It was breathtaking. That's an evening I will never forget. With Mahler you get the sense that he's putting his whole life into a piece and that's especially true of the 4th where he's adding sounds that he has heard through his life. For me, Haitink is the ultimate Mahler conductor as he achieves a wonderful clarity in the work. He plays it like it should be played so that the themes are very clean but are carried by very intense emotion. I am an emotional man. I cry almost every day. And this music never fails to make me cry.
Richard Strauss's Vier Letzte Lieder
8. STRAUSS: VIER LETZTE LIEDER
George Szell, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Sung by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
This is the music that I fell in love to. I first met Marjorie, my wife, when I was 11 and she was 13. I was 24 when we properly got together. She was no stranger to classical music but I took great delight in introducing her to new pieces. One night at my home in Maastricht I sat her down and played this Schwarzkopf version of Vier Letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs). We wept all the way through it. The Jessye Norman version has become very popular in recent years but the Schwarzkopf version remains my favourite. With Norman, you are always aware that it is she who is singing. It's like you are too conscious of her performance. Schwarzkopf allows you to lose yourself in the music. I can't think of better music to fall in love to. This is music that makes you feel the unlimited possibilities of love and romance. Again, it's one of those pieces that many people have become aware of because of its use in popular culture. It is, of course, one of Chief Inspector Morse's favourites. If somebody only knows Four Last Songs through a television programme, I don't see any problem with that. Anyone who has a problem with that is an elitist. They are saying that they discovered this music before it was used in Inspector Morse. Who cares? Just enjoy it.
Amadeus Mozart
9. MOZART: COSI FAN TUTTE
Sir Georg Solti, Chamber Orchestra Of Europe. Sung by Renee Fleming, Anne Sofie Von Otter
I have many rich and indelible memories of this opera. My father conducted Cosiin Amsterdam and, as children, we attended most of the rehearsals and performances. I fell in love with it immediately and my passion for it has never dimmed. Growing up, Mozart was so important to me. In my late teens, all my friends loved the Beatles and Stones, and they would dress just like them. But I was different. I dressed like Mozart. Mozart completely opened his heart with this work. He put so much feeling into it, so much more than went into The Marriage Of Figaro or Don Giovanni. It could also be argued that this is Mozart's sexiest work. Certainly there have been periods in history when it was considered rather risqué. For anyone who has di fficulty appreciating opera, Cosi is a great way into it because it has such wonderful tunes and a compelling storyline that's very easy to understand.
Verdi's La Traviata
10. VERDI: LA TRAVIATA
Sir Georg Solti, Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Listening to this is like falling into Heaven. Really, it's that good. Just talking about La Traviata gives me goosebumps. It's no surprise that this has become such a popular opera. But it wasn't always that way. When I was growing up, Verdi's operas were considered rather lightweight. It was Wagner and Mozart who were considered the masters of opera. I could never understand this prejudice. Everybody can whistle these tunes and that is not something to despise, it's something to celebrate. I was ten when I first saw it performed. When I play the overture I always find myself thinking what a total genius Verdi was.
Interview by Jon Wilde
André Rieu's UK Tour starts on September 22 at The O2; tickets via andrerieu.com.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1262552/Ten-greatest-classical-recordings-Andre-Rieu.html#ixzz0kR0YznoX
Posted by Moderator Jeanine Ann at April 7, 2010 
Categories: UK United Kingdom, Articles-Interviews
Tags: Andre Rieu
Categories: UK United Kingdom, Articles-Interviews
Tags: Andre Rieu
How do I love thee Let me count the ways
Please someone tell me how lo ng a lanyard takes to come from Maastricht to Adelaide very annoying
Hi Libby, if you didn't order it priority mail it may take several weeks. Do you know how to go to the web site and check your order? Hugs
Hi Libby
I have ordered merchandise on 3 different occasions from Andre's site in Maastricht to Sydney regular air mail and took it took 1 week. Hope that helps
Christine
Hi Libby
I have ordered merchandise on 3 different occasions from Andre's site in Maastricht to Sydney regular air mail and each time the order only took 1 week to get here. Hope that helps
Christine
I thought this was very interesting reading, Andre's own choices & why he liked them. I like the music he chose but have not heard those particular recordings. It was an interesting thing he said about hearing a piece of music through a television program, and "what does it matter where you heard it, just enjoy it". I know a man who learned to appreciate classical music by watching Walt Disney's Fantasia, another by hearing an Elgar piece done by the cartoon characters of Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd. Enjoyment of music can be found in the most unexpected places. To enjoy it is enough. I think you can't go wrong with Beethoven or Mozart but there is so much beautiful music to be heard that it's a lifelong learning experience.Like with the pastorals, you get a certain visual in your mind, but sometimes that can be an individual picture too, like when I used to listen to Appalachian Spring's "Simple Gifts", I would "see" the flowers springing to life in the mountains, but someone once asked Copeland about it & he said he had not seen that when he wrote it because it was a dance, but maybe he should now be seeing it . so you never know what each person will see in a piece of music either. My aunt used to play a piano piece by Schumann called "colored leaves", which I always mentally saw tree leaves, only to find out later that the 'leaves" probably referred to album leaves, so I guess, as one fan put it before, "music is in the ear of the beholder". Andre says that the violin concerto is not in his repertoire & I understand his reason, but I have only heard him play it once & I thought he played it with the right feeling . And in my humble opinion, nobody does opera like Verdi! La Traviata is my personal favorite.
Hello Andre, what a wonderful selection of classical music. Wharever you play warms the heart and makes one feel good. We here in South Africa are waiting with bated breath for your performances and cannot wait till the end of the month.
It would be lovely if you could make a CD of these classicals, I am sure they will sell out like hot cakes.
May I take this opportunity of wishing you all a safe trip to SA and trust you will have a wonderful time here, as I am sure we will. Best wishes. Julia , Cape Town.
Hi Fans And friends Can anyone help me I am looking for the dvd of Christmas with Andre Rieu pal region2 or 0. With english subtitles. Hoping someone can help perhaps have a copy I can pay for Best wishes to everyone Jenny Sunny Isle of Wight England
i dont know who i ask as to the suggestion in the new compositions that andre would produce i watched years ago a film called dangerous moon light with anton walbrook he was playing on the piano the warsaw concerto i think that andre would make it sound fabulas