Start with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Every now and then I meet someone who says something like, “I want to listen to more classical music but I don’t know where to start.” It’s a common issue. Classical music can be intimidating to the uninitiated. 

Back in the 90s when I worked at the Sports Arena Tower Records, even the managers there didn’t know how to navigate the classical section. On classical recordings, there’s a composer, a conductor, an orchestra, sometimes a soloist, and then the unmemorable titles of the compositions such as Chopin *Etude Opus 25 No. 11*. How does that one go again and which pianist is best for Chopin? It’s tough.

For anyone wishing to start a classical listening habit, here are a few specific places to start. Specificity is important. Listening to the right recording of a masterpiece can make all the difference.

The best place to start a new classical music playlist is with *Scheherazade* by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Now, that isn’t an iconic name such as Beethoven or Mozart but Rimsky-Korsakov is a fantastic composer and *Scheherazade* is both exciting and beautiful in its musical description of 1001 Arabian Nights. 

The only recording to listen to is conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. There are other recordings of merit but this one has been the gold standard since it first came out in 1958. The sound quality of this early stereo recording is stunning.

The next step on a new classical journey is Ludwig Beethoven’s *Symphony No. 3: Eroica*. With its “Heroic” cognomen, this symphony is a turning point in the development of not just the symphony but in the transition between The Enlightenment and The Romantic Era. 

As and aside, Beethoven is considered to be the first Romantic. However, he remained a child of The Enlightenment to the very end. He chose a famous Enlightenment text for “The Ode to Joy” in his *Symphony No. 9*.

The recording of Beethoven’s *Symphony No. 3* is another early stereo offering from 1959. The conductor is the venerable German Otto Klemperer. Klemperer fled Germany in 1935 and reinstated his citizenship in 1954 but his musical life in the 1950s was based in London with The Philharmonia Orchestra.

What about Mozart? Shouldn’t he be included as a starting point? We can bring Mozart into it but Mozart is a reward for those who evolve their musical acumen. 

With that in mind, I’m going to say the final piece of music for a classical novitiate is *The Four Seasons* by Antonio Vivaldi. This is a masterpiece of The Baroque Age and is one of the most enduring pieces of music ever written. It has endured for a reason. It’s great music.

The recording to listen to features Christopher Warren-Green as both the violin soloist and the conductor. There are other recordings with more famous conductors and more famous violinists but this one strikes the ideal balance between soloist and orchestra.