The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection : The 350 Essential Works | 
 enlarge | Author: Ted Libbey
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $3.96
You Save: $11.99 (75%)
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Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 79144
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
Pages: 536
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.9
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0761104879
Dewey Decimal Number: 016.780266
UPC: 019628104878
EAN: 9780761104872
ASIN: 0761104879
Publication Date: September 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In his informed and indispensable guide, National Public Radio's Ted Libbey takes listeners by the hand through the classical repertory to build a music library. Now, five years after its original publication - with five years of new performances to consider, new releases to review. reissues to re-evaluate - Mr. Libbey has completely revised and updated the book. While sticking to the essential 300 works, there are now one-third new selections and reviews, and a 50% change in discography to keep all suggested CDs up-to-date. Berlioz. Vaughan Williams. Schubert and Schumann. Mozart after the Jupiter Symphony. Bach beyond the Brandenburg Concertos, opera after The Magic Flute - The NPR Guide will make every music lover's core collection complete.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 This Looks Great September 29, 2008
J. Samarin (Los Angeles, CA)
I have been collecting classical music for about five years now, and I know how challenging it is to pick what to add next (I'm still fairly new at this with a smaller collection, I can only imagine how hard it will be once I have a more substantial one). I typically rely on listening to a few classical stations online and locally, if I find a piece appealing I wait to hear what it is identified as, write it down then head over to gemm.com to see what kind of deal I can get. But after reading just the excerpt I have a feeling my strategy will change once I pick this book up. I will still head over to gemm, they really have just about the best prices around, and listen intently but will definitely take Mr. Libbey's suggestions and knowledge with me when looking to the next piece to add to my collection.
I can't wait to get my hands on this book!
 a good starting place June 7, 2008
T. Duffy
Ted Libbey's a really good guide for someone venturing into classical music without a lot of familiarity with the material. The book is put together pretty well, and Libbey's very knowledgeable and a good writer. His taste is broad, which is good for a reader whose tastes are developing. He tends to emphasize large orchestral works at the expense of chamber music and solo instrumental works, as well as at the expense of opera and sacred music (and he seems to have a bit of a preference for late Romantic works). But that's probably representative of the preferences of most classical music listeners, so it's okay for an introductory book like this. Anyone who develops interest in specific areas will need more than this book offers. But, in good introductory fashion, it provides a mix of music history, composer biographies, a bit of musicology, and some explanation of genres. Definitely a good place to start, and probably worth checking out even if you're fairly familiar with classical music
Learning from the educated February 15, 2008
Peter Chordas (Portland, OR USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am a huge classical music fan, always looking for that perfect recording and being most critical when it doesn't suit my taste. Even so, I had a lot to learn about composers and pieces of great music that I was unfamiliar with. It delights me to report that I have found most of what Ted Libbey has said about building a classical CD collection to be true. He offers a list well thought out; not just according to sales but more in terms of history and attention to detail. Since buying, reading, and rereading this book, I have increased my classical collection considerably. What I find most surprising is how often I agree with the selections and comments the author makes here. Obviously, not all of the time but more often than not, I find his selection to be worthy. I would love to make recommendations for more music to add to the list; such as Mendelssohn's "Songs without words." But the author himself mentioned his difficulty in limiting the list to just 350. I appreciate his insite and have learned a lot from this book. I highly recommend it.
Excellent attempt at the most difficult of tasks December 22, 2007
Charles E. Stevens
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It takes guts to write a book that attempts to identify the 350-or-so most important works and their best recordings out of the entire canon of classical music. On top of that, Libbey includes a countless number of interesting, informative, and entertaining commentaries of the pieces and their recordings as well as a number of lists to provide the reader with some ideas on how to start their classical music collection. Libbey does an excellent job of providing the information in a way that will neither intimidate the classical novice, nor insult the more experienced listener. As someone who considers himself somewhere in the middle between those two extremes, I appreciated Libbey's descriptions of the pieces as a guide to "what to listen for".
As a result of this book, I discovered a wide range of composers and compositions that I was not familiar with, and deepened my appreciation and understanding of the composers and works that I already knew. Some reviewers have criticized this book for spending too much time on X and leaving out Y, or for having a skimpy section of Z. While the comments are valid, one must recognize that they miss the forest for the trees. This book could be picked apart on the details, but that would miss the thoroughness and helpfulness of this book as a whole. I would give this book 4.5 stars if allowed, but given the difficult nature of the task before Libbey, I will round up and give him 5 stars. For the approximate price of one CD, this book contains an enormous wealth of information. My hat is off to Libbey's accomplishment!
One final note, while Amazon (and other sources) have the majority of the recordings listed in this book (if not all of them), don't forget that your local library often will have many of them as well. It does not hurt to sample some of the music first to see what suits your taste before spending money on the CD.
invaluable guide to classical and opera November 25, 2007
John Rhee (nyc)
An essential guide to the best recordings of the best classical and opera music. As there are literally hundreds of various recordings for each such music (combinations of singers, conductors, & orchestras), this guide saves hours of aggravation and misgivings while selecting the best recording to purchase, although you'll still want to decide for yourself which of the several recordings recommended.
This guide is not comprehensive, however, as some composers, such as Glazunov (for his Violin Concerto, I recommend Heifetz on RCA), are not included. Also, some recommended recordings, such as Kyung-Wha Chung / Dutoit's Tchaikovsky's and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto (single CD on London/Polygram), are no longer available (I had to resort to purchasing a licensed CD-R).
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