Originally posted by: Vertimus
Originally posted by: Descartes
Holy hell that's a lot. I have a few thousand, at least; I've never really counted. I have probably 50 actual CDs and who knows how many mp3s.
BTW, I watched Mitsuko Uchida perform 2 Mozart Piano Concertos last week and I'll be watching Itzhak Perlman perform a couple Beethoven and Mozart violin concertos/sonatas this coming Wednesday

I also saw 5 of Beethoven's String Quartets performed on last Sunday and Monday.
Where do you live? Perlman never comes up to Minnesota. I guess it's too cold
Plus, the tickets are like way out of my parents budget range.
Yeah, the tickets are a little expensive. I was lucky enough to get the front row in the orchestra section, but depending on the performance (quartet vs. a piano concerto, for example) I might instead sit on the balcony so I get a better view of the pianist, orchestra, etc.
I'm in Cleveland, but I don't really live here; I'm just here on business and I have a home elsewhere. I was lucky enough to see Itzhak perform in my hometown of Tulsa a few years ago as well. One of my favorite violinists is Gil Shaham, but I haven't had the opportunity to see him perform yet. Have you heard him play? It's incredible.
What's your favorite period? I'm endlessly fascinated by the concerto, and especially Mozart's work with the piano concertos. I probably prefer the later baroque to the early Romantic. I'm listening to Beethoven's Missa Solemnis right now...
Baroque: I enjoy bach much, with his chamber works (brandenburg, violin concerti, etc) and solo works (preludes, fugues, WTC, suites). I don't like handel and vivaldi as much.
I love Vivaldi's violin concertos, but then I tend to be a fan of Corelli as well; some of his "Concerto Grossi" are fantastic, imo.
Classical: Out of beethoven's some 130 opuses, I pratically enjoy every single one. I prefer some of Mozart's later works, espesially piano concertos.
I agree. I got to see Beethoven's 1st and 5th piano concertos (the 5th is probably my favorite, but something about Beethoven's earlier style as expressed in the 1st intrigues me) performed a few months ago by Radu Lupu, and wow... what a gift it was. If you listen to all of Beethoven's piano concertos it's interesting to see how his style developers; it seems to go from almost a confused Mozartian style to his own, and incredible it is, imo.
What's your favorite Mozart piano concerto? I have a hard time suggesting favorites, but I love the 20th, 21st, and 23rd. The 2nd and 3rd movement to his 23rd is just great.
I also love Haydn's quartets, many of his symphonies, piano concertos (Piano concerto in D Major being my favorite; sorry, forgot the opus).
Romantic: I also am a big fan of concertos. As I said before, I've got 20 some recordings of the rach3. The only things I don't like are probably 1. wagner and 2. tasteless orchestral works like some of those by strauss. Other than that, I like pretty much everything.
I'm a little light on my appreciation of the Romantic outside of Chopin, Liszt and Rach. I've never really developed an appreciation for Wagner.
Do you play? I play the piano and violin (a little less of the violin lately, unfortunately), but I took a different career path when I was younger; unfortunately, classical music is the only thing that I truly love.
This is a great book on the style of the classical period; it covers heavily Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. It discusses the forms developed (sonata, concerto, etc.) both in qualitative and quantitative (music theory) aspects. Good read if you have spare cycles
Sorry, this got long!