Welcome to The Basic Repertoire

NEW SITE COMING SOON!

Welcome to 2008! The site has been in need of a makeover for a while now. Soon the links will be directed mainly to Amazon.com. Each page has a product page at the bottom that will let you look up more information on each cd, read Amazon reviews, and even add the CD to your Amazon Shopping Cart. The move is due to the transient nature of Classical Releases from the major labels. Music goes out of print, get reissued, or combined into a compilation. At least now you will have the option to get a recording used if it is no longer available, or at least read the reviews, and possibly find the recording on another release. The site theme is also updated with a cleaner look and simpler navigation.

Since this site began many years ago, some of the recommended recordings are no longer available, so I am limiting most suggestions to the current in-print catalog. During the transition to the new site/design, the old site will still be up for you to view, and will probably be archived later for reference.

A new section with the Conductors is also being added to find performances from your favorite maestro.

CBS/SONY Great Performances Series

NEWS: Sony is releasing new issues in this series...read more

BasicRep.com gathers the best available CD releases of the Basic Repertoire with links to CDUniverse and Amazon.com. The Basic Repertoire a list of essential works by classical composers over the ages. These compositions are considered the best of the best, and they give a good example of musical styles and techniques, as well as displaying the talents of the various composers. Many of the composers, such as Bach, Strauss, Mozart and Chopin are familiar to most people. But there are also many essential works by other less well-known composers, from Mahler to Chabrier and Copland to Holst. You may recognize their music without knowing who was the composer.

The BasicRep.Com compositions range from the 16th Century up thru the 1950’s. There are a wide variety of forms the music takes, although symphonic pieces tend to be stressed more than chamber works or solo pieces. However, all of these works are important in building a well-rounded classical collection.
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