Opera virgins, choir nerds, teenagers who think classical music is profoundly uncool… We have you covered from every angle for classical music Christmas gifts. For more ideas, read the complete guide in the December issue of Limelight or consult our iPhone app of the 100 Greatest Classical Recordings ever reviewed in the magazine.

 

For even more adventurous selections for the black sheep on your Christmas list, see our “other” gift guide. There’s no Christmas catalogue around that will advise you on what classical music to buy for a Satanist, a masochist and Gleefanatic!


For the newcomer to classical music

RACHMANINOV
Piano Concerto No 2; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Yuja Wang p; Mahler Chamber Orch/Abbado
DG 4779308

Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto is routinely voted the most popular work of all time in radio and magazine surveys. And why not? It’s dripping with romantic rapture and memorable tunes (which the classical novice may recognize from Rach-based pop songs such as Celine Dion’s All By Myself). Yuja Wang has the clarity, lyrical sense and sheer heft to bring out all the swoon factor of the Piano Concerto and the Rhapsody (see Limelight‘s 5-star review).


Weep, Shudder, Die: A Guide to Loving Opera
Robert Levine
Harper Collins ISBN: 9780061941313

The goal of Robert Levine in his book Weep, Shudder, Die is...