Lifestyle Dissected

my brother takes taekwondo at this place and met a new friend there - christopher. christopher's grandmother takes care of him and runs a small section of the flea market. she sells mostly vintage kitchenware and things like that, but she also sells awesome hats from the 50s and 60s and.... RECORDS! mostly classical records, i found out today. my family and i went to watch my brother at TKD practice and christopher's grandmother invited me and my sister and cousin to check out her hat collection because we were getting bored. in the backseat of her car, which was filled to the brim with just an unimaginable amount of crap, i spotted a large pile of records. i pulled them all out and set them on the back of her very old sedan and was just.. in awe. among opera and jazz records i found the most amazing classical recordings you could imagine, and started making a pile of records that i would consider buying. i ended up buying them all lol, and they were only $1 a piece. here is a complete list of what i bought:

Igor Stravinsky

~ The Firebird Suite
Duo Concertant for violin and piano
George Szell / Symphony Orchestra
Louis Kaufman, violin
Helene Pignari, piano

Johannes Brahms

~ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor for piano and orchestra, Op. 15
George Szell / The Cleveland Orchestra
Leon Fleisher, piano


~ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat
Firtz Reiner / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Van Cliburn, piano


~ Symphony No. 3
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
George Szell / The Cleveland Orchestra


~ Symphony No. 3
Academic Festival Overture
Bruno Walter / Columbia Symphony Orchestra

Frédéric Chopin

~ The Nocturnes and Waltzes
Artur Rubinstein


~ The Piano Concertos:
No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski / New Symphony Orchestra of London
No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21
Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise in E-Flat, Op. 22
Alfred Wallenstein / Symphony of the Air
Artur Rubinstein, piano


~ Complete Waltzes
Guiomar Novaes, piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff

~ Second Piano Concerto
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Leonard Bernstein / New York Philharmonic
Gary Graffman, piano


~ Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3
Fritz Reiner / Chicago Symphony
Van Cliburn, piano


~ Piano Concerto No. 3
Eugene Ormandy / New York Philharmonic
Vladimir Horowitz, piano
Recorded live at Carnegie Hall
January 8, 1978


~ Piano Concerto No. 3
Kiril Kondrashin / Symphony of the Air
Van Cliburn, piano
Actual Carnegie Hall performance
May 19, 1958


~ Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 4
Eugene Ormandy / The Philadelphia Orchestra
Philippe Entremont, piano


~ Varations on a Theme by Corelli, Op. 42
Etudes Tableaux, Op. 39
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven

~ Piano Concerto No. 3 in G, Op. 58
Erich Leinsdorf / Boston Symphony Orchestra
Artur Rubinstein, piano

these are basically all of my favorite composers, although i would have loved to see some shostakovich, grieg or tchaikovsky in her collection. the only other classical ones she had that i didn't buy were a sibelius symphony and an offenbach ballet or something. i have so many different recordings of those rachmaninoff concertos, wow! i still think i will love the abbey simon / saint louis symphony orchestra recordings of all four since that was the one i grew up on and relate to the most, but... it is always wonderful to hear different interpretations. i mean, they are just eternally lasting pieces of music that seep beauty from every note, every rest, every swell and ebb of the orchestra and piano strings. *sigh* :3

these amazing treasures are all sitting right here next to my chair! i can't believe it... i don't have a record player at the moment, but i will definitely buy one soon. i am so glad that she was so generous to give me all of them, and i'm glad to have helped her sell some of her stuff, i think that is her sole income and she takes care of christopher all by herself, so. she told me that the van cliburn recordings were a must have, and i'd never heard of him before, so i took her word. he was quite good-looking then, so maybe that has something to do with it. she also had quite an assortment of hats, and my aunt even bought one. she really likes hats, especially the crazy bright-colored ones. i never wear hats... i don't think anyone does, regularly. i wonder why that is. actually, i wonder what the purpose of a hat is. most are for decoration, some keep the sun out of your eyes, some keep you warm, and some are used solely for protection. they're just so weird to me. hatboxes are even weirder, but very convenient, i think...

if i knew how to upload these records and share them i would =\