Jazzy D's Soul Notes

First of all, you need to acquire some knowledge. It goes a long way.

Get to know the genres. Early music, baroque, classical, romantic, impressionism, serialism, postmodern, polystylistic, spectralism and of course minimalism. You may have heard of the major composers like Mozart, Haydn, Bach, Beethoven and maybe Wagner. But expand it to those less well known such as Szymanowski - one of my personal favourites, or Gorecki for example.


Know your orchestra and the really good ones - but also know when they were great and when they had their purple passages. For example - The Concertgebouw under Haitink were usually great but after he left went through a mediocre phase before coming great again.

Also, know your conductors. Some are brilliant, some can be middling and then great, depending on what they are conducting, whilst others are just so so. Charles Mackerras is great for Slavic composers being Hungarian himself for example.

Also, watch the daily videos by David Hurwitz on YouTube. Great insight into many recordings.

Then there are the labels worth looking at. Deutsche Grammophon, Finlandia, Marco Polo, Naxos, Decca, Phillips, Hyperion, HMV / EMI, Erato, Teldec, Nonesuch, Mode, Ondine, Channel Classics, Kairos, Col Legno, Argo, Sony / Columbia, Warners, Virgin Classics, Nimbus and so on. Stay away from cheap labels like Laserlight and Music For Pleasure.

So, check out the charity shops and thrift stores. Be diligent and incisive. Sometimes amazing bargains can be found.

Enjoy your hunting!