Great recordings of classical music

[Music707]

In the end, it's too much to listen to. Here are just a few examples of outstanding recordings

Vinyl:

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon)
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner (Philips)
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro - Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Maria Giulini (Deutsche Grammophon)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 - Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux (RCA Victor)
Chopin: Nocturnes - Arthur Rubinstein (RCA Victor)
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Vladimir Horowitz, New York Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy (Columbia Masterworks)
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Itzhak Perlman, London Philharmonic Orchestra (EMI)
Handel: Messiah - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner (Argo)
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 - Vienna Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (Deutsche Grammophon)
Debussy: La Mer - London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux (Decca)

CD:

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas - Alfred Brendel (Philips)
Bach: Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould (Sony Classical)
Mozart: Requiem - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner (Philips)
Schubert: Winterreise - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore (Deutsche Grammophon)
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 - Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon)
Puccini: La Bohème - Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon)
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" - Berlin Philharmonic, Rafael Kubelik (Deutsche Grammophon)
Ravel: Bolero - Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim (Deutsche Grammophon)
Handel: Water Music - English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner (Archiv Produktion)
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra - Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon)

In the case of opera, I'd recommend to mention the major singers, too. Opera without voices would sound rather incomplete.

 

[Sokel]

I don't think anything can make Schoenberg sound good

Oh,sometimes reputation goes ahead of a man ha?
That's a really easy listening though,and if you consider that is a catchy all time classic story about love,jealousy,murder based on a poem you can see the picture and the overly passionate performances that exist (not the case here).

 

[Daverz]

I don't think anything can make Schoenberg sound good

But Gurrelieder is gorgeous music.

One can't make judgements about music without listening.

 

[Elkerton]

I urge you to try Sanderling’s Mahler too, particularly Das Lied von der Erdle.

 

[theREALdotnet]

When I heard the Honeck recordings with Pittsburgh on Reference, it got my attention as fresh interpretations with excellent recordings.

Same here. He’s also done a terrific Tchaikovsky 6. For me, Honeck is neck and neck with Currentzis.

 

[Timcognito]

 

[Daverz]

I agree. Here's another Scheherazade that has better sound quality:

Not on YouTube of course, but you can find the recording from your favorite sources.

I think Scheherazade fanatics should try to hear Stokowski's LSO recording, whacky Phase 4 sonics and all. Just avoid Decca's botched early "ADRM" remastering. Outside of a big and out-of-print "Stokowski Complete Decca Recordings" box, the Cala Records remaster was much better than that ADRM CD:

Open Qobuz

open.qobuz.com

 

[LGD_]

It was in the package with the vinyl. But, you can buy it here:

Dvořák: Symfonie č. 9 e moll "Z Nového světa" – Česká filharmonie, Václav Neumann – Supraphonline.cz

Album Dvořák: Symfonie č. 9 e moll "Z Nového světa" ✅ Umělec Václav Neumann a Česká filharmonie ✅ Ke stažení ve formátu MP3, FLAC a Hi-Res ✅ Ukázky zdarma k poslechu ✅ Antonín Dvořák - Symfonie č. 9 e moll op. 95 "Z Nového světa". analogová…

www.supraphonline.cz

I bought & downloaded this today, absolutely fantastic performance and great sound quality.
Thank you pma for this recommendation!
I was surprised to see that the HQ download was in WAV format, rather than FLAC, but I easily converted it to 24-192 with foobar2000.
Use Microsoft's Edge browser for this - it will translate Czech > English.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Same here. He’s also done a terrific Tchaikovsky 6. For me, Honeck is neck and neck with Currentzis.

I can't see any equivalence here. Currentzis beats the symphony into a pulp and the recording has squashed dynamics.

 

[Tim Link]

My favorite one:

Rimsky-Korsakoff / Reiner / Chicago Symphony - Scheherazade

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the Vinyl release of "Scheherazade" on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

I just had a great time listening to that.

 

[theREALdotnet]

Currentzis beats the symphony into a pulp

I don’t know what that means…

and the recording has squashed dynamics.

…but I agree that the RR recording sounds better than the Sony one.

 

[Ibofobi]

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro - 1968 - Karl Böhm, Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Deutsche Grammophon)

Hermann Prey
Edith Mathis
Gundula Janowitz
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Tatiana Troyanos

MOZART Le nozze di Figaro / Prey, Janowitz, Böhm | Deutsche Grammophon

on Deutsche Grammophon. Listen and buy now.

www.deutschegrammophon.com

This is my favourite recording of this opera.

Performance is impeccable to me in terms of singing and playing and for my taste it is perfectly paced by conductor Karl Böhm.

Sound quality I think is good for the time of the recording though many later recordings of course surpasses this recording in that regard.

You can listen to some of the performance in this clip with Gundula Janowitz singing Porgi amor:

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I don’t know what that means…

He greatly exaggerates tempo changes and makes dynamic changes that I've not heard before. I find him generally to be wildly intemperate.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I think Scheherazade fanatics should try to hear Stokowski's LSO recording, whacky Phase 4 sonics and all. Just avoid Decca's botched early "ADRM" remastering. Outside of a big and out-of-print "Stokowski Complete Decca Recordings" box, the Cala Records remaster was much better than that ADRM CD:

Open Qobuz

open.qobuz.com

Scheherazade is so epic and beautiful , almost all renditions are good. You get lost in the music.
I had the privilage of hearing it live, played by BBC radio orchestra once.
Just epic.

 

[Joel G]

I have recently been enjoying this hybrid SACD very much, it is also available on Tidal and other sources online. I was there at the recording because i play in the orchestra, and i can tell you that the recording and mastering is simply excelent. I love the climatic part between the solo cello and the gran cassa on the 2nd concerto, such a great and less known work

https://tidal.com/album/261628639

 

[computer-audiophile]

I have recently been enjoying this hybrid SACD very much, it is also available on Tidal and other sources online. I was there at the recording because i play in the orchestra, and i can tell you that the recording and mastering is simply excelent. I love the climatic part between the solo cello and the gran cassa on the 2nd concerto, such a great and less known work

https://tidal.com/album/261628639

Thanks, it's also on Deezer HiFi, which I have

Shostakovich: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Gianandrea Noseda - album - 2012 - 7 songs

www.deezer.com

 

[computer-audiophile]

@Joel G

Hi Joel

I liked this quieter passage where the cello comes into its own best: 3. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: III. Cadenza. Allegretto

Cello is one of my favorite instruments.

 

[Joel G]

@Joel G

Hi Joel

I liked this quieter passage where the cello comes into its own best: 3. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: III. Cadenza. Allegretto

Cello is one of my favorite instruments.

that must be the cadenza between the 3rd and 4th movement. That’s a great spot. Mr. Dindo performed some of the greatest cello playing i ever witnessed right there. He is an amazing musician with such depth in his playing

 

[Sokel]

Scheherazade is so epic and beautiful , almost all renditions are good. You get lost in the music.
I had the privilage of hearing it live, played by BBC radio orchestra once.
Just epic.

Yep.
Another example of the definition of epic on one of the great performances:

P. Tchaikovsky - Moscow Radio Large Symphony Orchestra , Conductor Gennadi Rozhdestvensky - Swan Lake (Ballet Excerpts) - Лебединое Озеро, Фрагменты

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for Swan Lake (Ballet Excerpts) - Лебединое Озеро, Фрагменты by P. Tchaikovsky - Moscow Radio Large Symphony Orchestra , Conductor Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

The beauty of this...

 

[Joel G]

@Joel G

Hi Joel

I liked this quieter passage where the cello comes into its own best: 3. Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, Op. 107: III. Cadenza. Allegretto

Cello is one of my favorite instruments.

@computer-audiophile cello is also one of my favorite instruments. I play the double bass so I follow closely my “closer” relative in the string family. Btw I really like as well Enrico Dindo’s Bach suites recordings, though I am not sure they are available for streaming