Best Symphonic Recordings

[Robin L]

Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Right, but I've never seen that before.

 

[lovemusic]

Is this conversation about the best quality of recording or the best music making (performance) that was recorded? The two are very different.

We recently subscribed to Berlin Philharmonic's digital concert hall. Last night we listened to "Jupiter" conducted by Simon Rattle in my 5 channel system. Check mark on everything!

 

[Daverz]

I'm not convinced that eating up bandwidth is the solution anyway.

It's nothing compared to all the households streaming Netflix 4K videos.

 

[q3cpma]

Sorry for "hijacking" the thread anew, but I found these label descriptions on a forum, and I wonder what's your take on them and/or the labels in question:

DG: stellar performances for best known music, low to outstanding sound and production qualities.
Philips: excellent versions for major works, generally very good and genuine sound quality.
Decca: good performances for some major works, very hi-fi sound but occasionally less genuine.
Mercury: few good versions, hi-fi early stereo sound that is less genuine.
Telarc: very few good performances, very hi-fi digital sound.
EMI: best historical recordings, less competitive post-1970, varied sound and production qualities.
Teldec: some good performances, quite good sound and production qualities.
Erato: a few good performances, average to good sound quality.
Sony: many excellent performances, quite good sound.
BMG/RCA: many excellent performances, generally good sound.
Naxos: unparelleled scope of compositions, generally less good performances, varied sound quality.
CPO: wide range of less known works, outstanding sound and production qualities.
Hyperion: wide range of less known works, quite good sound quality.
Chandos: a few good performances, large composition library, good sound quality.
Orfeo: some good historical live performances, generally very poor sound quality.
Testament: some outstanding live performances, generally poor sound.
Harmonia Mundi: some good new performances, large composition library, very good sound.
BIS: some good new performances, large composition library, very good sound.
MDG: average new performances, very high production quality.
Brilliant: average performances, very low price, generally low production quality.
Hanssler: a few good performances, varied sound quality.
Oehms: few good new performances, good sound.
Melodiya: some good performances, generally very poor sound and production.
ECM: a few good new performances, large modern composition library, very good sound.
Altus: some good live broadcasting performances, generally average to poor sound.
Berlin classics: some good performances, average to good sound.

to which someone thus replied:

DG: You're right on about the extremely varied sound quality. As for performance quality, well, it's more of a mixed bag here as well. A lot of the big DG conductors, Karajan and Abbado in particular, are not quite my taste. This, combined with the sound quality issues, means that I don't buy a whole lot of DG CDs even with their vast catalog.
Decca: DG's sister label, OTOH, is quite a different story. I like a lot of their conductors and their audio quality is more consistently good. This does not mean that it's always good, but it's usually good. A lot of old Philips and Mercury stuff is now labeled Decca, but it's mostly good too.
Sony/CBS/Columbia: Many excellent performances with several conductors I like. Sony's remastered sound is very good too, but some early CBS CDs were a little more iffy. CBS/Columbia's LPs were terrible for a while in the 1970s-80s so avoid those if possible.
RCA: Pretty much like CBS/Columbia above in terms of many fine performances and the remastered sound from Sony is the same good quality stuff as mentioned above. RCA's LP quality was better than CBS/Columbia's, but I'd avoid their Dynagroove records if possible.
Teldec: It seems like they are/were more prone to use live recordings. I generally don't like this, but they have many fine performers. It's certainly worth considering.
Warner Classics/Erato: This label encompasses a lot of material these days from Warner, EMI, Erato, Virgin Classics, Teldec, Finlandia, and perhaps even more than that. I like their bargain boxes and they have many fine performers. Sound quality varies due to the various labels under their umbrella, but it's usually at least decent.
Telarc: Agree about them not having very many great performers, but some of the performances are still very good even if they are with lesser known names. Not all of them though so do your research. Sound quality is generally excellent, though some may find it to be too closed miked or in your face.
Naxos: Where would we be without Naxos and their vast catalog? Some older Naxos CDs from the 1980s or early 1990s are a little iffy in terms of sound and performance quality, but I find their more recent stuff to be of at least decent quality in terms of sound and performance. Of course, they aren't as cheap as they used to be relevantly speaking given the bargain boxes from the major labels and Brilliant Classics.

I also found these being mentioned:

Channel Classics
Challenge Classics
Ondine
Reference Recordings
Pentatone
Alpha
Mirare
Da Capo
Haenssler Classics

And an interesting article about the supposed fall from grace of Deutsche Grammophon: https://van-us.atavist.com/deutsche-grammophon


For now, I'm completely satisfied by the stuff I bought from BIS and found some from Naxos quite good (got a big Rimsky-Korsakov CD that contains the underestimated The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia and is better than the Chandos Classics version recorded in 1984 I got).

 

[Robin L]

Sorry for "hijacking" the thread anew, but I found these label descriptions on a forum, and I wonder what's your take on them and/or the labels in question:


to which someone thus replied:


I also found these being mentioned:


And an interesting article about the supposed fall from grace of Deutsche Grammophon: https://van-us.atavist.com/deutsche-grammophon


For now, I'm completely satisfied by the stuff I bought from BIS and found some from Naxos quite good (got a big Rimsky-Korsakov CD that contains the underestimated The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia and is better than the Chandos Classics version recorded in 1984 I got).

Not listed, as far as I can tell, Astree, early music specialists with great productions.

 

[q3cpma]

Not listed, as far as I can tell, Astree, early music specialists with great productions.

Thanks, adding to my list, though I'm really into stuff before the baroque period.

 

[Robin L]

Thanks, adding to my list, though I'm really into stuff before the baroque period.

There's lots of Jordi Savall recordings that are pre-baroque. Have to say that Astree/Naive [Astree's reissue label] really has the summit of French Baroque, But Savall has a great interest in old Spanish/Catalan music, going back to the middle ages.

 

[mSpot]

Ostrakh with Ormandy with the CSO for the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Philadelphia Orchestra, not CSO. Ormandy didn't make any recordings with the Chicago Symphony.

 

[DDF]

We recently subscribed to Berlin Philharmonic's digital concert hall. Last night we listened to "Jupiter" conducted by Simon Rattle in my 5 channel system. Check mark on everything!

The Canadian NAC Orchetsra started posting their audio performances for free, at reduced bit rate (but usable), and are starting to post video concerts. Enjoyable way to spend lockdowns.

Does the Berlin Philharmonic provide much of their content in native 5.x? Live stream seems to be stereo only:
https://help.berliner-philharmoniker.de/hc/en-us/articles/202775228 "Audio is always in 48 kHz/24 bit in stereo AAC", maxing out at 320 kb/s (for AAC, good enough).

A quick search showed a few archives 2017-on might be 5.1, but they don't indicate the breadth or if their 4K UHD concerts are 5.x

Some limited downloads seem available in surround, at an additional price. Example.

At $230 Canadian/yr, hoping to see a decent size catalog of native 5.x available to stream from the archive, but they don't discuss this in their site

 

[StefaanE]

I have not liked the sound or the performance of any of Currentzis' recordings. The only thing I've enjoyed was his Verdi Requiem with the BPO (available from BPO's Digital Concert Hall and YouTube).

That was a memorable performance, with special kudos to tenor Sergey Romanowsky.

 

[lovemusic]

Does the Berlin Philharmonic provide much of their content in native 5.x? Live stream seems to be stereo only:
https://help.berliner-philharmoniker.de/hc/en-us/articles/202775228 "Audio is always in 48 kHz/24 bit in stereo AAC", maxing out at 320 kb/s (for AAC, good enough).

Audio is delivered in Stereo but I process it back to 5 channel (how it is originally recorded). I just played Brams Symphony 1, the content was equally spread among my L/C/R creating a wide soundstage, much better than the phantom projection from a stereo setup.

But listening to Berlin Phil (among the top 3 orchestra in the world) that offers live digital content in any setup is always a pleasure!

 

[ahofer]

wow - recommend. Beautiful recording of wonderfully poignant music. Listening to 24 bit/44K on Qobuz

https://sonyclassical.com/releases/releases-details/mahler-orchestral-songs-1

 

[Sophoheilip]

This is (imho) one of the best (newer) recordings of Beethoven Symphonies.

 

[dualazmak]

My favorite full orchestra charming music by Schubert with soprano solo and chorus in several tracks;

Fortunately I could find the full album on YouTube;

You may find here some of my comments on this enjoyable CD.

 

[xaviescacs]

This is (imho) one of the best (newer) recordings of Beethoven Symphonies.

I've always liked Beethoven, but Savall's recent recordings made me appreciate this music for what it is, and not for what we think it is, giving it a new life by returning it to its origins, and discovering that it should have never left that orchestral format and playing tradition.

First set, from 1 to 5
Second set, from 6 to 9

Since this, all other recording with modern orchestras sound to me like pointless modern adaptations.

There a set of wonderful live recordings from the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg:

 

[raindance]

I enjoy some of the Reference Recordings stuff. It's well recorded and dynamic and there's plenty available to sample on Amazon music and Spotify.

 

[TimF]

I could not tell if Jordi Savall's opening comments were in German, or French or what but I sure could tell he performed the Symphony in German. I like it better performed in English. You know. All right, all right. Maybe I got a touch of smartassism.

 

[agiletiger]

I could not tell if Jordi Savall's opening comments were in German, or French or what but I sure could tell he performed the Symphony in German. I like it better performed in English. You know.

Um, what?

 

[Daverz]

Um, what?

I didn't get the joke, either. I will say that if you want a 7th in "English", Beecham made a very fine recording of it with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

[xaviescacs]

I didn't get the joke, either. I will say that if you want a 7th in "English", Beecham made a very fine recording of it with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Or Gardiner of course...