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Classical Warhorse Recommendations

watchnerd

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Having a couple of terabytes of lossless music on Roon and access to Tidal, my classical library is both wide and deep.

But my wife wanted me to help her up her classical education, and I figured I'd start off with some more approachable pieces (I listen to a lot of fairly avant garde, minimalist, modern or Schoenberg school classical these days). She's already spent a lot of time in baroque chamber music and would like some bombastic, dramatic stuff. She just experience Beethoven's 5th in person 2 weeks ago.

What are your recommendations for best recorded performances / sound quality of:

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Holst: The Planets

Dvorak: Symphony 9, "New World"

Rimsky-Korsakoff: Scheherazade

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies

Orff: Carmina Burana

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra

Ravel: Bolero

Puccini: Tosca

Bizet: Carmen

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle


ADDED 11/27:

Gershwin: American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue, etc.

Elgar: Enigma Variations
 
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bobhol

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I like your list. As far as the best recording's/performances that could be a lot of work. The best advise that I've seen is to stick with major labels and with well known conductors and performances. Don't be too concerned about the age of the performance/recording. There is still a lot of love out there for the RCA "Living Stereo" recordings of the 60's. And there are many great performances from way before stereo.
Good listening to you and your wife.
PS I'd include some Gershwin also.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I like your list. As far as the best recording's/performances that could be a lot of work. The best advise that I've seen is to stick with major labels and with well known conductors and performances. Don't be too concerned about the age of the performance/recording. There is still a lot of love out there for the RCA "Living Stereo" recordings of the 60's. And there are many great performances from way before stereo.
Good listening to you and your wife.
PS I'd include some Gershwin also.

Yeah, I have the full Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence, Decca box, DG box, and most of the Everest reissues.

My problem is narrowing down the choices -- e.g. I have 4 different versions of 'The Planets'.
 

JJB70

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Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - KARAJAN, BERLIN PHILHARMONIC

Holst: The Planets - CHARLES DUTOIT, MONTREAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Dvorak: Symphony 9, "New World" - KARAJAN, VIENNA PHILHARMONIC (LATE DIGITAL RECORDING)

Rimsky-Korsakoff: Scheherazade

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies - KARAJAN, BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Orff: Carmina Burana - JAMES LEVINE, CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra - RUDOLF KEMPE, STAATSKAPELLE DRESDEN

Ravel: Bolero

Puccini: Tosca - GUISEPPE SINOPLI, PHILHARMONIA (DOMINGO, FRENI)

Bizet: Carmen - CLAUDIO ABBADO, LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (DOMINGO, BERGANZA)

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle - ISTVAN KERTESZ, LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

A few recommendations based on my own preferences and the recordings I listen to most. They're all very conventional and mainstream.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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A few recommendations based on my own preferences and the recordings I listen to most. They're all very conventional and mainstream.

For her first exposure, I think conventional interpretations are fine.

Sound quality good on all of them?
 

JJB70

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I think so, some of them are older and possibly not as clean as newer alternatives but I have never found them to detract from enjoyment and in some cases older recordings captured the performance better than newer high tech alternatives. To me the Ketesz Bluebeard Castle is quite simply the definitive recording of that work, no other I have tried comes close.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I think so, some of them are older and possibly not as clean as newer alternatives but I have never found them to detract from enjoyment and in some cases older recordings captured the performance better than newer high tech alternatives. To me the Ketesz Bluebeard Castle is quite simply the definitive recording of that work, no other I have tried comes close.

Agreed.

And congrats on not picking Sir Adrian Boult for The Planets...the man recorded like 5 decades worth of it under various labels.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I like your list. As far as the best recording's/performances that could be a lot of work. The best advise that I've seen is to stick with major labels and with well known conductors and performances. Don't be too concerned about the age of the performance/recording. There is still a lot of love out there for the RCA "Living Stereo" recordings of the 60's. And there are many great performances from way before stereo.
Good listening to you and your wife.
PS I'd include some Gershwin also.

You're right, I missed Gershwin.

I like my Gershwin to sound sleazy, so if you have a recommendation?
 

Apesbrain

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My favorite Scheherazade is Minneapolis SO/Antal Doráti (Mercury, 1952). The Chicago SO/Fritz Reiner on RCA (1960) is also very good.
 

jasonq997

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I like the Living Stereo and Living Presence recommendations for the different showpieces. Beyond that stage are famous symphonies and concertos. Warhorse examples:

Late Mozart Symphonies

Beethoven Symphonies

Schubert #8

Brahms Symphonies

Final 3 Tchaikovsky Symphonies

Piano Concertos: Beethoven 4 and 5. Tchaikovsky 1 (or substitute Grieg, Rach 2&3 etc)

Violin Concertos: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius

Cello Concerto: Dvorak
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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My favorite Scheherazade is Minneapolis SO/Antal Doráti (Mercury, 1952). The Chicago SO/Fritz Reiner on RCA (1960) is also very good.

I have the Living Stereo Reiner version.

I've never even heard of the Dorati 1952 version. I'll have to check it out. If the Dorati is the Mercury Living Presence issue, I forgot I had it....I'll have to compare the two.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I have the Living Stereo Reiner version.

I've never even heard of the Dorati 1952 version. I'll have to check it out. If the Dorati is the Mercury Living Presence issue, I forgot I had it....I'll have to compare the two.

My favorite Scheherazade is Minneapolis SO/Antal Doráti (Mercury, 1952). The Chicago SO/Fritz Reiner on RCA (1960) is also very good.

NVM, the MLP version is a 1958 stereo with Minneapolis.

Is the 1952 mono version available digitally?
 

tomelex

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CD by Eiji Oue Minnesota orchestra, by reference recordings, has their "signature" sound for pictures at an Exhibition Mussorgsky

RR-79CD

I use the track 22 the hut of baba yoga and 23 the great gate of keiv when tailoring/tweaking sound in things I make
 

Dogen

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I would throw in Greshwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Bernstein’s lush 1959 recording is a good one, there are many others. It’s very nicely recorded to my ears.
 

tomelex

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JJB70

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On Antal Dorati, I still listen to his recordings of Haydn symphonies as my first choice for Haydn. Karl Bohm was always reliable, he was a safe pair of hands who let the music speak and wasn't obsessed with putting his own stamp on things like some more flamboyant conductors. If his recordings weren't always the best they were also rarely less than very good IMO.
 

WoodyLuvr

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@watchnerd

Holst: The Planets, Op.32/H.125
~Sir Adrian Boult - LPO & Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
~Sir Simon Rattle - BPO & Berlin Radio Choir
~Vladimir Jurowski - LPO & LPC
~Zubin Mehta - LAPO & LA Master Chorale
~Mark Elder - Hallé Orchestra & Choir

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
~Fritz Reiner - CSO; 1954 recording
~Herbert von Karajan - BPO; 1973 recording


And if I may, here are some other interesting pieces that your wife might appreciate:

Beethoven: Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra in C Minor, Op. 80 "Choral Fantasy"
~Leonard Bernstein - Rudolf Serkin; New York Philharmonic; &
Westminster Choir

Mahler: Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection"
~Sir Simon Rattle - BPO

Beethoven: Egmont, Op.84
~George Szell - VPO & Wiener Philharmoniker

Debussy: Trois Nocturnes, L. 91
~Ernest Ansermet - OSR; 1958 recording
~Esa-Pekka Salonen - LAPO & Los Angeles Master Chorale; 1973
recording
 

JJB70

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For easy to approach classical, a few I'd recommend to people wanting to dip a toe in the water include:

Beethoven 6th symphony - Karl Bohm, Vienna Philharmonic

Beethoven 5th & 7th symphonies - Carlos Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic

Beethoven 9th symphony - Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic (late 70's recording)

Brahms Hungarian Dances - Istvan Bogar, Budapest Symphony Orchestra

Elgar Enigma Variations - Bernstein, BBC Symphony Orchestra

Verdi La Traviata - Carlos Kleiber, Bavarian State Orchestra (Cotrubas, Domingo)
 
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