Classical Warhorse Recommendations

[watchnerd]

As for Holst's Planets, I would recommend Georg Solti with the London Philharmonic.

Have you heard the Mehta?

I just got it, already had the Solti, and now I see why Classics Today gave the Mehta 10/10. It's superb.

 

[watchnerd]

And the Complete EMI recordings ( 17 discs) of Jacqueline Du Pre for Cello.

No anthologies allowed!

Otherwise, the whole thread would ultimately devolve into a debate between the uber mega box sets of Decca, DG, etc.

 

[Ron Texas]

I don't know what the best recordings are, but the OP has nice list of important classical pieces.

 

[watchnerd]

I don't know what the best recordings are, but the OP has nice list of important classical pieces.

Thanks!

Some I'm wondering if I should have added:

Sibelius: Finlandia
Stravinsky: Firebird
Copland: Third Symphony
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Britten: War Requiem

 

[maxxevv]

Have you heard the Mehta?

I just got it, already had the Solti, and now I see why Classics Today gave the Mehta 10/10. It's superb.

No, I don't unfortunately.

As for du Pre's anthology, its because her Cello recordings, especially the Elgar are considered the benchmarks even today.

 

[watchnerd]

No, I don't unfortunately.

As for du Pre's anthology, its because her Cello recordings, especially the Elgar are considered the benchmarks even today.

But are they warhorses?

 

[JJB70]

So is your question specifically about the blu ray media or about the equivalent digital files one can get of the same performance?

Because I'm qualified to answer about the latter, but not the former.

I'm guessing the blu-ray disc will be the same as the high-res downloads so any advice on whether they have done anything to improve the mastering would be very helpful, or have they just upsampled the existing versions?

 

[watchnerd]

I'm guessing the blu-ray disc will be the same as the high-res downloads so any advice on whether they have done anything to improve the mastering would be very helpful, or have they just upsampled the existing versions?

It totally depends on the specific release. You have to read the liner notes.

Same holds true for SACDs, some of which have been remastered more than once in DSD.

 

[JJB70]

I can't help feeling that the record labels have shot themselves in the foot by the way they've handled high-res. Personally I think releasing improved re-masters in 44.1/16 would be just as useful as doing them in high-res formats but I can see a logic in promoting sales of more expensive high-res files which many consumers neither want or need by tying them to improved remasters. As I say, for all I'm not bothered about high-res per se and am perfectly happy with 44.1/16 I certainly would be interested in improved remasters of many of the recordings I have however because so many high-res versions appear to be just upsampled re-issues of the same versions (with some questions over the claimed sample rates and bit depth) it has just made me even more sceptical about high res.

 

[watchnerd]

I can't help feeling that the record labels have shot themselves in the foot by the way they've handled high-res. Personally I think releasing improved re-masters in 44.1/16 would be just as useful as doing them in high-res formats

Many labels do exactly what you're asking for.

Most of the 24bit/192khz tracks I've seen on HD Tracks are also available in 24/96 and 16/44 from the same mastering.

 

[Guermantes]

I have my own favourites for the warhorses, some of which have already been listed.

But it sounds like your wife already has had a lot of exposure to great performances, perhaps it's perspective she seeks. The most rewarding experience I had recently was reading Taruskin's The Oxford History of Western Music and trying to listen to every piece that was discussed. It expanded my depth of understanding and forced me to listen with a new perspective to works by composers I had neglected. The volume Music in the Nineteenth Century was very ear-opening.

I also notice there is very little Wagner in these lists. Does everyone tend to agree with Nietzsche and Adorno?

 

[watchnerd]

I also notice there is very little Wagner in these lists. Does everyone tend to agree with Nietzsche and Adorno?

I'm not a fan of highlight albums for opera, and the Wagner operas are all just so damn long.

I hate getting halfway through an opera and then having to stop to do something else and resume it later. But when it's 3 hours long that's easy to do.

Plus Wagner without the costumes....well, except for the big motifs and arias, I find Wagner to be better theater than music to listen to without visuals,

 

[Daverz]

Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

The old Leibowitz recording on an RCA Lp titled "The Power of the Orchestra". There was a Hybrid SACD issue.

Holst: The Planets

Dutoit or the penultimate Boult recording, which seems to be currently available in this box:

https://www.amazon.com/British-Composers-Vaughan-Williams-5CD/dp/B004MSRDLU

Dvorak: Symphony 9, "New World"

Kertesz/Vienna Philharmonic: https://www.amazon.com/Dvorak-Sym-Serenade-Wind-Instruments/dp/B009MP8KPG

Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra

Mehta/LAPO

Puccini: Tosca

Callas, of course: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000BCLMP4/

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle

Ludwig/Berry/Kertesz. Simply the greatest recording of this ever made.

https://www.amazon.com/Bartók-Duke-Bluebeards-Castle-Béla/dp/B00001IVQX/

Elgar: Enigma Variations

Monteux: https://www.amazon.com/Dvorák-Symphony-Elgar-Enigma-Variations/dp/B007FQDKFO

 

[JJB70]

Dg have re-issued Karl Bohm's 1960's complete Mozart symphony cycle with the Berlin Philharmonic in a rather nice set which isn't especially expensive. They have re-mastered it and improved it on the 1990's remaster which wasn't great. Any complete cycle of that scale will have some variability but overall it remains a magnificent achievement and probably still the best available IMO. Bohm and Mozart was one of those combinations that just seemed to work. It is Mozart from before the period performance era and all the better for it.

Another nice re-issued is the Accardo Paganini cycle with Charles Dutoit and the London Philharmonic. Although recorded in the 70's the sound is very good and Accardo's performances are masterful. He has the requisite skill to do these works justice, it is wonderfully musical and not just willy waving to show off his technical skills. There are lots of Paganini recordings, many of them with nice eye candy cover art but to me Accardo remains the master. The set is beautifully presented as a hard back book with the sleeves as slip cases with the original album art.

Both the above sets include blu ray discs with high resolution transfers but they don't add anything to the CDs.

Well worth checking out.

 

[JJB70]

I'm not a fan of highlight albums for opera, and the Wagner operas are all just so damn long.

I hate getting halfway through an opera and then having to stop to do something else and resume it later. But when it's 3 hours long that's easy to do.

Plus Wagner without the costumes....well, except for the big motifs and arias, I find Wagner to be better theater than music to listen to without visuals,

I think this is true of opera in general. I do love listening to opera and have lord knows how many opera recordings but as music only you are only getting half of the experience. And some operas only really work as musical theatre with the visual and acting included. I love Lulu by Berg but I also think that it really needs the stage performance as well as the music. The operas of John Adams fall into that category for me too.

 

[JJB70]

Three more golden oldies I would recommend are:

Bruckner 7th symphony, Karajan and VPO
Bruckner 8th symphony, Karajan and VPO
Mahler 5th symphony, Sinopli and the Philharmonia

The Bruckner recordings were made at the end of Karajan's life and were really rather special.

 

[Robin L]

Apparently DG markets the Jochum as one 'authorized' by Orff. Of course, Orff died in 1982, so....

This is an old recording, 1968.

 

[Robin L]

I agree, just wanted to make sure we were suggesting the right record.

There's three good HvK performances of the 9th, but the Philharmonia recording has faded sound. The SQ of the early 1960's recording is excellent, suffering only a bit of hiss. 1970's recording displays signs of HvK's involvement with technical production, resulting in some balances that don't exist in "real life". Leonard Bernstein's 1970's recording with the Vienna Philharmonic is at least as good, with decent sound. But if it's audiophile thrills you seek, get the very recent Riccardo Chailly/Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Decca set of all nine symphonies. Great sound, swift and incisive performances of all nine.

 

[Robin L]

Three more golden oldies I would recommend are:

Bruckner 7th symphony, Karajan and VPO
Bruckner 8th symphony, Karajan and VPO
Mahler 5th symphony, Sinopli and the Philharmonia

The Bruckner recordings were made at the end of Karajan's life and were really rather special.

Don't know the Sinopli recording of Mahler. I love Bernstein's exaggerated phrasing in his Vienna Philharmonic re-make. The HvK recordings of Bruckner are great, but the Gunter Wand recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic are worth it both for interpretation and sound. I don't know if you would want to keep the Vienna Philharmonic, October 1944 Wilhelm Furtwängler performance of Bruckner's 9th, but it is unsurpassed as a performance. You must hear it at least once. Nicholas Harnoncourt's recordings of Bruckner are remarkably & surprisingly fine. I've owned the 9th and 5th on SACD.

 

[JJB70]

My preferred complete Bruckner cycles are the 70's - 80's Karajan set with the BPO (recently re-issued by DG), the Eliahu Inbal set with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurter recorded by Teldec in the 80's and early 90's and the more recent Gerd Schaller set. I also love the Celibidache set of symphonies 3 - 9 with the Munchner Philharmoniker on EMI/Warner. And the final Karajan recordings of the 7th and 8th with the VPO are essential. I also have Jochum and Wand recordings, I have too much Bruckner, oh dear........