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Classical Warhorse Recommendations

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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I haven't heard the Jorda performance in decades if ever.

I have the Jochum recording of Carmina Burana. I like it but the Fruhbeck de Burgos recording is what I go back to.

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

MI0000960924.jpg
 

Old Listener

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I should clarify. She doesn't need an introduction to classical music.

We've been to Vienna, where we saw Aida and numerous Strauss waltzes, and to Salzburg for Mozart festivals.

At the San Francisco opera, she's seen Madam Butterfly and Don Giovanni.

In London, Tokyo, Munich, San Francisco, Paris, Seattle, Madrid, Shanghai, and New York, we've heard Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Berlioz, Prokofiev, Haydn, Brahms, and Mahler.

It's "modern classical", but not not too modern (she doesn't like minimalism), or neo romantic she says she wants to learn more about.

A lot of traveling and a lot of concerts/operas.

I still don't understand the scope of "modern classical". Some of the works in your list are firmly in the 19th century. Some are in the 20th century.

For me, ballet music is the most surefire way into 20th century music. Petrushka, Romeo & Juliet (Prokofiev), Billy the Kid and Rodeo (Copland), The Incredible Flutist (Walter Piston), The Limpid Brook (Shostakovich) and Cakewalk (Gottschalk/Hershey Kay) are all very easy to like.
 

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Thanks, a bit of musicological trivia I had never run across before.

And a bit of audio history trivia, too:

Note the ffss designation in the upper left.

Yes. I was buying LPs with those designations way back then.

The album cover has a very international flavor:

Czech composer
work composed in USA.
performed by a Hungarian conductor with an Austrian orchestra.
recorded by an English record company.
photo credited to Pan American Airways (an international airline.)

I expect that the photo was intended to promote travel to the American west.
 

JJB70

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Has anybody tried any of the re-issued blu ray discs of some of these classic recordings? I'm not sure that the higher res will do anything for these recordings but I'm curious as to whether they have been remastered to a higher standard for the blu ray versions (a bit like for all I don't think much of MQA I can see the attraction if MQA editions use better mastering).
 
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watchnerd

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Has anybody tried any of the re-issued blu ray discs of some of these classic recordings? I'm not sure that the higher res will do anything for these recordings but I'm curious as to whether they have been remastered to a higher standard for the blu ray versions (a bit like for all I don't think much of MQA I can see the attraction if MQA editions use better mastering).

I no longer have an optical disc player, but I have plenty of high resolution 24bit/96khz-384khz music, if that's the root of your question.

It's all about the remastering, not the bit rate.
 
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watchnerd

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Cello Concerto: Dvorak

What's the consensus on the Janos Starker / Antal Dorati / Mercury version?

mlplp30495.jpg


It seems like for every review I read praising it as a great recording, I read another slagging it as a boring, uninspired performance.
 
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restorer-john

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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.


This is a VERY good list.

I would add

Holst: The Planets- Lorin Maazel, French National Orchestra (CBS) (track down the Sony release in the first 50 CDs pressed if you can)
Rimsky Korsakov: Scheherazade- Riccardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra (EMI) or Lorin Maazel, Berlin Philharmonic (DG)

Maybe, just for fun put a random Slayer track in there for good measure.
 

jasonq997

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What's the consensus on the Janos Starker / Antal Dorati / Mercury version?

mlplp30495.jpg


It seems like for every review I read praising it as a great recording, I read another slagging it as a boring, uninspired performance.

I am a fan of it. I don't think it is boring or uninspired. Compared to other Mercury records, the sound is certainly not as inspired. Ahead of it I would place the Deutsche Grammophon Fournier/Szell and Rostropovich/Karajan recordings. All 3 of them are classics.
 
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watchnerd

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I am a fan of it. I don't think it is boring or uninspired. Compared to other Mercury records, the sound is certainly not as inspired. Ahead of it I would place the Deutsche Grammophon Fournier/Szell and Rostropovich/Karajan recordings. All 3 of them are classics.

This one?

81RL3hV7x%2BL._SL1400_.jpg
 

maxxevv

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For Dvorak's No.9, a long, long time back, the Penguin Guide recommended the Kirill Kondrashin with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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

Outside of that original list, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Op35, played by David Ostrakh under Eugene Ormandy.

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

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For Dvorak's No.9, a long, long time back, the Penguin Guide recommended the Kirill Kondrashin with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

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

Outside of that original list, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Op35, played by David Ostrakh under Eugene Ormandy.

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

After this thread started, I listened again to the Kondrashin / Amsterdam Concertgebouw recording of the Dvorak 9th symphony. It's a pleasing recording of a well done performance but to me it sounds generic compared to Kertesz/VPO, Szell/Cleveland and some others. I've listened to that Kondrashin recording for decades and have never changed my mind.

The Julia Fischer recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on Pentatone makes me like the work more than usual.
 

maxxevv

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Fischer's recording is on my shopping list. I have her Kachaturian, which is really good though I have no other recording to compare it to. Sarah Chang's Sibelius is on the shopping menu too.

I have multiple recordings of the Tchaikovsky / Sibelius concertos.
Mullova, Perlman, Ostrakh, Gisham, Bell.

Personally, its between Ostraskh / Ormandy and Mullova / Ozawa. Mullova for technicality, Ostraskh for everything else.
 

jasonq997

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Ostraskh is a good choice for these. I also want to give Heifetz a mention.

The above recommendation of Kondrashin for the Dvorak is great, but I think the newer one is with the Vienna Philharmonic rather than the Concertgebouw unless one exists that I am not aware of.
 

JJB70

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I no longer have an optical disc player, but I have plenty of high resolution 24bit/96khz-384khz music, if that's the root of your question.

It's all about the remastering, not the bit rate.

I still buy music on disc, immediately rip it to Flac then archive the disc. Maybe I am just a complete luddite but I just like the surety of having physical media. I am happy with CD quality in terms of replay quality however one of the wheezes being used by record labels to sell high-res tracks is using better versions. Classical music avoided the worst excesses of the noise wars but had issues of its own with mastering. I have a Sony X800 universal disc player and would be tempted to try some of the DG and Decca dual disc re-releases just out of curiosity.
 

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Ostraskh is a good choice for these. I also want to give Heifetz a mention.

The above recommendation of Kondrashin for the Dvorak is great, but I think the newer one is with the Vienna Philharmonic rather than the Concertgebouw unless one exists that I am not aware of.

My mistake. The recording is Kondrashin/VPO.
 

maxxevv

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Ostraskh is a good choice for these. I also want to give Heifetz a mention.

The above recommendation of Kondrashin for the Dvorak is great, but I think the newer one is with the Vienna Philharmonic rather than the Concertgebouw unless one exists that I am not aware of.
Newer doesn't mean its better. Just look at Karajan's various Beethoven symphony cycles. His last was certainly not considered his best.
 

jasonq997

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Newer doesn't mean its better. Just look at Karajan's various Beethoven symphony cycles. His last was certainly not considered his best.

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

maxxevv

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Interesting that the Kondrashin recording I have is with the RPO and not VPO.
 
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watchnerd

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I still buy music on disc, immediately rip it to Flac then archive the disc. Maybe I am just a complete luddite but I just like the surety of having physical media. I am happy with CD quality in terms of replay quality however one of the wheezes being used by record labels to sell high-res tracks is using better versions. Classical music avoided the worst excesses of the noise wars but had issues of its own with mastering. I have a Sony X800 universal disc player and would be tempted to try some of the DG and Decca dual disc re-releases just out of curiosity.

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.
 
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