Great recordings of classical music

[pma]

Isn't it E# minor?

No . E# would be F.

 

[Daverz]

All my copies say E minor, as does the Wiki article. I've got five recordings right now, Szell/Cleveland, Kertesz/VPO and LSO, Colin Davis/RCO and Dohnanyi/Cleveland. They all have their virtues (which is why I still have all five). The Dohnanyi, being as it's a digital recording, has the best sound, though the early (1961) Kertesz/VPO recording has an interesting stereo spread.

A Dvorak recording that really surprised me is the Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra CD of Dvorak's 7th and 8th symphonies. The disc issued on some sort of a "on demand" disc from Japan, with liner notes in Japanese, but the recording dates can be gleaned from the booklet - October 19, 1976 for the 7th, February 28, 1977 for the 8th. Excellent sound, with performances more idiomatic than I expected. My guess is that it would be difficult to find a copy of the CD and there's no sign of the recording on YouTube.

View attachment 360897

Hopefully Sony will get around to an Ormandy RCA box in the not too distant future (they have at least one more Columbia stereo box to go). I got my copy of this from Archivmusic from their on-demand service (notes still in Japanese, though). Their website still shows it as available:

Dvorak: Symphonies No 7 & 8 / Ormandy - RCA: RCA38118 | Buy from ArkivMusic

Dvorak: Symphonies No 7 & 8 / Ormandy _ on CD. Order from your preferred classical music and jazz store - ArkivMusic. Great prices. Best service. Fast delivery.

arkivmusic.com

 

[goat76]

I don't listen to classical music much, but there is a live (with an audience) recording of Firebird/Petrushka/The Rite of Spring with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra which I always come back to. The recording is not very clean sounding as you can hear all kinds of sounds from the audience and cracking sounds from the floor when the conductor or musicians move their feet. Still, all those noises add a lot to the atmospheric sensation of "almost as if I was there" watching the live performance. I also like the dynamic swings and the movement they were able to capture in the musical performance, I don't know if the audio engineer has moved the volume knob a lot to add to that dynamic feeling and movement, but if that's the case I find it very musical and engaging in a way not many other recordings of classical have been able to capture. Oh, I think the performance is stellar as well.

Stravinsky: The Firebird / Petrushka / The Rite of Spring - David Robertson - Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Open Qobuz

open.qobuz.com

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