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Good sounding Deutsche Grammophon recordings

We have a pretty big classical CD collection and many are Deutsche Grammophon. Many of these recordings don't sound that great and I have to say that some of the Deutsche Grammophon vinyl we have is average sounding. But the performances are usually top notch. After upgrading my cartridge to an Audio Note iQ3 I took a chance on some mid 60's Herbert Von Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic vinyl from Ebay. I thought I would share some of the outstanding finds I came across.

Brahms four symphonies-outstanding sound and amazing playing. These symphonies can sound thick and muddy. Not here.
Brahms Violin Concerto- Christian Ferras violin.
Beethoven Violin Concerto- Christian Ferras violin -Simply amazing sound.

Karl Bohm and the Berlin Philharmonic Schubert 5th Symphony. Elegant interpretation and excellent sound. I think from the 60's

A live performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto no1. from 1979 Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Vienna Philharmonic- Sonically amazing.

I found most of these less than $15 and mint minus ratings- not bad :)
Jet
jetrexpro
fabsound
31 posts
 
DG must have done something right at a certain point in time with their chamber music. Manfred Eicher of the German ECM label worked as a producer of chamber music for DG before he started his own label. ECM has done many excellent recordings in terms of sound and creating new sonic landscapes, but I rarely listen to them now because it ended up being a bit too much of a sonic mediation. I listen much more to classical chamber music these days and to small group jazz of the 50s and 60s.
ianlane
11 posts
 
Agree pretty much word for word with Kmccarty on Fournier. He was a great cellist, possibly underrated.

Some other DGG recordings of his that I would recommend for sound and performance are :-

Strauss Don Quixote with Karajan and BPO

Bach Cello Suites - (just as good as Starker on Mercury IMHO)
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,516 posts
 
"Galliano | Bach (2010)" is one of the best.
jetrexpro OP
506 posts
 
Mapman, I happen to have that CD and it sounds very good. Accordion transcriptions of Bach pieces. That band grooves pretty good!
maclogan
49 posts
 
Any DG analog recording converted to digital and output onto CD sounds mediocre. Abbado's recording of Simon Boccanegra comes to mind - the vinyl version is marvellous. Some of the DDD CDs are also poor - I found the highly-regarded Brahms 4 by Carlos Kleiber to be unlistenable on CD, but the LP version is superb.

As to Karajan's recordings, those done in the Berlin Philharmonie from around 1978 onwards are compromised. Earlier ones are much better, on both DG and EMI. Simon Rattle's output with the Berlin Philharmonic suffers likewise and I refuse to buy any of it. Having recently heard them live I believe that the BPO are still playing as if Karajan were on the rostrum anyway.

On the other hand there are some stunning DG LPs from Barenboim when he was in charge in Paris. Abbado and Giulini in Chicago, and just about anyone in Vienna.
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