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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
jetrexpro OP
506 posts
 
Fabsound, Glad you got a few of these better sounding DG recordings. No substitute for hearing the Berlin/Karajan from the mid 60's. That orchestra and conductor at the height of their powers.
Kmccarty- good info here. We are not subscribers to the Berlin Phil site but have listened/watched some of their streams briefly and they sound /look very good.
rushton's avatar
rushton
2,445 posts
 
Another recommendation for a DG orchestral recording that sounds very good is the Stravinsky Violin Concerto, with Ozawa, Boston Symphony, and Perlman. 2531 110

DG seemed to use entirely different groups of engineers for their chamber music recordings and a much simpler miking philosophy. As a result, many of their chamber music recordings are very good, particularly the recordings with the Boston Symphony Players. Some examples:

Berg, Chamber Concerto for Pf & Vn with 13 winds instruments, 2531 007

Messiaen, Quatuor pour la Din du Temps (Qt for the End of Time), 2531 093

Stravinsky, Concertina for 12 Instruments / Ragtime for Eleven Instruments, 2530 551

Stravinsky, L'Histoire du Soldat, 2530 609

Carter, Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello & Harpsicord, 2530 104

Schoenberg, Suite Op. 29, 2531 277
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jetrexpro OP
506 posts
 
We are amassing a large group of great sounding DG LP recordings. I for one am happy to know of these.

I was shopping for Berg's LULU suite on vinyl and ran across a Sony CD of James Levine and the Met orchestra from 1993 all digital recording. It arrived today. This is AMAZING recording quality. Depth and transparency for days. It includes Wozzeck fragments which I have not heard. I must say that I like Berg's music very much. Especially the Violin Concerto. His LULU suite sounds like Mozart on drugs.- Jet
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)
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