classical suggestions

I hope you read this because this is what you need,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,TRUST ME.

There are quite a few big pieces of music that some of the others have already recommended.

Newbee mentioned the one that I personally feel is the absolute best symphony of all. Even if you don't dedicate your entire weekend to it,,,,,at least give an evening.

Leonard Bernstein & the NY Philharmonic,,,,,,,,doing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Tschaikovsky's 5th Symphony. This is by far one of the most emotional, enjoyable, underated scores in classical music. You said you wanted big right,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the last movement will leave you gasping for air! I hope you give all of the previous suggestions a try since they are all good.

BUT I REALLY, REALLY HOPE YOU GIVE THE 5TH SYMPHONY A LISTEN THIS WEEKEND!!!!!! I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Best of luck,

Happy listening!

Carl

How allergic are you to mono and/or less than great sounding recordings? My recommendations will vary greatly depending on your preference. Following are great performances with at least good sonics, so should be safe:

Beethoven 5&7th sym. Carlos Kleiber/VPO
Beethoven 9th sym. Eugene Jochum/Royal Concertgebouw or
Herbert von Karajan/BPO (1962)
Beethoven 5th Piano Concerto Stephen Kovacevich (pianist)/LSO/Sir Colin Davis
Brahms Sym. 1 - 4 Kurt Sanderling/Dresden Staatskapelle
Brahms Sym. 1 Jascha Horenstein/LSO
Dvorak Sym. 9 Vaclav Smetacek/Prague Radio SO or
Istvan Kertesz/LSO
Mahler Sym. 1 Rafael Kubelik/SO des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Mahler Sym. 6 Sir John Barbirolli/New Philharmonia
Orff Carmina Burana Riccardo Muti/Philharmonia
Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto William Kapell/Dallas SO/Antal Dorati
Tchaikovsky Sym. 4 George Szell/LSO
Tchaikovsky Sym. 5 Valery Gergiev/VPO <--- Give this a shot, Meech33 =)

Hope that helps and lots more recs if you can tolerate less than good sonics.

Gileon,

I own that recording also,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it's pretty good but I prefer the sonic qualities that the NY Philharmonic disc better.