Best recording / performance Dvorak Cello conc.

The Fournier/Szell and old sound Casals/Szell as well as Starker/Dorati are widely considered to be the best. If you want a Rostropovich, the DGG BPO/Karajan SACD is historic (in the period of glastnost). I have a tape live with Cleveland Orchestra and Szell in 1969 that beats the DGG easily.

I know this is an old thread, but I was just listening to this concerto and decided to run a sarch on the 'gon to see what has been said about it here.....so......

I have heard 3 versions of this concerto and own 2.
I would rate them in this order:
1. Jacqueline du Pre with Daniel Barenboim conducting Chicago Symphony. This is by far my favorite. I own this and I think this is an absolute "must have".
2. Yo-Yo Ma. Very good playing by Ma, recording quality is good too. I like Ma's interpretation.
3. Rostropovich w/Carlo Maria Giulini on EMI.
Now I just got this disc and I am actually surprised that it really did not meat my expectations. I like Rostropovich, especially his performance of Bach suites, but this particular recording, I think, lacks emotion from Rostropovich and even the orchestra. I actually like the way Rostropovich played Saint-Saens concerto that is on the same CD, but I got kind of dissapointed by the Dvorak.
I would normally rate Rostropovich above Ma, but on this particular concerto, I don't know......

I highly recommend Jacqueline du Pre's Dvorak. As a matter of fact, buy the entire "Jacqueline du Pre: The concerto collection" set, because it is amazing! You won't regret it.

Yeah, Ma on Columbia is very, very good. Second movement horns and clarinets are well-recorded, and Ma does a phenomenal job.

Here's another hands-up for Helmerson/Jarvi on BIS. :) This CD is one of my faves, I keep returning to it. This is very engaging, emotional and simply beautiful. Catalog number is BIS-CD-245 and it's a very early CD, all the way from 1984. It still sounds excellent though, no worries!

Haven't listened to recordings of this work enough to have an opinion on which I favor, but because a poster 2 years ago referred to Gramaphone magazine and the Penguin Guide, I feel entitled to pass on the opinions expressed on my favorite source of reviews, Classicstoday.com, FWIW.

The Rostropovich/Giulini recording was judged the least successful of Rostropovich's many recorded performances, but the fault was attributed to Giulini ("My God, he's boring!"). The Rostropovich collaborations deemed best were those with Karajan, Talich and Ozawa. Historic recordings judged to be great performances but with poor sound are Casals as both soloist and conductor of the Barcelona orchestra and Feuermann/Sargent (both on Naxos historical). Also favorably cited are Ma/Masur (Sony), Helmerson (BIS) and, more recently, Queyras/Belohlavek (Harmonia Mundi). Recordings by famous cellists that were deemed less successful are Ma/Maazel and DuPre/Barenboim. No comment on Kliegel's recording, but the Classicstoday reviewers generally regard her work highly.