Please suggest a few really good classical recordings
After a somewhat scary number of years attending all sorts of musical performances ranging from avant garde jazz to Broadway shows to folk to pop to rock & roll to zydeco in every conceivable venue, we finally had the great good fortune to experience the Cleveland Symphony at Severance Hall this past Saturday.
While we've enjoyed Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Holst, Ravel, Stravinsky, Strauss and Tchaikovsky recordings, we'd never had an opportunity to listen to a live orchestra before. This particular performance was of Sibelius' 1st with Susanna Malkki conducting, so as authentic as could reasonably be expected. We quickly realized that the classical recordings we have simply don't do the material justice.
I have some MFSL, MasterWorks and Deutche Grammaphon pressings along with a few CDs of classical music. To my ears, none of them really compared very well with pressings by those companies or others (Sheffield and various Japanese houses) of acoustic jazz, folk or rock. Having read several comments here indicating that most classical recordings are not as good as they could be, I now finally understand why. The basis of comparison was simply not there before.
So, please suggest a few recordings that might be worthy of the material. Vinyl would be preferable, but CD or SACD are also fine. Stuff we know really well includes the Brandenburg Concertos, Beethoven's 9th, Holst's Planets and Stravinsky's Firebird. Those would be easiest for us to really grasp what we've been missing, but finding a great recording or three is the priority. Thanks in advance and we look forward to your suggestions!
While we've enjoyed Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Holst, Ravel, Stravinsky, Strauss and Tchaikovsky recordings, we'd never had an opportunity to listen to a live orchestra before. This particular performance was of Sibelius' 1st with Susanna Malkki conducting, so as authentic as could reasonably be expected. We quickly realized that the classical recordings we have simply don't do the material justice.
I have some MFSL, MasterWorks and Deutche Grammaphon pressings along with a few CDs of classical music. To my ears, none of them really compared very well with pressings by those companies or others (Sheffield and various Japanese houses) of acoustic jazz, folk or rock. Having read several comments here indicating that most classical recordings are not as good as they could be, I now finally understand why. The basis of comparison was simply not there before.
So, please suggest a few recordings that might be worthy of the material. Vinyl would be preferable, but CD or SACD are also fine. Stuff we know really well includes the Brandenburg Concertos, Beethoven's 9th, Holst's Planets and Stravinsky's Firebird. Those would be easiest for us to really grasp what we've been missing, but finding a great recording or three is the priority. Thanks in advance and we look forward to your suggestions!
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Lets be honest here, recorded classical orchestral music will never approach, or equal live performances. Ever! For me they are a learning opportunity both the music itself and performance standards and variations. Given that proviso, I totally enjoy them for what they are and listen often. Two recording of music not on your list but which I consider essential for mine (that of recordings which are both high quality, audio wise, and interesting music and performance: 1)Mahler Symphony #1 and Lieder by Zander on Telarc 2)Copland Symphony 3 etc on Reference Recording I have no problem with millercarbon's recommendation but the original vinyl or more recent (still about 25+ years ago) reissue on vinyl are much better than the CD. Much better. |
Agree with Newbee; his suggestions are good ones as well. For the Firebird, that Dorati recording is about as good as I have heard of the piece. the SACD is good; you can save some money on the vinyl by looking for the Classic Records reissue (maybe Analog Productions has done this one as well).on vinyl; dynamics to die for. For The Planets, there are a number of vinyl reissues of the Mehta/LA Philharmonic recording on Decca/London that are excellent; just don't expect the sound to match what you hear in the concert hall. |
Among classical symphonic recordings of familiar and immediately likable pieces, what may be the best overall combination of sonics and performance that I have ever heard is a Chesky cd, number CD31, containing a performance of Dvorak’s "New World" Symphony with Jascha Horenstein conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was originally engineered by the legendary Kenneth Wilkinson of Decca, and you would absolutely not believe that it was recorded in 1962! Unfortunately this CD is long out of print, but you may be able to find used or unused copies on eBay or Amazon. During the first minute or two of the recording there are one or two timpani strokes that are slightly distorted, presumably due to overload of the original tapes. But despite that minor issue, and assuming that your system can cleanly handle the very wide dynamic range, I cannot think of any recording that would fulfill your stated goal so incredibly well. Regards, -- Al |
For the Firebird, that Dorati recording is about as good as I have heard of the piece. My suggestion was based purely on it being on your list and being a Hot Stamper. Now that rcprince chimed in let me expand on that. If you really are keen on getting a good recording, well the recording itself is only half the battle. You would not believe how much difference there is between copies of the same record. Try a Hot Stamper, you will still not believe it. I haven't tried any classical yet, but all the Hot Stampers I have are so much better than my other copies its not even fair to compare. |
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