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What are your TWO favorite Symphonic Recordings?

Only one would cruel and unusual punishment.

My first would be Joseph Krips 1958 recording of Schubert's 9th on London with the London SO.There was a CD of it as well
which is also OP I believe. If you can find either it or the record at anything under a $1OO its a good buy. Personally
I would give 2K for one if I didn't have a copy.
More than once I've read a critic claim this was the greatest record ever made. The LSO was at the top of its game and gave
this uber- powerful symphony a power-house performance.

My second is the 1976 recording of the Brahms 2nd by James Levine and the Chicago SO in the acoustically wonderful Medina Temple in Chicago. Originally it was on RCA but can be had on Amazon as part of Sony Classical 3 disc set of all Brahm'4 symphonies and his great masterpiece the "German Requiem" for less than 15 bucks ! Very nice sound as well.
Levine does a near-miracle in capturing the 2nd Symphonys combo of power , lyricism and harmonic stability all at the same time.
Of all the great Romantic composers Brahms was the most learned, he literally had the music of 4 centuries at his fingertips, knew every note of Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven. It took me 30 years of listening before I really
got a glimmer of just how great he is.

A few words of Brahms on Schubert;

"Where else is there a genius like his,that soars with such
boldness and certainty ...he is a child of the Gods...who plays in a region and at a height to which others can by no means attain .
schubert
schubert OP
7,386 posts
 
Thanks Frog, health permitting I just might make that.
I'll tell all, having been all over the US and world, if there is a more beautiful place than Upstate NY, I'll kiss your butt on Main St. and give you 2 weeks to draw a crowd !

I did make the pilgrimage to the the Marlboro Festival in VT to see the sweat pour off the great Mitsuko Uchida playing Scubert's towering Sonata 21 in the hot summer sun.

From the little I've seen of Botstein it looks like he falls into the force of nature category?

schubert OP
7,386 posts
 
Brownfan, I think there is a Beecham 3 and 5 on EMIs "Great Recordings of the Century". which is as good if not better, cheap and readily available om Amazon.
frogman
7,561 posts
 
Botstein is a remarkable individual; amazing intellect.
schubert OP
7,386 posts
 
Thats what I remember from a talk I heard him give once on NPR.
FWIT, I knew two young ladies in Berlin, one a clarinetist , the other an oboist , both grads of the Berlin Music Hochschule ( a cross between Julliard and Indiana), they played Schubert songs together as stay at home-moms and truly sang.
Some of the german students had Schubert's song in their DNA
to a degree I don't think any non native german speaker could.
brownsfan
1,508 posts
 
Schubert, I found a nice used copy of the Beechum on Amazon. Thanks. I will mention a recent purchase that I have found very satisfying, a Newton classics release of Brahms Alto Rhapsodie and various choral works. ColinDavis/Nathalie Stutzmann. These performances for me, do something akin to what the Krips Schubert did. It gets to Brahms as I think Brahms should be. This makes me wonder if I should not give more of Davis' Brahms a try.

I've found all of the newton classics to be more than satisfactory. They appear to have a good ear for performances that deserve to be back in the catalogue. One disclaimer, I love this CD so much it stays in my car, so I have yet to have it in the house where I can evaluate it based on sonics.
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