Recommendations for close miked classical recordin

As soon as I saw your question, I thought of the Mercury Living Presence recordings---but Rushton beat me to the punch.

Verdi's 'Il Trovatore', with Bocelli on the Decca label.
There is one on Ebay for $6.69 'New', buy it now Inc s/h. Bargain.
Ps-I am not affiliated to the seller.

I absolutely favor what Chashmal says about selecting the best performances, although I am sure he would concur that it's not always possible, the best equipment notwithstanding, to "bring" those interpretations to a level of sound reproduction that our ears or tonal tastes would be willing live with. In more than a few instances, I have sold classical collectors' items that have excelled soundwise but not given me the kind of interpretive fulfillment I have longed for. Fortunately, I've encountered relatively fewer instances when I could not live with the sound of a recording(bright,sharp,peaky or muddy)despite its possessing the kind of performance I truly liked.

The better ones speakers are etc the more one can (as been said)concentrate on the quality of the performers' rather than the alleged high quality of a cd.
Good loudspeakers should make good sounds out of ALL mediocre recordings and orgasmic soundings out of true high quality
recordings.I got to admit I pick a chosen performer/s first rather than the cd.

If you are talking CD, try the Nimbus English String/William Boughton CDs. The Benjamin Britten one is particularly excellent.The Ralph Vaughn Williams is also excellent.
These recordings where all done in a long narrow and somewhat reverberant room. The micing is fairly close, but because of the room the sound has great ambiance and decay.They are also great pieces played well.

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