Recordings you've been happy to ditch/give to the charity shop

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I only have four recordings of Eine Alpensinfonie I am afraid-Kempe,Previn,Haitink and Shipway of which the latter is much my favourite.

The Shipway is indeed brilliant. The other three have two recordings each.

[Barbirollians]

Ah - Dresden/Kempe- Teldec I think VPO/Previn and the digital Haitink.

[mathias broucek]

There’s a live Giulini B minor Mass in the unsuitable acoustic of St Paul’s Cathedral. Just unlistenable

His Bavarian RSO recording of the same work is the most beautiful (which is not the same as “best”) I’ve heard

Years ago I returned a Bruckner 4 where the horn split the first note. I realise it’s not as easy as some might think, but it should never have been released...

[BBMmk2]

Quite a few methinks.

[visualnickmos]

There’s a live Giulini B minor Mass in the unsuitable acoustic of St Paul’s Cathedral. Just unlistenable

His Bavarian RSO recording of the same work is the most beautiful (which is not the same as “best”) I’ve heard

Years ago I returned a Bruckner 4 where the horn split the first note. I realise it’s not as easy as some might think, but it should never have been released...

Was that also a Giulini recording? I'm curious now!

[mathias broucek]

Was that also a Giulini recording? I'm curious now!

No, I’ve never seen a Giulini Bruckner 4. It was Eastern European I think (sorry, dim memory!)

[cloughie]

No, I’ve never seen a Giulini Bruckner 4. It was Eastern European I think (sorry, dim memory!)

Think he only did 2 7 8 & 9

[kea]

After years of recommendations I tried a few of the Tátrai Quartet's Haydn sets and found the ensemble playing average, the string technique fair, and the intonation borderline unlistenable, sometimes as much as a quarter tone out of tune, not helped by copious use of vibrato. They were discarded. I still see people praising them, the same with the Tokyo Quartet's Haydn Op. 50, which to my hears is very much similar but with slightly better intonation, and which I'm holding onto (but never listen to) simply because it can't be that hundreds of people online are all completely wrong and maybe I'll come around to their point of view someday.

I am happy to stick with the London Haydn Quartet, which people who like the Tokyo and Tátrai Quartets accuse of being unlistenable, badly played, etc.

In general I don't want to dismiss anything out of hand, since any recording I hate will probably be loved by someone, and every recording I love has received at least one negative review if not more. So I always try to listen with an open mind—which is why e.g. I have come to appreciate several recordings of Beethoven's Hammerklavier that ignore the composer's metronome marks—but I guess I just don't always hear what other people do.

[Barbirollians]

The complete Norrington EMI Beethoven symphonies, ‘nuff said.

I learned loads from those recordings - in the 1980s they were revelatory. Would I be likely to pick them up as first choices now ? No but I am very glad I have them.

[Bryn]

I learned loads from those recordings - in the 1980s they were revelatory. Would I be likely to pick them up as first choices now ? No but I am very glad I have them.

Seconded. Krivine and Savall would be my HIPP instrumental choices, these days, with Norrington's HIPP set with 'his' Stuttgrterts playing mainly modern instruments, alongside. One to go soon, though to a charity shop whose aims I did not support*, would be Segerstam's Mahler 5.

* Otherwise, I would feel guilty about imposing it on someone else.

[cloughie]

I learned loads from those recordings - in the 1980s they were revelatory. Would I be likely to pick them up as first choices now ? No but I am very glad I have them.

I wonder whether Norrington has any views on the Savall take and the timps - Norrington’s LCP quite tame in comparison!

[Bryn]

I wonder whether Norrington has any views on the Savall take and the timps - Norrington’s LCP quite tame in comparison!

"Ludwig van Beethoven revolutionized timpani music in the early 19th century. He not only wrote for drums tuned to intervals other than a fourth or fifth, but he gave a prominence to the instrument as an independent voice beyond programmatic use. For example, his Violin Concerto (1806) opens with four solo timpani strokes, and the scherzo of his Ninth Symphony (1824) sets the timpani (tuned an octave apart) against the orchestra in a sort of call and response."

see Krentzer, Bill (December 1969). "The Beethoven Symphonies: Innovations of an Original Style in Timpani Scoring". Percussionist. Percussive Arts Society. 7 (2): 55–62

[Petrushka]

"Ludwig van Beethoven revolutionized timpani music in the early 19th century. He not only wrote for drums tuned to intervals other than a fourth or fifth, but he gave a prominence to the instrument as an independent voice beyond programmatic use. For example, his Violin Concerto (1806) opens with four solo timpani strokes, and the scherzo of his Ninth Symphony (1824) sets the timpani (tuned an octave apart) against the orchestra in a sort of call and response."

see Krentzer, Bill (December 1969). "The Beethoven Symphonies: Innovations of an Original Style in Timpani Scoring". Percussionist. Percussive Arts Society. 7 (2): 55–62

I've long thought that Beethoven's innovative use of the timpani has never had the attention it deserves so found that an interesting quote.

When I attended one of the LSO/Haitink Beethoven concerts (Symphonies 1 & 9) in the Barbican that were subsequently issued on the LSO Live label, the timpani were placed in the unusual position of extreme right, front of stage as you look at it, and I can well remember the explosive impact, an effect slightly lost on the CDs, but most satisfying in the hall.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

I suspect the Blomstedt is not at all bad; it was a couple of rave reviews that led me to think it would improve still further on other cherished favourites.

Cloughie and I have discussed before the surprising ordinariness of Previns Elgar 2.

The Blomstedt Alpensinfonie is probably not one that I'd have as my only version, and maybe those rave reviews are OTT, but it's still one to have on the shelves. Mind you, after hearing the merry racket that the LSO low brass make in the Storm section under Haitink, I rather miss that in other versions, including his RCO account.

As for Previn's Elgar 2nd, there's an interesting alternative take in the 152-CD RCO box as well as the smaller volume; I have both on my shelves, the reason being that the notes in the smaller box are much better, and it's always fun to give my Dutch a workout. And I didn't pay a penny for either.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

I've long thought that Beethoven's innovative use of the timpani has never had the attention it deserves so found that an interesting quote.

When I attended one of the LSO/Haitink Beethoven concerts (Symphonies 1 & 9) in the Barbican that were subsequently issued on the LSO Live label, the timpani were placed in the unusual position of extreme right, front of stage as you look at it, and I can well remember the explosive impact, an effect slightly lost on the CDs, but most satisfying in the hall.

Blimey - if it was Nigel Thomas playing timps then it would have had explosive impact.

I recall having that set at one point but it didn't really bloat my goat. That was at a point when LvB9 mattered a lot more to me than it does now, and Gerald Finley singing his contribution like a Schubert Lied was a turn-off.