Exceptional recordings

[richardfinegold]

Bach. Gold ergs Sergei Schepkin
Beethoven 7th Symphony Solti/CSO
Beethoven op. 111 Gary Graffman
Beethoven Op. 59 Razumovsky Quartets Hungarian Quartet
Beethoven Violin Concerto. Oistrakh /Cluytens
Brahms 4th Symphony. Klemperer Philharmonia
Dvorak Cello Concerto. Gendron / Haitink
Holst/planets. Solti/LPO
Haydn. Surprise/clock. Monteux/VPO
Janacek String Quartets. Janacek Quartet
Mozart K.467/491. Casadesus/Szell
Schubert/ Wintereise. DFD
Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony. Bernstein /NY
Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony. Monteux /BSO
Vivaldi Mandolin Concertos. Claudio Scimone
RVW. 5th symphony/lark. Brayden Thompson /LSO

[Nick Armstrong]

Mozart - Horn Concerti and Quintet: Eastop/Hanover Band/Halstead [cond] - Hyperion not yet released

Neatly done, Laurie, very neatly done!!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Neatly done, Laurie, very neatly done!!

And conducted by one of our members.

[Nick Armstrong]

And conducted by one of our members.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Have you ever considered crowd-funding LaurieWatt?

Please?!

I didn't know Laurie Watt needed to be crowd-funded.... sorry...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes, I mostly listed recordings of works that (a) have been recorded frequently and (b) I have a strong preference for one particular recording in. Can't really argue about whether Kempe or Barbirolli is preferable in Ferneyhough's La terre est un homme after all...

No; 's'obviously Barbirolli, innit?

[pastoralguy]

Twelve messages in and no mention of Ida Haendel?

There, I've done it!

Only 'cause I was at work!

For me...

1) Tchaikovsky violin concerto. Igor Oistrakh, violin. The Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Oistrakh.
This was the first classical Lp I ever heard properly. (As opposed to droning in the background). My father bought it in Canada and I played it into extinction. I no longer have the original Lp but managed to get an open reel tape which is, IMHO, superior to the vinyl. AFAIK, it's never been released on cd (although there is a pint in it if anyone can tell me otherwise!)

2. Tchaikovsky symphony 4. Thee SNO conducted by Alexander Gibson. The first Lp I ever bought with my own money after hearing them play it at the Usher Hall in June 1977. Yes, there are better played and conducted performances but this one still has the power to send a tingle down my spine.

3. Dvorak 'cello concerto. Alicia Weilerstein, 'cello with the Czech Philharmonic conducted by George Whitehead. For me, personally, this is the finest recording I've ever heard of this wonderful masterpiece.

4. Lekau. Violin sonata. Yehudi and Hepzibah Menuhin. The most passionate and unselfconscious recording of anything I've ever heard. I listen to it rarely but, boy, does it hit the spot when I do. It's on the defunct Biddulph label and I believe is hard to get.

5. Beethoven. Symphony 6. Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic's 1977 recording. Again, there are 'better' recordings but I remember saving up for it and the thrill of hearing a modern, up to date recording of it. (My father had two scratched and battered MfP Lps of it).

6. Ida Haendel. (At last!). The Sibelius violin concerto which I bought in 1978 after watching her, open mouthed, make this difficult work look so easy with the late Paavo Berglund and the SNO in 1978.

7. Prokofiev. Violin concerto 1. Isaac Stern with Lenny and the New York Philharmonic. (Stern recorded it twice - this is the first and, IMHO, best). Sheer savagery from a wonderful master of the violin.

8. Sibelius. Karelia suite. The Vienna philharmonic under Sargent. An Lp my uncle had that I used to ask him to play every time we visited him.

[pastoralguy]

I haven't got round to putting together a definitive list, but this might be on it - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dvorak-Symph...s=Carlos+Paita

This recording was originally on the Lodia label, which I believe was the conductor's own label. For a long while it seemed to be unavailable, but it has resurfaced - again - on the same label.

Monteux's recording of the same symphony might also be on my list.

Paita used to conduct the SNO in the 70's and early 80's. I must have seen him back then but have no recollection. However, I do have a cd of him conducting the 'Eroica' symphony with them. It's pretty good.

[pastoralguy]

Have you ever considered crowd-funding LaurieWatt?

Please?!

Seriously, what sort of figures are we talking about? £100's, £1,000's?

Just curious.

[amateur51]

Seriously, what sort of figures are we talking about? £100's, £1,000's?

Just curious.

Exactly pasters - isn't that how EMI funded Schnabel's Beethovens and the Hugo Wolf Society recordings aeons ago? They called it 'funding by subscription' but crowd-funding is another name.

[Roehre]

About a third of the recordings I have are of works that have only been recorded once - rarely performed and even more rarely broadcast, too, in many cases, so literally "exceptional". .......

That sounds very familiar

Of the many thousands of recordings there are only two which I think are indispensable for me:

Mahler - Lied von der Erde -Merriman/Haefliger/Concertgebouworkest-Jochum
Dvorak - Cello concerto - Thauer/ Czech Philharmonic/ Macal

for the rest for me it's a kind of fetishism I'm afraid:
what's exceptional in one person's opinion is less so or worse in another's..

[teamsaint]

Exactly pasters - isn't that how EMI funded Schnabel's Beethovens and the Hugo Wolf Society recordings aeons ago? They called it 'funding by subscription' but crowd-funding is another name.

nothing new under the sun.

Orders from the trade in publishing are still known as Subscriptions , or subs.

It is working very well for certain pop/rock acts.

[Don Petter]

The first two which come to mind, thinking of single works, rather than any sets, are Weill’s Drei Groschen Oper, with cast including Lotte Lenya, conducted by Brückner-Rüggeberg and Offenbach’s La Belle Helene, conducted by Rene Leibowitz.

Both, as far as I’m concerned, are hors concours.

[HighlandDougie]

Mahler - Lied von der Erde -Merriman/Haefliger/Concertgebouworkest-Jochum

My very first classical LP, bought for me by my father in, err .... 1966 so most definitely indispensable for me too.

[rauschwerk]

Is it really the case that at least 95% of all 'indispensable' recordings were made by artists who are no longer with us?

5. Berlioz: Les Troyens (DVD) conducted by John Eliot Gardiner