Exceptional recordings

[Don Petter]

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

'Standing the test of time' might be a common way of evaluation?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

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.

I had the original vinyl LP, with a bright turquoise sleeve - and, do I remember correctly, it played at 45rpm?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

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

I thought about that when I was compiling my list. But Mark Elder is still with us and Maazel passed away only very recently.

[Nick Armstrong]

Kondrashin's New World

I find this a very difficult exercise, but that would be among them.

Crespin singing Ravel's "Shéhérazade" would be another. Kleiber's Beethoven 5 another.

[Don Petter]

I find this a very difficult exercise, but that would be among them.

Crespin singing Ravel's "Shéhérazade" would be another. Kleiber's Beethoven 5 another.

Which Kleiber?

[Nick Armstrong]

Which Kleiber?

Good question.

Junior!

[Don Petter]

Good question.

Junior!

I though so. I remember starting out with his dad's 'Eroica'.

[umslopogaas]

There is so much here that is so familiar, and greatly honoured, that I dont really know what I can add, but here goes.

Callas singing Medea. The last fifteen minutes of her recording of Cherubini's opera are just TERRIFYING.

Mahler's second symphony cond. by Solti, on the first recording he made for Decca, the two LP box set with the sunset on the cover.

Actually, Callas singing anything would count as exceptional in my books.

Messiaen. 'Turangalila symphony' Two LP set on RCA conducted by Ozawa. Just the most amazing music I ever heard. It blew me away, and also blew away most of my friends (not figuratively, they just coughed politely and left). The 'Song of Joy of the Blood of the Stars' is astonishing.

[verismissimo]

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

Thought I'd consider rauschie's implied challenge, so here goes:

Hilary Hahn playing Schoenberg VC
Brooklyn Rider playing Beethoven Op 131
Jon Vickers as Peter Grimes or Otello or Siegmund

[LaurieWatt]

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

Just curious.

Actually, not a great deal. The costs arise in the transfer, tidying up (editing) manufacture and distribution. The main problems are logistical - licence and consent from the BBC, consent from Bernard Haitink and Ida Haendel - just one big horn bloop that needs editing out!

[EdgeleyRob]

Shostakovich : Symphony No 7,Chicago Symphony Orchestra,Bernstein.
Vaughan Williams : Symphony No 9,Boult (1958).
Vaughan Williams,The Pilgrims Progress,Boult.
Malcolm Arnold : Symphony No 9,National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland,Andrew Penny.
Shostakovich : String Quartet No 9,Borodin Quartet.
Brahms : Op 116 to 119,Katchen.
Elgar : Symphony No 2,LPO,Boult.
Mozart: Piano Concerto No.23,Vladimir Horowitz,Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano,Carlo Maria Giulini.
Alkan,Les Quatre Ages,Hamelin.
Mendelssohn,Op 80,Henschell Quartet.

[Barbirollians]

I though so. I remember starting out with his dad's 'Eroica'.

Which one ? I prefer the VPO to the Cgebouw recording.

[Don Petter]

Which one ? I prefer the VPO to the Cgebouw recording.

The latter, with a movement split between the sides, unfortunately.

[rauschwerk]

6. Bartok: Sonata for 2 pianos & percussion + Debussy: En blanc et noir + Mozart Variations K501 (Argerich, Kovacevich). Will the Bartok performance ever be surpassed? I doubt it.

[rauschwerk]

7. 'Fairest Isle' - songs by Dowland, Campion, Morley, Byrd and Purcell. Barbara Bonney, Jacob Heringman, Phantasm, AAM/Hogwood. Surely this is Ms Bonney at the very top of her game. In Campion's The Sypres Curtain of the Night (a depiction of a sleepless night brought on by depression) she is almost unbearably moving, and she makes Morley's It was a lover and is lass sound properly sexy by taking it slower than usual.