Legendary recordings that live up to their reputation

[Barbirollians]

There are many obvious ones but I have been listening to a coupling of the Brahms and Sibelius concertos with Ginette Neveu on an EMI GROC this week that really does fit that bill.

Although not released as a coupling originally they have been coupled many times . I got to know these recordings from an EMI references LP about 25 years ago and I recall being smitten with it and playing it a great deal at the end of my student days but it long since bit the dust and I had not heard either for years . How wonderful they are - Neveu had an extraordinary penetrating impassioned tone but with not the slightest hint of schmaltz or sentimentality .

What legendary recording can you recall living up to its reputation so dramatically when you first heard it ?

[pastoralguy]

The Mravrinsky/ Leningrad Phil's Tchaikovsky symphonies.

I first heard them when I was 14 and they still pack a punch today.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Furtwangler's Bayreuth Beethoven 9
Erich Kleiber's VPO Eroica - still my favourite

[Pabmusic]

...Erich Kleiber's VPO Eroica - still my favourite

Dare I mention J du P's Elgar? Over the top it may be, but...

[edashtav]

Kyril Kondrashin's epic 1959 version of Myaskovsky's 6th Symphony in Eb minor with the USSR SO : such power, sweep and urgency. There have been 5 or 6 other interpretations of what I feel was Myaskovsky's masterpiece since KK's early effort but none can hold a candle to it. It is one of those performances that seize you by the throat and convince you that a second-tier composer is a genius. The fog, snap and crackle of a Soviet recording couldn't detract from its ferocity and glory.

[makropulos]

Here are three that I discovered when I was a student that still impress and move me as much now as they did then:
Busch Quartet - Beethoven, especially Op. 59 No. 3
Dinu Lipatti - Chopin B minor Sonata and Barcarolle
Klemperer - Strauss Metamorphosen
Kondrashin - Rachmaninov Bells

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Dare I mention J du P's Elgar? Over the top it may be, but...

[Ferretfancy]

There are many obvious ones but I have been listening to a coupling of the Brahms and Sibelius concertos with Ginette Neveu on an EMI GROC this week that really does fit that bill.

Although not released as a coupling originally they have been coupled many times . I got to know these recordings from an EMI references LP about 25 years ago and I recall being smitten with it and playing it a great deal at the end of my student days but it long since bit the dust and I had not heard either for years . How wonderful they are - Neveu had an extraordinary penetrating impassioned tone but with not the slightest hint of schmaltz or sentimentality .

What legendary recording can you recall living up to its reputation so dramatically when you first heard it ?

The Neveu was my first encounter with the Sibelius concerto, and I can still picture myself listening on a wind up gramophone in the Geography classroom!

I don't think that this performance has ever been surpassed. Some years ago on Christmas morning I visited Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris and saw her grave with just a simple relief of a violin on top of the stone. It's quite close to the grave of Jim Morrison, rather a different musician!

Other examples? Well, how about Barbirolli's EMI stereo performance of the Tallis Fantasia, Beecham's Brigg Fair, Kleiber's The Marriage of Figaro and Richter's mono DG recording of Schumann's Fantasiestucke.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There's Ferrier's ...



... actually, I think I'll stop there!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Solti's Götterdämmerung

[aeolium]

My list would include (of older recordings):

Lipatti - Bach Partita no 1
Solomon/Philharmonia/Ackermann - Mozart Piano Concerto K450
Grumiaux Quintet - Mozart G minor String Quintet
Ferrier/Walter/VPO - Mahler Kindertotenlieder
Rostropovitch/Britten - Schubert Arpeggione Sonata
Beecham/BPO/soloists - Mozart Die Zauberflöte
Furtwängler/BPO - Haydn Symphony no 88

[Gordon]

My list would include (of older recordings):

Lipatti - Bach Partita no 1
Solomon/Philharmonia/Ackermann - Mozart Piano Concerto K450
Grumiaux Quintet - Mozart G minor String Quintet
Ferrier/Walter/VPO - Mahler Kindertotenlieder
Rostropovitch/Britten - Schubert Arpeggione Sonata
Beecham/BPO/soloists - Mozart Die Zauberflöte
Furtwängler/BPO - Haydn Symphony no 88

YES!!

I'd add Klemperer's Mahler 2 and his 1955 Eroica
Furtwangler's Tristan?

[pastoralguy]

There's Ferrier's ...



... actually, I think I'll stop there!

There's Heifetz's...



...actually, I'll stop there too!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Beecham/BPO/soloists - Mozart Die Zauberflöte
Furtwängler/BPO - Haydn Symphony no 88

Yes to both (the latter being coupled with an equally stunning Schumann 4).

[visualnickmos]

Dare I mention J du P's Elgar? Over the top it may be, but...

Substitute with 'abundant expressiveness!'
it is a great recording, although not perhaps a library first choice..... I may be wrong? It is in my 'library' btw.