Legendary recordings that live up to their reputation

[LeMartinPecheur]

Worrabout -

Walton 1,LSO Previn
Shostakovich 7,CSO Bernstein.
Vaughan Williams,The Pilgrims Progress,Boult.
Britten,Peter Grimes,Pears Britten
Beethoven,Triple Concerto,Oistrakh Rostropovich Richter,BPO Karajan
Brahms Violin Concerto,Kennedy LPO Tennstedt.

I'll give you the Walton on a plate ER, but not sure about the rest.

Dunno the Shosta and Brahms so we'll leave them.

The VW Boult: isn't there something a bit funny about Boult's status? Utterly reliable, so utterly dedicated to music and composer, but somehow there seems an obstacle to calling this legendary. Is it perhaps that so uniform a reliability, and a lot more than that, makes it difficult to single out any one recording as legendary? FWIW my pick would probably be the HMV late stereo VW Job, but what do I know? Tomorrow I could well pick the Decca Holst Hymn of Jesus...

The Britten: so many of BB's recordings of his own music seem definitive. Wouldn't the War Requiem be any even better pick for 'legendary'? Several recordings of PG are right up there but the WR seems still to stand out ahead by a mile. (Maybe...?)

And the LvB Triple Concerto. A very musical mate of mine thinks this is actually pretty poor, and there is clear evidence that there were huge differences, ultimately unreconciled, between the foursome of "soloists + HvK" at the sessions about tempi, and not soloists on one side and conductor on the other either. I've been meaning to sit down, with or without my mate, to listen to this against at least two other recordings on my shelves. Maybe when I retire?

[aeolium]

Berlioz: La damnation de Faust, Markevitch

Absolutely. A terrific recording, so exciting and so idiomatic. It's not the most polished, but who wants polish in this music? The Marche Hongroise in this version is music to make the head explode

I think you could almost pick any of the VPO/Mackerras Janacek recordings. How he made those works sound so fresh at a time when they were not that frequently performed in opera houses.

[pastoralguy]

Has anyone mentioned Nigel Kennedy's first recording of the Elgar violin concerto yet? His recording with the late, great 'Todd' Handley and the LPO is one of the treasures of the Gramophone, IMHO.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Has anyone mentioned Nigel Kennedy's first recording of the Elgar violin concerto yet? His recording with the late, great 'Todd' Handley and the LPO is one of the treasures of the Gramophone, IMHO.

[Roehre]

...And the LvB Triple Concerto. A very musical mate of mine thinks this is actually pretty poor, and there is clear evidence that there were huge differences, ultimately unreconciled, between the foursome of "soloists + HvK" at the sessions about tempi, and not soloists on one side and conductor on the other either...

I am afraid I share this opinion. The original coupling with the Brahms double concerto shows the differences in approach of the soloists between the triple and the double concerto. The latter is much more of a unity (without Richter).

But - to be fair - the triple concerto is not a brilliant work anyway, so that's not helping either.

[slarty]

I am afraid I share this opinion. The original coupling with the Brahms double concerto shows the differences in approach of the soloists between the triple and the double concerto. The latter is much more of a unity (without Richter).

But - to be fair - the triple concerto is not a brilliant work anyway, so that's not helping either.

I would humbly suggest that the Brahms Double you mention has much greater unity because the two soloists were very much in sympathy with the conductor George Szell,
the same week as the recording (in 1969), the Double Co was performed live with Szell Rostropovich and Laredo and the Brahms Violin Co was recorded by Oistrakh and Szell.
May 8th was the concert, May 9th to 13th was the recording and May 13th to 16th Was the Violin Co. recording.
Karajan had a fine rapport with Rostropovich but much less of one with the other two soloists.

I would certainly nominate the Double Concerto with Szell as belonging in this list. Along with his recordings of the Schumann Symphonies.

[Madame Suggia]

The Beecham Sibelius 2 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra is pretty special.

Enjoying it now, Hairs on the back of the neck stuff.

[Barbirollians]

Every time I listen to it I am more and more convinced that there is no better recording of the Beethoven Piano Concerto no 3 than Annie Fischer and Fricsay . Her playing is so magical especially her pianissimos.

[akiralx]

A couple more from me, including slightly more recent things than in my last list. These lists could get very long, but I'm mindful of the stricture from the OP that they have to be "legendary' (i.e. presumably widely acclaimed already?) and to make just as big an impact now as they did when first heard... On that basis:

Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Vienna Octet, stereo version
Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes, Mathis, Fassbaender et al, Engel, Sawallisch
Britten War Requiem, Britten
Janacek Glagolitic Mass, Ancerl
Janacek Sinfonietta/Taras Bulba, VPO/Mackerras
Lehár Merry Widow, Matacic
Mozart late symphonies, SCO/Mackerras
Ravel Daphnis et Chloé, BSO/Munch
Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos, Kempe
Verdi Aida, Solti
and big agreement with EdgeleyRob about VW Pilgrim's Progress, Boult

Interesting points you raise there which resonate with me concerning these legendary recordings lists - which are almost invariably old recordings. Though I'm pleased to see yours aren't all old. I think anything has to be old to be 'legendary', but you mention that these made as big an impact ('widely acclaimed'?) now as when they were first released. But did they? When did they make the leap from being a very good 'recent' recording to legendary? I'm generally curious as I think there are many truly great recordings released today which haven't made the leap yet but which will do - in Mahler for example.

[verismissimo]

I didn't contribute to this thread at the time, but...

Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer sung by Irmgard Seefried, Elisabeth Hoengen, Hugo Meyer-Welfing and Hans Hotter in 1947. So Viennese. The lesser-known tenor the star.

[Stanfordian]

These are eight I can think of as being especially rewarding:

Saint-Saëns:
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, ‘Organ’, Op. 78 (1886)
Berj Zamkochian (organ)
Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch
Recorded: 1959, Boston, USA
RCA Red Seal (SACD) ‘Living Stereo’
Quite stunning playing and recording.

Beethoven:
Symphonies 1 - 9 & Overtures
Berliner Philharmoniker/Andre Cluytens
Recorded 1957/60 Grunewaldkirche, Berlin
EMI Classics

Howells:
Piano Quartet in A minor Op. 21;
Fantasy String Quartet Op. 25;
Rhapsodic Quintet for clarinet, two violins, viola and cello Op. 31;
Richards Piano Quartet & Richards Ensemble & Thea King (clarinet)
Recorded 1973 Walthamstow, London
Lyrita
The finest disc of English chamber music I have ever heard.

Walton:
Violin Concerto,
LSO/Sir William Walton
Recorded 1965 Abbey Road, London
Viola Concerto,
New Philharmonia Orchestra/Sir William Walton
Recorded 1968 Abbey Road, London
Yehudi Menuhin (violin & viola)
Partita for Orchestra.
Philharmonia/Sir William Walton
Recorded 1959 Kingsway hall, London
EMI Classics

Elgar:
Symphony No. 1
Introduction and Allegro
Hallé/Sir John Barbirolli
Recorded 1970 St Nicholas’ Chapel, Kings Lynn Festival, Norfolk
BBC Legends

Ireland:
Piano Concerto
Colin Horsley (piano)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Basil Cameron
Recorded 1957 Abbey Road studios, London
EMI Classics

Vaughan Williams:
Symphony No. 6 in E minor
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli
Recorded live 1970, Hercules Hall, Residenz, Munich
Orfeo International

[Sir Velo]

Have we had Kertesz's Bluebeard with the Berrys? Worth it for the opening of the fifth door alone. Spine tingling. Great recorded sound too.

[Don Petter]

Stanfordian,

I heartily agree with you about the Howells.

[EdgeleyRob]

Stanfordian,

I heartily agree with you about the Howells.

Ditto,a wonderful record.

[richardfinegold]

My lending library has a recording of the Elgar and Carter Cello Concertos with Alissa Weilerstein as Soloist and Barenboim conducting. It is a very fine recording of the Elgar but I don't think any recording will ever replacethe classic DuPre/Barbirolli. Weilerstein seems to indulge in a lot of rubato and general gear shifting, and I keep wondering if she is deliberately trying to be as different from Du Pre as she possibly can, instead of just focusing on the music itself.