Testament Label Favourites

[Barbirollians]

As I was listening to the wonderful Kletzki Borodin 2 on this label last night it occurred to me just how much EMI had missed a trick completely ignoring its mono and early stereo catalogue and just regurgitating the same old classic recordings over and over again - such a contrast to the Decca Australian Eloquence label .

The Testament label has introduced me to so many great records over the years of post war EMI records and some super live performances too .

My favourit, es are the 1947 Menuhin/Furtwangler Beethoven , the Klemperer live Fidelio, the Kletzki referred to above , the Ida Haendel Sibelius and Elgar from the Proms , The late Karajan Brahms 1 from the RFH , Solomon's Beethoven sonatas and the Hollywood Quartet records .

What are your favourite Testament releases ?

[cloughie]

As I was listening to the wonderful Kletzki Borodin 2 on this label last night it occurred to me just how much EMI had missed a trick completely ignoring its mono and early stereo catalogue and just regurgitating the same old classic recordings over and over again - such a contrast to the Decca Australian Eloquence label .

The Testament label has introduced me to so many great records over the years of post war EMI records and some super live performances too .

My favourit, es are the 1947 Menuhin/Furtwangler Beethoven , the Klemperer live Fidelio, the Kletzki referred to above , the Ida Haendel Sibelius and Elgar from the Proms , The late Karajan Brahms 1 from the RFH , Solomon's Beethoven sonatas and the Hollywood Quartet records .

What are your favourite Testament releases ?

I have to say their earlier issues from the EMI catalogue have been the gems, their price is not very competitive for some of their radio sourced issues.

In addition to the Kletzki mentioned, I'll list another five for starters.

1 Kempe Brahms Symphonies.
2 Kempe Wagner
3 Cantelli Debussy
4 Malko Borodin/Liadov
5 Kempe Mozart 34/39/41

I said 5 but must include Markevitch Rite of Spring x2

[LeMartinPecheur]

Barbirollians; sadly I've neither the time nor the money to explore the Testament catalogue fully, but 2 discs that have given me special pleasure are SBT 1197, a Hans Hotter/ Gerald Moore Hugo Wolf recital, and SBT 1030, the complete Chopin recordings of Solomon. Seeing that you've already listed S's Beethoven sonatas which I know and love as EMI LPs, perhaps this last might be of special interest.

[Don Petter]

First, all the Hollywood Quartet recordings, including the Beethoven Late Quartets and not forgetting the wonderful three Brahms Piano Quartets with Victor Aller.

Then the three CDs of Germaine Thyssens-Valentin playing Fauré.

Last, but not least, the most stunning performance of Schubert's Death and the Maiden that I know by the classic line-up of the Juilliard Quartet (c/w Beethoven's Op.131).

[Petrushka]

This is one of my favourite labels, but as cloughie says, they really do need to take a look at their price structure: selling decades old radio recordings at full price is not good enough. Having said all that, I particularly like their decades old radio recordings! There's a nice clutch of performances from Tennstedt and Giulini as well as those classic London BPO/Karajan discs. I wouldn't want to be without any of those. Ditto the Furtwangler 1942 Bruckner 5 in very good sound.

I've so far passed on the Kempe Ring and Parsifal as being too expensive; they should be half of what they cost.

[silvestrione]

My favourites are already mentioned: the London Karajan Brahms 1, the 1942 Furtwangler Bruckner 5, the Thyssens-Valentin Faure, the Solomon Chopin...Also from years ago the Schnabel/Philharmonia/Dobrowen Beethoven Conc 4 & 3. Have not played that for a while, perhaps tonight....

[pastoralguy]

Pretty much anything 'violinistic'. Ida Haendel, for me, being top of the heep. Her Bach Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin are pretty amazing. Also, the Kempe 'Scherezade' is wonderful.

[Petrushka]

Pretty much anything 'violinistic'. Ida Haendel, for me, being top of the heep. Her Bach Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin are pretty amazing. Also, the Kempe 'Scherezade' is wonderful.

Yes, that Kempe Scheherezade is pretty wonderful and a brave decision on the part of both Kempe and EMI to record one of Beecham's favourites with 'his' orchestra. It was the first Scheherezade I purchased (on LP) and it remains one of the best on disc.

[Barbirollians]

Barbirollians; sadly I've neither the time nor the money to explore the Testament catalogue fully, but 2 discs that have given me special pleasure are SBT 1197, a Hans Hotter/ Gerald Moore Hugo Wolf recital, and SBT 1030, the complete Chopin recordings of Solomon. Seeing that you've already listed S's Beethoven sonatas which I know and love as EMI LPs, perhaps this last might be of special interest.

Glad you mentioned that LMP - a wonderful collection . Solomon's Berceuse is hors concours

[amateur51]

Glad you mentioned that LMP - a wonderful collection . Solomon's Berceuse is hors concours

[makropulos]

What are your favourite Testament releases ?

Difficult to choose as it's such an impressive label...but here are five that get played a lot:

De Sabata's La Mer and other Debussy
Boult's mono Elgar 1
Mackerras Handel Fireworks (ex Pye)
Mackerras Janacek etc. (ex Pye)
Cooke/Goldschmidt Mahler 10

[Alf-Prufrock]

I have only ten Testament discs (I was actually surprised I had that many) for the same reason as given by previous posters - they are too expensive for the age of the material. I have deliberately not bought many of the classics already mentioned for that very reason.

But I must mention what I have bought - all the Testament reissues of recordings by David Munrow. Munrow's discs were never as exciting as his live performances, with all the fluffs and over-the-top excitements that they produced, but I remain very fond of them. What a wonderful age they ushered in.

[mikealdren]

Also, the Kempe 'Scherezade' is wonderful.

Fascinating that this has resurfaced, is it the RPO with Alan Loveday that was on CfP? I bought it long ago when Kletzki and others were the recommended recordings, I always preferred the Kempe and hadn't seen it on CD.

Unfortunately Testament have run in parallel with EMI and we have had the same works appear differently coupled on both, several of the Oistrakh recordings for example. I also feel that the Testament reprocessing isn't always the best. As a result I'm fascinated to see whether the new Testament Rabin set has better sound than the EMI set which was notably bad.

I feel the same with Eloquence, they have picked up Decca and Philips recordings that should have bee reissued years ago but the reprocessing is never quite good enough. If only they could/would use Mark Obert-Thorn, Mike Dutton, Andrew Rose or one of the other leading independent engineers who have achieved such wonders elsewhere.

Another favourite that appeared on Testament (but is now also on GROC) is the Gilels/Ludwig Beethoven 4th and 5th concertos.

Mike

Mike

[Rosie55]

Meridian Records sound for piano music is so fresh I always think -really jumps out of the speakers.

[Ferretfancy]

mikealdren

I have a few Ansermet CDS duplicated on Eloquence issues, and on Deccas from the 1990s when they were available in an Ansermet Edition. I have a wide range set up, and can hear no difference between them, and conclude that Eloquence have done no re-mastering at all, other than altering some couplings. To be fair, I'm referring to the stereo issues, I don't remember the monos well enough to judge, so perhaps Mike Dutton or those others might do a better job. I'm always amazed at what they can do with material dating back to the 1930s or earlier.

One problem is that in the early days of tape there were several different recording characteristics in use by different organisations, so it was important to play back using the correct one, provided that you knew what it was. However, I think that modern engineers would be well aware of this.