Definitive Recordings...

[Barbirollians]

I think the question of " definitive recordings " is generally a question of personal preference . There are very few records that seem to have that general level of approbation - the du Pre/Baker Elgar coupling is perhaps one .

For me - the Barenboim/Klemperer Beethoven 5 , Menuhin/Kempe's Brahms Concerto , Barbirolli's Mahler 6 , Argerich's Ravel Concerto in G and Boult's live Elgar 1 perhaps are my top five

[makropulos]

I think the question of " definitive recordings " is generally a question of personal preference . There are very few records that seem to have that general level of approbation

Yes, I'd heartily agree with that - and the foregoing posts suggest as much too, since nobody seems to agree on much (nor is there any reason why they should, with so many good recordings of most of the standard repertoire around). I have my favourites too - ones that are "definitive" for me, but that I know may not have that status for others. Then there are "great" recordings that are flawed for some reason, but remain great.

I suppose another slightly perverse question is whether it is possible to prefer one performance to another that is considered "definitive" on the basis of general approbation or persistent repetition of a "top recommendation". For me the answer to that is a resounding - indeed a definitive - yes. And I'd say we're all the better for that - and come to know a lot of different performances as a result.

[Nick Armstrong]

I think that the Mark Elder now eclipses this. The only downside of the Barbirolli is Kim Borg's accent!

[BBMmk2]

I think that the Mark Elder now eclipses this. The only downside of the Barbirolli is Kim Borg's accent!

Yes but you can get ove that quite easily! I nwonder why there wasn't a British singer?

[Barbirollians]

Yes, I'd heartily agree with that - and the foregoing posts suggest as much too, since nobody seems to agree on much (nor is there any reason why they should, with so many good recordings of most of the standard repertoire around). I have my favourites too - ones that are "definitive" for me, but that I know may not have that status for others. Then there are "great" recordings that are flawed for some reason, but remain great.

I suppose another slightly perverse question is whether it is possible to prefer one performance to another that is considered "definitive" on the basis of general approbation or persistent repetition of a "top recommendation". For me the answer to that is a resounding - indeed a definitive - yes. And I'd say we're all the better for that - and come to know a lot of different performances as a result.

That must be the case - the backlash against Du pre's Elgar is surely a sign of that phenomenon. Some of the people who prefer a more restrained approach I believe are entirely genuine , others often strike me in the way they express such a preference as annoyingly on a bandwagon.

My example I think would be that I have never got Karajan's raved about live Mahler 9 -very beautiful but as cold as ice to my ears .

[Pabmusic]

Yes but you can get ove that quite easily! I nwonder why there wasn't a British singer?

I'm sure there were several (John Carol Case?), but that's not really the point. Gerontius is a great international work, and Elgar himself preferred Ludwig Wüllner in the title role - in the face of much anti-German criticism. There have always been two views of Gerontius. First, the parochial, choral-society one that can treat it as the very English successor to Messiah and Elijah, and second, the international one that can see it as a great post-Wagnerian work, the last masterpiece of the 19th Century. Does it matter very much that Kim Borg's English is poor? The performance is gorgeous (a little too ripe for me, but gorgeous nonetheless).

[JFLL]

Have any recordings or live performances done this to you - prevented you from enjoying other readings......

This may be a personal failing, but I find that the first recording of almost any piece of music which I've bought and played regularly has become, as it were, hard-wired into my brain, so that later recordings, even ones which my conscious mind knows are superior, are somehow resisted. A friend of mine had a vinyl disc which had some defect, and when CDs came out he bought the same recording on CD. It was all wrong though – the click or whatever wasn't there any more! If even a defect can become part of one's inner experience of a piece, how much more do individual details of interpretation. When I go back to my first vinyl recordings, I often feel 'Yes, that's how it should be played'.

Do others find this, too?

[John Skelton]

Glenn Gould somewhere says that he found all performances of Beethoven's 4th piano concerto other than the Schnabel one he first heard wrong because they didn't have a (or the) correct side change in the first movement.

I honestly can rarely remember which recording of anything I first heard (a couple of Klemperer recordings, Beethoven 3rd symphony, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde; some Supraphon recordings of late Beethoven quartets; Leonhardt / Harnoncourt Bach cantatas from the local library; some DG Stockhausen lps ditto; Birtwistle, The Triumph of Time BBCSO / Boulez). Of those I'd love to hear that Birtwistle recording again; the Stockhausen are available and the ones I've heard sound as exciting as they did then but I can think of other performing possibilities; the Mahler is a fine performance, but not one of my favourites; and Klemperer's Beethoven is a long way from how I prefer to hear Beethoven performed. I find Harnoncourt / Leonhardt fascinating, but there are plenty of other ways of approaching the music (especially, for me, one-to-a-part). So, the answer is no I guess .

[DublinJimbo]

The single recording that stands out for me and has made me reluctant to add an alternative to my collection has to be Klaus Tennstedt's LPO 1986 Mahler 8.

The final 11 minutes or so (from Blicket auf... to the end) take my breath away every time. Unquestionably, this is how I want to hear this music, and I cannot imagine it done any better.

(Actualy, I was all set to say here that I have no other recording, but when I went to my shelves to check the date of the Tennstedt I was surprised to find, nestled beside it, Chailly's Concertgebouw version from 2000. Quite honestly, I have no recollection of ever listening to it.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Birtwistle, The Triumph of Time BBCSO / Boulez). Of those I'd love to hear that Birtwistle recording again;

Do you know about this, John?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birtwistle-The-Triumph-of-Time/dp/B002H5TYTY/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331379264&sr=301-1

[John Skelton]

Do you know about this, John?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birtwistle-T...79264&sr=301-1

I didn't, but I do now! How wonderful - thanks very much .

[Petrushka]

Do you know about this, John?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birtwistle-T...79264&sr=301-1

I've long wanted this recording as well. I don't really do downloads but may try this out.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Once I would have counted RPO/Kempe's Alpine Symphony as definitive, but this has (in my view) been superceded by Horst Stein's recording. However, I always like to hear other interpretations.

[makropulos]

I've long wanted this recording as well. I don't really do downloads but may try this out.

Even better news: It's coming out on a Decca CD later this year (I've just been involved in writing notes for the series in question).

[Petrushka]

Even better news: It's coming out on a Decca CD later this year (I've just been involved in writing notes for the series in question).

Thanks, will hang fire until then.