Someone pointed out on a BAL thread that with so many recordings of the standard rep, it is difficult to make recommendations about which versions of works may be definitive. When I was selling records while attending the University in the 1970s, our well stocked shop had perhaps 6 complete Beethoven Symphony cycles on offer. I had heard at least some of the recordings in all of them and at least had an idea of howthey differed.
Now there must be 50 complete cycles in the active catalog aswell as at least that many that have been deleted but are intermittently available. Even a professional critic would be hard pressed to have any familiarity with most of them.
My first exposure to LvB symphonies was by listening to albums that my older sister or parents had acquired. After a while I wanted my own set and purchased the excellent Szell/Cleveland, which a few years later was followed by the more disappointing Solti/Chicago set. In the last 30 years many more cycles and individual recordings of isolated symphonies have been acquired. Looking back I'm surprised just how well some of those initial recordings have held up in my affections, especially considering thatthese were low budget issues that I was playing on a mass market appliance stereo that probably retailed for $30 back then.
Here are my first loves and current favorites.
#1-My first exposure was the Szell recording in the aforementioned complete cycle. It is still my favorite, although I have to say I don't think that I've ever heard a recording of this effervescent work that I didn't like.
#2- my sister had an everest reissue of Krips and the LSO in 2/4. I have that cycle and those are wonderful recordings. Only recently did I become aware that these are audiophile recordings, having been made with film tape. Szell is my favorite here, but these days I listen primarily to Vanska.
#3 My sister for $1 acquired Furtwangler/VPO 1944. I had no idea who Furtwangler was and it was only years later as I read the small print on the budget label that I realized this was a live performance made during the darkest hours of WWII. This version has ruined me for life on the Eroica, as no other recording seems to reproduce the life and death struggle that is on offer here. I purchased this in a modern digital restoration and the scrubbing didn't enhance it for me. The old noisy pressing seemed to have the sound of tanks and aeroplanes nearby.
Still my favorite Eroica. Monteux (LSO or Concertegbouw) and Hogwood are my next choices. Lately I've been listening a lot to Andrew Manze.
#4 The Krips and Szell recordings are still my favorites, but lately Herreweghe and Blomstedt have been enjoying my attention.
#5-My parents had a mono Vox recording of Otto Klemperer and god knows what orchestra. I haven't heard it since my teens. This is a surprisingly difficult one to bring off. Several of my complete sets are unsatisfactory--Solti, Monteux and Blomstedt in particular. the safe choice here is Kleiber/VPO. Szell is a bit to hurried in I and IV.
#6-My sister had Hans Swarowsky and some weirdly named Vienna Orchestra that was probably the VPO under a different name. I enjoyed it
but again it's been a dogs age. Szell not good here--a cold icy jog through the woods-but he was a lot better than Solti, who simply murdered the peasants and everyone else in his path (perhaps he thought it was Mahler's 6th). Bruno Walter became the standard for the Viennese
gemultlich treatment, and then Monteux supplanted him and is still my favorite. Hogwood gets trotted out when I want the piquancy of period sound.
#7--My sister had a great one here--Bernstein/NYP. I thought that Szell was to fast in II, but now I've adjusted to that and it's moved up the list for me. The best was Solti/CSO, surely the highlight of that cycle. Nowadays to many conductors rush the finale to much.
#8--this has been discussed in another thread. Szell was my first exposure here and still reigns supreme.
#9--The Mighty Ninth. My parents had a Vox Horenstein recording that still holds up nicely. One of my friends in High School brought over his parents Koussevitzky/Boston SO recording on 78s, along with one of those old horn players to play it on. He was barely 5 feet tall and I remember him struggling with all that stuff. We loved it. Szell was off here, and my next favorite was Toscanini. The Furtwangler WWII
recording is a special experience; Beethoven as a precursor to passing the Gates of Hell.
Eventually Blomstedt and Jochum entered as well played/sung standard versions .
1,2 and 4 are the most "conductor proof" in that I can't recall ever hearing a recording or performance that i didn't like. #8 is almost that way, but some conductors seem to miss the point in II. #7 usually satisfies except for the aforementioned remark about speedy tempos in IV. 3,5,6 and 9 must be the hardest to bring off, because there certainly are plenty of bad recordings of them.
What are other people's your first loves and current favorites?
Now there must be 50 complete cycles in the active catalog aswell as at least that many that have been deleted but are intermittently available. Even a professional critic would be hard pressed to have any familiarity with most of them.
My first exposure to LvB symphonies was by listening to albums that my older sister or parents had acquired. After a while I wanted my own set and purchased the excellent Szell/Cleveland, which a few years later was followed by the more disappointing Solti/Chicago set. In the last 30 years many more cycles and individual recordings of isolated symphonies have been acquired. Looking back I'm surprised just how well some of those initial recordings have held up in my affections, especially considering thatthese were low budget issues that I was playing on a mass market appliance stereo that probably retailed for $30 back then.
Here are my first loves and current favorites.
#1-My first exposure was the Szell recording in the aforementioned complete cycle. It is still my favorite, although I have to say I don't think that I've ever heard a recording of this effervescent work that I didn't like.
#2- my sister had an everest reissue of Krips and the LSO in 2/4. I have that cycle and those are wonderful recordings. Only recently did I become aware that these are audiophile recordings, having been made with film tape. Szell is my favorite here, but these days I listen primarily to Vanska.
#3 My sister for $1 acquired Furtwangler/VPO 1944. I had no idea who Furtwangler was and it was only years later as I read the small print on the budget label that I realized this was a live performance made during the darkest hours of WWII. This version has ruined me for life on the Eroica, as no other recording seems to reproduce the life and death struggle that is on offer here. I purchased this in a modern digital restoration and the scrubbing didn't enhance it for me. The old noisy pressing seemed to have the sound of tanks and aeroplanes nearby.
Still my favorite Eroica. Monteux (LSO or Concertegbouw) and Hogwood are my next choices. Lately I've been listening a lot to Andrew Manze.
#4 The Krips and Szell recordings are still my favorites, but lately Herreweghe and Blomstedt have been enjoying my attention.
#5-My parents had a mono Vox recording of Otto Klemperer and god knows what orchestra. I haven't heard it since my teens. This is a surprisingly difficult one to bring off. Several of my complete sets are unsatisfactory--Solti, Monteux and Blomstedt in particular. the safe choice here is Kleiber/VPO. Szell is a bit to hurried in I and IV.
#6-My sister had Hans Swarowsky and some weirdly named Vienna Orchestra that was probably the VPO under a different name. I enjoyed it
but again it's been a dogs age. Szell not good here--a cold icy jog through the woods-but he was a lot better than Solti, who simply murdered the peasants and everyone else in his path (perhaps he thought it was Mahler's 6th). Bruno Walter became the standard for the Viennese
gemultlich treatment, and then Monteux supplanted him and is still my favorite. Hogwood gets trotted out when I want the piquancy of period sound.
#7--My sister had a great one here--Bernstein/NYP. I thought that Szell was to fast in II, but now I've adjusted to that and it's moved up the list for me. The best was Solti/CSO, surely the highlight of that cycle. Nowadays to many conductors rush the finale to much.
#8--this has been discussed in another thread. Szell was my first exposure here and still reigns supreme.
#9--The Mighty Ninth. My parents had a Vox Horenstein recording that still holds up nicely. One of my friends in High School brought over his parents Koussevitzky/Boston SO recording on 78s, along with one of those old horn players to play it on. He was barely 5 feet tall and I remember him struggling with all that stuff. We loved it. Szell was off here, and my next favorite was Toscanini. The Furtwangler WWII
recording is a special experience; Beethoven as a precursor to passing the Gates of Hell.
Eventually Blomstedt and Jochum entered as well played/sung standard versions .
1,2 and 4 are the most "conductor proof" in that I can't recall ever hearing a recording or performance that i didn't like. #8 is almost that way, but some conductors seem to miss the point in II. #7 usually satisfies except for the aforementioned remark about speedy tempos in IV. 3,5,6 and 9 must be the hardest to bring off, because there certainly are plenty of bad recordings of them.
What are other people's your first loves and current favorites?
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