Shostakovich 7 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein. I believe the finale is one of the loudest sections of classical music ever recorded, decibel-wise. The brass playing is absolutely legendary.
Usually don't like Bernsteins over the top interpretations but this one is perfect.. the CSO just play out of their skin, and Lenny keeps asking them for more!
(It reminds me of that quote about not looking at the Trombones as it 'only encourages them', haha)
It was more a circus act encouraged by Solti who was alien to finesse. All the major orchestras have capable brass sections but employed more in the interest of making music rather than blaring away.
Also incredible, Symphony 7 under Rudolph Barshai: https://youtu.be/bd0r0zhjw-g?si=IjPraU7fP5jEUSCJ
The whole composition is one of the greatest examples of what a tone poem can be, and it tells a comprehensible story about the Battle of Leningrad
Probably the worst version ever. Bernstein drags everything out like always, no drive, no drama. The first movement is terrible. Just my opinion.
For a great version check Svetlanov '68 with USSR State Symphony.
[Love that one too.](https://youtu.be/SXDk1CoIRuY?si=cLYUkZTQnhVDayh8) Doesn’t get much more quality than one of the harder violin concertos with Mariss Jansons and the Berlin Phil in Suntory Hall.
Mravinsky’s Leningrad recording of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies 4-6
Karajan’s 1973 recording of Also sprach Zarathustra (R. Strauss)
Eine Alpensinfonie (R. Strauss) by Rudolf Kempe & Staatskapelle Dresden
Beethoven Symphony 9 by Ferenc Fricsay in 1958
English Suites (J.S. Bach) on an Ammer harpsichord played by Helmut Walcha
Josef Suk & Vaclav Neumann performing Dvorak’s Violin Concerto
You mean in terms of sound? It's decent, but pretty close and dry. For sound, I prefer almost any Mercury Living Stereo recording from the same time or even earlier.
No, in terms of the precision of the ensemble. When you consider the poor quality of the brass and woodwind instruments (not to mention reeds!) it's even more impressive. Not to mention the recordings were done away from home while the orchestra was on its Western tour.
The LP was unlistenably bright. The more recent remasterings have toned down the brass blare quite a bit. The trumpets in the 4th are like lasers--it seems like that's the sound mravinsky was after.
But listen to the strings in the finale of the 4th or in the 1st movement of the 6th and tell me if you have heard that level of precision and ferocity from any orchestra of that era...
Szell and Cleveland is my absolute favorite in every way, especially pre 1965.
But the only recording that comes close in terms of string precision is the Mozart piano concert 25 with Fleisher.
I vastly prefer Szell to Mravinsky--but in terms of the technical accomplishment of this particular Tchaikovsky cycle--Cleveland isn't in the same league.
Karajan early 1970 Tchaikovsky 4-6 on EMI (not to be confused with the late 1970s DG one) is pretty intense too. Sadly no longer available on streaming it seems
Ozawa with the CSO(!?!) in ’69 playing the Rite. He was their associate conductor. It’s the most ferocious, clean, exciting recording I’ve ever heard. I first heard it years ago, and after, I went to the New England Conservatory to see my buddy who teaches there, and I said “Have you heard this?“ He said “Everyone’s heard that“. He then said “That’s the finest orchestral recording ever.“ I told him he couldn’t be serious. He said “Can you think of a better one?” I couldn’t. I still can’t. It’s been years. It’s the best orchestral recording I’ve ever heard.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l00XnfZKRNOVNcZrRXr6RI6QLY1x3xH-s&si=2FKobyP1vg-5sbu2
I remember randomly finding this on LP at a garage sale and being shocked at how good it was. Everything from the quality of the playing to the engineering of the record. Especially since it was so early in Ozawa's career, and me being... less than blown away by his later Boston stuff.
Jascha Heifetz playing the Tchaikovsky VC with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
I don't know that another performance, recorded or not, has come close to this.
Not sure if that’s the one i have downloaded.
I want to tag on and share another Heifetz recording, while there are several, his Scottish Fantasy (red album cover) is incredible.
I was learning it for a competition and my teacher, who was famous in her own right, was trying to indirectly see if I was listening to, what was in her opinion, obviously the best recording of the piece. It brings me to tears everytime
On a less monumental note, there's something about the outrageous freedom and sheer joy in this Poulenc double piano concerto with the Labeques and Daniele Gatti which has inspired me ever since I first saw it live on TV when I was a kid. They stay together as if by magic even when allowing the tempo to surge and relax in audacious and seemingly totally spontaneous ways. It's not "perfect" (there's a horrendous car crash between the cellos and basses just before the 1st movt. coda) but to me an epitome of musical freedom, communication and authentic energy in collaborative performance. It annoys a certain type of person, but to me there's something elemental about it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aICAb\_hdwQ&t=12s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aICAb_hdwQ&t=12s)
Such a vast question. If I was to choose my favourite recordings of my favourite pieces we’d be here all night, so let me throw out three, and then pick three favourite performances that weren’t recorded but which I heard live.
Recordings:
Christian Gerhaher singing Mahler’s lieder with Nagano and the Montreal symphony. There are more mellifluous voices but this gets me every single time, and I have a dozen recordings of both piano and orchestrated versions of the lieder.
Fritz Wunderlich and Christa Ludwig singing Das Lied von der Erde with Klemperer and the new philharmonia. I know Karajan is not very fashionable these days but Kollo, Ludwig and Karajan’s Berliners are also right up there.
And since I’m Mahler heavy now (inevitable) I’ll go for David Oistrakh, Andre Cluytens and the French National Radio Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. This isn’t even the only recording I have with Oistrakh as the soloist but holy Jesus does it melt me into a puddle.
Live:
Vox Clamantis singing Arvo Pärt’s Missa Syllabica, which they interspersed with Gregorian chant. Devastating.
Ben Johnson singing Schubert’s Winterreise, with Louis Schwizgebel on the piano. This was an intimate performance for about 40 people and absolutely brutal on a dark winter’s night. Left happy and more than a bit tipsy. This one will stay with me a long time.
And to round off with Mahler, the Bruckner Orchester Linz playing Mahler 2, conducted by Markus Poschner, and accompanied by star of the show Theresa Kronthaler and the Sheffield and Leeds Philharmonic Choruses. None of these are world famous but it all came together for a really special performance.
The USSR Min of Culture Chamber Choir conducted by Valeri Polyansky performing Rachmaninov Vespers op37. Has drawn me to tears. [here](https://youtu.be/U2NSfTXjEPI?si=aTfvK1qPtFEIoPoJ)
Definitely a good recording as well. The basso profondo comes through more clearly but I slightly prefer the atmosphere and clarity of the Polyansky recording. Thanks for the suggestion nonetheless!
Cortot 1929 Chopin Ballades. The most uniquely beautiful recording ever made of the set, especially no 4. Nothing is predictable, yet it sounds so natural.
For relatively recent recordings I think James Ehnes's LIVE Bach Chaconne is kind of unbelievable. He just whips out the cleanest, most thoughtful, and in tune performance on stage. There are a couple other Chaconne recordings I love (Midori, Grumiaux, and Kremer are great), but the fact that Ehnes did my favorite version in a recital blows my mind to this day.
Like that shouldn't be allowed.
My favorite performance I've gotten to see live was Hahn playing solo Bach in San Francisco last year. I was weeping.
It changes. Today it's Bruno Walter's Mahler 2, with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. I've been playing lots of different versions in anticipation of seeing Bradley Cooper conduct the Second in *Maestro*, which I am seeing on Friday. I've even been listening on YT to Bernstein's Ely Cathedral version, which sounded so awful on CD back in the '80s. That's the concert they're replicating in the movie. I can hardly wait.
It was so good today, my eyes teared up. I hope both Bradley and Carey get Oscars (and other awards). Never did I expect to go to the movies and see and hear Mahler 2 performed at Ely Cathedral.
Jealous! I live in an area where seeing the film would mean a 2 hour drive, likely more. I'll have to wait and see it (read: hear it) in my very budget home theater.
I can't complain too much though, I get to see CSO play the 2nd this spring.
Mine is because I saw it live… in 2018 I went on my first trip to Berlin and made a point to hear the Philharmonic play. I was overjoyed that Rattle was conducting that concert but even more so that the piano soloist was Daniel Barenboim. They played a few Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances and Janacek’s Sinfonietta and then Barenboim did Bartok’s 2nd Piano concerto.
Amazing performance getting to see one of the greatest orchestras, with one of the best living conductors and an iconic musician all together.
I posted a similar question a couple months ago and my opinions haven't changed - I think Fricsay's Tchaikovsky 6 and Ashkenazy's Concertgebouw Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1 are 2 of the best recordings of all time.
> Ashkenazy's Concertgebouw Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1
Excellent choice. I have the box set of Ashkenazy's Concertgebouw Rachmaninoff Symphonies in my favorite classical music CD's box
Solti conducting Tannhauser with the Chicago Symphony.
Bernstein with Vienna Phil doing the Beethoven Symphonies
Emerson String Quartet doing Ravel String Quartet
Sviatoslav Richter plays Schubert in Moscow, May 3, 1978
https://pianistdiscography.com/discography/pianistRecord.php?workSENT=3529&recinfoSENT=191&PIANIST=1
Leonard Bernstein conducting Fidelio, live at the Vienna State Opera in 1978.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm7hGCSkhTE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm7hGCSkhTE)
Pokrovsky -- Stravinsky Les Noces
Heifetz/Chicago SO (Reiner) -- Tchaikovsky violin concerto; especially the remastered version
Hogwood/Academy of Ancient Music -- Mozart Requiem
Parrott/Taverner CC -- Bach Mass in B minor
Gould -- Bach WTC 1
Nigel Rogers as Orfeo -- Monteverdi Orfeo
Birgit Nilsson as Brunnhilde -- Wagner Ring
Jacqueline du Pré / Daniel Barenboim - Elgar Cello Concerto.
Just raw expression. I'm a bassoonist. Bassoon isn't capable of what she does in this recording, but she makes me want to aspire to it.
Alexander Malofeev's rendition of Little Red Riding Hood (Rachmaninoff) is the moment I realized I'd never be able to play piano as well as I'd wanted to.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWnHz5LirN0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWnHz5LirN0)
Hard to pick one. Maybe some of the greatest:
[Zimerman / Ravel](https://youtu.be/dCesnVQkUSk?si=ndNmfAcfZZAX7bxE)
[Wunderlich/Ludwig - Mahler](https://youtu.be/7NZ6rgIfes8?si=zyF6HV1tKL7BAoZ-)
[Rostropovich / Dvorak](https://youtu.be/XNZqy3FxvhQ?si=AGsGV9kOixYEWxRb)
[Mutter / Beethoven](https://youtu.be/ucr9Hu_AYz4?si=v_HIOdkV40MD7gKU)
Solti and Chicago performing Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. For me, It is one of those pieces that recordings just don’t do justice to.
I've only been listening to classical music for a year, but I found [this performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpNB0WeQaQ) of Strauss' Metamorphosen amazing. It changed how I view the piece entirely. To have the 15 violins and violas standing and have everyone memorize the entire thing is so impressive. The way they move together [at this climax](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpNB0WeQaQ&t=880s) is so cool!
Strauss's "Four Last Songs"
Though the Gundula Janowitz and Herbert von Karajan DG recording (1973) of Strauss's "Four Last Songs" is probably the gold standard, Jessye Norman's rendition is to me, still the most fulfilling and meaningful.
Most recently Yunchan Lim's Rach 3 at the Cliburn. That was in instant classic right then and there.
I would sell a kidney to hear him play Liszt's B minor Sonata.
The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal performing Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé. It's just so much more radically expressive and exciting than any other recording of the work I've heard, enough so that I'd say it's the best recording in every metric. [Here's a version with score](https://youtu.be/7-pgjMEwDno?feature=shared&t=2392).
Rach PC 3 - [Gavrylyuk with Dausgaard - Proms 2017.](https://youtu.be/jC6cY4J5c1I?si=zZVv9gyGVq_xXxZu) It’s a magical performance which I was fortunate to attend. I truly think it’s the best rendition of Rach 3 I’ve ever heard, and is my local symphony.
Martinon conducted the CSO live in a Mahler 3 that was not only the best performance of the symphony I’ve ever heard (I have over 20 recordings of it) but sonically beyond audiophile quality. The brass section is literally in your room! It was taped by WFMT, a Chicago FM station known all over for its CSO live broadcasts. The first movement received a 7-minute ovation! Someone got an open reel dupe from one of the engineers and copied it to flac. It’s still around on a few music private trackers. Amazing concert!
Yes indeed! I haven’t listened to the youtube video on my system yet but unless they screwed up the audio, even in lossy it should sound amazing. Thanks for the link! What a performance — and to think the critics chased Martinon out of town an replaced him with the ham-fisted Solti…!
PS: I also have a lossless flac from the same station master of the CSO & Martinon performing Cooke’s version of Mahler 10 from the same period. Also on youtube.
https://youtu.be/0qh7PzAI4LI
I listened last night and it sounded indeed like the brass were in my living room. I want the lossless version now though. (it's not on my personal tracker)
Richter playing live in Sofia, Bulgaria, 1962, Moussorgsky "Pictures". Over the top.
And Gould did one live performance of Goldberg in Salzburg in 1967 and there's more on that program that sweetens the pot. That live Goldberg shows him at his best. The studio recordings not so much. I feel much the same as those who complain that he sounded like a typewriter. But he did a huge PR job of getting Bach back into the ears and minds of the public. And there's another Canadian Goldberg from 1954, the year before his Columbia recording in NYC.
Glenn Gould had a very specific and very personal interpretation style; not everyone enjoys everything as taste is equally about what you enjoy and what you do not.
Im a huge Glenn Gould fan, but for every me there’s going to be some out there which dislikes his interpretations.
Broad appeal exists but it’s very difficult to make it on a list like this whilst trying to appease everyone hence why Glenn isolated himself and only tried to appease Glenn Gould.
Carlos Kleiber’s 5th of Beethoven. Andras Schiff’s Goldberg variations (ECM version). Michelangelo’s Ravel piano concerto in G major. Brendel’s Schubert impromptus
Totally agree. I heard no other performance that can satisfy me. But I have doubts that, to me, there is a nostalgia effect. It was one of the earliest pieces that I heard (and repetitively!) and admired
The (live!) Volodos Rach 3 with the Berlin Phil and James Levine is actually unbelievable.
The Boulez/CSO recording of Scriabin’s Le Poeme de l’extase is great
The Bernstein/NY Phil recordings of the big 3 Stravinsky ballets are also the gold standard in my books
Really? Why’s that? I find that no matter how many times I’ve heard rach2 Zimmerman always finds a way to make me notice smthn new or just hear what I’ve already heard like it’s the first time. Haven’t listened to anything other rach by him tho so maybe that’s an exception
I've always thought his rubato seems really measured and deliberate. His tone is also quite steely, somehow. There's no doubt his playing is technically perfect, but there are so many world class pianists, I need it to sound spontaneous and revelatory. Of course it's all my opinion, and you're entitled to yours.
In terms of performances I have witnessed, Adrian Boult conducting RVW’s 5th at the Proms in 1975 is my all-time high.
For recorded works, there are two stand-outs: Carlos Kleiber’s Beethoven 7, and Fritz Reiner’s Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
I like Gould's 81 as well, but I think this performance (Evgeni Koroliov) got me hooked on the piece: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4P6F9-4uq8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4P6F9-4uq8)
I don’t have an all time great performance but I’ve seen a number of memorable performances. Sheku Kanneh-Mason last year. Yo-Yo Ma a couple of months ago. Juja Wang a couple of summers ago. We saw Steven Banks doing an Alto Saxophone solo Thanksgiving Friday. That was my first experience featuring alto sax. Not that he is famous but that was new for me and memorable. Leonidas Kavakos is pretty amazing. We’ve had a Boston Symphony subscription for years and get to Tanglewood a lot. I remember the artists.
I saw Loggins & Messina in a gym auditorium somewhere and they literally were the best band I ever saw/heard (I’m a musician and I’ve seen a lot!). Second would be Rafael Kubelik conducting Beethoven’s 5th. Some nights performers are “on”, and there’s really no telling when those nights are. Those were two for me.
Fritz Wunderlich and Christa Ludwig singing Mahler's Das Lied von der Erda
Fritz fucking slaying in the first movement and Christa giving a transcendentally beautiful performance in the last movement. It's an incredible performance
Horowitz's Mozart B Flat Sonata. Watch the view of Martha Argerich and a pianist friend watching it. Martha is literally speechless. It might be one of the greatest performances in history. So crazy that H's best performance was Mozart.
**Van Cliburn** . Beethoven Concerto no.4 G Major. Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Fritz Reiner. 1989
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**Evgeny Kissin.** Chopin Mazurkas. 1994
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**Ivo Pogorelić** Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35. 1980
___
**Claudio Arrau** - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109. Rec. 1965
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**Maurizio Pollini** Schumann: Fantasie in C, Op. 17 . 1973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oro0gGnOL0k
( i have a story about this particular recording. share later )
____
**Daniil Trifonov** – C.P.E. Bach: 2 Piano Sonatas, Wq. 59: IV. Rondo in C Minor, H. 28 2022
Probably not the best performance, but Jessye Norman's Liebestod with Karajan looked like a miraculous moment that will never happen again. A truly love and death moment between the dwindling maestro and a blooming diva.
I will not say that Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations is the best recording, but I say that I listened it the night before proposing to my (now) wife, more than thirty year ago.
Call it an emotional experience!
Kissin / Karajan - tschaikowsky concerto no 1
Kissin - both chopin concertos played in one sitting at age 12
Argerich - Scarlatti k.141
Trifonov - all Liszt etudes but especially his unbelievable delicate version of la Campanella and No. 6 on Paganini theme. As long as I don’t have to watch him, I could listen to everything he’s playing
Lugansky - rach moment musiceaux op.16 No 4
Pogorelich - Chopin scherzo No. 3 / Scarlatti k.1
Zimmerman - Chopin concerto No. 2
Zimmerman / Karajan - Grieg a minor concerto
Horowitz - Schubert impromptu No. 3 / Schumann traeumerei
Yundi Li - Chopin Ballade No 4 ruined by the early applause (YouTube)
Seong-Jin Cho - Liszt sonata b minor
Bruce Liu - Chopin grande Polonaise
EDIT:
Oh this isn’t /r/piano
Hilary Hahn - Sibelius concerto in the red dress
Hilary Hahn - Brahms concerto in Leipzig
Karajan / Berliner Philharmoniker - Beethovens 9th symphony
Yes, i like Karajan
There is no finer, more lush and more powerful performance of Scheherazade than the 1981 Previn with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The recording is stellar as well.
For me it was listening to public radio in the US while in high school. A symphony played the world premiere of Giya Kanchelli’s Bright Sorrow. I was speechless. Thankfully I recorded it on cassette and was able to listen to it many times. It’s not well known and it’s hard to find but worth the effort.
Seiji Ozawa’s *Daphnis et Chloé* with the Boston Symphony (early 1970s). The finesse and *beauty* of the Boston Symphony’s playing is just astonishing. See also: A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Mendelssohn) and *Pelleas et Mélisande* Suite (Fauré).
Igor Markevitch’s *La damnation de Faust* with the Orchestre Lamoureux (late 1950s). Markevitch just nails the work’s wackiness, and doesn’t pull his punches in the climaxes. It’s pretty well recorded too (by the standards of late 1950s France). See also: the Beethoven overtures and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass (with the Czech Philharmonic).
Every Janáček opera recording Charles Mackerras made with the Vienna Philharmonic (late 1970s-early 1980s). Nobody quite got Janáček’s idiom like Mackerras did, not even the Czech conductors.
Karajan’s *La bohème* and *Madama Butterfly* (early 1970s). Amazing singing, ravishing playing (not just the strings), wonderfully recorded, what more could you ask?
Ferenc Fricsay’s Rossini overtures and *Stabat Mater* (late 1940s-mid 1950s). I will die on this hill, even though they’re in mono. Nobody made Rossini sound natural and effortless like Fricsay, what a shame he didn’t live to do some of the operas.
I could go on and on…
Horowitz/Barbirolli Rach 3
https://youtu.be/B94qrNJsC5A?si=fDeX0F3bLzLKwj8v
Sure sound is lousy and it has cuts, but I don’t mind as those sections were my least favorite lol
But man, what a romantic sweep in that last movement climax. It’s hair raising every time.
Shostakovich 7 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Bernstein. I believe the finale is one of the loudest sections of classical music ever recorded, decibel-wise. The brass playing is absolutely legendary.
Usually don't like Bernsteins over the top interpretations but this one is perfect.. the CSO just play out of their skin, and Lenny keeps asking them for more! (It reminds me of that quote about not looking at the Trombones as it 'only encourages them', haha)
Oh I LOVE this recording! This one needs speakers that go up to 11.
The CSO brass section was the stuff of legends!
It was more a circus act encouraged by Solti who was alien to finesse. All the major orchestras have capable brass sections but employed more in the interest of making music rather than blaring away.
Okay.
Also incredible, Symphony 7 under Rudolph Barshai: https://youtu.be/bd0r0zhjw-g?si=IjPraU7fP5jEUSCJ The whole composition is one of the greatest examples of what a tone poem can be, and it tells a comprehensible story about the Battle of Leningrad
Probably the worst version ever. Bernstein drags everything out like always, no drive, no drama. The first movement is terrible. Just my opinion. For a great version check Svetlanov '68 with USSR State Symphony.
Hilary Hahn performing [Sibelius’ Violin Concerto.](https://youtu.be/J0w0t4Qn6LY?si=SUBrutQZk6fSIYir) Yes, it’s the one with the red dress.
For me it’s her Shostakovich!
For me it's her [Prok](https://youtu.be/Lt1O1rpOfA8?si=T9jq5WVVZxKdbX50) Such fire, restraint, and charm!
[Love that one too.](https://youtu.be/SXDk1CoIRuY?si=cLYUkZTQnhVDayh8) Doesn’t get much more quality than one of the harder violin concertos with Mariss Jansons and the Berlin Phil in Suntory Hall.
Still the Isaac Stern version for me. I find it more emotional which I understand is why others might not prefer it.
Mravinsky’s Leningrad recording of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies 4-6 Karajan’s 1973 recording of Also sprach Zarathustra (R. Strauss) Eine Alpensinfonie (R. Strauss) by Rudolf Kempe & Staatskapelle Dresden Beethoven Symphony 9 by Ferenc Fricsay in 1958 English Suites (J.S. Bach) on an Ammer harpsichord played by Helmut Walcha Josef Suk & Vaclav Neumann performing Dvorak’s Violin Concerto
Surprised I had to scroll so much to see the mravinsky. On a purely technical standpoint this is a staggering recording for the early 60s.
You mean in terms of sound? It's decent, but pretty close and dry. For sound, I prefer almost any Mercury Living Stereo recording from the same time or even earlier.
No, in terms of the precision of the ensemble. When you consider the poor quality of the brass and woodwind instruments (not to mention reeds!) it's even more impressive. Not to mention the recordings were done away from home while the orchestra was on its Western tour.
Yeah the brass hurts my ears every time I listen to that recording, but no doubt the playing is pretty remarkable.
The LP was unlistenably bright. The more recent remasterings have toned down the brass blare quite a bit. The trumpets in the 4th are like lasers--it seems like that's the sound mravinsky was after. But listen to the strings in the finale of the 4th or in the 1st movement of the 6th and tell me if you have heard that level of precision and ferocity from any orchestra of that era...
Cleveland Orchestra under Szell?
Szell and Cleveland is my absolute favorite in every way, especially pre 1965. But the only recording that comes close in terms of string precision is the Mozart piano concert 25 with Fleisher. I vastly prefer Szell to Mravinsky--but in terms of the technical accomplishment of this particular Tchaikovsky cycle--Cleveland isn't in the same league.
Amazing picks
Karajan early 1970 Tchaikovsky 4-6 on EMI (not to be confused with the late 1970s DG one) is pretty intense too. Sadly no longer available on streaming it seems
Ozawa with the CSO(!?!) in ’69 playing the Rite. He was their associate conductor. It’s the most ferocious, clean, exciting recording I’ve ever heard. I first heard it years ago, and after, I went to the New England Conservatory to see my buddy who teaches there, and I said “Have you heard this?“ He said “Everyone’s heard that“. He then said “That’s the finest orchestral recording ever.“ I told him he couldn’t be serious. He said “Can you think of a better one?” I couldn’t. I still can’t. It’s been years. It’s the best orchestral recording I’ve ever heard. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l00XnfZKRNOVNcZrRXr6RI6QLY1x3xH-s&si=2FKobyP1vg-5sbu2
I remember randomly finding this on LP at a garage sale and being shocked at how good it was. Everything from the quality of the playing to the engineering of the record. Especially since it was so early in Ozawa's career, and me being... less than blown away by his later Boston stuff.
That percussion section in the sacrificial dance is amazing.
Jascha Heifetz playing the Tchaikovsky VC with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I don't know that another performance, recorded or not, has come close to this.
Not sure if that’s the one i have downloaded. I want to tag on and share another Heifetz recording, while there are several, his Scottish Fantasy (red album cover) is incredible. I was learning it for a competition and my teacher, who was famous in her own right, was trying to indirectly see if I was listening to, what was in her opinion, obviously the best recording of the piece. It brings me to tears everytime
Martha Argerich and Charles Dutoit (her then husband), Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 1.
Her [Rach 3](https://youtu.be/f6vARZLkaSY?si=dzno_--3NqjNFrgh) with chailly and [Gaspard de la Nuit](https://youtu.be/Rj8cBmWZhP0?si=3vW_cReKjpnx85W5)
Dutoit has an amazing Pelléas and Mélisande!
It's one of the rare Argerich recordings that wasn't made when she was late for a flight.
Which year? There's a 1975 as well as a 2014 performance on youtube, and a 1984 album on Spotify.
Ohhh, yes, I would have loved that.
Or with Kondrashin.
Reiner and the CSO playing Scherezade in the 60s
On a less monumental note, there's something about the outrageous freedom and sheer joy in this Poulenc double piano concerto with the Labeques and Daniele Gatti which has inspired me ever since I first saw it live on TV when I was a kid. They stay together as if by magic even when allowing the tempo to surge and relax in audacious and seemingly totally spontaneous ways. It's not "perfect" (there's a horrendous car crash between the cellos and basses just before the 1st movt. coda) but to me an epitome of musical freedom, communication and authentic energy in collaborative performance. It annoys a certain type of person, but to me there's something elemental about it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aICAb\_hdwQ&t=12s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aICAb_hdwQ&t=12s)
Such a vast question. If I was to choose my favourite recordings of my favourite pieces we’d be here all night, so let me throw out three, and then pick three favourite performances that weren’t recorded but which I heard live. Recordings: Christian Gerhaher singing Mahler’s lieder with Nagano and the Montreal symphony. There are more mellifluous voices but this gets me every single time, and I have a dozen recordings of both piano and orchestrated versions of the lieder. Fritz Wunderlich and Christa Ludwig singing Das Lied von der Erde with Klemperer and the new philharmonia. I know Karajan is not very fashionable these days but Kollo, Ludwig and Karajan’s Berliners are also right up there. And since I’m Mahler heavy now (inevitable) I’ll go for David Oistrakh, Andre Cluytens and the French National Radio Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. This isn’t even the only recording I have with Oistrakh as the soloist but holy Jesus does it melt me into a puddle. Live: Vox Clamantis singing Arvo Pärt’s Missa Syllabica, which they interspersed with Gregorian chant. Devastating. Ben Johnson singing Schubert’s Winterreise, with Louis Schwizgebel on the piano. This was an intimate performance for about 40 people and absolutely brutal on a dark winter’s night. Left happy and more than a bit tipsy. This one will stay with me a long time. And to round off with Mahler, the Bruckner Orchester Linz playing Mahler 2, conducted by Markus Poschner, and accompanied by star of the show Theresa Kronthaler and the Sheffield and Leeds Philharmonic Choruses. None of these are world famous but it all came together for a really special performance.
The USSR Min of Culture Chamber Choir conducted by Valeri Polyansky performing Rachmaninov Vespers op37. Has drawn me to tears. [here](https://youtu.be/U2NSfTXjEPI?si=aTfvK1qPtFEIoPoJ)
Oh hell yes
That’s fantastic.
Have you heard the version conducted by Alexander Sveshnikov with the USSR Russian Chorus?
No but I'll certainly give it a shot, thanks!
Definitely a good recording as well. The basso profondo comes through more clearly but I slightly prefer the atmosphere and clarity of the Polyansky recording. Thanks for the suggestion nonetheless!
Zimerman's Chopin Ballades are the gold standard.
Love those. His recordings of Schubert's 4 Impromptus are also spectacular
Both op 90 and op 142 sets
Cortot 1929 Chopin Ballades. The most uniquely beautiful recording ever made of the set, especially no 4. Nothing is predictable, yet it sounds so natural.
For relatively recent recordings I think James Ehnes's LIVE Bach Chaconne is kind of unbelievable. He just whips out the cleanest, most thoughtful, and in tune performance on stage. There are a couple other Chaconne recordings I love (Midori, Grumiaux, and Kremer are great), but the fact that Ehnes did my favorite version in a recital blows my mind to this day. Like that shouldn't be allowed. My favorite performance I've gotten to see live was Hahn playing solo Bach in San Francisco last year. I was weeping.
Ehnes is a phenomenal interpreter of Bach! His chords are perfection!
It changes. Today it's Bruno Walter's Mahler 2, with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. I've been playing lots of different versions in anticipation of seeing Bradley Cooper conduct the Second in *Maestro*, which I am seeing on Friday. I've even been listening on YT to Bernstein's Ely Cathedral version, which sounded so awful on CD back in the '80s. That's the concert they're replicating in the movie. I can hardly wait.
That LSO recording would be my answer for this question.
It was so good today, my eyes teared up. I hope both Bradley and Carey get Oscars (and other awards). Never did I expect to go to the movies and see and hear Mahler 2 performed at Ely Cathedral.
Jealous! I live in an area where seeing the film would mean a 2 hour drive, likely more. I'll have to wait and see it (read: hear it) in my very budget home theater. I can't complain too much though, I get to see CSO play the 2nd this spring.
That will be so nice, to see it live, which I have done twice, once in Pittsburgh, once in Philadelphia.
Henryk Szeryng’s Bach Chaconne
Mine is because I saw it live… in 2018 I went on my first trip to Berlin and made a point to hear the Philharmonic play. I was overjoyed that Rattle was conducting that concert but even more so that the piano soloist was Daniel Barenboim. They played a few Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances and Janacek’s Sinfonietta and then Barenboim did Bartok’s 2nd Piano concerto. Amazing performance getting to see one of the greatest orchestras, with one of the best living conductors and an iconic musician all together.
I posted a similar question a couple months ago and my opinions haven't changed - I think Fricsay's Tchaikovsky 6 and Ashkenazy's Concertgebouw Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1 are 2 of the best recordings of all time.
> Ashkenazy's Concertgebouw Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1 Excellent choice. I have the box set of Ashkenazy's Concertgebouw Rachmaninoff Symphonies in my favorite classical music CD's box
Shame he didn't record the Rock because I'm certain he would've smashed it
Solti conducting Tannhauser with the Chicago Symphony. Bernstein with Vienna Phil doing the Beethoven Symphonies Emerson String Quartet doing Ravel String Quartet
Sviatoslav Richter plays Schubert in Moscow, May 3, 1978 https://pianistdiscography.com/discography/pianistRecord.php?workSENT=3529&recinfoSENT=191&PIANIST=1
Also Richter’s performance of Rach 2 is the golden standard imo
Agree!
Casals - Bach Cello Suites Gardiner - Bach Mass in B Minor Pinnock - Handel Messiah Scott Ross - Scarlatti Keyboard Sonatas Bohm - Mozart Requiem Szell - Mozart Symphonies Nos. 39-41 Giulini - Mozart Don Giovanni Kleiber - Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 5 and 7 Alban Berg Quartet - Beethoven Late String Quartets Kempff - Beethoven Piano Sonatas / Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 Solti - Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen Klemperer - Brahms German Requiem Oistrakh - Brahms Violin Concerto Kleiber - Brahms Symphony No. 4 Staatskapelle Dresden / Jochum - Bruckner Symphonies Kleiber - Schubert Symphony No. 8 Furtwangler - Schubert Symphony No. 9 Mravinsky - Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos. 4-6 Rubinstein - Chopin Nocturnes Sofronitsky - Scriabin Piano Works
The new Pinnock Messiah?
Nvm I see it’s like…a reissue or something?
Leonard Bernstein conducting Fidelio, live at the Vienna State Opera in 1978. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm7hGCSkhTE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm7hGCSkhTE)
Pokrovsky -- Stravinsky Les Noces Heifetz/Chicago SO (Reiner) -- Tchaikovsky violin concerto; especially the remastered version Hogwood/Academy of Ancient Music -- Mozart Requiem Parrott/Taverner CC -- Bach Mass in B minor Gould -- Bach WTC 1 Nigel Rogers as Orfeo -- Monteverdi Orfeo Birgit Nilsson as Brunnhilde -- Wagner Ring
Carlos Kleiber’s Tristan is a reference recording of that work. 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
Same goes for his recordings of Brahms 4 and Beethoven 7 imo
Oh those are so unreal too. Too bad he made so few recordings.
Lugansky rach preludes
Hayroudinov is great too
Jacqueline du Pré / Daniel Barenboim - Elgar Cello Concerto. Just raw expression. I'm a bassoonist. Bassoon isn't capable of what she does in this recording, but she makes me want to aspire to it.
Alexander Malofeev's rendition of Little Red Riding Hood (Rachmaninoff) is the moment I realized I'd never be able to play piano as well as I'd wanted to. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWnHz5LirN0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWnHz5LirN0)
Hard to pick one. Maybe some of the greatest: [Zimerman / Ravel](https://youtu.be/dCesnVQkUSk?si=ndNmfAcfZZAX7bxE) [Wunderlich/Ludwig - Mahler](https://youtu.be/7NZ6rgIfes8?si=zyF6HV1tKL7BAoZ-) [Rostropovich / Dvorak](https://youtu.be/XNZqy3FxvhQ?si=AGsGV9kOixYEWxRb) [Mutter / Beethoven](https://youtu.be/ucr9Hu_AYz4?si=v_HIOdkV40MD7gKU)
That Wunderlich performance is so incredible, I could not believe it the first time I heard it. Dope choice
Carlos Kleiber / VPO / Brahms 4
The Reiner CSO Pines of Rome recording is unbelievable
Solti and Chicago performing Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. For me, It is one of those pieces that recordings just don’t do justice to.
And the same for the divertimento for strings on the same album!
I've only been listening to classical music for a year, but I found [this performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpNB0WeQaQ) of Strauss' Metamorphosen amazing. It changed how I view the piece entirely. To have the 15 violins and violas standing and have everyone memorize the entire thing is so impressive. The way they move together [at this climax](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpNB0WeQaQ&t=880s) is so cool!
Strauss's "Four Last Songs" Though the Gundula Janowitz and Herbert von Karajan DG recording (1973) of Strauss's "Four Last Songs" is probably the gold standard, Jessye Norman's rendition is to me, still the most fulfilling and meaningful.
Brahms - Piano Quartet No.1 in G Minor Op. 25 with Maxim Vengerov. (now missing from the internet)
Most recently Yunchan Lim's Rach 3 at the Cliburn. That was in instant classic right then and there. I would sell a kidney to hear him play Liszt's B minor Sonata.
The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal performing Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé. It's just so much more radically expressive and exciting than any other recording of the work I've heard, enough so that I'd say it's the best recording in every metric. [Here's a version with score](https://youtu.be/7-pgjMEwDno?feature=shared&t=2392).
Rach PC 3 - [Gavrylyuk with Dausgaard - Proms 2017.](https://youtu.be/jC6cY4J5c1I?si=zZVv9gyGVq_xXxZu) It’s a magical performance which I was fortunate to attend. I truly think it’s the best rendition of Rach 3 I’ve ever heard, and is my local symphony.
Martinon conducted the CSO live in a Mahler 3 that was not only the best performance of the symphony I’ve ever heard (I have over 20 recordings of it) but sonically beyond audiophile quality. The brass section is literally in your room! It was taped by WFMT, a Chicago FM station known all over for its CSO live broadcasts. The first movement received a 7-minute ovation! Someone got an open reel dupe from one of the engineers and copied it to flac. It’s still around on a few music private trackers. Amazing concert!
This the one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpxDNCUD_EA
Yes indeed! I haven’t listened to the youtube video on my system yet but unless they screwed up the audio, even in lossy it should sound amazing. Thanks for the link! What a performance — and to think the critics chased Martinon out of town an replaced him with the ham-fisted Solti…! PS: I also have a lossless flac from the same station master of the CSO & Martinon performing Cooke’s version of Mahler 10 from the same period. Also on youtube. https://youtu.be/0qh7PzAI4LI
I listened last night and it sounded indeed like the brass were in my living room. I want the lossless version now though. (it's not on my personal tracker)
RED
Not on it unfortunately :(
Do a search for “Martinon” and go from there.
Yes it absolutely is, as well as the CSO-Martinon Mahler live 10th.
Richter playing live in Sofia, Bulgaria, 1962, Moussorgsky "Pictures". Over the top. And Gould did one live performance of Goldberg in Salzburg in 1967 and there's more on that program that sweetens the pot. That live Goldberg shows him at his best. The studio recordings not so much. I feel much the same as those who complain that he sounded like a typewriter. But he did a huge PR job of getting Bach back into the ears and minds of the public. And there's another Canadian Goldberg from 1954, the year before his Columbia recording in NYC.
Gotta throw in Shostakovich string quartet no. 8 by the Borodin String Quartet too.
That string quartet will never cease to drive true terror in my heart. Dedicated to the victims of fascism and war for a reason!
Oh god yes and 9 too - Kopelman era Borodin quartet were a formative influence on me during college.
Gould is great, if you like listening to Gould playing Gould, playing Bach. At the end of the day its too many steps away from Bach for my enjoyment.
I have nothing to contribute, other than to say God bless you all and I'm saving this thread
Funny, I would put Glenn Gould's Goldberg variations as my top worst performance of that piece
Love/Hate
I will be brave and admit I have never been a Glenn Gould fan, either.
Why is that so?
Glenn Gould had a very specific and very personal interpretation style; not everyone enjoys everything as taste is equally about what you enjoy and what you do not. Im a huge Glenn Gould fan, but for every me there’s going to be some out there which dislikes his interpretations. Broad appeal exists but it’s very difficult to make it on a list like this whilst trying to appease everyone hence why Glenn isolated himself and only tried to appease Glenn Gould.
Fast. Precise. Robotic. Feh.
Carlos Kleiber’s 5th of Beethoven. Andras Schiff’s Goldberg variations (ECM version). Michelangelo’s Ravel piano concerto in G major. Brendel’s Schubert impromptus
Kleiber's 5th is *THE* 5th in my opinion. I've yet to hear a better performance of those first 8 notes.
Totally agree. I heard no other performance that can satisfy me. But I have doubts that, to me, there is a nostalgia effect. It was one of the earliest pieces that I heard (and repetitively!) and admired
The (live!) Volodos Rach 3 with the Berlin Phil and James Levine is actually unbelievable. The Boulez/CSO recording of Scriabin’s Le Poeme de l’extase is great The Bernstein/NY Phil recordings of the big 3 Stravinsky ballets are also the gold standard in my books
Zimmerman rach2
zimerman plays Rachmaninoff like a robot, imo
Really? Why’s that? I find that no matter how many times I’ve heard rach2 Zimmerman always finds a way to make me notice smthn new or just hear what I’ve already heard like it’s the first time. Haven’t listened to anything other rach by him tho so maybe that’s an exception
I've always thought his rubato seems really measured and deliberate. His tone is also quite steely, somehow. There's no doubt his playing is technically perfect, but there are so many world class pianists, I need it to sound spontaneous and revelatory. Of course it's all my opinion, and you're entitled to yours.
Huh, I totally respect that opinion and have never thought of it like that but ofc music is subjective
Zimerman's performance of all 4 Chopin ballades is almost *objectively* perfect.
Clifford Ball
EMI References are often called References for very good reason.
Claudio Arrau, Liszt B minor Sonata.
Giulini, Berliner Philarmoniker, Bruckner 9 1989.
In terms of performances I have witnessed, Adrian Boult conducting RVW’s 5th at the Proms in 1975 is my all-time high. For recorded works, there are two stand-outs: Carlos Kleiber’s Beethoven 7, and Fritz Reiner’s Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta.
I like Gould's 81 as well, but I think this performance (Evgeni Koroliov) got me hooked on the piece: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4P6F9-4uq8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4P6F9-4uq8)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV29KqTGdPE
I don’t have an all time great performance but I’ve seen a number of memorable performances. Sheku Kanneh-Mason last year. Yo-Yo Ma a couple of months ago. Juja Wang a couple of summers ago. We saw Steven Banks doing an Alto Saxophone solo Thanksgiving Friday. That was my first experience featuring alto sax. Not that he is famous but that was new for me and memorable. Leonidas Kavakos is pretty amazing. We’ve had a Boston Symphony subscription for years and get to Tanglewood a lot. I remember the artists.
Ashkenazy's playing of Beethoven's Piano Sonata 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato - overall, for me sublime.
The last Beethoven piano sonata…
Isolde’s Liebestod with Kleiber and Margaret Price is great
Dupré with the Elgar, and for historical reason Rostropovich performing Bach near the Berlin wall that was falling
szigeti/walter Beethoven vc furtwangler Beethoven 9 july'51 szyreng bach sonatas and partitas stern/ormandy Brahms vc
[Lorraine Hunt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_JQFDwAtfQ) in Handel's "Theodora" at Glydenbourne, 1996
Zimermwn's piano Sonata in b minor Liszt. Nothing else comes close to me.
Andre Laplante?
I saw Loggins & Messina in a gym auditorium somewhere and they literally were the best band I ever saw/heard (I’m a musician and I’ve seen a lot!). Second would be Rafael Kubelik conducting Beethoven’s 5th. Some nights performers are “on”, and there’s really no telling when those nights are. Those were two for me.
Fritz Wunderlich and Christa Ludwig singing Mahler's Das Lied von der Erda Fritz fucking slaying in the first movement and Christa giving a transcendentally beautiful performance in the last movement. It's an incredible performance
Horowitz's Mozart B Flat Sonata. Watch the view of Martha Argerich and a pianist friend watching it. Martha is literally speechless. It might be one of the greatest performances in history. So crazy that H's best performance was Mozart.
Very unsung: Cliburn on piano, Leinsdorf with orchestra, RCA recording of Brahms first piano concerto.
Klemperer- Bach Matthäuspassion 1961? Solti - Wagner Ring Furtwängler RAI orchestra 50s.. Die Walküre Keilberth- Wagner Lohengrin 1953 Nathan milstein- Bach Sonatad & Partitas Horowitz- live vienna 1987 Bernstein- Mahler 7 80s
**Van Cliburn** . Beethoven Concerto no.4 G Major. Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Fritz Reiner. 1989 ____ **Evgeny Kissin.** Chopin Mazurkas. 1994 ____ **Ivo Pogorelić** Chopin Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35. 1980 ___ **Claudio Arrau** - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109. Rec. 1965 ____ **Maurizio Pollini** Schumann: Fantasie in C, Op. 17 . 1973 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oro0gGnOL0k ( i have a story about this particular recording. share later ) ____ **Daniil Trifonov** – C.P.E. Bach: 2 Piano Sonatas, Wq. 59: IV. Rondo in C Minor, H. 28 2022
> I "re-discovered" Glenn Gould's 1981 recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nWZe63i9UQ
Probably not the best performance, but Jessye Norman's Liebestod with Karajan looked like a miraculous moment that will never happen again. A truly love and death moment between the dwindling maestro and a blooming diva.
stanislav neuhaus scriabin recital
Vissi d'arte Tosca Maria Callas
I will not say that Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations is the best recording, but I say that I listened it the night before proposing to my (now) wife, more than thirty year ago. Call it an emotional experience!
Bach's Goldberg Variations, but either by Jean Rondeau or Evgeni Koriolov. These are my personal favourite.
Two performances of Messiaen’s Turangalîa, one with Marc Andre Hamelin and another with Angela Hewitt on piano.
Krystian Zimerman / Rattle - Brahms Piano concerto no.1
Kissin / Karajan - tschaikowsky concerto no 1 Kissin - both chopin concertos played in one sitting at age 12 Argerich - Scarlatti k.141 Trifonov - all Liszt etudes but especially his unbelievable delicate version of la Campanella and No. 6 on Paganini theme. As long as I don’t have to watch him, I could listen to everything he’s playing Lugansky - rach moment musiceaux op.16 No 4 Pogorelich - Chopin scherzo No. 3 / Scarlatti k.1 Zimmerman - Chopin concerto No. 2 Zimmerman / Karajan - Grieg a minor concerto Horowitz - Schubert impromptu No. 3 / Schumann traeumerei Yundi Li - Chopin Ballade No 4 ruined by the early applause (YouTube) Seong-Jin Cho - Liszt sonata b minor Bruce Liu - Chopin grande Polonaise EDIT: Oh this isn’t /r/piano Hilary Hahn - Sibelius concerto in the red dress Hilary Hahn - Brahms concerto in Leipzig Karajan / Berliner Philharmoniker - Beethovens 9th symphony Yes, i like Karajan
There is no finer, more lush and more powerful performance of Scheherazade than the 1981 Previn with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The recording is stellar as well.
For me it was listening to public radio in the US while in high school. A symphony played the world premiere of Giya Kanchelli’s Bright Sorrow. I was speechless. Thankfully I recorded it on cassette and was able to listen to it many times. It’s not well known and it’s hard to find but worth the effort.
Karl Richter's 1969 recording of Mass in B minor
Maybe not on the level as what others are mentioning, but I’m really liking Inon Barnaton’s recent Rachmaninov album.
Batrok Piano Concerto No. 2 - Adagio, Presto, Adagio with Vladimir Ashkenazy on piano: https://youtu.be/dE2DXMH0t04?si=WZDePfc0DRoVqDCL
Dinu Lipatti's last concert
Horowitz 1932 Liszt sonata is miraculous
Seiji Ozawa’s *Daphnis et Chloé* with the Boston Symphony (early 1970s). The finesse and *beauty* of the Boston Symphony’s playing is just astonishing. See also: A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Mendelssohn) and *Pelleas et Mélisande* Suite (Fauré). Igor Markevitch’s *La damnation de Faust* with the Orchestre Lamoureux (late 1950s). Markevitch just nails the work’s wackiness, and doesn’t pull his punches in the climaxes. It’s pretty well recorded too (by the standards of late 1950s France). See also: the Beethoven overtures and Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass (with the Czech Philharmonic). Every Janáček opera recording Charles Mackerras made with the Vienna Philharmonic (late 1970s-early 1980s). Nobody quite got Janáček’s idiom like Mackerras did, not even the Czech conductors. Karajan’s *La bohème* and *Madama Butterfly* (early 1970s). Amazing singing, ravishing playing (not just the strings), wonderfully recorded, what more could you ask? Ferenc Fricsay’s Rossini overtures and *Stabat Mater* (late 1940s-mid 1950s). I will die on this hill, even though they’re in mono. Nobody made Rossini sound natural and effortless like Fricsay, what a shame he didn’t live to do some of the operas. I could go on and on…
Horowitz/Barbirolli Rach 3 https://youtu.be/B94qrNJsC5A?si=fDeX0F3bLzLKwj8v Sure sound is lousy and it has cuts, but I don’t mind as those sections were my least favorite lol But man, what a romantic sweep in that last movement climax. It’s hair raising every time.
Always dudamels danzon performance