Recommendations- Beethoven Violin Concerto in D

[thrand1]

Hi,

 

I saw in the newest HDTracks newsletter they have a Living Stereo download featuring this piece that is now available. The only other version of this I have been able to locate in "high-res" is one on High Def Tape Transfers (link )

 

Any recommendations/opinions on the above options? Are there other high-res versions I may have missed? I can't seem to locate many versions of this piece for download...also wondering given the "age" of these recordings if the high-res version is "worth it"?

 

Pretty inexperienced at picking between different versions of the same piece, any recommendations welcome

[bogdan101]

Hi,

 

I saw in the newest HDTracks newsletter they have a Living Stereo download featuring this piece that is now available. The only other version of this I have been able to locate in "high-res" is one on High Def Tape Transfers (link )

 

Any recommendations/opinions on the above options? Are there other high-res versions I may have missed? I can't seem to locate many versions of this piece for download...also wondering given the "age" of these recordings if the high-res version is "worth it"?

 

Pretty inexperienced at picking between different versions of the same piece, any recommendations welcome

 

I wouldn't worry about going hi-res on this one, in fact my recommendation is a Furtwangler/Menuhin mono recording from 1953 that can be had for cheap:

 

Amazon.com: Beethoven & Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos: Yehudi Menuhin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra: Music

[Robert Hutton]

I wouldn't worry about going hi-res on this one, in fact my recommendation is a Furtwangler/Menuhin mono recording from 1953 that can be had for cheap:

 

Amazon.com: Beethoven & Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos: Yehudi Menuhin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Philharmonia Orchestra of London, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra: Music

 

Hah! You got there right before me - I was going to say the same thing. And by the way - that Furtwangler sounds very good in hi res, there is a pricey Japanese SACD that sounds very good, and some of the 2011 24/96 remasters that the SACDs are taken from are appearing online - I have the Furtwangler Conducts Wagner set at 24/96 and it is just amazingly good.

[bogdan101]

Hah! You got there right before me - I was going to say the same thing. And by the way - that Furtwangler sounds very good in hi res, there is a pricey Japanese SACD that sounds very good, and some of the 2011 24/96 remasters that the SACDs are taken from are appearing online - I have the Furtwangler Conducts Wagner set at 24/96 and it is just amazingly good.

 

I had a not so happy experience with one of the EMI sacd reissues, the Gieseking Debussy set, which has so much de-noising applied to it that it's a wonder any sound comes out at all. If you say the Furtwangler is good, I will investigate further.

[Boris75]

I had a not so happy experience with one of the EMI sacd reissues, the Gieseking Debussy set, which has so much de-noising applied to it that it's a wonder any sound comes out at all.

 

Interesting. I have this recently remastered Gieseking Debussy SACD set and am pretty happy with it -- but it was my first encounter with this recording and I was charmed by the outstanding quality of the interpretation. Would you recommend an alternative mastering of this recording?

[Robert Hutton]

Interesting. I have this recently remastered Gieseking Debussy SACD set and am pretty happy with it -- but it was my first encounter with this recording and I was charmed by the outstanding quality of the interpretation. Would you recommend an alternative mastering of this recording?

 

I have that Gieseking set also, ripped in DSD, as well as the HD Tracks 24/96 parts, and I too find the SQ excellent. There was No-Noise applied, understandably as, just as with the Furtwangler material, the sources require it. I know that even the word 'no-noise' causes some to reject out of hand, but the remastering team did not no-noise these to death, and in reality modern no-noise technology has evolved beyond the earlier versions which were much more sonically damaging.

[bogdan101]

I have that Gieseking set also, ripped in DSD, as well as the HD Tracks 24/96 parts, and I too find the SQ excellent. There was No-Noise applied, understandably as, just as with the Furtwangler material, the sources require it. I know that even the word 'no-noise' causes some to reject out of hand, but the remastering team did not no-noise these to death, and in reality modern no-noise technology has evolved beyond the earlier versions which were much more sonically damaging.

 

I much prefer the Pearl approach, surface noise and all. I listened again to some of the Gieseking EMI set, and it still sounds to me like it was recorded underwater. While not complete, his Debussy prewar recordings (on VAI) are better, most importantly in the music making department.

[acousticsguru]

Hi,

 

I saw in the newest HDTracks newsletter they have a Living Stereo download featuring this piece that is now available. The only other version of this I have been able to locate in "high-res" is one on High Def Tape Transfers (link )

 

Any recommendations/opinions on the above options? Are there other high-res versions I may have missed? I can't seem to locate many versions of this piece for download...also wondering given the "age" of these recordings if the high-res version is "worth it"?

 

Pretty inexperienced at picking between different versions of the same piece, any recommendations welcome

 

Not sure how many recordings of this concerto I own, but the Heifetz ranks among my handful favorites from the stereo era (Kogan's finest interpretation is in mono, and as much as I like both his live as well as the studio recordings, one might say the best part about Menuhin is/was his conductor), and the DSD remastering is very fine indeed (the dCS ADC's resolution is so good, one can occasionally hear analogue tape flaws - no matter, as the sound quality is otherwise superlative for the era, warm yet detailed). Munch is a much better Beethoven conductor than critics seem to remember, and Heifetz scorching-hot as was his wont. If you like your Beethoven expansive and weighty, there's now also a high-res download of the just as legendary EMI David Oistrakh/Andre Cluytens (another underestimated Beethoven conductor of Franco-Belgian descent) collaboration.

 

Greetings from Switzerland, David.

[Zakus]

This modern recording has had excellent reviews albeit 24/44.1 Berg - Beethoven : Violin Concertos | Compositeurs Divers par Isabelle Faust - Télécharger et écouter l'album and was discussed here http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f13-audiophile-downloads/brahms-violin-concerto-isabelle-faust-daniel-harding-qobuz-12236/ you have to scroll ½ way down to get to Beethoven comments.

[Old Listener]

The Living Stereo is probably the Heifetz / Munch Boston Symphony Orchestra recording. Classical but high voltage.

 

My favorite is Grumiaux /Galliera /New Philharmonia. Classical as opposed to romantic interpretation. Very beautiful sound from Grumiaux and Galliera was 1st rate.

 

Francescatti / Bruno Walter /Columbia SO. a more romantic view.

 

All these are from the mid-50 through the late 60s - a golden age for classical music recordings.

 

The earlier Furtwangler/Menuhin recording just doesn't measure up for me. The sound is drab in comparison to the mid-50s RCAs. Columbias and Deccas. I don't care for the performance either.

 

I have some more modern recordings with better sound than any of those I've mentioned but they don't displace the best performances from the golden age.

 

You'll have to discover your own preferences for interpretation in classical music.

[acousticsguru]

For what it's worth, the Oistrakh/Cluytens EMI download appears to the 2011 remastering in 24/96 on which the Japanese SACD release was based. Sorry to say that interpretatively, no modern digital recording is in the league of any from the early stereo era, let alone mono.

 

Greetings from Switzerland, David.