My Essential Classical Albums.

[rando]

On 9/25/2017 at 8:48 PM, mourip said:

 

Point taken. Sorry to bother.

 

You might want to avoid the hardware forums. The music forums are a garden in comparison.

 

No bother, thanks for the invite.  

 

Looking for recommendations on the best Telarc has to offer from their heyday in the 80's.  No Mahler and no Night On Bald Mountain, please. 

[Bob Stern]

1 hour ago, rando said:

Looking for recommendations on the best Telarc has to offer from their heyday in the 80's.

 

I love the romantic sweep of Rachmaninoff sym 2 by Previn & Royal Phil, but some critics consider it too slow.

[austinpop]

1 hour ago, rando said:

Looking for recommendations on the best Telarc has to offer from their heyday in the 80's.  No Mahler and no Night On Bald Mountain, please. 

 

This is what I have in my library. I like all of them, especially Paavo Järvi. As requested, the Mahler and the Kunzel have been filtered out. 

 

[Old Listener]

2 hours ago, rando said:

 

Looking for recommendations on the best Telarc has to offer from their heyday in the 80's.  No Mahler and no Night On Bald Mountain, please. 

 

Beethoven, Piano Sonatas - John O'Conor

 

Mozart, Symphony No. 25,28,29 - Mackerras/Prague Chamber Orchestra

   Symphony No. 38

   but not Sym. 31,33,34 which were recorded with far too much echo and hall sound

 

[rando]

Thank you, these are all excellent suggestions.  I only count four in my library that were mentioned.  Will be sure to avoid the middle symphonies of the Mozart/Mackerras/PCO cycle.    

 

 

[Musicophile]

6 hours ago, rando said:

Thank you, these are all excellent suggestions.  I only count four in my library that were mentioned.  Will be sure to avoid the middle symphonies of the Mozart/Mackerras/PCO cycle.    

 

 

I personally prefer Mackerras´ Mozart cycle (especially 38-41) with the SCO on Linn.

 

http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-mozart-symphonies.aspx

[rando]

Will have a look at the Linn. I already have Mozart's Symphony 36 & 38 as well as the 40 & 41 Telarc discs so a comparison would be very easy to conduct.  

[EuroChamp]

Mozart: Symphonies 33 & 39

István Kertész Conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Date of Recording: 1963   
Venue: Sofiensaal, Vienna

 

[sphinxsix]

Well, I must say this is yet another example of synchronicity I've experienced on this forum - just a couple of days before Mozart topic appeared I came to the conclusion that I'd love to ask about what Mozart recordings I shouldn't miss. I actually started my classical collection with WAM and it's probably most careless part of it. Unfortunately I don't have my hard drives here in the Netherlands yet so the potetntial downloads will have to wait but I'd love to get your opinions on this, guys.

And one more request - Albinoni Adagio for strings and organ recommendations please - been streaming it (borrowed a cheap computer speaker from a friend which is a nice addition to my cans) obsessively recently and I actually don't have it.

And BTW - this is how the Dutch Railways welcome their passengers in Amsterdam Central Station - not their original idea but I like it anyway (cell phone photo, sorry).

 

[rando]

Bezaly - Flute Concertos

Marriner/ASMF - 4 Horn Concertos

Manze - Night Music

Uchida-Steinberg - Sonatas For Piano & Violin

Quatuor Mosaïques - Quartets Dedicated To Haydn

 

Rather lighter fare the Albinoni Adagio.  A quick search revealed you will be spoiled for choice.  DLing just what you want off at least 100 recordings should be simple once you know which ones.

[christopher3393]

 

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/NA 2244

[Musicophile]

Note that the “Albinoni” is actually a 20th century composition of Remo Giazotto, and there is still a lot of debate how much of Albinoni, if at all, is actually in there. 

 

That said, I kind of like it and typically go back to Karajan for this. 

[AnotherSpin]

I’ve been listening Mozart always and for me it is not easy to select and give particular recommendations – too many different approaches and too many significant recordings with various sound quality and recording periods. Nevertheless I will mention some names and items.

 

My best advice for both solo piano, piano Concertos, and sonatas for violin and piano would be the recordings with Ingrid Haebler and Lili Krauss. Those from Krauss sound rather archive (Haebler  recordings were made closer to modern era standards), but the artistry of both is mesmerizing. There are many, many great recordings of separate piano concertos by Michelangeli, Perahia, Andsnes, Brendel, Fray, Larrocha and others.

 

I love flute and harp concerto, this is the piece of Mozart’s one must have, but I can not select a certain reading of it.

 

Violin Concertos - it is easy, Isabelle Faust recordings are excellent (I listened to an advice from Musicophile and was very glad I did).

 

Requiem - my first choice is Suzuki. Herreweghe would be the second. 

 

I assume you are not so much interested in opera recordings now?)

[highEnd]

I strongly recommend these Mercury Living Presence downloads by the renowned composer/organist Marcel Dupre, recorded in the 1950s. Thomas Fine, son of the renowned Mercury engineer C. Robert Fine, remastered these wonderful recordings in 96/24.

 

Marcel Dupré Organ Recital: Music by Widor and Dupré (Remastered 2015)
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/5893

 

Franck: Pièce Héroïque - Three Chorales: No. 1 in E Major - No. 2 in B Minor - No. 3 in A Minor (Remastered 2015)
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/5892

 

Dupré At Saint-Sulpice, Vol. 5: Dupré and Messiaen (Remastered 2015)
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/5898

 

Dupré At Saint-Sulpice Vol. 3: Franck (Remastered 2015)
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/5896

 

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78 (Remastered 2015)
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/5899

 

On a side note, as AnotherSpin mentioned above, I don't know whether or not you are interested in opera, but at least listen to the samples of these two downloads of Deccas from the 1960s by Solti- They are mandatory for anyone's music library. The realism of the sound is stunning: At a high volume, the double basses and the singer's voices pop out of nowhere and just about knock you out of your seat! If you've read any of the rave reviews about Solti's Wagner Ring Cycle, these are on par with that set IMHO.

 

Strauss: Salome - Birgit Nilsson, Gerhard Stolze, Eberhard Wächter, Vienna Philharmonic/Solti
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/14757

 

Richard Strauss: Elektra - Birgit Nilsson, Regina Resnik, Marie Collier, Gerhard Stolze, Tom Krause, Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti
http://www.prostudiomasters.com/album/page/14756

 

[sphinxsix]

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your response. As I said earlier I have very little free time now but will check out all the suggestions I'm not familiar with little by little.

1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

Note that the “Albinoni” is actually a 20th century composition of Remo Giazotto, and there is still a lot of debate how much of Albinoni, if at all, is actually in there. 

Yes, I know that.

1 hour ago, Musicophile said:

That said, I kind of like it and typically go back to Karajan for this. 

That's actually the version I (quite accidentally) streamed most often recently.

 

[rando]

Based on your description and time constraints these seem unlikely.  For future reference then.

 

I mentioned this in album of the evening a week or two back.  

 

 

This Cosi Fan Tutte is going to be my next Mozart opera once the hardcover Boosey & Hawkes singers guide arrives.

 

[accwai]

17 hours ago, Musicophile said:

Note that the “Albinoni” is actually a 20th century composition of Remo Giazotto, and there is still a lot of debate how much of Albinoni, if at all, is actually in there. [...]

 

According to Wikipedia:

 

Quote

The famous "Adagio in G minor" for violin, strings and organ, the subject of many modern recordings, is thought by some to be a musical hoax composed by Remo Giazotto. However, a discovery by musicologist Muska Mangano, Giazotto's last assistant before his death, has cast some doubt on that belief. Among Giazotto's papers, Mangano discovered a modern but independent manuscript transcription of the figured bass portion, and six fragmentary bars of the first violin, "bearing in the top right-hand corner a stamp stating unequivocally the Dresden provenance of the original from which it was taken". This provides support for Giazotto's account that he did base his composition on an earlier source.

 

With the figured bass, the harmony and harmonica rhythm are given. So the phrasing is seriously constrained already. So even if the top voices are filled in, quite a big chunk of Albinoni would still be there.

 

But Albinoni's output is not limited to Adagio in G minor. He had many ravishingly beautiful Adagios and Largos elsewhere. For starters, check this:

 

Albinoni's Adagios I Solisti Veneti

 

 

Or his Concertos Op.9, which contains beautiful adagios and interesting contrasting outer movements:

 

Albinoni: The Complete Concertos Op. 9 I Musici

 

[Musicophile]

50 minutes ago, accwai said:

 

According to Wikipedia:

 

 

With the figured bass, the harmony and harmonica rhythm are given. So the phrasing is seriously constrained already. So even if the top voices are filled in, quite a big chunk of Albinoni would still be there.

 

But Albinoni's output is not limited to Adagio in G minor. He had many ravishingly beautiful Adagios and Largos elsewhere. For starters, check this:

 

Albinoni's Adagios I Solisti Veneti

 

 

Or his Concertos Op.9, which contains beautiful adagios and interesting contrasting outer movements:

 

Albinoni: The Complete Concertos Op. 9 I Musici

 

Actually, there is no proof at all that even a single note of this was ever written by Albinoni:

 

http://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/18137/albinoni-adagio-g-minor-biggest-fraud

 

That said, as mentioned, I kind of like Graziotto's piece no matter what. 

 

On stuff that has really been written by Albinoni, I can recommend this album:

 

 

I'm not sure it fits the "essential" label of this thread, but it is a nice album overall, and quite well recorded in 24/96.

[AnotherSpin]

48 minutes ago, Musicophile said:

Actually, there is no proof at all that even a single note of this was ever written by Albinoni:

 

http://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/18137/albinoni-adagio-g-minor-biggest-fraud

 

That said, as mentioned, I kind of like Graziotto's piece no matter what. 

 

On stuff that has really been written by Albinoni, I can recommend this album:

 

 

I'm not sure it fits the "essential" label of this thread, but it is a nice album overall, and quite well recorded in 24/96.

 

Was it really important, who wrote the piece? Not for me, I wouldn't have a chance to know or meet either A. or G. in flesh. Mozart was another story. I saw a piece of his childhood hair tail in Salzburg museum.

[sphinxsix]

17 hours ago, rando said:

Based on your description and time constraints...

I'm not a big fan of opera. Yet. But maybe one day I'll start a thread 'Essential Opera'. As far as music is concerned I'm still not certain where my exploration will lead me to. And where it will end. If it ever will (a remark for reincarnation enthusiasts ). So thanks.

3 hours ago, accwai said:

According to Wikipedia:..

It's actually all that I knew about this composition (the same source)

2 hours ago, Musicophile said:

Actually, there is no proof at all that even a single note of this was ever written by Albinoni:

 

http://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/18137/albinoni-adagio-g-minor-biggest-fraud

This is actually quite contradictory

Thanks for Albinoni recommendations, guys. It was inevitably going to be my next question.

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

Was it really important, who wrote the piece?

I think it is always important and to really know whether something was true or fraud.

In fact frauds sometimes make more interesting stories eg:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren

 

Some more recommendations besides Suzuki and Herreweghe (thanks @AnotherSpin, appreciated as usual) as for Mozart's Requiem, guys? I will definitely be ready spend some more time exploring this one.

[AnotherSpin]

2 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

 

I think it is always important and to really know whether something was true or fraud.

In fact frauds sometimes make more interesting stories eg:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_van_Meegeren

 

 

I believe something becomes true or fraud in somebody mind.

[sphinxsix]

15 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

I believe something becomes true or fraud in somebody mind.

I (being an objective subjectivist ) believe there is some 'objective' reality in which there is sometimes a substantial difference between historical truth and fraud. Would it be a meaningless fact for you if it proved that eg Miles Davis had been a fake black man for some mysterious reason?

(BTW I'm 0% racist in every sense)

[AnotherSpin]

23 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

I (being an objective subjectivist ) believe there is some 'objective' reality in which there is sometimes a substantial difference between historical truth and fraud. Would it be a meaningless fact for you if it proved that eg Miles Davis had been a fake black man for some mysterious reason?

(BTW I'm 0% racist in every sense)

 

You (being an objective subjectivist) believe, in other words you have something in your mind.

[Old Listener]

22 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

I’ve been listening Mozart always and for me it is not easy to select and give particular recommendations – too many different approaches and too many significant recordings with various sound quality and recording periods. Nevertheless I will mention some names and items.

 

My best advice for both solo piano, piano Concertos, and sonatas for violin and piano would be the recordings with Ingrid Haebler and Lili Krauss. Those from Krauss sound rather archive (Haebler  recordings were made closer to modern era standards), but the artistry of both is mesmerizing. There are many, many great recordings of separate piano concertos by Michelangeli, Perahia, Andsnes, Brendel, Fray, Larrocha and others.

 

I love flute and harp concerto, this is the piece of Mozart’s one must have, but I can not select a certain reading of it.

 

Violin Concertos - it is easy, Isabelle Faust recordings are excellent (I listened to an advice from Musicophile and was very glad I did).

 

Requiem - my first choice is Suzuki. Herreweghe would be the second. 

 

I assume you are not so much interested in opera recordings now?)

Lili Kraus made two sets of Mozart piano sonata recordings.  The earlier one in mono is on M&A label.  The later set on Sony is stereo and in good modern sound.  The Sony set is my long time favorite.  Kraus plays with energy coupled with a natural sense for Mozart.

 

My second choice would be the set on Vox by Walter Klien.  Recorded sound is not a problem and the performances are just fine.

 

The problem with Kraus concerto recordings is that many were made with less than the best orchestras and recorded less well than the best contemporary recordings.  That is true of the Vox recordings.  There is a complete set made with Stephen Simon conducting the Vienna Festival Orchestra.  Kraus's playing is fine, sound is OK stereo but the conductor and the orchestra are a letdown.

[sphinxsix]

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

You (being an objective subjectivist) believe, in other words you have something in your mind.

I understand your (subjectivist ) point of view. But it's a little to extreme for me. Eg I believe the Earth is round not flat. What is your belief in this regard?  (of course I also believe we can look at this from some eg string theory multidimensional perspective but let's say according to our mundane, everyday 3D experience - what would you say.? )