Your 3 Favorite Recordings of 1 Composition

[George]

Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen (I own 10 Rings and have heard radio/tv broadcasts of perhaps a half dozen others):

Moralt/Vienna Symphony 1948-49

Karajan/Berlin Phil 1966-70

Barenboim/Bayreuth 1991

Sarge

Since I own zero, that was helpful, Sarge! I bet Barenboim would be the one for me.

Is this it?

[david johnson]

bruckner 9:

guilini/chicago
karajan/berlin
wand/berlin

[Opus106]

Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen (I own 10 Rings and have heard radio/tv broadcasts of perhaps a half dozen others):

Moralt/Vienna Symphony 1948-49

Karajan/Berlin Phil 1966-70

Barenboim/Bayreuth 1991

Sarge

I'm truly surprised to notice that Solti's Ring is missing from your list. Not that I think highly of the set (I don't listen to Wagner beyond bleeding chunks, anyway), but that's the set everyone raves about, or at least I thought so.

[Wanderer]

I'm truly surprised to notice that Solti's Ring is missing from your list. Not that I think highly of the set (I don't listen to Wagner beyond bleeding chunks, anyway), but that's the set everyone raves about, or at least I thought so.

It wouldn't be on my list, either.

[Elgarian]

Elgar Violin Concerto:

Hugh Bean (soloist), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Charles Groves (EMI).
Dong-Suk Kang (soloist), Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Leaper (Naxos).
Yehudi Menuhin (soloist), London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Elgar himself (EMI).


       

The Bean/Groves is the recording I know best. For many years it was the only version I had, and when I did start to 'listen around' I found myself resistive to most other recordings, which seemed to miss Bean's mature delicacy and edge-of-tears poignancy in the slow movement, and the near-death experience of the cadenza. It's a virtuoso piece, but shouldn't sound like one, yet it often does. The Kang/Leaper is the most idiosyncratic version I know, with a gypsy-like, almost edge-of-wild flavour to the playing which I feel I ought to dislike but which in fact I love. The Menuhin/Elgar isn't my favourite, but it's Elgar himself, and he loved the young Menuhin's playing on this, so it's a necessary reference.

I have about a dozen different recordings, but I could easily dispense with all of them except these three.

[Opus106]

It wouldn't be on my list, either.

But are you a Wagnerite?

[vandermolen]

Shostakovich Symphony 10

Ancerl (DGG)

Mitropoulos (Sony)

Previn (EMI)

[Mandryka]

Bach Partitas on Piano
1 -- Fiorentino; Hewitt;  Weissenberg
2-- Perahia; Weissenberg (EMI); Tureck (Great Pianists)
3 -- Vedernikov (Amateur transfer from LP); Perahia;Tureck (Great Pianists).
4 -- Fiorentino; Gould; Hewitt
5 -- Weissenberg (EMI); Tureck (Great Pianists); Perahia
9 -- Pletnev (Amsterdam bootleg); Schiff (ECM); Andersiewski

Beethoven Bagatelles Opus 126

Gould; Paul Komen; Affanasiev

Haydn Sonata 52
Yudina; Weissenberg; Hamelin, Ranki (oops that's 4).

Mozart K475
Gould; Arrau; Richter

Brahms Opus 118/6
Richter (Leipzig); Gieseking (1950s recording); Ranki

Brahms Handel Variations

Moiseiwitch; Bolet; Arrau

Chopin Op 62/1

Arrau (Live); Weissenberg, Francois

Davidsbundlertanze

Cortot, Gieseking, Ugorski

Haydn 104

Bruggen, Munch, Rosbaud



Could someone please do a list for Brahms Opus 118/5 -- it's my favourite but the only recording I like is Gieseking's)

I must be bored

[Sergeant Rock]

Bach Partitas on Piano
Could domeone please do a list for Brahms Opus 118/5 -- it's my favourite but the only recording I like is Gieseking's)

Have you heard Hélène Grimaud? You can hear the beginning at JPC

Sarge

[Drasko]

Rachmaninov's Symphony No.2:

Do try Semyon Bychkov with Orchestre de Paris on Philips. I was really massively impressed. It can be found used for next to nothing on amazon.

Brahms Opus 118/6
Ranki

Where is that available?

[Sergeant Rock]

I'm truly surprised to notice that Solti's Ring is missing from your list...that's the set everyone raves about, or at least I thought so.

Yeah, I'm a Ring rebel  ...the odd Wagnerite who prefers just about every other Ring to Solti's...not that I hate it. I own it; enjoy listening to it. But I prefer a more natural sound. Culshaw's production is impressive but unnatural. The balance between voices and orchestra is far better in Karajan's recording and his conducting more subtle and illuminating. It doesn't stint on the big moments either. (He doesn't need a production wizard to make his orchestra sound imposing.) The sound he conjures up is staggeringly beautiful too. Another reason I prefer other Rings to Solti's is because his Walküre is the wink link in his cycle. Since that's my favorite of the four dramas he's automatically ruled out as a favorite. I won't go into the singers. Read all about that in the opera thread where dissenting opinions are numerous 

Moralt's Ring is a revelation: singers from the Golden Age (the 30s, 40s) with a conductor who seemingly follows rather than leads. He lets them mold their phrases to highlight the text and the music ebbs and flows in a way I've never heard before. Magical, really. Unfortunately the version I own on Centurion Classics has the worst presentation I've ever seen. No booklet, no libretto, no cast listing, not even the conductor is named. The tracks run together--there are no pauses between scenes, acts or even operas. Just 14 hours of continuous music. For someone unfamiliar with the Ring trying to listen to this would be like entering a sonic maze   On the plus side it actually sounds good, far better than you'd expect from late 40s radio broadcasts and far better sounding than either of Fürtwängler's Rings.

Barenboim: I think he's our best living Wagnerian and his Ring is an outstanding example of his art.

Is this it?

Yes. I got it quite cheap after Teldec went under and JPC slashed the prices of Barenboim's Wagner boxes.

Sarge

[Mandryka]

Have you heard Hélène Grimaud? You can hear the beginning at JPC

Sarge

No -- I have been meaning to check it out because I have noticed that people who like maudlin Brahms hate her. Me, I hate maudlin Brahms.

Yeah, I'm a Ring rebel

You have sold Moralt to me.

Wasn't Moralt a character in an opera? Someone mentioned in Tristan maybe? Or Parsifal's farther? My mind's gone blank.

Have you heard the Copenhagen Ring?

[Mandryka]

Where is that available?

Here:

http://www.amazon.fr/Intermezzi-Op-116-Brahms/dp/B000025YR3/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1258295556&sr=8-3

It seems MUCH cheaper  at amazon.fr than anywhere else.

[Drasko]

Here:

http://www.amazon.fr/Intermezzi-Op-116-Brahms/dp/B000025YR3/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1258295556&sr=8-3

It seems MUCH cheaper  at amazon.fr than anywhere else.

Thanks. I knew he recorded all Liszt disc for Harmonia Mundi that is almost impossible to find these days, but had no idea there is a Brahms recording as well. 

[Sergeant Rock]

No -- I have been meaning to check it out because I have noticed that people who like maudlin Brahms hate her. Me, I hate maudlin Brahms.

Yes, she makes the music sound almost modern; highlights its strangeness, downplays the sentiment.

You have sold Moralt to me.

Here's a web page that lists the cast and compares it to Fürtwängler's La Scala Ring.

http://www.cantabile-subito.de/Bass-Baritones/The_Moralt_Rin/hauptteil_the_moralt_ring.html

The version I bought was really cheap...something like 20 Euro..but I can't find it online now. It was also available on Gephardt but that may be oop too.

Wasn't Moralt a character in an opera? Someone mentioned in Tristan maybe? Or Parsifal's farther? My mind's gone blank.

Perhaps you're thinking of Melot, a courtier from Tristan.

Have you heard the Copenhagen Ring?

No. I haven't heard Janowski or Neuhold either. Or Keilberth, which is a favorite of many.

Sarge

[Mandryka]

Gaspard de la Nuit

Michelangeli (for the first movement)
Pogorelich (for the second movement)
Nojima (for the third movement)

Does this count?

My favourite would be

Michelangeli -- first movement
Arrau -- Second movement
Gieseking -- Third movement

[Mandryka]

Chopin Preludes Op 28

Fiorentino

So how did you get this?

Where is that available?

I forgot to mention earlier that Ranki's Op 118 was chosen by Hatto. Which puts me in mind of another three favourite recordings

Paganini Variations

Kissin
Zilberstein
Hatto (= Kissin and Zilberstein)

[Papy Oli]

Mahler - Second Symphony "Resurrection"

Off 27 versions  0:)

if on CD only :

Mehta / VPO / Decca
Gielen / SWR SO / Hanssler
Kaplan / VPO / DG

Extra : 2 non CD versions that are way up there for me too : 

Bernstein / LSO - DVD - Live at Ely Cathedral
Boulez / VPO - live version that was available on this forum a long while back

[Air]

Well, thanks for making this thread Bogey.  My wishlist just doubled...no....tripled. 

[Bogey]

Well, thanks for making this thread Bogey.  My wishlist just doubled...no....tripled.