Any piece that you have lots of recordings of but still not completely happy?

[PerfectWagnerite]

For me it's Mahler's 9th - for some reason I am still not completely happy with all my recordings. Trying to find one that is sonically stunning, that captures the quietness of the opening pages and the subsequent eruptive power, plus the stillness of the closing pages.

Do you have any other pieces that you feel the same way?

[dtwilbanks]

The 9th of LvB. Someone always louses something up.

[PerfectWagnerite]

The 9th of LvB. Someone always louses something up.

Oh yeah, that one for me also. If it's not the soloist(s) it is the choir not up to the task, or a bad choice of tempo in the final movement.

[dtwilbanks]

Oh yeah, that one for me also. If it's not the soloist(s) it is the choir not up to the task, or a bad choice of tempo in the final movement.

You got it. Or the third movement doesn't move along as it should.

[SimonGodders]

The big one for me has always been Beethoven's piano concerto's. Never seem happy with them, have shipped in/out quite a lot over the years.

For 5, currently have Van Cliburn and Fischer (pretty chuffed with these TBH)
For 4, Bronfman
For 3 Gilels (live Orfeo) and Bronfman
And for 1, have Richter

[orbital]

Chopin's 4th Ballade, I have about 20 recordings none of which I am completely happy with
. The one that gets closest is Barere, but ironically some bars are missing from that recording  

[Don]

I must be a happy guy.  Any work I have many recordings of includes at a least one or two versions that fully satisfy me.  For Bach's WTC I have over 20 recordings that are in this category; for the Goldbergs, even more.

[dtwilbanks]

I like Uchida and Fleisher in the LvB concertos.

[PerfectWagnerite]

I like Uchida and Fleisher in the LvB concertos.

THis one?



I am thinking about it.

[SimonGodders]

I like Uchida and Fleisher in the LvB concertos.

Never heard them. Have had Gilels/Szell, Pollini/Abbado, Brendel/Rattle but never 'clicked' for me...

The best accounts I ever had of 1+2 were Arrau/Davis, but that was on a cassette that's now long gone and seem to have missed out on the CD 

[karlhenning]

I must be a happy guy.  Any work I have many recordings of includes at a least one or two versions that fully satisfy me.

Here's another happy guy.

[from the new world]

For me it's Mahler's 9th - for some reason I am still not completely happy with all my recordings. Trying to find one that is sonically stunning, that captures the quietness of the opening pages and the subsequent eruptive power, plus the stillness of the closing pages.

Do you have any other pieces that you feel the same way?

The most recordings I have of any work is Mahler's 9th (25), and I am in the same position. Many of the recordings are very good, but none offer the whole work as a convincing whole. It is strange since I can pick at least one recording of all the other symphonies that seems to work.

[PerfectWagnerite]

The most recordings I have of any work is Mahler's 9th (25), and I am in the same position. Many of the recordings are very good, but none offer the whole work as a convincing whole. It is strange since I can pick at least one recording of all the other symphonies that seems to work.

Other Mahler recordings I have (like the 2nd and 3rd symphonies) I am happy with almost every version I have. There is just something about the ninth...

[not edward]

After many years of searching, I found a Mahler 9 that satisfies me on all counts: Ancerl. (I still am keeping Walter, Klemperer, Karajan and Barbirolli, though, since they offer additional insights. And there's that cheap copy of the Boulez version that keeps leering at me from a second-hand store nearby.)

I don't think I've heard a Bruckner 7 that totally satisifes me. Most readings merely make me feel the last two movements are less significant than the first two. The best performance I've heard was a Boulez/VPO aircheck with an incredibly intense slow movement was followed by hard-driven readings of the last two movements--but even then the first movement was underpowered.

Other works where I am not totally satisfied with any of my recordings would include the 4th Beethoven concerto, Schubert's D960 (Richter is too Richter-y even for me here) and Prokofiev's 5th symphony.

[springrite]

Maybe the problem is having too many versions, and one begins to look for trees instead of the forest, fragments rather than the whole picture in its totality as the artist has envisions. I remember someone saying his ideal recording of a certain sonata would be Richter in the first movement, Gilels in the second movement, Argerich in the third movement and Arrau in the last movement. Now, each may have impressed you the most in each of the movements mentioned. But put them together what you have is one huge, albeit beautiful, mess.

I am happy with at least one recording of each piece I have for the most part. It is not surprising that some of my favorite CDs are music that are not often played or recorded, depriving me of comparisons. Most of the time they are wonderfully satisfying!  

[dtwilbanks]

THis one?



I am thinking about it.

Yep.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Maybe the problem is having too many versions, and one begins to look for trees instead of the forest, fragments rather than the whole picture in its totality as the artist has envisions. I remember someone saying his ideal recording of a certain sonata would be Richter in the first movement, Gilels in the second movement, Argerich in the third movement and Arrau in the last movement. Now, each may have impressed you the most in each of the movements mentioned. But put them together what you have is one huge, albeit beautiful, mess.

I guess you are right. I remember in Bruno Walter's rehearsal extract (part of his sym#9 recording, disc 2) he asked the principle bassoon to do a better diminuendo in some weird passage in the middle of the 2nd movement. I guess the part is almost on the top of the bassoon range so he says "I know it's difficult but please do try". So on EVERY recording I look for THAT diminuendo and guess what, NOBODY even dares to try it! Not the Berlin Philharmonic, not the Concertgebouw, nobody. So in the back of my head these recordings are imperfect in the sense that they don't folllow Mahler's explicit directions. Now had I NOT listened to Walter it probably wouldn't matter.

[karlhenning]

. . . in the sense that they don't folllow Mahler's explicit directions.

Maybe the fault is in Mahler's scoring? 

[JoshLilly]

One for me stands out above all others: W.A. Mozart's Serenade #4 in D, K.189b. I think this is my favourite orchestral piece, period. I have a recording that I find second-best, with the Academy of St-Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner. Once, in the mid-1990s, I heard a recording of it on the radio that was the best I'd ever heard. I wrote down the relevant information and commenced to hunting; it was out of print and nowhere to be found. Every year for a while, I'd go searching again. And now, this year, I wanted to again, and stunned my stupid self by somehow forgetting what orchestra or conductor it was. Yikes. I guess I'll never get it now. Nothing else ever measured up to it, especially for the 4th movement, it was perfect.

[PerfectWagnerite]

One for me stands out above all others: W.A. Mozart's Serenade #4 in D, K.189b. I think this is my favourite orchestral piece, period. I have a recording that I find second-best, with the Academy of St-Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner. Once, in the mid-1990s, I heard a recording of it on the radio that was the best I'd ever heard. I wrote down the relevant information and commenced to hunting; it was out of print and nowhere to be found. Every year for a while, I'd go searching again. And now, this year, I wanted to again, and stunned my stupid self by somehow forgetting what orchestra or conductor it was. Yikes. I guess I'll never get it now. Nothing else ever measured up to it, especially for the 4th movement, it was perfect.

How about calling the station and ask?