Corruptio Optimi Est Pessima

[Mr. Stevens Senior]

As part of my explorations, I'd like to get recommendations for recordings of the same classical work that are (a) the absolute worst performance put onto disc, and (b) the most fantstic performance ever recorded.  Say, for example, a performance of Beethoven's fifth symphony that can be described as sludgy, zombified, incompetent and one that can be described as sparkling, brilliant, and seraphic.  I'd like to hear bad and good music with my own ears.  Can anyone suggest such pairs?  Thanks.

[Superhorn]

   Compare the recordings of Wagner's Ring by Sir Georg Solti and Sir Reginald Goodall . The Goodall Ring, in critic Andrew Porter's English translation used ot be on EMI, and is now on Chandos.
   Although the Goodall Ring has many admirers and the Solti has its voiciferous detractors ,the Solti  remains unsurpassed as far as I am concerned, despite the considerable virtues of other Rings on record .
But the Goodall Ring has always struck me as a travesty of Wagner . The English conductor's tempos are not only impossibly slow and draggy, but he adds insult to injury with his utter rhythmic flaccidity.  The Knappertsbusch Rings at Bayreuth may be pretty slow, but at least Kna has a firm rhythmic pulse which keeps things from dragging, and there is still plenty of energy .
Goodall  makes a hash of Wagner's tempo relationships, virtually neutralizing any contrast between fast and slow ; everything just creeps along at the same lethargic ,labored pace . Whenver Wagner cals for a faster tempo, Goodall almost alwys ignores it.
   The louder passages are appapplingly turgid, and the quieter ones totaly limp . The singers are trapped in his lethargy the way prehistoric animals got trapped in the La Brea tar pits ! 
    Contratst this with  blazing intensity and sweep of Solti's Ring .  This Ring is a studio recording, but it has infinitely more vitality than the Goodal version ,taken from live performances at the Coliseum in London, home of the English national opera, which produced this English language Ring. Supposedly, live recordings are much more alive than studio ones, but these Rings completely contradict this assumption.
    Solti does not neglect the music's  passages requiring breadth and grandeur by any means .  This is the REAL Wagner . We know now that the great man hated performances of his operas with excessively slow tempi , and I'm sure he would have found the Goodall Ring utterly exasperating and been thrilled by Solti's .
   

[Brian]

A somewhat facetious reply: you simply have to hear the Orebro Community School's rendition of Also Sprach Zarathustra. It may well be the worst performance of anything, ever, although I can't imagine it is what you are looking for. Link