Cyclomania ** Symphonies **

[Sergeant Rock]

Well phooey, premont, now I'm going to have to go home and count up my Beethoven sets tonight...

Nice to see that avatar again. It's been almost three months since your last appearance! Don't be such a stranger.

Sarge

[madaboutmahler]

Here are all (I think...) the complete symphony boxsets I own. Some of my dad's are here as well. Mostly mine.

Beethoven - Haitink LSO, Karajan 1963, Rattle, Zinman, Goodman.
Bruckner - Barenboim
Dvorak - Pesek
Elgar - Solti, Elder, Boult EMI, Boult Lyrita, Barbirolli, C.Davis LSO, A.Davis BBCSO, Elgar Naxos Historical, Naxos set (Hurst for no.1, Downes for no.2), Handley. (think that's it...)
Mahler - Solti, Rattle, Bernstein DG, Bernstein Sony, Sinopoli, Bertini
Martinu - Jarvi
Nielsen - both Blomstedt
Prokofiev - Jarvi
Rachmaninov - Ashkenazy
Roussel - Dutoit
Schubert - Harnoncourt
Schumann - Sawallisch, Zinman
Taneyev - T.Sanderling (on Naxos)
Tchaikovsky - Litton. (and for 4-6, Karajan, Mravinsky, Pappano)
Vaughan Williams - Haitink

Ones I particularly love are highlighted.

Collection still growing... and quite a few of these I have not had the chance to listen to in full yet!

[Mirror Image]

These three words should end most of your purchase/collection-related posts!

That's so true! HA!

[madaboutmahler]

my 8 year old daughter likes Mahler & Prokofiev, so I must be doing something right! 

[springrite]

I think Beethoven (Zinman, Karajan, not-quite-complete Furtwangler) and Brahms (Juchum, Furtwangler) are the only two composers that I have more than one complete set. I am such a junior collector, as you know...

[mc ukrneal]

Collection still growing... and quite a few of these I have not had the chance to listen to in full yet!

Is there a poster who has at least a few multiple set who would NOT say this?!? 

[Marc]

[....]
It's not healthy, I know, but it's better than spending it on heroin or horse races I suppose [....]

Spending some money on horse races is fun!
Especially if you back the winner.

Like I did once, in 2009:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mon_Mome

And you know what?
I spent the winnings on .... compact discs IIRC .... it's all gone.

Ain't life beautiful?

[springrite]

... my 8 year old daughter likes Mahler & Prokofiev, so I must be doing something right!

Whenever I listen to music not through my headphone, Kimi would say: "Daddy, can you turn of this garbage and play some Beethoven or Boulez?"

Is this normal for a 3 1/2 year old???

[Marc]

Whenever I listen to music not through my headphone, Kimi would say: "Daddy, can you turn of this garbage and play some Beethoven or Boulez?"

Is this normal for a 3 1/2 year old???

What's that: normal?

Young children aren't prejudiced. I wish I'd never lost that feeling.

[nesf]

What's that: normal?

Young children aren't prejudiced. I wish I'd never lost that feeling.

My son at 2 would enthusiastically clap along, pretend to conduct and have a good time with any classical I threw at him. At 5, he routinely tells me he hates the vast majority of the pieces I used to play for him (though he will sing the March from the Nutcracker Suite at volume if given half an opportunity). I'm seeing it begin again with my 2 year old daughter coming over and demanding classical be put on the speakers if it hasn't happened already every morning and seems happy even with relatively dissonant (for my tastes) music. She'll develop her own tastes too though and soon enough will be demanding certain pieces and telling me to turn off others.

[chung]

ARNOLD: Penny

BALAKIREV: Golovschin, Svetlanov '90s

BEETHOVEN: Barenboim, Bernstein '60s, Blomstedt, Cluytens, Edlinger/Halasz, Ermler/Gibault/Herbig/Leppard/Wordsworth (RPO house label), Ferencsik, Gardiner, Goodman, Harnoncourt, Hogwood, Karajan '60s, Karajan '70s, Karajan '80s, Kegel, Klemperer late '50s, Konwitschny, Krips, Leibowitz, Mackerras '90s, Masur '70s, Masur '80s-'90s, Menuhin, Muti, Nelson, Norrington, Sawallisch, Szell, Wand, Zinman

BERWALD: Goodman

BORODIN: Gunzenhauser

BRAHMS: Loughran, Rajter

BRUCH: Conlon

BRUCKNER: Jochum/Skrowaczewski (Brilliant Classics' version on license from Oehms and EMI)

DVOŘÁK: Bělohlávek/Jansons/Järvi

GLAZUNOV: Otaka/Polyansky

HAYDN: Fischer

KALINNIKOV: Kuchar

MENDELSSOHN: Abbado

MOZART: Mackerras, Pinnock

RACHMANINOV: Jansons

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Anichanov, Butt

SCHUBERT: Muti

SCHUMANN: Konwitschny, Levine 70s, Marriner '90s, Masur, Sawallisch, Zinman

SIBELIUS: Berglund '80s, Davis '90s

TCHAIKOVSKY: Muti

Bold means that the cycle is noticeably favoured over the other(s) that I've heard. Even after having tried out 30 cycles of Beethoven, I have no obvious favourite. Each of them has at least one symphony where its performance disappointed me at least a bit.

[jlaurson]

Great but... Suppose you are blindfolded. Could you tell (a) the difference between the Eroica from set 12 and the Eroica from set 31 and (b) who conducts what orchestra on them? 

Speaking for myself: a.) Absolutely. b.) I doubt it. Perhaps in a couple instances that are either fresh in the memory or very unique.

We can do that, actually... let's take a quote from the Eroica, say something from the 1st movement (but not the beginning), a section ~3 minutes long (will vary, depending on performance), remove any meta-data from the file (iTunes should be able to do that), and then plunk 20 samples on a disc that I could upload on mediafire, for others to burn and listen to. Of course they could still laboriously compare with their own collection and thus 'cheat', if they wanted, but for those interested in figuring out how / whether they can distinguish orchestras/conductors, it might be fun.

[DieNacht]

ARNOLD: Penny

BALAKIREV: Golovschin, Svetlanov '90s

BEETHOVEN: Barenboim, Bernstein '60s, Blomstedt, Cluytens, Edlinger/Halasz, Ermler/Gibault/Herbig/Leppard/Wordsworth (RPO house label), Ferencsik, Gardiner, Goodman, Harnoncourt, Hogwood, Karajan '60s, Karajan '70s, Karajan '80s, Kegel, Klemperer late '50s, Konwitschny, Krips, Leibowitz, Mackerras '90s, Masur '70s, Masur '80s-'90s, Menuhin, Muti, Nelson, Norrington, Sawallisch, Szell, Wand, Zinman

BERWALD: Goodman

BORODIN: Gunzenhauser

BRAHMS: Loughran, Rajter

BRUCH: Conlon

BRUCKNER: Jochum/Skrowaczewski (Brilliant Classics' version on license from Oehms and EMI)

DVOŘÁK: Bělohlávek/Jansons/Järvi

GLAZUNOV: Otaka/Polyansky

HAYDN: Fischer

KALINNIKOV: Kuchar

MENDELSSOHN: Abbado

MOZART: Mackerras, Pinnock

RACHMANINOV: Jansons

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Anichanov, Butt

SCHUBERT: Muti

SCHUMANN: Konwitschny, Levine 70s, Marriner '90s, Masur, Sawallisch, Zinman

SIBELIUS: Berglund '80s, Davis '90s

TCHAIKOVSKY: Muti

Bold means that the cycle is noticeably favoured over the other(s) that I've heard. Even after having tried out 30 cycles of Beethoven, I have no obvious favourite. Each of them has at least one symphony where its performance disappointed me at least a bit.

Some interesting stuff here, nice to see some "historical" names also - Leibowitz in Beethoven is great, I think, brisk like Vänskä perhaps, and a good stereo sound (in the 9th some interesting details seem to be minimized in the CD transfer, they are heard better in the LP-version).

Rajter was a conductor of the old school; one never hears about his Brahms cycle. What is your general impression of that ? He also made a Franz Schmidt cycle but very late in his carreer, and the alternatives I know there of the Schmidt 4th (Mehta, Moralt) do seem more intense than Rajter ...

[jwinter]

Nice to see that avatar again. It's been almost three months since your last appearance! Don't be such a stranger.

Sarge

Thanks Sarge!  All is well, I've just been rather busy with work & parenting of late.  For a while I've been on a bit of a blues tangent music-wise (actually listening to Howlin Wolf as I type this).  I've never been a 100% classical guy.

Anyway, here's the list so far.  I'm only listing multiple symphony sets for a composer -- no single CDs.

I count 35 different conductors in complete sets in Beethoven, so I have to tip my hat to premont, although I do have multiple sets from a few folks.  Favorites are bolded as requested -- I tried to keep it down to a select few, otherwise there's not much point.  Favorites are also related solely to the complete sets -- for instance, Furtwangler did some outstanding Beethoven, but most of it is outside his complete set from EMI.

The details for the curious....


Beethoven 35 conductors:

Abbado BPO, Abbado Rome DVD, Barenboim, Bernstein NYPO, Bernstein VPO, Blomstedt, Bohm, Cluytens, Davis, Dohnanyi, Ferencsik, Furtwangler, Gardiner, Haitink, Harnoncourt, Hogwood, Jochum, Karajan 50s, Karajan 63, Karajan 70s, Karajan 80s, Kegel, Kempe, Klemperer, Kletzki, Krips, Masur, Monteux, Norrington, Sawallische, Scherchen, Schmidt-Isserstedt, Szell, Toscanini 39, Toscanini 50s, Vanska, Walter mono, Walter Columbia, Wand, Weingartner, Weller, Zinman


Brahms 23 conductors:

Abbado, Barenboim, Bernstein NYPO, Bernstein VPO, Bohm, Chailly, Davis, Furtwangler, Haitink, Harnoncourt, Jochum mono, Karajan 60s, Karajan 70s, Kempe, Klemperer, Marriner, Rattle, Sanderling, Solti, Stokowski, Szell, Toscanini, Walter Columbia, Wand, Weingartner


Bruckner 12 conductors:

Barenboim, Celibidache Munich, Chailly, Haitink, Jochum SD, Karajan, Maazel, Masur, Paternostro, Skrowaczewski, Tintner, Wand


Dvorak 5 conductors:

Kertesz, Kubelik, Neumann, Rowicki, Suitner,


Haydn 2 conductors:

Dorati, Fischer


Mahler 14 conductors:

Abbado, Bernstein Sony, Bernstein DG, Bernstein DVD, Bertini, Chailly, Haitink, Inbal, Kubelik, Levine (partial), Maazel VPO, Maazel NYPO, Neumann, Sinopoli, Solti, Tabakov, Tennstedt


Mendelssohn 2 conductors:

Abbado, Masur


Mozart 5 conductors:

Bohm, Ter Linden, Mackerras, Pinnock, Tate (+ Davis & Krips if you count sets of just the mature ones)


Nielsen 3 conductors:

Blomstedt, Jarvi, Schmidt


Prokofiev 3 conductors:

Gergiev, Kuchar, Ozawa


Rachmaninov 2 conductors:

Ashkenazy, Rozhdestvensky


Schubert 6 conductors:

Blomstedt, Bohm, Davis, Goodman, Karajan, Marriner


Schumann 7 conductors:

Barenboim, Bernstein VPO, Chailly, Haitink, Kubelik, Szell, Zinman


Shostakovich 3 conductors:

Barshai, Haitink, Kondrashin


Sibelius 6 conductors:

Ashkenazy, Bernstein, Blomstedt, Davis, Maazel VPO, Segerstam


Tchaikovsky 5 conductors:

Dorati, Karajan, Markevitch, Muti, Svetlanov

[Karl Henning]

Nice to see that avatar again. It's been almost three months since your last appearance! Don't be such a stranger.

Sarge

Heartily seconded.

[George]

Nice to see that avatar again. It's been almost three months since your last appearance! Don't be such a stranger.

Sarge

I strongly second this!

Hey, J! 

[jwinter]

Aw shucks  , thanks guys 


It should be obvious from the post above why my Discover Card and I have stayed away of late... but I'm now pretty firmly past the "rapid acquisition phase" of classical CD collecting.  I've got plenty of music to listen to, all the major repetoire bases are covered, so now I'm enjoying what I have, and using my public library to fill in the occasional small gap via ripping to itunes -- I've even grabbed a few of those Beethoven sets that way over the years. 

Still, I do feel a little "my pile of CDs is bigger than your pile, so nyah!" by posting to this thread...  I do hope I'm not compensating... 

[DavidW]

Whenever I listen to music not through my headphone, Kimi would say: "Daddy, can you turn of this garbage and play some Beethoven or Boulez?"

Is this normal for a 3 1/2 year old???

Is she also doing calculus on her spare time and reading Proust?

[prémont]

I count 35 different conductors in complete sets in Beethoven, so I have to tip my hat to premont,

I do not look at in that way, and I think it is much more interesting to know which ones and which ones are the favorites, than to know the total count:
So here are the 43 ones I own (favorites in bold):

Gardiner
Krivine
Hogwood
van Immerseel
Goodman/Huggett
Brüggen
Norrington (EMI)
Harnoncourt
MacKerras I
MacKerras II
Zinman
Weingartner
Toscanini (NBC studio recording)
Walter I (New York)
Walter II (Columbia)
Bernstein I (New York)
Muti (Philadelphia)
Wänskä
Klemperer (EMI studio set)
Klemperer (live, Philharmonia in Vienna)
Ansermet
Schuricht
Scherchen
Leibowitz
Krips
Davis (Dresden)
Haitink (LSO live rec)
Karajan (Philharmonia 50es)
Karajan (Berlin 60es)
Karajan (Berlin 70es)
Wand (Hamburg)
Skrowaczewski
Jochum II (Concertgeb.)
Sawallisch (Concertgeb.)
Kletzki
Konwitschny
Kegel
Blomstedt
Masur I (Gewandhaus)
Cluytens
Böhm (Vienna Philh.)
Maag

Edit: Forgot to list Barenboim

[DieNacht]

Only have Kletzki in Beethoven´s 2nd but am considering more, the LPs are often cheaply available - the 2nd is good and he does some really funny things in the Finale ...