Unfailing Beauty

[dirkronk]

Taking a cue from Michel's "possibly the finest CD" thread, I offer one in which we can share a few special recordings from our collections. They needn't be rare, though that might add to the cachet, admittedly. And they needn't be on CD--I'm thinking that there are a LOT of LPs, 10-inchers, cassettes, reel-to-reel and other format recordings that are out there, still astounding lucky listeners. Perhaps we should set a number limit--say 5--so that we have SOME room to maneuver, but will still need to think carefully about the choices. Oh...and the real criteria? The recording must be one that's so completely satisfying, it simply never fails to make you react in some positive form--with smiles, tears, or simple sweet pleasure.

I'll start with what is, to my experience, a bit of a rarity: an RCA mono recording of Milstein on an early maroon label LP. On one side is the Glazounoff concerto in Am op.82 (w/ William Steinberg/RCA Victor Sym Orch) and on the other are Mozart's adagio in E K261 and Rondo in C K.373 (w/ Vladimir Golschmann/RCA Victor Sym Orch). The pieces have old fashioned tug-at-the-heart emotional appeal and can push over the line toward sappiness if overdone, but damn...whenever I put this record on either side, I just cannot help but listen to every minute of BOTH sides, no matter what else I may have planned. Milstein's playing here is utterly simple, direct, dead accurate in tone on virtually every note, and assured in every phrase; the accompaniment is just as straightforward, allowing the music itself to elicit the emotional response rather than "milking" it (only some passages of the Glazounoff may go overboard a tad). While I don't think I've ever actually cried while listening, I have gotten more than one lump in the throat at some especially telling phrase...and yes, this happens with astonishing regularity, essentially each time I listen. I confess I avoid listening overly much, simply for fear of having it lose this magic.

For some reason, this is the single record that I thought of when I read Steve's post on the "finest CD" thread, claiming the C.Kleiber Brahms 4th as the greatest treasure in his collecton. And while I would hesitate making that same claim about this recording, I admit that I have put it on to listen to while writing this post...the last passages of the Glazounoff are playing right now...this record has lost none of its special appeal to me since I first found it in some used-LP venue twenty-some-odd years ago. Its sound is not even hi-fi, but it is clear and powerful enough to entrance me each time I play it.

And now, your choices, please. I'll add more of my own later.



Dirk
(who hopes to get REALLY good suggestions for future acquisitions out of this thread)

[Steve]

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, (NYPO, Bernstein), Live (LP) Bernstein's controversial interpretation of the more than remarkable, has not, in my opinion, been equaled. 

[val]

BEETHOVEN: Sonata opus 106 / Emil Gilels

BEETHOVEN: 32 Sonatas / Friedrich Gulda

SCHUBERT: Piano Trio 2; Fantasia violin and piano  / Adolf and Hermann Busch, Serkin

WAGNER: Parsifal / Mödl, Weber, Windgassen, Knappertsbusch

BRUCKNER: 8th Symphony  / Jochum, BPO

[Harry]

I would say not surprising to anyone I guess, the complete recordings of Bruckner's Symphonies by Herbert von Karajan.
Those cd's helped me through difficult spiritual times.

[Bonehelm]

I would say not surprising to anyone I guess, the complete recordings of Bruckner's Symphonies by Herbert von Karajan.
Those cd's helped me through difficult spiritual times.

I prefer Wand's Bruckner.

[The Emperor]

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, (NYPO, Bernstein), Live (LP) Bernstein's controversial interpretation of the more than remarkable, has not, in my opinion, been equaled. 

I used to have that one in mp3, i actually miss it, i have the Rozhdestvensky one, but it lacks power, i don't know, i remeber headbangin in some parts to bernstein's performance 

[Greta]

I never could have thought that Finale could be like that, it just gets faster and faster...and faster, almost terrifying. I remember listening to that with something approaching glee and my breath caught in my throat.

Another that did the same thing to me is Sir Barbirolli's Sibelius 2nd with the Royal Philharmonic on Chesky. Oh boy. Talk about intense!

I have a lot of live Mahler recordings that blow me away still too.

[Steve]

I never could have thought that Finale could be like that, it just gets faster and faster...and faster, almost terrifying. I remember listening to that with something approaching glee and my breath caught in my throat.

Another that did the same thing to me is Sir Barbirolli's Sibelius 2nd with the Royal Philharmonic on Chesky. Oh boy. Talk about intense!

I have a lot of live Mahler recordings that blow me away still too.

How does it compare with Blomstedt/San Francisco? (The Sibelius 2nd, that is) 

[Greta]

Steve, there is really no comparison. I mean, they're so different, they're hard to compare, that is.

I'm still warming up to the Blomstedt set, he's generally cool in approach with an often monochromatic chilly sound from SF, for me I love from the set his 4, 6 and especially the 1st and 5th, which are just incredible, they work up a ton of energy and the playing is totally outstanding.

His 2nd is good, but Barbirolli's catches on fire, it's white hot, brazen, and the playing isn't perfect, but you know, it doesn't matter here, it almost adds to it in a way. Catison, or someone here, once said it was like a comet shooting across the sky, I would have to agree, it's definitely an experience!

[longears]

Overfamiliarity diminishes beauty, at least for these ears and eyes.

One that hasn't failed me yet (provided I'm in a tranquil and receptive frame of mind) is the Kremer/Jarrett recording of Pärt's Tabula Rasa/Fratres/Cantus.

Another is MTT/SFSO Appalachian Spring.

[Iago]

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, (NYPO, Bernstein), Live (LP) Bernstein's controversial interpretation of the more than remarkable, has not, in my opinion, been equaled. 

If that's a "live" performance that you have, it must be the one done in Tokyo, when Bernstein and the NYP were on tour. But I have to disagree with you. I feel that those forces produced the best performance of that work when Bernstein and the NYP returned to our shores after their tour of the Soviet Union in 1958 or (9). They didn't land in NY. They came back to Boston. And after a performance of that work for the Bostonions, they recorded it for Columbia in Symphony Hall, Boston. Never before had the Philharmonic recorded in such a magnificent acoustical environment. (That includes Carnegie Hall).  That performance wasn't recorded "live", but IMO, THAT is the best there is.