Ten Favourite Historic (Pre 1950 - Extended by request) Recordings.

Started by vandermolen, September 04, 2016, 12:39:23 PM

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vandermolen

September 04, 2016, 12:39:23 PM Last Edit: September 05, 2016, 01:44:36 AM by vandermolen
Bruckner: Symphony 9 Berlin PO Furtwangler
Tchaikovsky: Pathetique Symphony: Boston SO Koussevitsky
Vaughan Williams: Symphony 5 (not 4) Vaughan Williams
Shostakovich: Symphony 5 Mravinsky (1937 recording - makes it sound like Symphony 4)
Walton Symphony 1: Hamilton Harty
Sibelius: Tapiola Kajanus
Sibelius: Symphony 4 Beecham
Moeran Symphony: Heward
Bax: Symphony 3: Barbirolli
Howard Hanson: Symphony 3 Koussevitsky

Chamber music, opera etc allowed too.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Turner

#1
September 04, 2016, 12:59:28 PM
all Mengelberg + early Horowitz & Rubinstein, mainly ...

vandermolen

#2
September 04, 2016, 01:08:16 PM
Quote from: Turner on September 04, 2016, 12:59:28 PM
all Mengelberg + early Horowitz & Rubinstein, mainly ...
Any particular discs?
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Jo498

#3
September 04, 2016, 01:11:06 PM
Rubinstein: Chopin Mazurkas (1930s)
Schnabel: Beethoven sonatas
Brahms' double concerto: Heifetz/Feuermann
Beethoven: trio op. 97, Rubinstein/Heifetz/Feuermann
Beethoven: 3rd piano concerto, Rubinstein/Toscanini
Mozart: Divertimento K 563, Heifetz/Primrose/Feuermann
Schubert: Symphony #9 (live), Furtwängler
Schubert: Symphony #9, Mengelberg
Schubert: Winterreise, Anders/Raucheisen
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Sergeant Rock

#4
September 04, 2016, 01:42:01 PM Last Edit: September 04, 2016, 01:48:49 PM by Sergeant Rock
BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTET No.13 B FLAT OP.130 (1933/34) BUDAPEST QUARTET
RACHMANINOFF   SYMPHONY #2 E MINOR (1945) GOLOVANOV/GREAT SO ALL-UNION RADIO AND TV
SCRIABIN   SYMPHONY #4 "POEM OF ECSTASY" (1947) GOLOVANOV/GREAT SO ALL-UNION RADIO AND TV
MAHLER SYMPHONY No.4 G MAJOR (1939) MENGELBERG/CONCERTGEBOUW
WAGNER DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN: HMV's POTTED RING (1927-32) VARIOUS CONDUCTORS
WAGNER  TANNHÄUSER (1942) SZELL/METROPOLIAN OPERA
SIBELIUS SYMPHONY No.7 (1933)   KOUSSEVITZKY/BBC SO
DEBUSSY PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE (1941) DÉSORMIÈRE/O SOCIÉTÉ CON PARIS
ELGAR ENIGMA VARIATIONS (1926) ELGAR/ROYAL ALBERT HALL O
ELGAR VIOLIN CONCERTO (1932) ELGAR/MENHUIN/LSO







the phone rings and somebody says,
"hey, they made a movie about
Mahler, you ought to go see it.
he was as f*cked-up as you are."
                               --Charles Bukowski, "Mahler"

Scion7

#5
September 04, 2016, 02:12:08 PM
I would stretch that time to pre-1950 ......
When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

Ken B

#6
September 04, 2016, 02:59:02 PM
Cheating by a year, the abridged version of Four Saints in Three Acts conducted by Virgil Thomson, with much of the original cast.

Autumn Leaves

#7
September 04, 2016, 03:24:18 PM
Don't really buy/listen to recordings this old but there are a couple I own and appreciate:







kishnevi

#8
September 04, 2016, 07:58:50 PM
Yes, like Conor my ownership of recordings of that vintage is limited.  "Historical" sonics rarely pleases me, until we get to the 1950s.

I would have to look at the  Rubinstein box to see which ones most took my fancy.
There is an EMI disc with Caruso's first recordings.
Most likely the favorite would be Walter's 1938 recording of Mahler 9.
Casal's Bach suites.
There may be a few others hidden in bigger sets, but that's all I remember.

Spineur

#9
September 04, 2016, 08:03:48 PM
Before I get to the singers, the recording that drew me to classical music.

[asin]B005DTE7X4[/asin]

Autumn Leaves

#10
September 04, 2016, 08:26:27 PM
Quote from: Spineur on September 04, 2016, 08:03:48 PM
Before I get to the singers, the recording that drew me to classical music.

[asin]B005DTE7X4[/asin]

Ahh, thanks - yes I do have this one as well (I forgot about it)!. Its a very nice recording despite its age.

Dancing Divertimentian

#11
September 04, 2016, 08:38:49 PM
Ravel: Piano Concerto, Marguerite Long (piano), Orchestre Symphonique Paris, Freitas-Branco (1932)
Schumann: Carnaval, Godowsky (1929)
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet, Reginald Kell, Philharmonia String Quartet (1945)
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Boston Symphony, Koussevitzky (1930)
Berlioz: King Lear Overture, Harty, LSO (1935)
Bach: Italian Concerto, Michelangeli, (1943)
Shostakovich: Symphony 9, Boston Symphony, Koussevitzky (1946 cheating)
Schumann: Kinderszenen, Yves Nat (1930)
Brahms: Lieder, Kipnis (1930s-40s)
Artie Shaw: Self Portrait box (1930s-40s)


Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

nathanb

#12
September 04, 2016, 08:55:43 PM
Naturally I'm confused about the title of the thread and cannot answer until I know whether to select historic recordings or pre-1945 recordings.

vandermolen

#13
September 05, 2016, 12:12:17 AM
Quote from: Scion7 on September 04, 2016, 02:12:08 PM
I would stretch that time to pre-1950 ......

Fine by me.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#14
September 05, 2016, 12:13:35 AM
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on September 04, 2016, 01:42:01 PM
BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTET No.13 B FLAT OP.130 (1933/34) BUDAPEST QUARTET
RACHMANINOFF   SYMPHONY #2 E MINOR (1945) GOLOVANOV/GREAT SO ALL-UNION RADIO AND TV
SCRIABIN   SYMPHONY #4 "POEM OF ECSTASY" (1947) GOLOVANOV/GREAT SO ALL-UNION RADIO AND TV
MAHLER SYMPHONY No.4 G MAJOR (1939) MENGELBERG/CONCERTGEBOUW
WAGNER DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN: HMV's POTTED RING (1927-32) VARIOUS CONDUCTORS
WAGNER  TANNHÄUSER (1942) SZELL/METROPOLIAN OPERA
SIBELIUS SYMPHONY No.7 (1933)   KOUSSEVITZKY/BBC SO
DEBUSSY PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE (1941) DÉSORMIÈRE/O SOCIÉTÉ CON PARIS
ELGAR ENIGMA VARIATIONS (1926) ELGAR/ROYAL ALBERT HALL O
ELGAR VIOLIN CONCERTO (1932) ELGAR/MENHUIN/LSO
Very much agree with your Golovanov and Koussevitsky Sibelius Symphony 7 choices Sarge.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#15
September 05, 2016, 12:15:32 AM
Quote from: nathanb on September 04, 2016, 08:55:43 PM
Naturally I'm confused about the title of the thread and cannot answer until I know whether to select historic recordings or pre-1945 recordings.

I mean pre-1945 (or 1950 by request) recordings which have some special insight into the music.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#16
September 05, 2016, 12:16:47 AM
Quote from: DSCH71 on September 04, 2016, 03:24:18 PM
Don't really buy/listen to recordings this old but there are a couple I own and appreciate:





Both very fine.
Thanks for all replies by the way and if you want to extent the date limit to 1950 please do so. So, basically pre-LP era.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#17
September 05, 2016, 01:43:28 AM
Have amended date in title.
For me this would now include:

Vaughan Williams: Symphony 6 LSO, Boult (1949 recording)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

The new erato

#18
September 05, 2016, 04:43:27 AM Last Edit: September 05, 2016, 04:49:52 AM by The new erato
There's one historic recording that for me stands heads and shoulders above everything else, bort pre- and post historic:

[asin]B0011X9S3K[/asin]

Rather, most of this:

[asin]B014YN0ME2[/asin]

It's funny that you all mostly seems to select orchestral recordings, when I find that chamber music recordings , particularly those with strings, seems to have held up much better sonically than orchestral (and piano) stuff.

For pre 1950 I mainly find orchestral recordings too limited, but there are quite a lot of glorious 1950ies stuff.


vandermolen

#19
September 05, 2016, 05:11:40 AM
Quote from: The new erato on September 05, 2016, 04:43:27 AM
There's one historic recording that for me stands heads and shoulders above everything else, bort pre- and post historic:

[asin]B0011X9S3K[/asin]

Rather, most of this:

[asin]B014YN0ME2[/asin]

It's funny that you all mostly seems to select orchestral recordings, when I find that chamber music recordings , particularly those with strings, seems to have held up much better sonically than orchestral (and piano) stuff.

For pre 1950 I mainly find orchestral recordings too limited, but there are quite a lot of glorious 1950ies stuff.

I'm sure that the Busch Quartet CDs are wonderful and I should investigate them. I would have included the Griller Quartet versions of the first four Bloch SQs but they are mid-1950s. An excellent set though.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).
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