The Greatest Recording Ever Made: 5th Poll

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Making polls of recordings by one composer has not worked well; it gets a wholly different flavor to it. Perhaps because the specialists and real lovers of that composer come out in force. Suddenly it was about Bruckner not "TGREM". (Not that that's not interesting... just not what I'm after in the grand attempt to find which a recording might be, on which GMG-members converge for "TRGEM".)

So I've taken recordings from a variety of composers and times to see which ones you might think could be considered having TGREM-status.

You have three votes - but you don't have to use them!

Second Poll.
Third Poll.
Fourth Poll.

[Biffo]

An embarrassment of riches!

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Both Beethovens and the Berg. The Berg is historically significant and for such a famous, beloved opera and popular serial composition it's kind of a no brainer.

I have to double check but I think the Zinman might be one of those standout recording being a modern instrument HIP approach when it was uncommon to do so, but was it the first recording to use Jonathan Del Mar's edition of the Beethoven symphonies or was it Gardiner?

The Kleiber is a classic and rightly revered

[Daverz]

I think the obvious "great" here is the Casals.  However, I'm still not that familiar with it (Bylsma was my imprinting set of the Cello Suites), so I voted for the Fleisher/Szell, which was a formative set for me, and I think it still holds up very well against modern competition.  The Kleiber shows up in "greatest" lists all the time.  For Dvorak, I would have thought of Kertesz first, and for Figaro, Giulini.

I'm not familiar with the Kubelik Gurrelieder; does it hold up against, say, Chailly?

[Biffo]

Both Beethovens and the Berg. The Berg is historically significant and for such a famous, beloved opera and popular serial composition it's kind of a no brainer.

I have to double check but I think the Zinman might be one of those standout recording being a modern instrument HIP approach when it was uncommon to do so, but was it the first recording to use Jonathan Del Mar's edition of the Beethoven symphonies or was it Gardiner?

The Kleiber is a classic and rightly revered

The notes for the complete Mackerras/RLPO set are by Jonathan Del Mar and he says the texts used (presumably his own edition) are recorded for the first time. The earliest recording (No 9) was made in 1991 and the compilation I have for the complete set was released in 1998. Zinman's  Nos 7 & 8 were recorded in December 1997 - don't know about the rest. Gardiner's set dates to ca.1994 and so overlaps with Mackerras.

I don't know the Chailly Gurrelieder but Kubelik is an old favourite and I prefer it to Ozawa and Rattle.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

The notes for the complete Mackerras/RLPO set are by Jonathan Del Mar and he says the texts used (presumably his own edition) are recorded for the first time. The earliest recording (No 9) was made in 1991 and the compilation I have for the complete set was released in 1998. Zinman's  Nos 7 & 8 were recorded in December 1997 - don't know about the rest. Gardiner's set dates to ca.1994 and so overlaps with Mackerras.

I don't know the Chailly Gurrelieder but Kubelik is an old favourite and I prefer it to Ozawa and Rattle.

The Zinman cycle is generally said to be the first to use the score. It was all recorded between 1997 & 1998.
Mackerras' Classics-for-Pleasure cycle was recorded between 1991 and 1997. If it WAS in fact the first to use Jonathan Del Mar's edition (was it even ready by 1991, though?), it never got the credit for it.
Gardiner didn't have Del Mar's edition available (yet?).

[Biffo]

The Zinman cycle is generally said to be the first to use the score. It was all recorded between 1997 & 1998.
Mackerras' Classics-for-Pleasure cycle was recorded between 1991 and 1997. If it WAS in fact the first to use Jonathan Del Mar's edition (was it even ready by 1991, though?), it never got the credit for it.
Gardiner didn't have Del Mar's edition available (yet?).

The Mackerras cycle was recorded between 1991 (No 9) and 1997 (Nos 2 & and as I said the booklet notes are by Jonathan Del Mar. For No 9 he says 'As with the other symphonies in this set, many corrections have been made to the traditional text...' For Nos 2 & 8 he gives details of some of the changes. For Nos 1 & 3 he says 'The texts we have used for all nine symphonies are recorded here for the first time' . I assume he is referring to his own edition which he would have had available before publication, whenever that was.