Historical recordings: where to next?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I have a growing fascination with historical recordings, particularly their use of tempo and rubato; they are somehow more free but don't stray too far from the underlying pulse. A few things of note in this youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/v/qFPW9ENtNKA

So far I have enjoyed listening to pianists Cortot and Hofmann, conductors Furtwängler, Oskar Fried, Nikisch, Elgar, Strauss, Toscanini, Erich Kleiber, Klemperer, Barbirolli and for Wagner especially I have enjoyed live performances conducted by Keilberth, Knappertsbusch, Krauss and some others.

I haven't gone very deep, rather I have listened to just a little bit from many of these musicians. Currently I am interested in exploring historical recordings in a little more depth.

What recommendations do you have? YouTube videos are particularly appreciated, but if there are CD releases you can recommend that would be wonderful.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Off the top of my head:

Instrumentalists

Gioconda de Vito, especially the Brahms sonatas (the Membran 10 CD set is superb).

Johanna Martzy Bach Sonatas and Partitas, any of the Schubert

Yehudi Menuhin Bach Sonatas and Partitas, Elgar Concerto

Ossy Renardy Franck sonata and Brahms Concerto

Solomon, especially Beethoven sonatas and Schumann Carnaval

Myra Hess (any and all)

Camilla Wicks (Sibelius concerto)

Leonard Rose Dvorak Concerto and Schelomo

Janos Starker early 50s recordings (Sonata for unaccompanied cello by Zoltan Kodaly likely the greatest recording ever IMO) as well as the Bach Suites on Mercury, or, if you're a real connoisseur, Period.

Michael Rabin Paganini 24 Caprices

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli especially Debussy, Scarlatti, Beethoven OP 111

Samuil Feinberg any Bach, incl the rather idiosyncratic WTC

Walter Gieseking His Debussy, for which he is most famous, is hit-and-miss IMO, but the RAVEL is stupendous! There are some gems among his Mozart and other composers' works

(I am curious about Peter Rybar and Josef Hassid)


Singers: Jennie Tourel, Maggie Teyte, Hans Hotter, earlyElisabeth Schwarzkopf (Schubert with Edwin Fischer and Wolf with Gerald Moore and Wilhelm Furtwängler), Gerard Souzay (esp French repertoire), Boris Christoff, Charles Panzera (Dichterliebe), Lotte Lehmann, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau from the 50s (esp. Schwanengesang and Die Schöne Müllerin with Gerald Moore)

Chamber: Julliard SQ (Debussy and Ravel), Paganini SQ (with Henri Temianka), Budapest SQ, Vienna Konzerthaus SQ, Curtis SQ (Franck Piano quintet is to die for), Hollywood SQ (esp. Villa Lobos),

Orchestral/Conductors: Pierre Monteaux, Guido Cantelli, Wilhelm Furtwängler (esp Wagner and Beethoven), George Szell (Brahms), Bruno Walter (Mozart and Mahler), Willem Mengelberg (quite idiosyncratic), Klemens Krauss (R. Strauss), John Barbirolli (English music, duh)

etc.

[GioCar]

Jessop, you'll love this one

[asin]B000005GMW[/asin]
I believe it's on YouTube as well, but I won't give you the link 

[Que]

This old thread (2007 - 2012) here at GMG might be of interest to you:

Historical Recordings

Of course, some material has been reissued since then.

A recent reissue that immediately comes to mind:

[asin]B014YN0ME2[/asin]

Q

[Mandryka]

I have a growing fascination with historical recordings, particularly their use of tempo and rubato;

One guy who was good at rubato is Segovia. Listen to the rubato here

https://www.youtube.com/v/lCeebWgjrrU

Feuermann made good tempo judgements, here for example

https://www.youtube.com/v/AYaWJExOBRs

conductors Furtwängler, Oskar Fried, Nikisch, Elgar, Strauss, Toscanini, Erich Kleiber, Klemperer, Barbirolli

The key one for rubato, tender but not maudlin, who you've ignored, is Mengelberg, here's an example

https://www.youtube.com/v/f4--WIt3TCY

Toscanini

LOL

[CB45]

I recommend a reading of Robert Philip, Early recordings and musical style : changing tastes in instrumental performance, 1900-1950, Cambridge University Press, 2004.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I don't know how to insert a YouTube video, but here are some links for now (SQ is much better on an actual disk):

Jennie Tourel sings Liszt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7qBShRoV7U

Maggie Teyte sings Debussy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQaWW2flSAQ

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sings Wolf (Furtwängler): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRAjykNmXBQ

With Gerald Moore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRAjykNmXBQ


Camilla Wicks Sibelius: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEEStY8gBco&list=PL2Ed_NT-N4QOQgcdXGzi7oaQgE02j2WxN

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DOshuIPqHs

Solomon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGHO4_R8MwA

[aukhawk]

Recordings dating from the early 1900s, of artists that were mature performers at that time and so representing a style that was being taught 30 or 40 years earlier, are probably very interesting.

There is a recording of Alessandro Moreschi (b.1858, "the last castrato") singing Ave Maria.
I believe there are recordings by Joachim who was a violinist most closely associated with Brahms and Mendelssohn.  Described as "completely free from the continuous vibrato that Kreisler introduced".

(quoting from The End of Early Music by Bruce Haynes, OUP )

[vandermolen]

Really enjoying this:
[asin]B07556L2TN[/asin]

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Recordings dating from the early 1900s, of artists that were mature performers at that time and so representing a style that was being taught 30 or 40 years earlier, are probably very interesting.

There is a recording of Alessandro Moreschi (b.1858, "the last castrato") singing Ave Maria.
I believe there are recordings by Joachim who was a violinist most closely associated with Brahms and Mendelssohn.  Described as "completely free from the continuous vibrato that Kreisler introduced".

(quoting from The End of Early Music by Bruce Haynes, OUP )

Joachim's use of vibrato is very interesting, and unique for the time in that he does limit usage of it more than his contemporaries. It seems bizarre to me that Kreisler should be credited with the introduction of continuous vibrato; I know that Leopold Mozart describes in his famous treatise the importance of developing what we would now describe as a continuous vibrato. Back then, I am quite sure the style and usage of vibrato (slow, fast, slight or wide) was much more individual to each player than it is now.