Great wrongheaded recordings

[Marc]

There are two live Barbirolli performances of the 6th, with the Berlin Philharmonic (January 1966) and the New Philharmonia (August 1967); both are around 10 minutes quicker than the studio recording with the New Philharmonia (August 1967). My preference is for the live New Philharmonia performance.

Even though I'm not that much in good ole Gustav any more (whch a.o. means: no more expanding of the already rather large collection), thanks for this message!
I might al least check out the New Philharmonia one.

[Biffo]

Even though I'm not that much in good ole Gustav any more (whch a.o. means: no more expanding of the already rather large collection), thanks for this message!
I might al least check out the New Philharmonia one.

I should have added that it is on the Testament label, hope you enjoy it.

[Marc]

I should have added that it is on the Testament label, hope you enjoy it.

The Dutch general public library has it... ordered it.

[Karl Henning]

A famous example:

[asin] B000001G82[/asin]

I think Lenny has a lot of recordings in this category.

I need to revisit that.  I do remember Larry mentioning it, but without praise.

The CSO Leningrad, though . . . couldn't imagine any other conductor drawing it out as he did, but keeping it tight and making it work.

[aukhawk]

I like the Lenny Pathetique but there is certainly a sense of the musicians checking their watches and wondering what time the pubs shut - no wonder they sound so sad 

Interesting to contrast the last movement with Dausgaard, who almost halves the duration but is also a compelling listen.  Nice compare/contrast on the sleeve art too.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Gould's rendition of Schoenberg's Suite for Piano is absolutely wrongheaded.  He rebalances things all over the place and takes the Intermezzo at half the notated tempo.  Still, it's very interesting.

The CSO Leningrad, though . . . couldn't imagine any other conductor drawing it out as he did, but keeping it tight and making it work.

I expected Gould and Bernstein to be the kings of this thread. Frequently exasperating, but great musicians with their own vision of things. Another such might be Hermann Scherchen.

[PerfectWagnerite]

I'll bet Rafael could tell;  I cannot.

. . . this is impossibly slow, but good heavens, it is exquisite:

https://www.youtube.com/v/R4Ag-SloSX0

In Life and Death of Classical Music this recording was flagged as one of the 20 worst of all time which is a rather dubious distinction.

[amw]

True blue Wagnerians apparently hate Norrington's recording of Wagner preludes/overtures etc with the London Classical Players, but I think it's wonderful personally.

[Karl Henning]

In Life and Death of Classical Music this recording was flagged as one of the 20 worst of all time which is a rather dubious distinction.

I can see it being a love-it-or-hate-it item.

[JCBuckley]

Any takers for Pogorelich playing Schumann's Symphonische Etüden?

[André]

Any takers for Pogorelich playing Schumann's Symphonische Etüden?

I don't know about the Schumann, but a 43-minute live Rach 2 from San Francisco would be a candidate if ever issued commercially.

[PerfectWagnerite]

True blue Wagnerians apparently hate Norrington's recording of Wagner preludes/overtures etc with the London Classical Players, but I think it's wonderful personally.

I am a big fan of Sir Roger. There is another disc titled Early Romantic Overtures with the same forces that I like. To me he was really the father of the entire HIP movement - at least in the recorded industry.

[Holden]

Any takers for Pogorelich playing Schumann's Symphonische Etüden?

Which has reminded me of Tzimon Barto's recording of the same work which I'll add to the list.

[vandermolen]

Robert Shaw's performance of Walton's Belshazzar's Feast puts in an extraneous 'SLAIN!' at the end which retrospectively ruins what would otherwise have been a fine performance. Koussevitsky brings back the chimes of Big Ben at the very end of A London Symphony, which I have to admit I rather enjoyed as I did Svetlanov's recording of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony where he brings back the exciting end of the first movement at the end of the finale. I have to confess that I much prefer this to Tchaikovsky's rather dreary original version.

[George]

A famous example:

[asin] B000001G82[/asin]

I think Lenny has a lot of recordings in this category.

Agreed on both counts!

[Kontrapunctus]

I don't know about the Schumann, but a 43-minute live Rach 2 from San Francisco would be a candidate if ever issued commercially.

How about a 54 minute Liszt Sonata from Pogorelich? At some point, people will need to bring an overnight bag to his concerts! Of course, those timings pale in comparison to Anton Batagov's Bach recordings:


He plays two Partitas and it requires two CDs!! Somehow, he makes it work since he does play with expression and dynamics, unlike his even more glacial Art of the Fugue, which has neither of those and sounds as if it's a MIDI keyboard...in mono, no less! (recorded in 1993.) It absolutely doesn't work.

[ChopinBroccoli]

Kleiber's Beethoven 7 seems to arouse a lot of controversy especially because of the tempo but I think it's sublime

It's an absolute mess, really but the Martha Argerich/Kondrashin Tchaikovsky 1st concerto is very exciting at the hectic tempo ... hardly ideal and certainly shouldn't be a first choice for someone looking for an ideal reading but it's a lot of fun.  I guess you have to blame fiery Martha for that because after all, it's Kondrashin himself who conducts what is for me the perfect version (the classic Van Cliburn)

Bernstein has more than his share of these but that's part of his greatness... that feeling for the moments in a piece... there's far cleaner, more highly regarded versions of Shostakovich Symphony no. 5 for sure, but Bernstein's is special ... he and the NYPO get something extra out of that piece ... the 4th movement kind of falls apart toward the end but that opening!  Up tempo and utterly ferocious; it's great

[Maestro267]

I'm in no place to judge the worth of these, but I can present a few examples I know of on-the-surface recordings that seem to go against the grain.

- Otto Klemperer's 100-minute Mahler 7
- Sergiu Celibidache's later recordings with the Munich PO. Hyper-slowed Bruckner, Brahms, Tchaikovsky et al.