Your Favorite Vox Recordings

[Roasted Swan]

There are some Klien Mozart releases on Vox.
I have this one:

Haven't listened in a long time, but recall it being pretty good. Vox sound quality often falls short of ideal, don't remember whether this one had problems.

If you like Maria Tipo, there's this (which I also own):

I recall the sonics of the Mozart concerti not being ideal, though the playing is good.

There are some American string quartet sets I enjoy, though I can't say they're "must-buys"


The Lejaren Hiller piece is forgettable "bleeps and bloops", but the rest is pretty good and the performance of Black Angels is badass. Also is solid and is interesting, maybe worth hearing for the (possibly misattributed) Benjamin Franklin work.

My memory of the American Quartets discs is that the music is definitely interesting but the performances a bit ropey.  Certainly we are so used to astonishing string playing today that this comes up a bit sub fusc....

[T. D.]

My memory of the American Quartets discs is that the music is definitely interesting but the performances a bit ropey.  Certainly we are so used to astonishing string playing today that this comes up a bit sub fusc....

You're right. I (and perhaps others) tend to overrate Vox releases for nostalgic reasons (but they're cheap...). For instance, the 3-CD set of Alan Mandel playing Ives piano works, which I still enjoy despite crappy sonics but can't in good faith recommend.

[Daverz]

My memory of the American Quartets discs is that the music is definitely interesting but the performances a bit ropey.  Certainly we are so used to astonishing string playing today that this comes up a bit sub fusc....

The quartet in the set mentioned is the Concord String Quartet.  I think they are a pretty good group.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1005267-The-Concord-String-Quartet

[rachmaninoff]

Turnabout : Bartok sonata two pianos ans percussions , with Alfred Brendel

[MusicTurner]

I haven't heard that one, but Zelka is good in Stravinsky's splendid Capriccio on Turnabout, a generous programme with the Bartok Rhapsody, Honegger's Concertino, and Janacek's Concertino, albeit not in the best sound.

[vandermolen]

Turnabout, along with Decca Eclipse, LPs were excellent and inexpensive ways for me, in my late teens, to start exploring classical music. Maybe older recordings in somewhat boxed-in sound but often very fine performances (Horenstein's Bruckner's 8th Symphony for example - I don't know a better performance - and I saw him conduct it live  0:))

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Turnabout, along with Decca Eclipse, LPs were excellent and inexpensive ways for me, in my late teens, to start exploring classical music. Maybe older recordings in somewhat boxed-in sound but often very fine performances (Horenstein's Bruckner's 8th Symphony for example - I don't know a better performance - and I saw him conduct it live  0:))

Were there used record shops? Did you prefer new records?

[Roasted Swan]

Were there used record shops? Did you prefer new records?

For sure - there were - and still are - used/2nd hand LP shops.  In the UK we are swamped with Charity Shops and a couple of them (Oxfam especially) run dedicated 2nd hand bookshops which often also sell CD's & LP's.  The LP's seem to sell for more than the CD's!  Personally I never bought many 2nd hand LP's because condition was often a major issue.  My conversion to CD was almost instant and absolute just because it was such a joy not to have to worry about clicks and scratches any more.  I never had a good enough hi-fi that the LP vs CD debate was ever relevant to me.  Of course back in the day there were music/record shops - independents and chains - everywhere.  I bought far less simply because I couldn't afford more and LP's were relatively expensive.  With access to the 2nd hand online CD market I doubt I pay today much more (in actual terms) than I used to for an LP. 

[Cato]

One of my favorites:

[vandermolen]

Were there used record shops? Did you prefer new records?

I'm sufficiently old to have bought those Decca Eclipse and Turnabout LPs new (in the 1970s I guess). I switched to CDs for much the same reason as Roasted Swan. These days I sometimes buy second hand LPs. I'd like to get a decent turntable again- one which I can plug into my hi-fi system. Like RS I've never had 'top of the range' hi-fi equipment. At the moment I have a NAD CD player and separate amplifier, Wharfedale speakers and a cheapo all-in-one LP player.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Same here. Since the early 1990s, I always purchased CDs. Before that I mostly bought used records. There were tons of used record shops in Tokyo and other cities, and their physical conditions were very good.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

These were issued on CD on the Jecklin label, e.g.



though I did discover this on that Candide LP.

I like the music! Thanks for the info.

[Roasted Swan]

One of my favorites:

+1 for Ponti's Scriabin and his Rachmaninov too....

[JBS]

I posted the current incarnation of the Scriabin near the start of the thread:

First off, a 5 CD set and a 2CD release that between them have all (or almost all) of Scriabin's piano music, which I would recommend to everyone

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

+1 for Ponti's Scriabin and his Rachmaninov too....

I checked Rosand's Beethoven on YT. I like the music very much.

I posted the current incarnation of the Scriabin near the start of the thread:

Yes nice boxes.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Looking forward to listening to this.  I just ran across a VoxBox (2-CDs) of Dvorak's "Complete Works for Solo Instrument and Orchestra"  for a buck!  It's with the St. Louis symphony Orchestra, Walter Susskind with Rudolf Firkusny, Ruggiero Ricci and Zara Nelsova.

PD

[MusicTurner]

A good set, including the Piano Concerto with Firkusny ...

[Roasted Swan]

A good set, including the Piano Concerto with Firkusny ...

From memory - in this set Firkusny does not play the original version of the PC but the version edited by Vilém Kurz.  Firkusny was a Kurz pupil and only returned to the original version later in his career (post this recording).  Nelsova was a great player.

[MusicTurner]

From memory - in this set Firkusny does not play the original version of the PC but the version edited by Vilém Kurz.  Firkusny was a Kurz pupil and only returned to the original version later in his career (post this recording).  Nelsova was a great player.

Yes, there are several Firkusnys, I've got the Susskind (1974) and the Somogyi (1963),
but this reviewer says the Kurz version is with Somogyi only
https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-8058/ ,
and this, more detailed and presumably better informed, says that the Susskind one is now mainly Dvorak, but with some Kurz too 
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/apr02/Dvorak_Susskind.htm

BTW, these Dvorak concerto recordings also exist on Brilliant Classics (2CD), and on Membran (2CD).

[Pohjolas Daughter]

From memory - in this set Firkusny does not play the original version of the PC but the version edited by Vilém Kurz.  Firkusny was a Kurz pupil and only returned to the original version later in his career (post this recording).  Nelsova was a great player.

Yes, there are several Firkusnys, I've got the Susskind (1974) and the Somogyi (1963),
but this reviewer says the Kurz version is with Somogyi only
https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-8058/ ,
and this, more detailed and presumably better informed, says that the Susskind one is now mainly Dvorak, but with some Kurz too 
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/apr02/Dvorak_Susskind.htm

BTW, these Dvorak concerto recordings also exist on Brilliant Classics (2CD), and on Membran (2CD).

Interesting to read about who all he studied with.  I have recordings of him and this work with (now) Susskind, Szell with Cleveland, and with V. Neumann and the Czech Phil. (on RCA).  I remember passing on the Somogyi at the time due to what I had heard about it--which must have been re the version. 

And thanks for those links; I almost posted one to the Brilliant Classics set as it was the same as what was included in the original VoxBox set. 

PD