Your favorite Supraphon recordings

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Do you like any recordings from Supraphon label? Any recordings with superb performance or excellent recording sound? Any unknown gem?
The below are the recordings I like.

[Karl Henning]

Serge Baudo conducting Debussy.

[Brian]

Oh gosh, so many! I have about 20 volumes of the Ancerl Gold Edition, of which all his Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mahler, Dvorak, and Suk are essential. Serge Baudo's Debussy, as Karl says. The chamber orchestra recordings with Josef Vlach. Every album featuring pianist Ivo Kahanek. The recent disc of concertos by Jan Novak. Anything involving Charles Mackerras. Anything involving the Pavel Haas Quartet.

[Franco_Manitobain]

These ones!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Oh gosh, so many! I have about 20 volumes of the Ancerl Gold Edition, of which all his Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mahler, Dvorak, and Suk are essential. Serge Baudo's Debussy, as Karl says. The chamber orchestra recordings with Josef Vlach. Every album featuring pianist Ivo Kahanek. The recent disc of concertos by Jan Novak. Anything involving Charles Mackerras. Anything involving the Pavel Haas Quartet.

Yes, there are so many excellent recordings from Supraphon!

[Karl Henning]

Oh gosh, so many! I have about 20 volumes of the Ancerl Gold Edition, of which all his Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mahler, Dvorak, and Suk are essential. Serge Baudo's Debussy, as Karl says. The chamber orchestra recordings with Josef Vlach. Every album featuring pianist Ivo Kahanek. The recent disc of concertos by Jan Novak. Anything involving Charles Mackerras. Anything involving the Pavel Haas Quartet.

At one point, my ears were in a peculiar funk regarding La mer. Baudo's recording restored my faith in the piece.

[Daverz]

All the Dvorak boxes (chamber music, orchestral music, sacred music, etc.)
Suk orchestral box
Mackerras "Life in Music" boxes
Ancerl Gold series
Moravec box
Belohlavek box ("Recollections")
Kletzki Beethoven cycle
Suk Trio in Beethoven and Dvorak
Smetana Quartet Beethoven cycle
Neumann Mahler cycle
Janacek: Cunning Little Vixen - Neumann

[Daverz]

At one point, my ears were in a peculiar funk regarding La mer. Baudo's recording restored my faith in the piece.

But the La mer was on EMI.

[Karl Henning]

But the La mer was on EMI.

Interesting! Mea culpa. The recording I mean was Jean Fournet on Supraphon with the Czech Phil!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

All the Dvorak boxes (chamber music, orchestral music, sacred music, etc.)
Suk orchestral box
Mackerras "Life in Music" boxes
Ancerl Gold series
Moravec box
Belohlavek box ("Recollections")
Kletzki Beethoven cycle
Suk Trio in Beethoven and Dvorak
Smetana Quartet Beethoven cycle
Neumann Mahler cycle
Janacek: Cunning Little Vixen - Neumann

I must revisit the Kletzki Beethoven!

[AnotherSpin]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Supraphon vinyl records could occasionally be purchased in the USSR. Not the entire catalog, of course. The same applied to records from East Germany (Eterna), Hungary (Hungaroton), and Bulgaria (Balkanton). In my opinion, the best in terms of recording quality and sleeves quality were the Eterna and Hungaroton releases, while Supraphon was slightly inferior. That said, I highly valued some Supraphon recordings. For example, my first albums of Mahler's 5th and 7th symphonies were conducted by Václav Neumann. I also cherished LPs featuring Zuzana Růžičková and Josef Suk. Supraphon was also where I first encountered the music of Janáček and Smetana, along with other works I can no longer recall. In the CD era, Supraphon releases became much harder to come by.

[Roasted Swan]

Interesting! Mea culpa. The recording I mean was Jean Fournet on Supraphon with the Czech Phil!

Baudo did a tremendous l'apres midi with the Czech PO.  The opening flute has a pan-pipe quality that is quite special (for me!)



It is on CD - I just can't find an image of that cover....

[Madiel]

I have a couple of Dvorak boxes, and a Haydn quartet record.

But the one that really stands out to me is this one. I would never have expected to like a recording with a period piano, but this was a surprising gem. I doubt you could find a better rendition of these works that better captures the spirit of home music-making.

[Cato]

SUPRAPHON recorded avant-garde works like Alois Haba's quarter-tone and micro-tone works, e.g. his quarter-tone opera The Mother, and various string quartets.

[Spotted Horses]

Martinu Symphonies, Neumann, Czech Philharmonic
Mahler Symphonies, Neumann Czech Philharmonic
Honegger Symphonies, Baudo Czech Philharmonic

[pjme]

I bought many Supraphon lps when a student. Brussels, Antwerp, Louvain...had several records shops exclusively dedicated to classical music ... and the cut out bins were often a treasure trove filled with contemporary music, mediaeval & renaissance repertoire, rare operas, Flemish/Walloon music...
However, I first bought a DGG lp with Martinus fifth pianoconcerto (Margit Weber/Kubelik /BRSO) and wanted to discover more :









Janacek followed, of course, and lesser known composers such as Emil Hlobil. Victor Kalabis, Jindrich Feld, ...Novak, Suk ...

[Spotted Horses]

More Martinu

[Roasted Swan]

I bought many Supraphon lps when a student. Brussels, Antwerp, Louvain...had several records shops exclusively dedicated to classical music ... and the cut out bins were often a treasure trove filled with contemporary music, mediaeval & renaissance repertoire, rare operas, Flemish/Walloon music...
However, I first bought a DGG lp with Martinus fifth pianoconcerto (Margit Weber/Kubelik /BRSO) and wanted to discover more :









Janacek followed, of course, and lesser known composers such as Emil Hlobil. Victor Kalabis, Jindrich Feld, ...Novak, Suk ...

I remember a lot of those LP covers!

[DaveF]

Ančerl Gold and Josef Suk Jr. have already been mentioned, but my particular picks from each would be:


(The ladies of the Czech Philharmonic Chorus do some rather strange things with the Lyke Wake Dirge, but hey, perhaps they pronounced it like that in 1500.)


(Nobody plays the flageolet tones in the scherzo of the Berg quite like Suk.)

And the 3-volume Janáček orchestral series from František Jílek and the Brno Phil is good.

[Kalevala]

Oh gosh, so many! I have about 20 volumes of the Ancerl Gold Edition, of which all his Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mahler, Dvorak, and Suk are essential. Serge Baudo's Debussy, as Karl says. The chamber orchestra recordings with Josef Vlach. Every album featuring pianist Ivo Kahanek. The recent disc of concertos by Jan Novak. Anything involving Charles Mackerras. Anything involving the Pavel Haas Quartet.

Twenty?!  I'm jealous!    I have 3-4 of them (which I enjoy).

Haven't heard any of Ivo Kahanek's (think that he's a contemporary pianist?).  Love Mackerras' recordings.  Don't know whether or not some folks here know, but he was the head of the British Czech and Slovak society and did a heck of a lot (starting in, I believe, the 1950's) to introduce Czech and Slovak music to Britain.  In the late 1940s, Mackerras studied under the Czech master conductor Vaclav Talich at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.  His recordings are wonderful; he truly loved the music.

Pavel Haas Quartet is great.  I don't have that many of their recordings, but in particular I really love their Janacek CDs (which also have Pavel Haas' quartets on them...surprise, surprise!      ).  They are more recentish ones and, I think, in very good sound.

Basically, if I see a Supraphon LP, I buy it--lots of [sometimes unknown] music to explore.  I know, I should keep this secret to myself, but since we're all friends here....   

K