Great Recordings which never made it to CD

[BorisG]

Robert Shaw's first recording of Bach's Mass, which is the second oldest recording known to exist. Technically, in fact, it never even made it to LP but only to 45s and 78s.

45s?

[KevinP]

45s?

Yes, if I'm reading this correctly:
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV232-Shaw.htm

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Three that come to mind are Ormandy's Shostakovich 13th and 14th symphonies on RCA and Sviatoslav Richter's sonically superior Debussy Preludes bk2 on Vox/Turnabout.




(Photo courtesy of Sarge.)

[Daverz]

Three that come to mind are Ormandy's Shostakovich 13th and 14th symphonies on RCA

Both made it to CD in Japan.  13 seems to be still available from HMV:

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/1931524

and Sviatoslav Richter's sonically superior Debussy Preludes bk2 on Vox/Turnabout.

Odd, considering the tons of dubious Richter CD issues, that something like this would be neglected.

[sidoze]

Both made it to CD in Japan.  13 seems to be still available from HMV:

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/1931524

CDJapan is still listing 14:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BVCC-38299

Also worth hearing is 15 by Ormandy, and there's a disc of him conducting Prokofiev's Nevsky and Rachmaninoff's Bells which is very good.

[Drasko]

Bolet's Prokofiev 2nd Piano concerto with Cincinnati under Thor Johnson, and another Cincinnati - Bruckner 7th under Max Rudolf.

Melodiya vaults have tons of material that was never released on CD, almost complete discographies of Konstantin Ivanov and Nathan Rakhlin for instance, like this, my favorite Capriccio Espagnol and Antar (photo courtesy of someone at rmcr):

[Holden]

- Tons of stuff from the Nonesuch Teresa Sterne era.

Including Noel Lee playing the Field Nocturnes.

[vandermolen]

http://www.buywell.com/cgi-bin/buywellic2/efly.html?mv_arg=12208

Thank very much. Have just ordered CD

[vandermolen]

Yes, another vote for Miaskovsky's 21st Symphony and Rimsky's "Antar" Symphony cond. Morton Gould. Also Shostakovich Symphony 15 with Maxim Shostakovich and USSR SO (EMI/Melodiya LP).

[sidoze]

Bolet's Prokofiev 2nd Piano concerto with Cincinnati under Thor Johnson, and another Cincinnati - Bruckner 7th under Max Rudolf.

apparently this made it to CD on some obscure label (Arlecchino, or Dante, or some other -- I think you'd find a reference to it in the RMCR archives). I've never seen it however.

I used to hanker after Fiorentino's early Chopin recordings from the '50s and/or '60s. Since hearing his Preludes from an LP rip, I'm less keen now.

[prémont]

Almost everything August Wenzinger recorded. His Bach Brandenburg Concertos, his Bach Cello solo Suites, his Machault Mass, his Gabrieli-LP et.c.et.c

[MichaelRabin]

Drasko - does that Capriccio espagnole superceed that of the BPO/Maazel (which is my favourite version)?

[Drasko]

Drasko - does that Capriccio espagnole superceed that of the BPO/Maazel (which is my favourite version)?

For me, yes. For you, probably no. It's Russian orchestra and they tend to vibrate. Stick with Maazel.

[chrisg]

Brahms Serenade #1 w/ Brusilow. This is one I've actually not been able to find even on LP, but descriptions by someone here or another board (Heck? someone else, maybe?) got me seriously salivating to hear it. I have two other Brusilow-led LPs, as well--but none of them shows up on CD when I search Amazon.

Dirk, this is available at http://www.rediscovery.us 

Anshel Brusilow / Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia
Brahms: Serenade 1 in D
Tchaikovsky: Suite 4 Mozartiana, Andante Cantabile
Arensky: Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky
Cherubini: Symphony in D
Haydn: Symphony 60 in C Il Distratto

ReDiscovery Stereo RD 032/033 - 2:23:29 - 2 CDs - $25

Well worth it IMO.  Everything here is top notch and in good stereo.

cg

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Both made it to CD in Japan.  13 seems to be still available from HMV:

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/1931524

Odd, considering the tons of dubious Richter CD issues, that something like this would be neglected.

Thank you for the information, Daverz!

Yes, hard to understand why a 'non-pirate' Richter issue of such quality would be left in limbo.

CDJapan is still listing 14:

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BVCC-38299

Thanks for the information, Sid!

[gomro]

I can think of several gems of my LP collection that, thus far, have never reappeared on CD:

Berio: Nones; Allelujah II; Concerto for Two Pianos. Bruno Canino, Antonio Ballista, LSO, BBC SO/Berio, Boulez RCA ARL-1-1674.  I remember walking into Turner's Record Shop (R.I.P!) when this was released, knowing nothing about it, and the old thin guy behind the counter directing me to it with "That's got your name on it." I bought it, and you know, he was absolutely right. I guess he'd seen enough of my purchases to assess my buttons and what would push 'em.

Chavez: Piano Concerto; Five Piano Preludes. Maria Teresa Rodriguez (piano) with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Eduardo Mata - RCA ARL1-3341. Got that one at the equally extinct National Record Mart on Capitol Street, way back when. It was like no piano concerto I'd ever heard; even Bartok never went that percussive, and his night music sections had nothing on Chavez's, either. One wonders if a CD release might dig up ALL the piano preludes. Who knows?

Andrew Rudin - Tragoedia. Nonesuch. Catalog#: H-71198. Rudin's four-movement electronic piece is all but forgotten, yet it was the second piece commissioned for LP play (the first was Subotnick's Silver Apples of the Moon) and is a superb work of its kind. I spoke to Rudin one day about it, and the mix is all wrong, the last movement much too quiet, etc.; any CD release would hopefully bring Rudin into the studio and get that right this time.

and quite outside of the classical genre,

Yog-Sothoth - s/t. Cryonic MAD 3010. Insane French band from the 1980s that released only this disc; its three pieces come in somewhere between Univers Zero and Sun Ra.

[chrisg]

Beethoven Quartets Op.95, 131, 132, 135 - Juilliard Qt. (RCA)   Legendary recordings that match the hype.  Odd that these have never been issued on CD.

Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1919) - Ormandy, Philadelphia (Columbia 1967).  Maybe it's a case of imprinting, or hometown band bias, but I still think this is one of the greatest orchestral recordings ever made.  Philly on fire, absolutely super-human playing.  The later RCA recording Ormandy did isn't in the same league.

Haydn Sym 96 - Antonio de Almeida, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma (Philips, c.1974)   One of my desert island discs, pulled out of a cutout rack.  The coupled 94 is good enough, but this 96 blows away all the usual suspects.  Listening to Szell, Bernstein, Jochum, Davis, Beecham, etc, you wouldn't know that Haydn actually wrote brass parts.

Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Rapsodie espagnole - Lazar Berman (Columbia/Melodiya '63)  I could be wrong about this one.  I've read that this was released on CD by Melodiya, but there was some confusion whether it was the 1959 mono version or this stereo one.  I never could find it.  Searing Liszt playing.

I'm happy to say I have excellent LP rips of these.

Beethoven "Pastoral" Sonata - Ivan Moravec.  What little solo Beethoven Moravec recorded is all superb, but somehow this one performance got left out.  Didn't fit I guess.  The "Connoisseur Society" LP set I found was in pretty bad shape, so I couldn't clean it up as well as I'd like.  Still, this is easily my favorite performance.  What should have gotten left out on the CD reissues is the overrated Concerto No.4, the great Moravec let down by 4th rate conducting and dull as it gets orchestral playing.

cg

[sidoze]

Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1919) - Ormandy, Philadelphia (Columbia 1967).  Maybe it's a case of imprinting, or hometown band bias, but I still think this is one of the greatest orchestral recordings ever made.  Philly on fire, absolutely super-human playing.  The later RCA recording Ormandy did isn't in the same league.

You have a choice of the one on RCA or the live one in Moscow 1958. Not sure about the earlier one...

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/2598603

http://www.hmv.co.jp/product/detail/1905483

Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Rapsodie espagnole - Lazar Berman (Columbia/Melodiya '63)  I could be wrong about this one.  I've read that this was released on CD by Melodiya, but there was some confusion whether it was the 1959 mono version or this stereo one.  I never could find it.  Searing Liszt playing.

Both were released on CD. There's also a live account from '76 on Istituto Discografic which I haven't heard.

[vandermolen]

Commissiona's Baltimore recording of Allan Pettersson's 8th Symphony (DGG LP)

[Daverz]

Commissiona's Baltimore recording of Allan Pettersson's 8th Symphony (DGG LP)

How could I forget that one!