Re: Respighi---Ancient Airs and Dances

[dave b]

Is the recording by the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra the best one of this particular work? It is the one I just heard on my local classical music station but I wondered if there are better recordings, not that this one was inferior in any way at all. Thanks.....

[chrisg]

I haven't heard that one, but my favorite is Marriner / Los Angeles CO.  I can only compare it to Dorati and Ozawa, but they both come off a bit flat-footed in comparison, especially in the marvelous Suite No.2.

BTW, the "best" recording of anything is too subjective a thing to exist. 

Cheers - cg

[Mark]

I have only the version on Naxos, so I can't comment on what is 'best'. But I do very much enjoy Respighi, and these works in particular.

[FideLeo]

Or one can try the "reverse engineering" effort on Hyperion, of Paul O'Dette and Rogers Covey-Crump doing all the Respighi selections in their original (16th and 17th century) forms - mostly lute solo and lute songs, but also a few consort pieces.

For the Respighi own version, I have an early recording by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (Japanese Decca/London).  Muy agradable! 

[dave b]

I agree that most of the time, the "best" of anything is very subjective. On the other hand, there is a wide consensus on many subjects where 99 out of a hundred people agree that, say, this or that piece is best played by a particular orchestra, so I guess it is not entirely subjective, or if so, then it is "collective subjectivity" For example, Mozart's Horn Concertos performed by ASMF/Marriner/Ruske. Most folks would opt for that recording rather than the Omaha Symphony Orchestra's rendition of it (assuming it existed). So I always want to be sure, regarding a really good piece of music, that I know about what recordings most people regard as superior to others.

[FideLeo]

For example, Mozart's Horn Concertos performed by ASMF/Marriner/Ruske. Most folks would opt for that recording rather than the Omaha Symphony Orchestra's rendition of it (assuming it existed).

I thought it was the Dennis Brain/ Karajan that has become the 'legendary' recording of these pieces. 
I am a HIP person and would take Hermann Baumann / Harnoncourt / Concentus musicus Wien over
all others but it surely will stay a minority preference. 

[dave b]

Absolutely right. It would be Brain, first and foremost. And somewhere in there, even if it were fifth or tenth or second, would be Ruske. But it was just an example that whereas some have told me that the answers to these questions about "best" recordings are subjective, I think they are not entirely subjective, or in other words, there are a lot of people whose subjective opinions, when added up, do not reflect a hundred different recordings recommended but only two or three, so to some extent is it objective, too. (opinions as to what the best recordings are of any given composer or work)

[MichaelRabin]

Hi - the Ruske is good in modern sound. It is with the Scottish CO/Mackerras.
I also contains the Flanders & Swann Ill Wind (which is great fun). But of course, I have the Brain/Karajan too. 

[BorisG]

Is the recording by the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra the best one of this particular work? It is the one I just heard on my local classical music station but I wondered if there are better recordings, not that this one was inferior in any way at all. Thanks.....

Ozawa.

[FredT]

None better the Dorati and the Philharmonia Hungarica. Makes really minor music sound first rate.