cbf@allegra.UUCP (10/17/83)
Someone recently posted an item to net.audio suggesting more discussions of favorite recordings. I'd love to participate in those discussions, although my interests are restricted mostly to classical music. I try to keep informed about recent releases, but my knowledge of historical performances is rather limited, so I would love to hear more on that. I would also suggest that the discussion be kept in net.records (that is why that group was created, right?). To get the ball rolling, I'll start by making a couple of potentially controversial declarations: Haitink's recent Philips recording of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony is one of this year's very best classical records, as well as one of the finest sounding. Karajan's DG recording of Holst's "The Planets" is not only the greatest ever recording of that piece, but the CD version is one of the best CD's around, DG mixing and all. A must for CD collectors. No, I'm not one, yet. Solti's recent London recording of Mahler's Ninth is sonically magnificent, but the performance can't hold a candle to Karajan's apocalyptic recording, probably my favorite record. Frederica von Stade's collection of Faure songs on EMI/Angel is a must for any lover of the human voice. The brand new Mutter/Menesnes/Berlin/Karajan DG recording of the Brahms Double Concerto is simply awesome. Menesnes' first recording! If you've never heard Toscanini's reading of Beethoven's Seventh, then you've never really heard that piece right. I just discovered it. A while back, "Stereo Review" gave a glowing rave to the soundtrack of *Local Hero*. Rightly so. I've been enjoying it a great deal. Has anyone heard or heard anything about the new Karajan recording of "Carmen"? What about Bernstein's "Tristan und Isolde"? I'll be glad to defend the above statements if attacked. Of course, I don't expect to hear from those of you out there who wouldn't even consider speaking to anyone who'd have anything good to say about Herbert von Karajan. --Charles (decvax!allegra!cbf)
rdg@hpcnoa.UUCP (11/04/83)
#R:allegra:-189500:hpcnoa:3500005:000:1704 hpcnoa!rdg Nov 2 08:02:00 1983 I went through the DG/Philips stage about 2 years back, and though they are generally good recordings/performances, I found them to be mostly unexciting and unsatisfying. I'd like to tell you about some other high-quality record labels which are essentially far better than DG/Ph., but are usually somewhat harder to get. They are: 1) Harmonia Mundi of France - specializing in earlier music, Baroque, early classical, with some later music. Overall excellent recordings. 2) BIS - lots of romantic stuff, including a complete set of Grieg's works, available singly. Also generally excellent. 3) EMI of the UK - the British counterpart to American Angel - mostly the same catalog as Angel, but much better masterings and usually superior sound. 4) Audiosource imports - this includes the labels Accent, Astree, Ricercar, Audiofon, and some others. These are beautiful recordings, (especially the French Astree) with perfect surfaces, and wonderful performances. 5) Qualiton imports - Includes Hungaroton, Supraphon, BIS, and others. I mentioned BIS seperately because they are exemplary; the other labels from Qualiton are not quite as good, but most are still superior to almost any of the commercial American disks, i.e., Columbia, London, recent RCA. I get most of my records from Rocky Mt. records in Boulder - they have an admirable selection of the above. Audiosource & Qualiton have extensive catalogs from which you can order. I have found that a random disk from one of the above labels will virtually always be worth whatever it cost. I'll post some specific titles soon, and I'd be happy to recommend some titles to anyone who asks. Robert Gardner ihnp4!hpfcla!hpcnoa!rdg