10 favorite orchestral recordings (of works I've performed) 

Yes! Please do the ranking of the Mahler symphonies that you have in your head. :-) Your channel is so informative across so many genres of music. Thank you for continuing to put these out!

What a beautiful walk and talk down memory lane full of detail and visuals. Loved it! 🎼🎶🎵🎼

Can't wait for a video ranking Mahler's symphonies, fav movements, recordings etc

Kid, you have fantastic taste in music! Your very smart and passionate about music and hi-fi! I'm proud to be a subscriber to your wonderful channel! 😁🎵🎶🎼🎙

SO glad you did this. Im still so impressed by your talent, Mikey...

Thanks, great presentation of interesting music and personal stories

Greetings from Australia. I have a problem with your videos! There are not enough of them! Just love your detailed descriptions and broad knowledge of classical music...and the more modern genres you like. Fantastic.

Great presentation as always I love your videos and I have to join the chorus asking for more.Don't worry, when it comes from you, it will never be to much. Stay safe and have an amazing holiday season Michael!

I always enjoy your classical videos. Because of your past videos, I have purchased and enjoyed a multi disc set conducted by Ernest Ansermet plus several Fritz Reiner CSO selections.

Learning about the Spit Symphony in the tome of Covid 🥺. Thank you for the showcase. I only know about half of your offerings. Nice descriptions Michael ✌🏻

Great selection, and right at the start you pointed out a huge hole in my collection apparently I have no Mahler at all. Now I will have to go and fix that.

You sold me here on Prokofiev 5 with Dorati too.

The Sibelius, Bartok, Tchaikovsky, and Barber are some of my favorite records. Great picks!

Would love to see a video focusing on American composers.

“When I was 21 or 22...” What?! You look 19 now!

Yes please do a Mahler video! How about your favorite version of each symphony?

I have a few double albums that are auto coupled so i put them on tape very shortly after getting them so they're more convenient to listen to

the 6 eye pressings do sound considerably better. Cou8ld be because the stampers were in better shape when the 6 eye pressings were made

A learning discophile, concertgoer as often as possible and love music, but your passion and knowledge really impresses me. I've just discovered you this week and lost the count of the videos I already watched from your channel. Love your style, man. They've helped me understand better my own collection which is not huge, but it's still bigger than I can handle 😅 (1000+). Reading a lot on recording producers from the golden era (Gaisberg, Legge, Culshaw, Andry, ...) Any reading material you'd recommend on the history of labels and discography? Any tips would be much appreciated. I keep an eye on your channel 👏🏻

Marvelous selection, and so much fun to hear your memories of playing these pieces. Do you know the Karajan recording of Prokofiev 5? It is one of his very best recordings, (and my favorite of this work), and the recording is one of the very best I've heard on DG (pressings are excellent too). I heard Celibidache conduct the LSO in this live, and it was out of this world. I bought the Mehta Alpine Symphony when it came out and it is one of my favorite records - recently got the King Super Analogue version which is sensational: I wouldn't say better than the Decca/London, just different. The Solti Bartok recordings are all terrific. I also love the two Boulez recordings of Mandarin. I actually saw this done as a ballet at London's Coliseum/ENO, part of an evening with Wooden Prince and Bluebeard - fascinating. Those Mravinsky Tchaikovsky records are one-of-a-kind; I believe they were recorded by Decca's engineers at either Kingsway Hall or Walthamstow, which is why they sounded so good. I would dearly love original tulip pressings but those are very expensive and hard to find. The reissues you mention are indeed excellent. I do not know the Solti recording of Mahler 7, but on your recommendation I am planning to pick up a copy. A very underrated symphony. (Love the NYPHIL/Bernstein version - the reissue of his complete CBS cycle may be digitally sourced, but it is such an improvement on original pressings - highly recommended). Keep up the good work!

Of all the works you mentioned, the Barber Piano Concerto is the only one I don't know, his violin concerto is really good so it should be a rewarding experience.

Nice video, if I wanted to get into classical music, what LP's should I purchase first, say the first 10, keep the good work up.

Yep, more classical music on vc is needed. I buy a lot of Deutsche Grammophon these days. Very cheap in Belgium. 1, 2, 3 eur. Ciao.

There are some good pre-LP era recordings of Scriabin's tone poems but only a handful of good LP or post-LP era recordings

👏👏👏

Não entendo quase nada do que você fala, pois meu inglês é péssimo. Mas adoro ver os seus discos e fico sempre ansioso pelo próximo vídeo. Muito bom !

Thank you for this! Very interesting to hear your thoughts on the music you've played and your favourite recordings. I have several of the British Decca Solti's Mahler recordings, some of the Chicago and the London recordings, and they do indeed sound incredible. I know the Solti Ring intimately, and it is a justly famous recording, though it is not my favourite. I was wondering if you've heard Leinsdorf's studio Die Walkure for RCA? Definitely my favourite recording - Nilsson, London, Brouwenstijn and Vickers are all superb, and I really like the dramatic intensity of Leinsdorf's conducting. Definitely agree about Barber - I would also include his operas, which are some of the greatest of the mid-20th century. Vanessa especially.

I have a question that might be of interest to your followers, or maybe a future You Tube video topic. Analog Productions offers some remastered pressings (such as Dave Brubeck “Time Out” mastered and cut by Bernie Grundman) in a choice of 33 1/3 RPM or 45 RPM. Do you have experience with these to suggest how they differ audibly? Thank you!

Fun fact: Strauss originally wrote Eine Alpensinfonie on the news of Mahler’s death. He wanted to call it The Anti-Christ to honor Mahler’s dedication to man and nature. In between 1911-15 he ended up settling on the Alpine program.

Excellent descriptions of the recordings and the pieces. Do you think your "understanding" and appreciation of pieces you've played is greater and more meaningful by virtue of the time spent rehearsing and studying the music, as opposed to "merely" being a listener?

How do you feel about CBS half speed masters

Michael, thanks for this gimme 10 video. Interesting to hear your thoughts on these pieces. I haven't heard that Samuel Barber, just the version by the Belgian Radio & Television Symphony Orchestra from a Musical Heritage Society album which I think is a reissue of a 1962 recording. - Chris

Re the coupled recordings made for changers... you need 2 turntables!

What City do you reside in now?

You mentioned orchestras of the 60s? we’re more likely to “go for it” than orchestras today. Cool insight. Why is that? Seems strange to me.

Just to be clear, you have actually PERFORMED these pieces in orchestras in which these recordings are your favorite?

Who do you play with ?

As a bassoonist, it's great to see an oboist's take on the repertoire. Personally I will always remember my first Rite of Spring! I played just fine but the horn player cracked his entrance BAD. Some of my other favorites I've played are similar to yours: Mahler 2, Sibelius 2, Saint-Saens 3, Tchaikovsky 4 and 5. But my favorite performance so far was without a doubt the Mozart Requiem (sorry, no oboes!). Prokofiev 1 is such a bitch to play, but I really grew to love it, tough to find a good recording of it though. I have the Tchaikovsky Symphonies box set with Mravinsky, the Russians really know how to do it! Thank you for your videos!

A good selection...................BUT...............a musician who wastes his money on black vinyl I would have thought a musician would not like distortion and compressed sound ! !