You know I am going to binge-watch this. Have missed new content from this channel although I imagine it takes a second to pull these videos together. Can’t wait to see what you do with Opera and Vocal repertoire.
Great, your very detailed explanations of classical symphonies recordnings. Perhaps you could discuss the almost 350 symphonies by Leif Segerstam next? No, no, it's just a joke, similar to your joke about Mozart's Linz Symphony, composed in Budapest ;) But seriously. It would be very, very nice if you would next discuss symphonic poems and programmatic overtures, there are many undiscovered treasures that would come to light. Starting with Berlioz, Smetana, Mendelssohn, Liszt, the 5 Russians (a mighty handful) plus Rachmanninov, Glazunov etc. Then Dvorak, Fibich, Novak, Janacek, Sibelius, Grieg, Nielsen etc etc. Warm greetings from Germany, a big fan of your RU-vid channel!?
I heartily agree on Steinberg/Boston for Hindemith. I find Mathis der Maler to be one of the towering masterworks of the 20th century. Once I discovered the opera, through the amazing recording by Kubelik, that became the great 20th century opera, in my mind.
Vaughan Williams 2nd. You're speaking my language. There are none better than that Pye Barbirolli. If memory serves, the EMI was a different recording and not quite as energetic as the Pye/Nixa. As far as my favorite VW symphony goes...the 8th....There can be no better recording than Barbirolli's first one. It's absolutely brilliant in every way. His later EMI recording is, again, just not quite as colorful.
Of course....Copland 3rd must begin AND end with Bernstein. Both of his recordings are supreme and essential. Copland recorded it twice, and those are quite good, but he was never the best exponent of his own orchestral works. I believe the very first commercial recording was by Dorati on Mercury. Though mono, it's still quite excellent.
Until recently, I'd never given much attention to the Dvorak 5, but I now see it as an absolute masterpiece. I had always been led to believe that Dvorak was heavily influenced by Brahms, but here, it sees obvious that Brahms was influenced by this 5th symphony! The Brahms 3rd reflects much of the same form and character of Dvorak 5, but the Dvorak 5 was composed first!
The 6th has always been considered the ugly step child of Bruckner's output.....an outlier that isn't like anything else he wrote, but it has always been my favorite. Though my all time favorite is Jochum/Dresden, there a few essential recordings that are not a part of any cycle. First off MUST be Keilberth on Telefunken/Teldec (or whatever label it's on now). Second must be Horst Stein on Decca/London. Steinberg/Boston is a must hear. A surprise for me was Muti/Berlin on EMI. All of these are essential listening for anyone who loves this symphony as much as I.
What about Otto Klemperer & Philharmonia Orchestra? Or Georg Tintner & New Zealand Symphony Orchestra? Those two were, for the longest time, the veritable "kings" of Bruckner 6 because so few people prior to them took it seriously.
The 4th is actually my favorite Beethoven symphony!!! Two favorite recordings may surprise you....Kondrashin on Melodiya/Seraphim and Ansermet on Decca/London.. Another favorite is Menuhin with the Sinfonia Varsovia.
Great survey, Gil. However, I was surprised at some of the omissions. William Schuman and Walter Piston wrote some of the very best American symphonies, especially the former's third and the latter's second. And how could you omit Walton's Second Symphony? I think it is a FAR better work than his First.
Depending on the label, Golovanov’s Borodin 2nd exists on CD with different takes of the finale. The ones with total timings of about 29 minutes have the faster, more exciting one. The others are about a minute and a half longer.
One really must have both of Boult's VW cycles. I must confess a preference for the second one on EMI, as the orchestra is better rehearsed, the sound is more rich and colorful, and Boult has had years to further digest the works. He seems much more probing and introspective.
They usually provide better clarity and presence. It depends how much you require. Sometimes with piano music they have sounded a little more strident and less warm to my ears.
I'm not sure publishing extremely long videos is the best strategy on RU-vid, you probably want shorter and more focused ones, like the "best Brahms symphonies"...
If you look at my previous video listings, I do break them down. I will do the same with this one. I publish them like this first so that people can get a sense of what all the major works are in a particular genre. This big video is also divided into chapters.
Shostakovich 11: Haitink. I prefer all Sanderling/Berliner over anything else - except Symphony No. 10, there I go for Neeme Järvi on Chandos. My god, his 8th is so grim, it's awesome. The start of mvmt. 1 is powerful and abrupt. If orchestras start too soft here, I already disagree.
