Steve, do you like....

[Claus]

...classical music same as rock?

I love to hear old records from the 50's and 60's. I had luck to get some originals from the Decca, London, Mercury and RCA era.

I have enjoyed Stravinsky's Petrouchka (conducted by Monteux '60) today... oh what a wonderful record, and I'm glad I have a mint copy from this masterpiece.

I think it would be very interesting to hear Steve great input on the Living Stereo remasters... unfortunately Classics' Michael H. has chosen Bernie Grundman for the job. Or Steve could do Miles' Kind Of Blue on vinyl for S&P Records...

Can't wait...!!!

[Steve Hoffman]

I do like Classical music. I have many of the old RCA-Victor Living Stereo LP's from the Golden Age, plus a great number of London "Bluebacks" and Mercury discs.

But, some of my favorite performances are on bad ol' Columbia LP's. Bernstein, Ormandy, etc. And on German DG.

Heck, some of my favorites are on 78 RPM sets that my parents gave me years ago.

Anyone have favorites in the classical world?

[Claus]

When my website is ready (I hope sometime in summer,-), I will upload a lot of rare picts from my collection, including Living Presence, Living Stereo's...

Steve... do you had the chance to compare original Decca's against their London counterparts? I know... they were cut hotter, but I have only 4 or 5 London's and when I compare them against my Decca's I always prefer the original. Also... their artwork department designed little works of art, while the London's were mostly trashy (IMHO)

My favorites are:
Dorati's Hungarian Rhapsodies 2&3 (Mercury SR 90235 RFR-pressing)
Reiner's Schererazade (LSC 2446 "shaded dog ")
The Reiner Sound (LSC-2183 "shaded dog")... the xrcd is poor against the original!
Maag's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Decca SXL 2060 "wide band")
Byron Janis' Piano Concerto No.3 (Mercury SR 90300)
Argenta's Images Pour Orchestra (London CS-6012)
Reiner's Pictures At An Exhibition (LSC-2201 "shaded dog")... the Classic vinyl remaster sounds good indeed!
Fjeldstad's Peer Gynt (Decca SXL-2012 "wideband")... I got the latter one thru an auction a long time ago! I paid about $500 for this rare records... probably one of the rarest and best Decca's ever made.

Classic Records have reissued a lot of Living Stereos/London/Decca's on gold and vinyl... remastered by Grundman and Hawkins. Sometimes the Lps even surpass the original, but even Bernie G. could not reproduce the magic with its remasters... they sound too modern!

[Matt]

Anyone who loves classic rock has got to listen to Bach. The Byrds, Procol Harum, the Band...countless recordings by them and others lift quotes from his compositions. I'm not putting down these guys or anything; honestly, who hasn't lifted stuff in the last 100 years of popular music?

If you do check out Bach, John Eliot Gardiner's (sp?) Mass in B Minor is a great place to start, as well as Glenn Gould's recordings of the Goldberg Variations, both that he made.

[Gary]

I sorta like the letter H. Hayden, Handel. I think Szell's version of Music for the Royal Fireworks is brilliant!

Beethoven's 9th is brilliant, too! But it bugs me when the corus sings in a foeign language! Just me, I guess!

I tend to like the older composers...

Can't wait to check out some classical SACDs one day!

[Dave]

Long day huh Gary.

I think he meant chorus and foreign.:)

[Patrick M]

Originally posted by Claus
Classic Records have reissued a lot of Living Stereos/London/Decca's on gold and vinyl... remastered by Grundman and Hawkins. Sometimes the Lps even surpass the original

I think there are some people on Phonogram who would take issue with that statement.

[AudioGirl]

Originally posted by Patrick M


I think there are some people on Phonogram who would take issue with that statement.

I'll take issue with that... :p

[lil.fred]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
I do like Classical music. I have many of the old RCA-Victor Living Stereo LP's from the Golden Age, plus a great number of London "Bluebacks" and Mercury discs.

But, some of my favorite performances are on bad ol' Columbia LP's. Bernstein, Ormandy, etc. And on German DG.

Heck, some of my favorites are on 78 RPM sets that my parents gave me years ago.

Anyone have favorites in the classical world?


Steve, is there any chance of ever seeing a new transfer of Szell's Mahler 4 (Columbia)? It's such a beloved and famous recording, but I can't help feeling it could sound better than it does on the LP and the budget CD ...

[Gary]

Originally posted by Dave
Long day huh Gary.

I think he meant chorus and foreign.:)

Yea it musta bean a looooong day - or something! ;)

Thanks, Dave! Sometimes my fingie's donught work. :(

Ahhh me... I'm just starting to relisten to my classical LP music collection on my tubes. Discovering some treasures and lots of junk! I've not heard a decent piece of classical music on CD yet - except for the old silver MFSL that I have by a Russian guy... sorry I forgot who it was and I am at work and it's a hard name to spell! And since I can't get chorus or foreign right, I'm not even going to try! :(

Does anyone know of any classical music CDs that are well recorded and mastered?

[Claus]

Clarity Records, Pope Music did some very good (new) recordings!

Clarity's Petrushka (CCD-1003) sounds absolutely stunnin'... probably one of the most dymamic recordings, captured on CD. They say the CD was made from the first generation metal master. Eliminating 2 steps in the CD duplication process - the Mother and the Stamper!

Some of the Decca, EMI, RCA remasters sound really good also.

[Jimbo]

Everything I know about classical music, I learned from watching Bugs Bunny cartoons.

"Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit..."

Oops, that's opera, isn't it? What's Opera, Doc?

[Gary]

A friend had an AMAZING album by Offenbach. It has a slew of really short pieces on it, and it was PURE Bugs Bunny!

I don't know if it was deliberate or not.

My fav: Barber of Seville! Picked the WB shirt of B of S, too! People stare at me whenever I wear it.... even more than normal.
;)

Thanks, Claus!

Do you know of any decent 16th, 17th and 18th century works that sound great? In the vein of Handel, Hayden, Beethoven, etc.

Thanks! :)