Best Non-Opera Recordings by Solti

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by coopmv, Aug 26, 2006.

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  1. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    What are some of the best non-opera recordings made by Georg Solti? Can fellow forum members who love classical music share some of their insights?
     
  2. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    I'm not a Solti fan, but his recording of Mahler's 8th Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra deserves special mention.
     
  3. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have only 2 CD's by Solti in my 1300+ CD collection. I don't believe I have more than a small handful in my LP library that number some 4000 recordings either. But Solti was a significant conductor in the second half of the 20th century, particularly when he was conducting the Chicago Symphony ...
     
  4. Kayaker

    Kayaker Senior Member

    Location:
    New Joisey Now
    Dvorak Symphony 9 with the Chicago Symphony is excellent. I can't remember how the sonics are - have not played it in some time.
     
  5. Paul Chang

    Paul Chang Forum Old Boy, Former Senior Member Has-Been

    Beethoven: Nine Symphonies
    Brahms: The Symphonies
    Holst: The Planets

    You are going to miss many of Solti's best by avoiding the operatic recordings. It is an understatement that the Decca Ring cycle helped make him famous.
     
  6. J.A.W.

    J.A.W. Music Addict

    His Ring cycle is indeed legendary.
     
  7. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    This is actually one of the two Solti CD's I have. It is a nice recording. I also do not think there is any SACD release on recording by Solti yet.
     
  8. Rushton

    Rushton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Huntsville, AL
    Excellent Solti orchestral-only recordings in addition to some already mentioned:

    Stravinsky/Rite of Spring, CSO (Kenneth Wilkinson, recording engineer)
    Elgar/Enigma Variation, LSO (Kenneth Wilkinson, recording engineer)
    Mahler/Symphony No. 1, LSO
    Mahler/Symphony No. 2, LPO
    Rachmaninov/Piano Concerto No. 1, LSO with Katchen (Kenneth Wilkinson, recording engineer)
    Venice (Various Italian Opera Overtures), Royal Opera House Orch, Covent Gardens
    Tchaikovsky/Piano Concerto No. 1, VPO with Curzon
     
  9. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    I recall that when I was in high school I always looked forward to the Chicago Symphony broadcasts under Solti, but upon review of my catalogue I'm surprised that I have fairly little under his baton. Can't speak to the Brahms or Holst, but I can say that I was rather disappointed by the Beethoven Syms. I bought the set at a used shop years ago and expected great things, but somehow, while the performances were perfectly acceptable, they didn't strike me as particularly special. Although it's perhaps a bit uneven, on the whole I prefer Masur's cycle with the Gewandhaus for a stereo account--or, more properly, what I've heard of it; I have part of the cycle on individual East German Eterna pressings, not the Philips box. That said, however, I would definitely vote for Solti over Karajan (any Karajan, in any music, at any time!).
     
  10. Paul Chang

    Paul Chang Forum Old Boy, Former Senior Member Has-Been

    Karajan's 1977 (his second) Beethoven cycle receives *** in the Penguin Guide while Solti's receives **(*).

    The Beethoven Five Piano Concertos performed by Ashkenazy, CSO, Solti also receives ***.
     
  11. sungshinla

    sungshinla Vinyl and Forum Addict

    Actually, the two "must haves" are:

    Decca SXL 6111, Bartok, Miraculous Mandarin Suite/Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, Solti LSO.

    Decca SXL 6263, Romantic Russia, Borodin, Glinka & Mussorgsky, Solti LSO.


    I would also recommend him leading the CSO on Beethoven's "Emperor" piano concerto with V. Ashkenazy at the piano on Decca/London (around 1973). This is one of the finest performances of the Emperor, IMHO.
     
  12. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I have 3 Beethoven cycles by Karajan, the 1962 and the 1984 on CD's while the 1977 cycle on LPs. I really have no experience with Solti's Beethoven. Karajan is still by far my favorite but Solti was also an important conductor whose recordings deserve to be in my library.
     
  13. bruckner1

    bruckner1 New Member

    Location:
    Menasha, WI
    The live Mahler 5th with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is quite an exciting performance. I also like his Haydn Symphonies with the London Philharmonic, among many others.
     
  14. bruckner1

    bruckner1 New Member

    Location:
    Menasha, WI
    That 1977 Beethoven symphonies set by Karajan is my favorite, despite a "Pastorale" which is a little too hasty. I also have it on LPs, and I remember well the impact the dynamic range had back then. It still sounds awesome to me.
     
  15. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I must admit I am a bit surprised that none of Solti's recordings have been re-issued in the SACD format. There are already a number of Karajan's recordings that have been re-issued in the SACD format.
     
  16. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    To bruckner1: I believe both the 62 cycle and the 77 cycle have been re-issued in the SACD format. Which version will you rather own?
     
  17. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    To be honest, I'm not. Karajan, for whatever reason, has always had a big publicity machine behind him, and it seems to have continued in high gear since his death. Solti was a big name, to be sure, but never had the glamorous aura Karajan cultivated. Furthermore, our English friends (such as the Penguin People) seem to be very sold on Karajan and have been ever since Walter Legge pushed him so hard after WW II. Meanwhile, much more principled conductors who--to be sure, in *my* opinion!--were much more compelling musicians, such as Erich Kleiber and Fritz Busch, more or less fell into obscurity in the ensuing decades. I make no claims at authority or even to much formal training, and my sole credentials as a critic are my years of listening to and loving classical music, but I simply cannot abide Karajan or what he did to music. To my ear, he mars everything he touches, even recordings with fine soloists whom I otherwise find compelling; that's held true even when I came into a recording in progress "blind" on the radio. I say so in full awareness that many knowledgeable music lovers and esteemed critics hold the man's work in extremely high regard.

    OK, polemic mode off. Earlier posts in the thread recommended the Solti/Ashkenazy Beethoven concerto cycle, particularly the "Emperor." I have that set, which came my way ages ago as part of a big haul, but I've never gotten around to playing it. Thanks for the good words about it--I intend to dig it out pronto and give it a whirl, and I'll be interested in hearing how Ashkenazy, not currently one of my favorites, sounded back when it was recorded.
     
  18. Paul Chang

    Paul Chang Forum Old Boy, Former Senior Member Has-Been

    Good reviews for Karajan came not just from The "Penguin People" and others English but from the Japanese as well. And the "Penguin People" like Solti, especially his early Wagner opera recordings made in Vienna.
    Those are very strong words.
    The "Penguin People" in England gave a rave review to this cycle.
     
  19. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    I still look up the Penguin that I bought in the mid 80's. The guide really comes in handy when I need to decide whether I want to go for some CD re-issues of some fairly old recordings.
     
  20. drh

    drh Talking Machine

    To be sure, but they reflect very strong feelings about an art I hold dear, and in fact I actually toned them down a bit for public consumption. I hope I made clear that I hold them out to be nothing other than *my own* feelings; while I'd certainly like to think at least some others might share them, I'm not trying to advance them as some immutable truth. After all, criticism, be it mine or that of a great, published musical mind, is at bottom nothing but an opinion--but that's a topic for another thread, and to those reading this one I offer my apologies if what started as something of a toss-off remark in an on-topic posting threatens to hijack a Solti thread and turn it into a Karajan thread. If we're to continue on this subject (I've pretty much had my say at this point but would welcome further debate), I'd suggest we start a new thread on Karajan.
     
  21. coopmv

    coopmv Newton 1/30/2001 - 8/31/2011 Thread Starter

    Location:
    CT, USA
    While I started this thread purely from a collector standpoint, as I think Solti was an important conductor, considering that he was the long time conductor of America's greatest symphony orchestra - Chicago, I am also an admirer of Karajan and have always thought he was the greatest conductor of the last century. There are certainly rooms in any personal classical music library to accommodate the recordings of both conductors. True lovers of classical music must be able to appreciate great music without having their views tainted by politics. All too often, people denigrate Karajan for his wartime political affiliation without carefully examining his entire musical career and his contribution not only to classical music but to the reproduction of classical music. It was supposedly Karajan who concluded that CD as a viable music medium, must be able to contain the entire Beethoven 9th on one disc.
     
  22. Paul Chang

    Paul Chang Forum Old Boy, Former Senior Member Has-Been

    David,

    I know others who like neither Karajan nor Ashkenazy. But to say that a renowned conductor mars everything he touches is bit too much.

    I like some of Karajan's recordings most of which are on the HMV (EMI) label.
     
  23. Paul Chang

    Paul Chang Forum Old Boy, Former Senior Member Has-Been

    Compared to the unjust treatment Furtwängler received, what Karajan got was nothing. I don't think David's dislike of Karajan's work is politically motivated.

    Karajan was indeed a celebrity endorser of the CD format. I still have a DG promotional "newsletter" in which Karajan was touting the then fledgling format.
     
  24. SMc

    SMc Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin TX
    There's Mobile Fidelity lp of Romantic Russia.

    Stephen
     
  25. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert

    Location:
    Daejeon
    I'm not a big Solti fan either but I used to be. Or rather, when I first started exploring classical (mid 80s) I latched on to him because he was local. He introduced me to Mahler although I've since found better recordings of each of the symphonies. The 8th does, as noted above, deserve its priase. I never replaced the two-disc version and don't know if I'm issing anything sonic-wise.

    Generally his Bartok is superb, as is frequently the case when you match the countries of composer and performer, as is his Mozart, which you wouldn't expect since his Bach/Haydn/Beethoven is not particularly impressive (I know some posters disagree).
     
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