LP Art: Brahms Serkin Szell
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
Serkin / Szell / Cleveland Orchestra
CBS 37803
Great Performances No. 66
Virtuosi 1.2: Wanda’s Italian Bach
Wanda Landowska
Bach: Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971
Listening to Verdi’s Requiem
Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra – Verdi: Messa da Requiem
Listening to Mahler’s 7th
James Levine conducting the Chicago SO in Mahler Symphony No. 7
Beethoven Brahms Bruckner Schubert
I needed another set of Beethoven Symphony recordings about as much as I needed another Brahms set, not to mention Bruckner or Schubert. But running across the Gunter Wand Great Recordings box set, who could resist? A 28 CD set in a large LP size box, with a really nice booklet, and under $35, so on order it went. My recordings from Wand were quite sparse to my surprise, mainly some of his later live Bruckner recordings, but I enjoyed those…
Scarlatti and Horowitz
Domenico Scarlatti’s works for keyboard were originally composed for the harpsichord, but never mind that. Horowitz’s piano brings out these works in the best possible way. Others have recorded many of the 500+ Scarlatti works, but none match this collection.
Toscanini Broadcast – Music of the 18th Century
Toscanini: NBC Broadcast November 22nd 1947 – Music of the 18th Century
Respighi Conductors
Along with the previously recommended Antal Dorati Respighi recordings, here are some of my favorite alternatives.
Respighi Dorati Rome
Related to the last post we have Dorati again performing Respighi’s Works: ‘The Fountains of Rome’ , ‘The Pines of Rome’ , ‘Brazillian Windows’ and ‘The Birds’.
Respighi: Ancient Airs
Respighi is best known for his Rome suites: ‘Pines of Rome’, ‘Fountains of Rome’, ‘Roman Festivals’, etc, but there are also some other works that are just as enjoyable. The ‘Ancient Airs and Dances Suites for Lute’ are excellent, and the old Antal Dorati recording for Mercury is about the best. All of the works are based on older compositions from various composers (see below). Amazon: http://amzn.to/1KuLKIW iTunes link from Wikipedia: Suite No. 1 (1917) Suite No. 2 (1923)[edit]Balletto, “Il…
LP Art: Prokofiev The Sound of Genius
Prokofiev: Classical Symphony / Lt. Kije Suite / Love for Three Oranges Suite
LP Art: Hardy’s Handel Water and Fireworks
Handel: Water Music and Royal Fireworks Suites [arranged by Harty]
Tomita Planets
Isao Tomita’s ‘Planets’ from 1976 takes Holst’s symphonic work and puts it into the electronic realm. Most of Tomita’s albums have been pretty much out of print for years, except a few on RCA released in the 1990’s that have stayed around. Fortunately ‘The Tomita Planets’ is still available, and also re-released and remade too! There are several releases of the Planets, and all are different in format or actual performance. Took a while, but figured out the versions…
Haydn and Szell
Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra recorded a selection of Haydn’s later symphonies, and Sony has compiled them into another budget box set. Symphonies 93-98 have been released in various incarnations, but some of the other recordings are new to CD. Art is from one of the earlier LP releases. Haydn Symphonies at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1lOTece
Happy 66th Anniversary
The modern vinyl LP turns 66 soon. Revealed in June 1948, Columbia Records showed off the new 33 1/3 LP format for the first time. While this was not the first attempt at a long playing record, it was the first to overcome many technical hurdles, such as wear and background noise. Columbia released about 100 LPs at first launch, many 12 inch, but quite a few in the less familiar 10 inch format [that size did not survive, instead…