Thread: Great historical recordings

Hi all,

Interested on your thoughts on this one, spurred on by a recent discussion with a fellow forum member. I suppose I should begin by defining historical. I would take historical to primarily mean recordings made upwards of 30 years ago. Recordings made in an era where we didn't have days of recording and re-recording, where music with all its technical flaws but artistic merit was released, often recorded live. A time of passion and emotion, that I feel (with numerous notable exceptions) is perhaps lacking in a day and age where technical brilliance and finding ever diverse ways to interpret existing classics is all the rage. Many historical recordings are also important not just for the recording itself - but the context it was recorded in.

I would however like to clarify this definition by noting that I think a historical recording can be one that was made last week - if the impact of the recording and what it achieves is such that we will still be talking about it in 50 years. By all means, please mention these.

I'll start off with a few:

Dvorák Cello Concerto - Karajan/Rostropovich (1969). This is a personal favourite - I am a huge fan of Rostropovich, and I feel the orchestra under Karajan, who I don't always agree with, really got this one right.

Dvorák Cello Concerto -Svetlanov/Rostropovich (1968). This is a very different recording of the Dvorák. Made on the very same day Soviet tanks rolled into Prague, it can be read as a personal music protest by Rostropovich, and testament to the strength of emotion music is able to convey.

Beethoven Symphony 3 - Toscanini (1939). This is my favourite Beethoven 3 recording. The sound quality is very average, but the emotion and excitement conveyed is unparalleled in my view!

Shostakovich Symphony 8 - Mravinsky (1982). For the extremes of emotion, this recording cannot be overlooked! A live recording by Mravinsky who premièred Shostakovich 8 when it was first written.

This is a very basic list, and I have only mentioned a few pieces that I feel I know well enough to write on! I have recently begun listening to the Furtwangler 1942 Beethoven Symphony 9 which I am sure qualifies here - but I don't know it quite well enough yet!

I would be very interested to hear your thoughts.

Cheers

Thanks for your thoughts! Those collections sound right up my alley!!

Here's the link to listen to a recording that's just over 30 years old, a live performance of Beethoven op 59/2 the Quatuor Français and Daniel Rémy as first violinist. Never released as a commercial recording... I transferred it from old cassette tapes, so the sound quality is not amazing, but I love the interpretation.

Fritz Reiner's 1955 stereo recording of Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra/Music For Strings, Percussion & Celesta

A little less than 30 years old is George Solti's London recording of Dvorak's New World Symphony with the CSO.

The Vaughn Williams symphonic cycle on Decca by Sir Adrian Boult

Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky series on CBS.

1938 Mahler 9 / Bruno Walter / VPO. This was recorded less than 2 weeks before the anschluss - the takeover of Austria by Nazi Germany. The sense of foreboding and sheer emotion in the music is unparalleled by any recording of the Mahler 9 since. Within weeks, many of the Jewish members of the orchestra would flee Austria, like Walter himself. They would never play together again.

I have the 1942 Furtwangler Beethoven 9 in my collection. It is white hot in intensity, definitely a white knuckle listening experience. It is terrifying and fearsome - you will never hear a Beethoven 9 like it.

For me, Grieg playing Grieg always gives me chills...thanks to me Peruvian granpa, I've got a poor sounding but there nonetheless Victor record of his playing something I barely even like but to know that it is him does a lot more for me than Drac play Drac; regardless of how much better the playing and recordings are.

I love those old Artur Rubinstein videos where he plays for a small group...this is my favorite of these:

anything beyond time marking 6:20 may not be suitable for the faint of heart!

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.3 / Horowitz / Coates (1930) - the first recording of this piece ever made. This recording positively crackles with Horowitz's trademark energy. It is a much more intense reading than the well-known later recordings with Koussevitsky and Reiner. The last movement is taken with amazing speed. Nobody plays like that any more.

(edit) Found it on Youtube! Listen to the approach to the finale, from 4:45 onwards:

Beethoven's Fourth Piano Cto. with Schnabel/Stock/CSO.

Beethoven's Violin Cto. with Menuhin/Furtwangler/Philharmonia.