Blog Comments

Monteux is my conductor for Beethoven symphonies, though I might switch out Fricsay's for the Ninth.

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I have the Monteux set. Monteux is wonderful and has a good pace on the faster side but not outrageously fast like Zinman.

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Kovacevich Davis is missing.

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Hello Trout,

Thanks for the kind comment.
After reading it I went back to the original Intro post and now understand that the list are based on TCers posts... It must have been an humongous effort to collate all the data to get this ongoing recommended lists going...

I agree with your comments on Ms Beyer..her Vivaldi 4 seasons is extreme... and I thought for a long time that Biondi and the Europa Galante were fast!!!

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Hi The3Bs,

Thanks for the comments. You are welcome to post them wherever you please! Yes, I'd agree that the Carmignola recordings are both marvelous. I think the only reason the earlier one was not there instead was simply that it was overshadowed by the more popular Sony recording. As much as I would like for all these lists to be purely about the quality, recording popularity does unfortunately play a large role.

I am not very familiar with the Beyer recording, but I did sample a couple movements from Spring and Summer. It's quite interesting. There are some phrasing choices I don't think I've heard elsewhere that make it a refreshing listen. The slow movements were a bit fast and assertive for my taste, but overall I appreciate it.

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Great List!!!!
Carmignola is also my favorite... however not the recording you list. I love his earlier recording for Divox with the Sonatori de la Goiosa Marca even more...

My top would be:
1. Carmignola, Sonatori de la Goiosa Marca (1994)
2. Carmignola, Marcon (cond.), Venice Baroque Orchestra (1999)

Apologies in advance if I am overstepping by writing here comments but..

Have you heard a more recent recording by Gli Incogniti, Amandine Beyer 2008?

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Incredibly helpful resource for someone like me who has been exposed to much of this, but has not had deliberate experience. Thank you for helping me get there.

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Yes, it's absolutely terrifying!

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Samson François, Scarbo 1947 is the best of the lot. It's astonishing!

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At one time I thought that the Haas recording was the best, but after many a hearing I find it a bit rough. I will sy that the cello part as played is the best I have ever heard.

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Beautiful music. I could never "get" the String Quartet, but like the Piano Trio very much.

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Glad you discovered it! Not among my very favorite lesser-known late-Romantic symphonies, but still a great work, full of Straussian anguish and gloom. It was originally written to commemorate Dvorak's death, but his wife passed away as he was working on it. This caused him to change his idea of the last movement entirely: from an optimistic "apotheosis of [Dvorak's] work" as Suk described it to a full-fledged symphonic crisis.

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Unfamiliar with this symphony--thanks for putting it on my radar.

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That didn't make the top 10, but it did place in 15th. For the record, 11-14 are:

11. Bernstein, Wittek, RCO / DG
12. Salonen, Hendricks, LAPO / Sony
13. Tennstedt, Popp, LPO / EMI
14. Fischer, Persson, Budapest Festival O / Channel Classics

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Think ye that this one ought to be on the list?

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Yes, I digitally purchased that box of Czech quartets from Brilliant not too long ago (for $9, what a bargain!). I've hardly gone through any of it, but I have listened to the Stamitz's pleasant performance of the American quartet. It's more of a saunter when compared to other, higher-voltage performances, but still delightful nevertheless. Unfortunately I do have to leave out many good performances on basically all these lists; in this case, the Stamitz, Janacek, Italian, Lindsay, and Guarneri quartets are all worthy honorable mentions.

And thanks for reminding me that the Martinu cycle was included in the box too. I'll make that one of my next listening projects to tackle.

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Haven't heard 7 and 10 on your list--I'll get to it. Fwiw, I'm an Anton Heiller man; might be worth hearing if you don't know him. There are different versions with varying sound quality--the safest is the recent Artemis remaster. Not that he'd necessarily crack your top 10--but just throwing it out there!

Loving all these lists--getting some intriguing performances I don't know from every one.

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Somewhat surprised not to see the Stamitz Quartet in here, though as your list shows the standard for this work is high. I'd need to do some re-listening to be confident, in any case. I'm mentioning them mostly because they have not only a good complete set of Dvorak but also a big box containing the SQs of Dvorak, Smetana, Janacek, and--the sleeper among the set--Martinu. So many forgotten gems in that latter composer's oeuvre.

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Interesting--repaying my Szell mention with a performance I don't know. I'll give it a try!

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Thank you, again. I hadn't heard Szell until now in this symphony (I own a partial Beethoven cycle of his: 1, 2, 5, and 6). The performance is brilliant, another great example of Szell and the Clevelanders in their prime. It barely misses the top 10, placing in 12th, while 11th is the, perhaps surprising, Casals performance with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra.

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