Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet recordings

5869 Views 10 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Brahmsianhorn, Nov 23, 2018

Aghartha

Discussion Starter · Oct 26, 2012 (Edited)

I saw this overture live a few weeks ago. It was my first concert and the first piece of the night, it blew me away. Since then I've been looking for a good quality recording of it. I have Solti with CSO playing it and now I have just heard Karajan with BPO. After the live performance the Solti version just doesn't sound powerful enough to me, it doesn't kick enough in the loud parts. The Karajan version is better but still seems a bit lacking to me.

I've tried to search the forum but I haven't found many recording recommendations for this particular piece. So, is there a powerful and well recorded version I should hear?

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13hm13

· #5 · Nov 14, 2018

One of my first classical recording purchases was Sheffield Labs direct-to-disc 1978 LA Phil. recording of R&J:

Just recently, I acquired DG's 1996 release:

And just yesterday, I was delighted to learn the local public library has the rare CD release of Mehta/LA Phil (recorded in early 70s):

I reserved a copy of Mehta and will compare the three when that CD is avail for pick up.

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13hm13

· #8 · Nov 14, 2018

13hm13 said:
One of my first classical recording purchases was Sheffield Labs direct-to-disc 1978 LA Phil. recording of R&J:

Oops -- I goofed!!! That's Prokofiev, not Tchaik. Yes, the Prok. is one of my first classical purchases, but I don't know what was my first Tchaik. R&J.
In any case, I'm after the "best" Tchaik. R&J.

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13hm13

· #9 · Nov 22, 2018

13hm13 said:
And just yesterday, I was delighted to learn the local public library has the rare CD release of Mehta/LA Phil (recorded in early 70s):

I reserved a copy of Mehta and will compare the three when that CD is avail for pick up.

I have now listened to Mehta/LAPhil/1972 recording and conclude that it's my favorite.
Pacing, speed, dynamics, overall "tightness" and (almost) the recording.
I say almost because it's not "perfect". The very dynamic parts (with bass drum, tympani or cymbal crash) sound crushed. As if the microphone and electronics are overloaded. Better engineering, improvements in recording know-how, and -- perhaps most important -- digital recording, have solved these problems.

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