Best classical recordings on vinyl

I am just getting into vinyl. Is there an established guide/book of reviews/magazine that covers the best recordings (and ideally has reviews of several recordings of different pieces of music)?

I am interested in great performances as well as great audio quality so I would like to read the thoughts of someone who's thought about it more than just recommending old Decca, Mercury, RCA shaded dogs, etc. (See how much I've learnt already this morning!)

 

Rough guides are a start. A bit out of date but gives a reference point. Labels are definately a broad indicator of quality of artists, orchestra, production, etc. Enjoy the trip!

 

Yeah, I'm familiar enough to get a broad sense of things, I'm at a higher level than that. I know that Deutsche Gramophon have great performances but not quite so great recordings. But you hardly need to know different record labels to guess that the Berlin Philharmonic & Karajan are going to do Beethoven 9 better than most or that Solti is a decent bet for Wagner. I'm really after something a little more specific on a piece-by-piece recording-by-recording basis.

Like the Gramophone Good CD Guide but for vinyl.

One thing I was thinking (given the piddling amount of new classical vinyl recordings) is that there might have been an old Gramophone guide (say, the 1989 edition) that would give me the sort of information I am after. Any ideas?

 

A Penguin guide from late 1980s might be your best bet. Since then the classical Market has been dominated by CD - and remember that in the real world outside of hifi buffs, most people are interested in the music, not the media!

Problem is the dependence on 2nd hand vinyl of wildly varying condition...can be a real pain to have quieter passages ruined by clicks pops and scratches. There are only a tiny number of new vinyl re-issues avalable today, with very limited repertoire.

In fact repertoire is a problem anyway, seems to me based on what is available on ebay and in 2nd hand shops, that there was not much penetration by the classical recording industry into non-core repertoire during the vinyl era. Its easy to pick up as much Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart etc as you can fill yer boots with in 2nd hand vinyl, but quite difficult to find anything even slightly off the beaten track. I could be wrong but it seems to me that Digital recording and CD opened up the doors to a much much broader range of music and repertoire.

However, some good stuff you might find in Oxfam and other 2nd hand shops....
Istvan Kertesz & LSO doing Dvorak Symphonies on Decca
Andre Previn & LSO in Vaughan Williams, Walton (RCA)
Adrian Boult & LPO in Elgar, Vaughan Williams (EMI)
Klemperer & Philharmonia in Bruckner, Mahler, Beethoven
Previn, Ormandy & Bernstein with LSO, Philadelphia & NY Phil doing Shostakovich - EMI & CBS
Soviet era recording of Shostakovich by Mravinsky & Kondrashin - Melodiya etc.
Recordings of just about anything by Rafael Kubelik on DG
Ditto Karl Bohm - especially Strauss & Bruckner
Georg Szell + Cleveland & Eugene Ormandy + Philadelphia on CBS in a wide range of stuff.

 

Alan, this is great. Thanks so much.

DG are a bit irritating - I bought Mahler 1 (Kubelik), one of my favourite pieces of music, and the either the recording or the vinyl quality was terrible even though I'm sure it sounded great live. I can see why people start to get more fussy about recordings than performances in vinyl.

I'm quite tempted to buy up some Speakers Corner reissues. Do you have any experience? They are pricey!

Any other re-issues that you recommend?

 

I've got a few of the Speakers Corner re-issues and some are excellent:
Dvorak -Cello Concerto, Szell, Berlin Phil, Pierre Fournier
Shostakovich 10th - Karajan, Berlin Phil
Mozart - Cto 20 & 21, Gulda, Abbado, Vienna Phil
Schubert - 9th Symphony, Krips, LSO
Britten - Nocturne + Grimes Sea Interludes, Britten + Royal Opera

On Testament, Klemperer + Philharmonia in Bruckner 4.
Living Stereo - Pierre Monteaux + LSO in Brahms Haydn variations & Elgar's Enigma
Mercury - Brahms Cello Sonatas, Janos Starker
Cisco (now sadly out-of-business) Shostakovich 5, Bernstein + NYPO.

On the Audite label, there is an entire Live Mahler cycle from Rafael Kubelik & BRSO, recordings from mid 1960s to early 1980s by Austrian Radio. Not heard all, but 3, 6 & 7 are absolutely superb and even better than his DG studio recordings. 5 is disappointing though.

Some re-issues that disappointed me:
Schubert 3 & 8, Kleiber VPO, can't understand why as its 1970s analogue sound is good on CD.
Brahms 1st Piano cto, Curzon, Szell + LSO... CD is better
Brahms Violin Cto, Menukin, Kempe + Berlin Phil - murky sound
Living Stereo - Rachmaninov Cto 3, Byron Janis, Dorati, LSO - Piano is ten times bigger than Orchestra so performance is ruined!

 

Hi.
I was in a similar position to you and was given a piece of advice by a friend.

He recommended going to charity shops and just picking up as many albums as you can. If you are after rare 70's rock albums then you will be disappointed, however with the classical side there are thousands upon thousands of albums in the charity shops. Clean them, play them, if you dont like the music then give it back to the charity shop and all you have lost is 50p or so. If you are lucky you may pick up a rare one!!

I have very quickly (in 4 months) built up a collection of about 100 good quality good condition classical albums.

I have been really impressed by the condition, but then again i suppose that the people who have this Genre of music tend (sweeping statement) to look after their items.

Good luck.

John

 

Google Chesky and see if they have their classical remasters still in production. I own albums of several and they are top shelf sonically (i.e. Sym no.1- Bizet and Francesca de Rimini- Tchaikovsky conducted by Charles Munch with The Royal Philharmonic).

 

No, they're out of production. No more vinyl. Thanks for the idea though I will keep an eye out for them.