Good, up to date recordings....

Hi,

I have a massive collection of CDs, but am thinking about "updating" my collection of favourite Classical CDs from the mid-90s releases I have to the best, up to date versions available.
Sadly, I do not follow classical releases closely, so I do not know what is best out there!!!

The copies I am looking to replace at first will be:

Rachmaninov Piano Concertos 1-4
Mahler Symphonies
Shostakovitch Symphonies
Martinu Symphonies 3 & 4
Vierne Organ Symphonies 1-6
Prokofiev Piano Concertos

Any thoughts on what is the finest out there at the moment for any of these would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Neil.

 

It could be you have the classic recordings already, also many old recordings are better than the new ones. I personally reckon Ashkenazy probably has the Rachmaninov sewn up, I like Tennstedt on Mahler, but thats a bit of a minority taste, Rattles new cycle is interesting.... Which one's have you already got?

 

To be honest if you've decent recordings from the mid 90's then in many cases the top recommendations will still be the same. If you're after super-fi recordings then you could probably do worse than checking out a lot of the new SACDs - Abbado's live Mahler recordings are available on CD/SACD dual disc IIRC. Apart from that there are recent issues by Rattle and Boulez to choose from (Boulez on DG possibly available on SACD too? - not sure). I've got the Solti and Maazel sets, and between them they make quite a satisfying series though I mightn't recommend either on their own (Solti is a bit tiringly overenthusiastic and Maazel exactly the opposite).

Jansons / Rudy are very good in Rachmaninov and a cool, clear foil to Ashkenazy - available super-cheap as part of an EMI Budget Box. Stephen Hough's recent Hyperion set made a bit of an sensation when it came out.

I've got (the standard recommendation) Jarvi in Martinu and (less standard) Toradze / Gergiev in Prokofiev - no complaints about either.

 

Buy some different works, try some of the Mercury and RCA Living Stereo/Living Presence re-issues. You won't believe how good those 40 year old recordings are. There's a Saint Saens Symphony 3 and a Richard Strauss one that are just beyond belief

 

Only the recent Abbado Mahler 6 is available as SACD.... but its very very good. The others are plain CDs. The others in that series of BPO/Abbado live Mahler are superb too, especially the 9th, which is now my favourite.

Riccardo Chailly's Mahler 3 on Decca is also excellent, and a fantastic recording too. Benjamin Zander's 5th on Telarc is worth a listen, as are Michael Tilson Thomas's recordings with the San Francisco Symphony on Avie - especially the 6th. Boulez is good in the third, especially the big first and last movements, but in general I have found his Mahler recordings too bloodless. His Das Lied von der Erde is very good though.

Mariss Jansons live 6th with LSO had had rave reviews, have not heard it though.

If you have SACD cpability, a lot of the above is available. there is also Bernstein's Mahler 1 with NY Phil on Sony, remastered from analogue to SACD-only disc, sounds stunning.

In general I was disappointed with Rattle's Mahler, apart fom his 2nd which has benn around for a while now. I'd avoid his 3rd and 5th completely myself!

Of the other stuff on your list, probably not much changed since the mid '90s. I have a recent set of all Shostakovich symphonies performed by Rudolf Barshai and WDR Symphony which is very very good - the combination of a conductor who knows what the music is about with a crack German radio orchestra works well. very good recordings too. Its on Brilliant Classics at something like £25 for 11 discs!

Martha Argerich's recordings of Prokofiev's 1st and 3rd Piano Cti with Bartok's 3rd, with Charles Dutoit and Montreal is superb, on EMI from late '90s.