The Scribendum release of the Vegh Quartet sounds good to me so far, although I have not heard the originals. I don't have the box in front of me, but I don't remember seeing an engineering credit.
In case you (and/or others) didn't know, the Scribendum set is the mono set by Vegh, not the stereo one. I haven't heard the mono, but I own and love the stereo set on Naive:
Like Walter's Brahms too, especially the third with the Columbia Symphony in stereo, and also Kaempfert - beautiful recordings. Check out the soprano entry of Over and over (which made a hit for Sinatra as well).
Coop, I'm assuming this AliaVox set is a newer recording than the one Savall and Koopman did for Virgin in 1989. How do you like it? (thanks!)
It is an excellent recording. IIRC, I do not have the Virgin Classics version so cannot compare. The much newer version by Wispelwey and Egarr, etc. gives this version some serious competition IMO ...
Now playing the following CD from my JS Bach collection. The same works as above - Bach Viola da Gamba ...
Welcome to the thread and to the peculiar world of classical LPs! Do you mean new issues or used? If the former, really can't help you. If the latter, here's a thought: since you know you like Bernstein and Beethoven's 9th, you might have a look for Bernstein's recording of the same composer's Choral Fantasy with Rudolf Serkin as piano soloist. It's a Columbia issue from the days when Columbia labels had "eyes." The work is sometimes called (inaccurately, I think) a "dry run" for the 9th sym. It opens with a long piano solo sometimes described as possibly an improvisation Beethoven later wrote down; from there it offers up piano and orchestra, spotlight turns for most of the major orchestral choirs, solo vocal, ensemble vocal, and choral with orchestra. A real tour de force in its own way, and, given its wide range of scoring, one of my favorite speaker test pieces. Bernstein's is a nice account. From the Web, here's the pressing I have:
It's actually the set from the late 40s. I just gave the 30s set a listen and it's a tough choice between the three sets as they are all great, but I think your'e right. That Rubinstein complete album collection is such a masterpiece (the extravagent book and box, orriginal album artwork, great sound quality); I bought it I believe in 2012 for less than $150 and I would easily pay much more than that now after working my way through it over the last 5 years. I didn't listen to it much when I first bought it due to me being a fairly new classical music listener and not knowing if his recordings would be the 'best" of each piece but after more listening under my belt, I keep coming back to this box set. Just listened to the Grieg concerto with Dorati and was so impressed by the sound quality I had to double check that I wasn't listening to a modern recording
I bought the Rubinstein set too, and got it from Amazon at rock-bottom ($99!!). Gave it to my mom as a Christmas present (we're both huge AR fans). If you haven't heard it yet, please treat yourself and listen to the last of the three recordings of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain, with Ormandy. A recurring delight in my life for over 40 years!
The very first set of Chopin Nocturnes I heard by him were his last recording of them, the stereo set. I liked it, but it didn't wow me. I later got the second set and liked that a bit more. Eventually, I got the first set and loved it. I discovered that with him, early (1928-1946) is my favorite.Hank Drake has written some good stuff online about the three phases of his career. It's well worth checking out. He breaks down the three phases as follows: Like you, I got the complete set, but I got it to fill in the later holes in my Rubinstein collection. I actually much prefer the packaging and liner notes on the original Rubinstein Collection series. Right down to the thick paper and classy font, I think they really got it right. The only drawback is that the CDs slide in and out of a tight cardboard sleeve. I have collected the first 32 volumes of the original series and 12 more of the later ones. When they are assembled in order, the spines show a picture of the pianist:
The Sony/RCA box is incredibly cheap for what you get ($1 a CD). I enjoy his work but he's rarely my first choice.
I too am a happy owner of the complete Rubinstein box, but discovered recently that the Falla with Ormandy was recorded in Quadraphonic, and has now been reissued as a Surround SACD by Dutton, accompanied by both Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 (the original coupling), AND Rachmaninoff 2 as well, with the same forces. Sounds glorious! Can be ordered directly from www.duttonvocalion.co.uk (and no, I'm not working for them).
Speaking of the WTC. I've been obsessively listening to Helmut Walcha's versions on harpsichord. Which I have as part of this set. Granted I haven't listened to nearly as much WTCs as most of you, but I think it has to rank up there with the best. Yet I hardly read any one talking about it.
Just heard from someone at Immortal Performances that they're using CD-Rs instead of CDs for their sets.
I do not have the WTC's by Walcha and in fact all his recordings in my collection are Bach organ works ...
