I think Eloquence is pretty good actually. A lot of releases otherwise not available or out of print for a long while.
On CD. I have a box set of Mahler by the LPO, conductor Klaus Tennstedt which I'm very comfortable with. On vinyl, No 2 is Simon Rattle which doesn't hold me, and No 1 is Solti on the HiFi News Supercut by Nimbus; I love Solti on most of his work including this. And, Sod's law, I can't find my other Mahler vinyl. However, I think you've prompted me to try and find a Solti/Mahler box set though further reports on Sir John would be much appreciated. Edit. Just found my vinyl No 8. That's the Solti boxed.
In my experience most Eloquence releases have good to excellent sound, particularly the Australian ones (I'm not being the least bit patriotic there ). A few from Germany have AMSI remastering which is more controversial around the net.
Nice thing about Barbirolli's recordings on Qobuz is that most have been remastered in high resolution.
I don't know about that cover photo, though. That animal looks nervous--I think it suspects he has ideas of catgut in the back of his mind... For the benefit of those who've joined us since last I mentioned him, my "great discovery" of a few years back was violinist Max Rostal, prize pupil of Carl Flesch. There's a fine collection of radio studio recordings on Melo Classics that I recommend highly: Note: these recordings were made in studio for broadcast; they aren't airchecks. The sound quality is quite good for the period. Best way to get it is straight from the company; link here: Max Rostal plays Bach, Beethoven, Biber, Brahms, Mozart and Paganini - Meloclassic CD
I have the Sixth and the Lieder, both of which I enjoy a lot. This box is so darn cheap it might be worth the duplication to get the rest.
Absolutely! I had everything in the box except the First Symphony, but the space it would save me and the improvement in sound made it well worth picking up.
Spinning this digital era Strauss from Karajan. Some praise for it earlier and I agree. It is a great Zarathustra. As good as 1974 which is highly praised?
Nice set; I really like this recording of the Alpensinfonie, one of the better of his later conducting performances in my opinion.
Thanks, I bought it in my early days of collecting classical. Back then, I had very little money, so every purchase had to be carefully chosen. These days I have plenty of money but no space.
That is a great compilation. I have been listening to the Zarathustra from that set and even though some may say the strings sound more harsh on the 1974, the recording really brings out the overtones which is critical to the work. Especially in the first part. The minor drop and major lift really stands out on the 1974.
For fans of Mahler, who haven't seen this great survey, I thought I would share it here: The Mahler Symphonies: A synoptic survey by Tony Duggan
We seem to have had a bit of discussion about Karajan lately. If anyone is interested in reading more about him, I found this to be a pretty even-handed and very readable account:
I have read some of that but it has been a while. That is the most comprehensive takes on the symphony recordings I have read.