Probably Felix Weingartner with the Royal PO, from 1927, his sole recording of the work (he did many of the other syms. twice). It's a difficult set to play because of a problem common to early English electric Columbias, legacy of weak motors in the cutting lathes: each side speeds up as it plays--in other words, if it plays in pitch at 78 RPM at the rim, it may be going 81 by the time it gets to the label. But the performance has a moment, as it happens in that last mvt., when out of nowhere, the horns sail out over the top of the ensemble, and it's like the sun abruptly breaking through the clouds to flood the world with light. The passage lasts only a few seconds, but it's breathtaking. [edit] Oh, by the way, I went to college in Houston (Rice '82); I remember those Houston thunderstorms!
Adolf Busch, violin Bach: Sonata No. 3 Beethoven: Sonata , op. 12, no. 3; with Rudolf Serkin Beethoven: Sonata, op. 24 "Spring"; with Rudolf Serkin Busoni: Violin Concerto in D, op. 35a; Concertgebouw Orchestra; Bruno Walter
Ah! Glenn struggling to get through the door with the folding piano chair his father made for him. A famous 1956 photo by Jock Carroll. Once outside and upright, probably in search of a cab, he looked like this:
Speaking of piano... I've been listening to piano music all afternoon, but not Gould. (Can you believe it?!) I worked my way through the complete solo piano music of Maurice Ravel performed by Philippe Entremont, who displays astonishing brilliance and vitality in his no-nonsense reading of these works by a fellow Frenchman. Great recording, too, with just the right amount of hall reverb to enhance--and never blur--the grand piano sound. It's all in this beloved (by me) box set of 3 LPs, issued in 1975 by Columbia Masterworks. Cover photo by Don Hunstein, who photographed Gould for more album covers than any other photographer.
Speaking of Glenn Gould, now enjoying his 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations from the above 3CD set.
The Busch/Serkin account is my second favorite of Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata; it was my favorite for many years, until I stumbled across the account by Max Rostal and Franz Osborn. Honorable mention to Heifetz/Moiseiwitsch, the only other recording of that work I've heard that can hold its own with those two (in my opinion, of course).
I'd never heard the Rostal/Osborn recording until the day you dropped by my house and played it for me -- via your laptop patched into my main audio rig. As I recall, it is a very compelling performance of the Kreutzer sonata.
A weird release sound-wise, as it contains the worst sounding version of the 1955 recording (in my opinion even the 1992 disc is better), and the best sounding version of the 1981 one (taken from the newly discovered analogue master). Go figure.
Yeah, go figure... and trying to figure out Sony's remasterings over the last 37 years is near madness. But curiosity got the better of me this afternoon and, risking madness, I pulled out 5 CD copies of the '55 recording. They are dated 1983 ("Great Performances" series), 1992 (Glenn Gould Edition), 2002 (A State of Wonder), 2007 (GG Original Jacket Collection), and 2020 (The Bach Box). Let me state up front that I make NO claim to having golden ears or even great hearing. I can hear differences between recordings, though I'm sure I am missing some subtle details that a younger man would easily discern. So my evaluation is only of a general nature. That said, each of these CDs sound different to me. For my evaluation I played the Variation 1 (which follows the opening Aria) on each disc. The '83 sounds the worst-- probably to no one's surprise. It's just harsh and thin. The 2002 and 2007 are both immediately and obviously better than the 1983, but the the two of them sound almost identical. The difference I'm hearing is a little more warmth in the 2007. However, there is something odd going on between the 2002 disc and my machine (a Vincent tube hybrid CD-S6): The '02 disc turns on the HDCD circuit! Shocked to see that, I tried the disc in an identical Vincent player that I have in another room... and the HDCD circuit lit up on that machine, too. I'm not aware of this disc being encoded for HDCD and it might be some encoding quirk that fools my Vincent machine (I can't manually defeat the circuit), so the difference I'm hearing between the '02 and '07 discs might be due to the former CD activating this circuit in error Popping in the 1992 "Super Bit Mapping" CD was a "whoa!" moment. The mid-bass really comes alive and the whole midrange seems to be brought forward in the mastering. Hearing it, I'm baffled as to why Sony didn't use this mastering for any of the later releases. The 2020 CD uses the 2015 remaster and this clearly has the most natural piano sound. Compared to the '92, the mid-bass and midrange boost has been dialed back some and the lowest bass notes are brought up just a bit more (enhancing that toe-tapping beat in Variation 1), yet it retains a welcome overall warmth. The upper registers are also clear, clean, and nicely balanced. It still won't fool anyone into thinking it was recorded yesterday, but it's the best that the mono '55 recording is likely to ever sound.
Feels like a Debussy day. La Met/Nocturnes/Jeux/Rhapsodie pour clarinette and orchestra - The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez (US DG CD)
The Schumann is a fine interpretation. I got this mainly for the Schumann Symphony No. 4, but the other works are welcome also. This Schumann was not included in the Mercury boxes, perhaps because the sound is a bit ordinary. Schumann: Symphony No. 4 Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 & 4 Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto with Henryk Szeryng Mendelssohn: Ein Sommernachtstraum (excerpts) Mendelssohn: Die Hebriden Overture Antal Dorati, conductor Eloquence, 2020 2 CDs
Thanks for this overview! I have a 2017 CD which uses the DSD transfers. Pretty sure these are the same as the 2015 masters featured in the Glenn Gould Remastered - The Complete Columbia Album Collection box set. You're right that it has a natural piano sound, with the upper registers being clear and clean. One thing I really like about this release is the packaging! Nice digipak sleeve with half card half gloss design, the original LP liner notes are reproduced and there are some archival photographs. Does anyone know if this is part of a classic album series that Sony is doing? It would be nice if it formed part of a set.
I've not seen that one before... but, no doubt, it contains the 2015 remaster (as you surmised). Looks like it was made in Germany.
