CD Recommendation -- EMI Tchaikovsky Selections

You would likely get more responses if you posted this in the Music Forum. Just a suggestion.

Neal

I haven't really cottoned to Mariss Jansons as a conductor , but I do have to admit that he frequently benefits from being well recorded.

That's an oldie but a goodie. If one is looking for something more modern, Jansons recordings on RCO Live are consistently excellent for performance and sound.

Kal

Thanks Neal. I reported my OP in the Music Forum. KR4 and Richard, are you suggesting that the recording quality was more about Mariss Jansons than EMI. That would be helpful to know. One way or the other, the Jansons Tchaikovsky recording I have was outstanding -- vinyl quality. As I said in my OP, I wish all redbook CD would get with the program. If plain old 16 bit/44.1 Hz can play what I heard, there would be less need for the more bizzare esoteric formats coming on line. Perhaps someone could explain the reason my EMI Jansons recording sounded so good, especially compared to the bulk of the redbood crud out there.

BYW, my kids lent me a redbook CD set of Beethovens 9 symphonies, conductefd by John Elliot Gardner, recorded on Archiv Produktion (I think an affilate label of DG). Serial #439 900-2. Also a terrific CD set. Same question as above. If redbook CD can sound this good, what's the problem with the industry?? Why so much garbage??

You may want to investigate the Beethoven set on Pentatone conducted by Phillip Herreweghe. The orchestra plays modern instruments but is led by a conductor with a real background in the Period performance movement. I have ordered it but it hasn't arrived yet. The same forces made a terrific Schubert Great C Major, and the Pentatone sound is truly to die for.
Gardiner's Beethoven set is excellent, but thePPP orchestra sometimes can be a distraction, with their emasculated string tone and squally oboes, etc.
I had burned some of the jJansons Tchaikovsky from the cycle you mentioned. They do sound great. My issue is with the conductor . IMO
He is vastly overrated . He routinely ignores tempo and dynamic markings, which would be ok if he substituted something interesting , but all he seems to do is homogenize everything. He makes Tchaikovsky , Mahler and Stravinsky all sound alike. He does manage to get well engineered recordings. If he is responsible for that, then I give him credit. I suspect that he has been lucky in his pairings with producers