Classical lp dilemma - recommendations, please

Dino:) Suggets you also get Beethoven's 6th Symphony by Karl Boehm; avoid the Karajan - he sounds like he's in a hurry to get to his next appointment. However, I agree with Karajan for the 9th (the 1962 recording, not the 1977).

Wilhelm Kempff does a great job of BEETHOVEN'S Fur Elise and the sonatas. I really like the Lazar Berman recording of Pictures at an Exhibition.

sorry for the fur elise snafu. i'm terrifically embarassed. hare kare is my only alternative, isn't it?

(dramatic pause)

seriously though, thanks for the help!

My recommedation is go buy some used vinyl and listen
for yourself. It's cheap. Buy 5 recordings of the 9th
and enjoy 'em all. You'll find your favorite, or like
me, have 2 or even 3 favorites! You can even sell back
the ones you didn't care for and buy some Mussorgsky,
Chopin or more Beethoven (yes, he did write fuer Elise)

OK - these are my favs of the 9th.
Fritz Reiner's, Chicago Symphony, RCA.
Sir Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony, London.
Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Gramaphon

...Yes, he did Mara. For a student called Elise, it seems. I don't know if anything else ensued. But, it ain't bad to have Beethoven compose s/thing for you!

Without going into the specific records you are looking or, I have been most impressed with the following re-issues in classical music (on LP--for us that aren't dinasour's too)
1. Classic Records (particularly the 45 RPM versions)
2. Klavier
3. King Analog
Classic Records sells direct (and has a decent sale going on now) The other 2 are available through Cisco. There are of course the usual outlets for many of these such as Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct, and Red Trumpet but they may not stock the full catalog at all times.

Didn't Beethoven composed "Fur Elise"??
A-must for Mussorgski to have Shekharazada. I cannot specify the label since I didn't listen to this piece for years.

Hello 23yr old dinosaur -- which of course, relates to vinyl, not your age; by the same token I'm a double dinosaur :). Furtwangler & Klemperer (conductors) for Beethoven's 9th, for his piano works (incl. Elise) I recommend the following pianists: Brendel / Gieseking or Backhaus, for Mussorgski try 2nd piano concerto with Richter or Arrau on the piano. These should be reasonably easy to find on LP.
I too find the Virgin Guide more consistent than Gramophone or Penguin. If you read french, the Diapason old guide is IMO one of the best guides. Cheers!

thanks, but *dinosaur*?!? i'm only 23.

:)

There are plenty of published guides out there. My favorite is The Virgin Guide to Classical Music by Jeremy J. Beadle (lots of music background, and multiple recommendations, but I'm not sure it's still in print). Ted Libbey and Jim Svejda also have guides out, which I'm pretty sure are available. Penguin and Gramophone publish compendiums as well.

Most of the focus is on CDs for obvious reasons (i.e., that's all that 99.9% of the world buys, you dinosaur, you). Nevertheless, the three authors I mentioned above all make some recommendations of older recordings from the analog era, so they'll be some help to you. You might try scouting used book stores for older guides, though I can't guarantee success.