We have Karajan's digital recordings of Brahms 4 Symphonies on CD and they are poor sounding. Lacking any air/space and kind of muddy sounding. That is why I wanted to especially bring the 1965 version to folks attention as it is quite a surprise to hear such clarity. Inspiring listening. If you like the Brahms symphonies this is a must have. They are inexpensive :)
He worked with Christian Ferras quite a bit in the 60's and I was shocked at how great the above mentioned recordings are. The violin is beautiful sounding.
I also picked up the 1962 Karajan Beethoven cycle on vinyl and it does not sound as good-more of the typical Deutsche Grammophon sound which was a surprise as I would have thought it was going to sound as good as the Brahms, |
Schubert, you reminded me of another DG Bohm recording from 1974 also on vinyl that is nicely recorded. Perhaps not as good as some mentioned above.
Bohm/Vienna Philharmonic - Mozart's clarinet concerto with Alfred Prinz on clarinet. Very elegant. Bohm was known for his Mozart interpretations. Side two has Mozart's bassoon concerto. |
Rcprince- interesting insight. Do you happen to know when DG moved from recording with tube equipment to solid state? |
Rrm,
Thanks for the tip. just picked up a near mint LP of the Dvorak cello concerto with Rostropovich/Karajan on amazon. Have it on CD and like it but the record should sound much better. Agree with you about the Carlos Kleiber/Beethoven - have it on CD - amazing performance but crappy sound. Also agree that every upgrade to ones vinyl rig makes some of these DG records sound better. But it is hard to ignore the bad sounding ones when you A/B them with the great sounding ones.
Rcprince - we also have Karajan's second Beethoven cycle from the 70s. Not much good I can say about it.
Jet |
does any one have a recommendation for a great sounding vinyl recording of Alban Berg's Lulu Suite? |
Schubert, that recording is from 1989. I have it on CD and is a digital recording. It is very good sounding CD. It also contains as you might expect, some Webern and Schoenberg. Would be interesting to compare record to CD. |
Anyone heard the Mercury Living Presenc LP:
BERG-SUITES FROM WOZZECK LULU-LONDON-DORATI MERCURY? |
Fabsound, Glad you got a few of these better sounding DG recordings. No substitute for hearing the Berlin/Karajan from the mid 60's. That orchestra and conductor at the height of their powers.
Kmccarty- good info here. We are not subscribers to the Berlin Phil site but have listened/watched some of their streams briefly and they sound /look very good. |
We are amassing a large group of great sounding DG LP recordings. I for one am happy to know of these.
I was shopping for Berg's LULU suite on vinyl and ran across a Sony CD of James Levine and the Met orchestra from 1993 all digital recording. It arrived today. This is AMAZING recording quality. Depth and transparency for days. It includes Wozzeck fragments which I have not heard. I must say that I like Berg's music very much. Especially the Violin Concerto. His LULU suite sounds like Mozart on drugs.- Jet |
Mapman, I happen to have that CD and it sounds very good. Accordion transcriptions of Bach pieces. That band grooves pretty good! |
Am listening to my mint minus LP of Dvorak Cello Concerto with Karajan
/Berlin/ Rostropovich I got the ebay. Wow this sounds great! So much more
dynamic and alive than the CD.
Will be great to sometime compare it to the Pierre Fournier, George Szell/Berlin
Philharmonic LP which must also sound fantastic.
Fabsound no I do not have any vinyl recommendations for your above requests.
Got good recordings some of those on CD.
One thing to keep in mind about older Bach recordings is there will be a
different performance practice than recordings after around 1980. Many newer
recordings will use instruments from the time of Bach so will have a more
authentic sound-Jet |
"As to Karajan's recordings, those done in the Berlin Philharmonie from around 1978 onwards are compromised. Earlier ones are much better, on both DG and EMI."
The earlier recordings were for the most part not done in the Philharmonic Hall, They were done in a church in Berlin.
As I remember from reading a Herbert Von Karajan biography, the Philharmonic hall under went some renovations in the early to mid 70's and that is when they started to record there. |
Lowrider, The Karajan/Berlin/Brahms Symphonies from the 1980s sound just plain bad. Imagine my surprise after many years of suffering with the several Karajan/Brahms cycles on CD and then finally hearing the wonderful mid 1960's cycle on LP for the first time just a few weeks ago. I listened to all four symphonies non stop one evening. Brahms played by an amazing orchestra with clarity precision and passion. I needed to share my excitement with my music loving friends on this site. |
Egrady, Thank you for the informative comparisons. I'll be seeking out some of these Decca/London sets. The info about Kenneth Wilkinson is good to know as well. This thread is turning into a good resource for lovers of classical music on vinyl |
Not a great DG recording but an amazing performance of Beethoven's 5th symphony with Carlos Kleiber/Vienna Philharmonic. He was an amazing conductor! If you want to see a conductor that is totally in touch with his musicians and his art watch him on You tube - Jet |
I just pick up near mint vinyl copies of Karajan's 1962 Beethoven Symphonies no 3, 5 and 7. These recordings sound very good on my system. Back in December I bought the complete set of the 1962 cycle and thought it sounded pretty bad but these individual records for some reason sound very much better. Actually they sound really great which was very surprising - Jet |
Brownsfan, I feel its a worthy pursuit trying to find the best of the Berlin/Karajan recordings. Non of them are going to be great sounding, but they are such a great orchestra with a great dictatorial conductor that demanded perfection in a bygone era; its simply necessary to hear these records as this level of orchestra playing/performance is stunning. |
Czarivey, as it happens I picked up Karajan/Beethoven Symp 1 and 2 from the 1962 cycle today and I agree with you. 1 and 2 have the fancy crown and the silver "stereo" label in the center and it does not sound nearly as good as no 3,5, and 7 which has the red "stereo" label over on the right hand side. Thanks so much for this tip. |
