Peter,
I'll probably get smoked on this one but here goes. First, I'm not a classical music lover but appreciate good recordings of any kind. The '50's era mono classicals are some of the best. Having been to a few classical concerts I find that the mono's come closest in recreating the live event. In fact, where I sat at these few concerts, stereo simply wasn't part of the live event. IMHO, of course.
I'll probably get smoked on this one but here goes. First, I'm not a classical music lover but appreciate good recordings of any kind. The '50's era mono classicals are some of the best. Having been to a few classical concerts I find that the mono's come closest in recreating the live event. In fact, where I sat at these few concerts, stereo simply wasn't part of the live event. IMHO, of course.