Classical composers, symphonies

@lowrider57 

I've had good luck with Exton label recordings.  I haven't listened to everything they've put out by any means, but all of the ones that I have have been impressive.  

tute, never heard of Exton. I just sampled some tracks and they sound great thru my computer. It seems like they have more albums available for download than for CD.

For mass produced classical I like Telarc, Teldec, Decca, Chesky (not so mass produced), harmonia mundi, cpo, BIS, Nimbus, Chandos, Newton Classics, EMI, Philips. I like the remastered Mercury Living Presence and RCA Red Label.
The early stereo engineers from labels such as Decca and Philips really knew how to record an orchestra.

I like Mahler symphonies 1 & 4

+1 for Holst's The Planets / Star Wars - Zubin Metha, L.A. Philharmonic

Ravel's Ma Mere l'Oye, Pavane pour un infante, Le Trombeau de Couperin  - Charles Dutoit, Montreal Symphony 

Reinhold Gliere. His symphonies represent the high water mark of Russian romantic symphonies - huge orchestrations, long, ornate, with a little schmaltz. His Third Symphony "Ilya Murometz" is over one hour long unedited (which it often is). I own several versions on CD. My favorate is the only version that is completely unedited performed by Farberman/RPO (Unicorn Kanchana), 1988. At over 100 minutes (2 CDs) this represents a serious listening session. The acoustic is enormous.- rear row balcony. The CDs are recorded at a low level - I ripped them and reburned at higher level to CDR for listening - it improved the detail and ambience considerably. Also, this particular pressing plant CDs were prone to the rare disc rot disease. In fact I had to buy a second set for this very reason. But, this symphony is an extraordinary tour de force of late romanticism with brilliant orchestration and gorgeous melodies and harmonies - well worth the effort.

I wrote the first review on Amazon which details the CD improvement process and covers the other versions available. I always laugh when I read the 2nd scathing review, "for someone's extended sessions of morbid self-imposed sleep deprivation," LOL. There are a few grains of truth in his review.

Scriabin Symphony No.3 - bombastic, harmonically daring, forward looking, plenty of meat for the ears of the serious romantic symphony afficionado. The Jarvi/DNRSO performance on CHANDOS (with the excellent Arensky Silhouettes) is an absolute barn burner - it will test your system, and your wall paint.