CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

  • December 31, 2015, 09:36:06 AM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4

Author Topic: Good classical labels  (Read 2735 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Puma Cat

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Powder Monkey
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +10/-121
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 64
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2015, 10:30:14 PM »

Anyone know which labels have good recordings?  Doesn't have to be dedication to fidelity like Water Lily Acoustics, but just in general any reccos for labels known for paying attention to good sound.

How is Teldec?  I am going to get the Harnoncourt Bruckner 8th and would like to hear thunderous brass.

Knerian,
i have a large classical LP collection and my favorites are: Decca/London (virtually the same, just different names used for legal purposes), Argo (a subsidiary of Decca), Harmonia Mundi, Philips, Telefunken, Das Alte Werke (period label for DG), Deutsche Gramophon, L'Oiseau Lyre, Mercury Living Stereo, Reflexe (division of EMI), and EMI. If I think of any other, I will let you know.

Chados and Channel Classics are great for digital classical e.g. SACDs, and believe it or not, Linn has a large selection of beautifully mastered and recorded classical albums.
Cheers,
Stephen.
Logged
Chance favors the prepared mind - Louis Pasteur

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2015, 04:22:01 AM »

RCA is long gone from the classical business.  The RCA Living Stereo reissues are mostly decent performances, and they sound great for having been mostly recorded in the late 1950s.  But whoever owns the RCA Red Seal catalog needs to start reissuing some of the amazing stuff they have in their vault--everything from the Rubinstein/Boston Symphony recording of the "Emperor" Concerto to the first Western recording of Shostakovich Symphony No. 13, with Tom Krause and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy.

The "indie" labels that I seem to buy the most stuff from are Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, Chandos, and BIS.  A fair number of major orchestras now have their own in-house labels.  The San Francisco Symphony was one of the first to make that move, and their high-res PCM Mahler cycle (most of which is also available in DSD from Downloads Now) is to die for.  LSO Live (London Symphony) has a great Sibelius symphonies cycle conducted by Gergiev.  Wigmore Hall Live releases performances that were held there, and they have some great stuff (most notably a three disc set of Beethoven violin sonatas by Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Thibergien).
hey thanks Burn, this was more what I was looking for. Never knew that about the SFS, I'll check it out. 
Logged

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #12 on: January 31, 2015, 04:30:31 AM »

Puma, I do remember Chandos having some good stuff, thanks for the input.  Second person to recommend Linn as well.

Azteca, I'll check out Linn and Reference.  When Naxos came out they were super budget, they've really grown though.

Claritas, that is news to me, I'll have to check those out.  Are there recordings of him doing the 3rd?

It's great to see so many here that enjoy this stuff as well.
Logged

Claritas

  • strong in his convictions
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +4200/-3162
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 495
  • Bachhead
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #13 on: January 31, 2015, 04:34:04 AM »

Claritas, that is news to me, I'll have to check those out.  Are there recordings of him doing the 3rd?

It's great to see so many here that enjoy this stuff as well.

Regrettably not. (I would have provided the recording info otherwise.)

Agreed. :)p5
Logged

fishski13

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +79/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 424
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #14 on: January 31, 2015, 04:36:54 AM »

Logged

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #15 on: January 31, 2015, 04:40:40 AM »

I do have some piano testament recordings, haven't listened to any of their orchestral stuff though.  Good stuff man, thanks.
Logged

fishski13

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +79/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 424
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #16 on: January 31, 2015, 05:07:43 AM »

i dig the "old timey" sound of recordings from the "golden era of classical". i'm not looking for "audiophile aspirations", but rather to feel like i'm being transported to another time in history.

the Beethoven symphony cycle on BIS with the Minnesota Orchestra and Vanska is pretty special from a performance standpoint. 
Logged

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #17 on: February 17, 2015, 09:18:31 AM »

The Bruckner symphony cycle by Eugin Jochum on DG is phenomenal. Jochum shared some similarities in his life with Bruckner (both organists from similar Austrian Catholic upbringings, for example) and he really seems to get what Bruckner was trying to say. There's a real life to the music. I'd say the recordings are very good as well. I seem to remember a friend saying that there was a solo cd of the 8th with Jochum which wasn't quite as good as the one in the cycle, but that was just his opinion.

This is the one I have from a long time ago, haven't listened to it in ages:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51fmVPyQdML.jpg

You go an amazon and there are 4-5 cycles by Jochum, but after closer inspection they are just repackagings/reissues of just the EMI cycle and the DG cycle.
Logged

Kunlun

  • Sort of a big deal in the online feline community
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +42/-16
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 574
  • Goronyo Kunlun Board Member Nigerian Nat'l Oil Co.
    • my website
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #18 on: February 17, 2015, 05:04:30 PM »

That's the one I have!
Logged

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: Good classical labels
« Reply #19 on: February 18, 2015, 10:27:54 AM »

I can't believe how many big box reissues are available at cheap prices now:

Richter 49 CD Set of decca, philips and DG recordings, comes out to around $2/disc.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Philips-Recordings-Limited-Edition/dp/B00N9MWVVW/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_mrai_5_dp

Bernstein Sony disc set, 80 discs, comes out to around $1.50/disc:

http://www.amazon.com/Leonard-Bernstein-Album-Collection-Set/dp/B00LL4U1TE/ref=cm_wl_huc_item

There are tons of others themed by performer as well, as far as I can tell this is the best time for great bargain sets I've ever seen on the classical labels.

I don't particularly want the Bernstein, but am tempted just for the "value".  The Richter's a no brainer for me, I remember when the philips pianists of the 20th century came out, that was a huge huge set, I made copies from the school library!
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4