[bracko]

  oops. should have known. 

 
A favorite of mine:
 

 
It is nice but I have always prefered Van Cliburn's recordings to any others.

 

[uchihaitachi]

There's earl wild, leif ove andsnes, howard shelley, arcadi volodos, to name a few who 'tame the beast' completely...
The andsnes and volodos recordings are completely untouched live performances, not a single misplaced note....
 
Cliburn was a monster at his peak too, shame he faded away so quickly.

 

[Hedonism]

Welcome!

I can get on board with a number of those, especially all the Fleisher/Szell collaborations and Rubinstein's Chopin.

My favorite Chopin Etudes is actually Earl Wild's, not a guy generally associated with Chopin. But don't miss Hofmann's live performance of the Butterfly Etude. Here's a taste:



I've never really understood the extravagant praise for Kleiber's Brahms 4th. It's not actively bad, but very constrained and unexpressive. Likewise, Mravinsky's Tchaikovsky.

 
Thanks for your suggestions, I'll check them out promptly. May I ask what renditions of Brahms 4 and Tchaikovsky 6 that you find exceptional? I'm always looking for more!
 
I haven't explored much with Tchaikovsky 6, but with Brahms 4, I'm partial to Solti/CSO, Walter/Columbia as well. 
 
 

  You mean Reiner, right? An excellent recording, but there are better ones. A friend drew my attention years ago to the recording by Igor Markevitch and the Orchestre Lamoureux on DG. Not exactly an obvious choice for austro-german repertoire, but they play magnificently-that finale, simply amazing. Besides, Brahms himself said once "Only the French understand my music, the Germans play it much too heavily"

 
Thanks, I'll give it a listen!

 

[DjBobby]

   
Thanks for your suggestions, I'll check them out promptly. May I ask what renditions of Brahms 4 and Tchaikovsky 6 that you find exceptional? I'm always looking for more!
 
I haven't explored much with Tchaikovsky 6, but with Brahms 4, I'm partial to Solti/CSO, Walter/Columbia as well. 
 
 

For Tchaikovsky 6, try Gergiev/Kirov and Temirkanov/St.Peterburg.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

 May I ask what renditions of Brahms 4 and Tchaikovsky 6 that you find exceptional? I'm always looking for more!  
I haven't explored much with Tchaikovsky 6, but with Brahms 4, I'm partial to Solti/CSO, Walter/Columbia as well. 
 
 
 
Thanks, I'll give it a listen!

I like Brahms-4 by Kleiber/VPO, Bernstein/VPO. HvK Berlin isn't bad either.
 
Tchaikovsky 4-6:  Mravinsky/Len Phil, Karajan/BPO, Gergiev/VPO.

 

[Hedonism]

  For Tchaikovsky 6, try Gergiev/Kirov and Temirkanov/St.Peterburg.

 

  I like Brahms-4 by Kleiber/VPO, Bernstein/VPO. HvK Berlin isn't bad either.
 
Tchaikovsky 4-6:  Mravinsky/Len Phil, Karajan/BPO, Gergiev/VPO.

 
Thanks for your suggestions! I'm proud to say that I actually have most of those in my collection. 
 

  You mean Reiner, right? An excellent recording, but there are better ones. A friend drew my attention years ago to the recording by Igor Markevitch and the Orchestre Lamoureux on DG. Not exactly an obvious choice for austro-german repertoire, but they play magnificently-that finale, simply amazing. Besides, Brahms himself said once "Only the French understand my music, the Germans play it much too heavily"
 

 
I gave Markevitch's rendition of Brahms 4 a listen. You're definitely right about the finale! Very intense. SQ is excellent as well. I'd like to do some more comparing between Kleiber's as well, but I definitely love this version!
 
 
 
Anyway, I'd like to hear some of your guys' favourite works. As for me, I find myself always returning to Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 and Brahms Violin Concerto as favourites. Any suggestions?

 

[CanadianMaestro]

   
 
Thanks for your suggestions! I'm proud to say that I actually have most of those in my collection. 
 
 
 I find myself always returning to Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 and Brahms Violin Concerto as favourites. Any suggestions?

I enjoy Emil Gilels/Jochum BPO and Wilhelm Backhaus/VPO Isserstedt, doing Brahms Pf Cto 1 and 2.
Mutter does a good Brahms Violin Cto/HvK BPO. It's coupled with Mendelssohn Viol Cto same disc.

 

[DjBobby]

 
Anyway, I'd like to hear some of your guys' favourite works. As for me, I find myself always returning to Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 and Brahms Violin Concerto as favourites. Any suggestions?

 
For Brahms Violin concerto, besides Heifetz/Reiner and Oistrakh in numerous versions, I would try Szeryng/Dorati as well his older mono rec. with Monteaux/LSO. I prefer the second one.
Then there is a fiery version of Christian Ferras with Karajan, Ferras bringing his wild passionate Gipsy style plaing, against some Karajan cooler approach. 
Leonid Kogan on EMI's Artist Profile brings a phenomenal rendition of the concerto.
And last but not least, aging Brahms heard young Huberman and was absolutely delighted, apparently saying that he could not imagine his concerto being better played. Needless to say, it's an old recording with some bad surface noise, but if you can go over it, you can hear the closest historical witness to Brahms' own ideas.

 

[bracko]

  Anyway, I'd like to hear some of your guys' favourite works. As for me, I find myself always returning to Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 and Brahms Violin Concerto as favourites. Any suggestions?

 
Sibelius Violin Concerto, Stravinsky Firebird, Bartok Concerto for Orchestra, Vaughan Williams Symphony No 4, Beethoven String Quartet Op.131.

 

[SunTanScanMan]

For me, it's always a pleasure coming back to these. My favourites list continues to grow exponentially as I continue to peruse this thread.

(no particular order)
 
Bach - Italian Concerto,
Beethoven - Pastoral (started my love for classical)
(can't pick out any of Ludwig's SQs, love all of them)
Dvořák - String Quintet Op.97,
Tchaikovsky - String quartet no.1,
Debussy - Sonata for Cello and Piano
Albinoni - Oboe concerto op.7 no. 9
Saint-Saëns - Piano concerto no.5

 

[kostaszag]

 
 
 
Anyway, I'd like to hear some of your guys' favourite works. As for me, I find myself always returning to Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 and Brahms Violin Concerto as favourites. Any suggestions?

Let's see, most of my favourite versions have been covered, but not all. I love the Curzon/Knappertsbusch on Decca (Great music and great sound, albeit monophonic) and Gina Bachauer on Mercury. Hers is not one of the famous renditions, but I love the softer, more "feminine" way she handles the music. She was one of the few women pianists that could tackle this physically very demanding piece (no wonder, she was not what you would call slender) and the recording is blessed with fine Mercury sound. 
 


Oh, I forgot to say, she was Greek like yours truly, so I have a soft spot for her musicianship. 
 
A recording of a Greek artist is my next suggestion too, but his nationality has nothing to do with it. He is, I believe, the best exponent of the Brahms concert nowadays. I am referring of course to Leonidas Kavakos on Decca.
 

 
Heifetz and Oistrakh are still my heroes, but Kavakos has offered a great interpetation too.
 
For the Brahms 1st I like Curzon and Rubinstein, with Reiner in Living Stereo. 
 


Sometimes I play this record (the Classic Records vinyl reissue), to friends and let them guess the year it was recorded. Until now none has guessed right (1954). 

 

[RRod]

  As for me, I find myself always returning to Brahms Piano Concerto no. 2 …

 
There's still time to get professional help! 

 
Quote:

 
Anyway, I'd like to hear some of your guys' favourite works.

 
Let's pick one per era, b/c otherwise OMG:
 
Renaissance: Ockeghem Requiem
Baroque: Bach Violin Partita 2
Classical: Mozart-take-your-pick
Beethoven: BEETHOVEN
Romantic: Dvořák Dumky Trio / Grieg Lyric Pieces
Pre-war: Mahler DLvdE + Ravel Daphnis
Post-war serial: Berg Violin + Webern Six Pieces
Post-war non-serial: Strauss 4 Last Songs + DSch 13
Pre-contemporary: Glass Akhnaten
Contemporary: Higdon CityScape + Schwantner Chasing Light

 

[uchihaitachi]

Brahms 3 & 4 (pcto 1 & 2
Mahler 1, 3, 4, 5 & 8
Ravel La Valse, gaspard de la nuit, concerto for piano in g major
Chopin ballade number 4, sonata 2 & 3 (the ballade 4 is also a favourite of mine to play, such depth and poetry to his writing and the epic epic epic coda). nocture op 48 no. 1
Liszt B minor sonata, rhapsody espagnole
Bach brandenburg 2 & the art of fugue, partita for violin 2 (oh the chaconne I love you) + the busoni version for solo piano played by rubinstein, trio sonata number 1
Prokofiev piano concerto 2
Beethoven hammerklavier & appassionata
Wagner tristan und isolde
stravinsky petrouschka, le sacre du printemps
those are the few i can think of atm............

 

[CanadianMaestro]

My DIRs:
 
https://sites.google.com/site/audiomeisterssystem/desert-island-recordings
 
Indulge!

 

[SunTanScanMan]

  My DIRs:
 
https://sites.google.com/site/canadianmaestrosaudiosystem/desert-island-recordings
 
Indulge!

What's great is that you have enough DIRs to make another desert island, and have room to bring even more music with you 

 
----

In all seriousness though, love the site! You like the Staatskappelle Dresden too! I've only heard their Beethoven. Will check out their Mozart and Schubert, cheers.