[chrisjackson]

  or (on the other side of the pendulum) the Savall version. The Savall version is so well recorded that it is  sheer pleasure just to hear the  colours of music. 

Guess that recording has been out of the catalogue a while? Recall looking for it before when saw it recommended and only found mp3s or CDs at blackmailers' prices 

 

[chrisjackson]

Gonna immerse self in a few recordings of this this evening :
http://ge.tt/6RO7gLB1/v/0
Looking forward to it.

 

[el34han]

Thank you so much Bigshot for enlightening me about great quality bargain classical recordings. I never thought music can be so affordable. I have a great HiFi system which I never spent much time listening to music. Part of the reason was I spent all my money on the equipment and didn't have much left for music. Just bought all the "Rise of the Masters" from Amazon, a set of RCA Living Stereo and a set of "Arturo Toscanini: The Complete RCA Collection". All these cost me less than $200 which is about the cost of 15 CDs and I got hunderds. Now, I can truly start listening to music.
Have to thank kungfuthug for starting this thread. Hope you two are still reading this thread. 
I only read the first page of this thread and benefit so greatly. How much am I going to be blessed if I finish all 77 pages of the posting? One thing for sure is I will spend more. LOL
Thank you all.

 

[bigshot]

Aw gee, el34han... you made my day. Have a wonderful musical new year with your bargain priced treasures! You can become a Toscanini expert with that box. Back when I was starting out, putting together a good collection of Toscanini on LP was a huge undertaking. There it all is in one place for a buck a disk! yow!
 
By the way, if you haven't gotten into trouble yet, the drop dead beautiful Rubinstein box is selling at importcds.com and Amazon for less than a dollar a disk. It's the most elaborate box set I've ever seen and SO MUCH GREAT MUSIC!

 

[el34han]

I certainly will enjoy the sets very much. Become a Toscanini expert!?! If this was several decades earlier I could impress few girls. LOL 
Rubinstein box has to wait a little. I am already overloaded. Though I just got 4 GE 6AS7 output tubes for my headphone amp, don't want to burn them all at once. LOL
I wish I got your post couple hours sooner. I bought from importCDs CA on e Bay and spent $10 more. Ahrrr. Didn't know they have a web front. Great source, again!! What other good priced seller do you use, mind sharing?

 

[chrisjackson]

  Become a Toscanini expert!?! If this was several decades earlier I could impress few girls. LOL 

 

[bigshot]

  What other good priced seller do you use, mind sharing?

 
amazon.it, amazon.es, and amazon.de all often have lower prices on things than amazon.com, even after shipping. It's hard to navigate, but there are some wonderful needles in the haystack at Berkshire Record Outlet... www.berkshirerecordoutlet.com

 

[calaf]

   The Savall version is so well recorded that it is  sheer pleasure just to hear the  colours of music. 

 

 

 
wow! Even through the filter of spotify 192kbs streaming, the dynamics are stunning: only the much more recent, and much less compelling, Vanska recording with BIS can compete. And Savall pulls out of the score some magic trick in particular in the last  "dance" movement. I was less impressed by the first two movements. I wish Savall would have let his band play a bit more dramatically. Plenty of that in Furtwangler, as you mention...

 

[Claritas]

  For me, the most insightful recording of Eroica is the 1944 Furtwangler version. Maybe, due to similar controversial, probing time, this version reflects the best the anguish, hope and desilluisions of Beethoven.
 
None the less, this is a version, which to enjoy needs you total attention. It is like Wagner imagined to play his cycle: once a year, when you are prepared to immerse yourself into the music and concentrate on it.

 
His later version on EMI was on my original list too; I didn't understand the Eroica till I heard him. I haven't heard the 1944 version, but your description applies to his 9th from 1942. (I might be getting the date wrong; I can't find the disk.) I wonder if you can chart the course of the war based on changes in Furtwangler records. 

 

[Andrasdesoria]

Of course,the 1944 ninth by Furtwangler is one of my favourite recording of mine. 

 

[Claritas]

  Of course,the 1944 ninth by Furtwangler is one of my favourite recording of mine. 

 
It's pretty hard to take, not what I would call joyful. But I've never fully understood the work.

 

[mbhaub]

You're not alone. There are plenty of erudite, intelligent listeners who don't hold the 9th in the esteem it supposedly deserves. Part of the fault is Beethoven's: he never heard it, and it shows in the orchestration. WHen the likes of Szell, Toscanini, Walter, Mahler and others rewrite some passages, you know it has problems. The 4-part soloist writing in the finale is awful sounding to many people. I resisted the 9th for a long time, although learning to love the other 8 was really easy. The ear-opening 9th that finally led to a real appreciation and understanding of its monumental qualities was recording made by Rene Leibowitz for Reader's Digest over 50 years ago. He had one of the best solo quartets ever assembled, took many of the Mahler/Szell/Toscanini alterations and really build it into a thrilling epic. I have heard many (too many) more "correct" versions since, but not one has shaken that recording from the top of the heap for me. It's very joyful, and even more titanic than Furtwangler.

 

[Quinto]

Funny, I consider myself a H U G E fan of Beethoven's piano and chamber, but his symphonies do nothing for me, nada, they leave me cold..
 
Maybe someday..

 

[el34han]

Thank you bigshot. I'll check them out.
BTW, maybe you will be interested, on top of the "rise of the masters" series, Amazon has "The 99 most essential" and the "BIG box" series. Which has similar quality and price tag.

 

[Claritas]

  You're not alone. There are plenty of erudite, intelligent listeners who don't hold the 9th in the esteem it supposedly deserves. Part of the fault is Beethoven's: he never heard it, and it shows in the orchestration. When the likes of Szell, Toscanini, Walter, Mahler and others rewrite some passages, you know it has problems. The 4-part soloist writing in the finale is awful sounding to many people. I resisted the 9th for a long time, although learning to love the other 8 was really easy. The ear-opening 9th that finally led to a real appreciation and understanding of its monumental qualities was recording made by Rene Leibowitz for Reader's Digest over 50 years ago. He had one of the best solo quartets ever assembled, took many of the Mahler/Szell/Toscanini alterations and really build it into a thrilling epic. I have heard many (too many) more "correct" versions since, but not one has shaken that recording from the top of the heap for me. It's very joyful, and even more titanic than Furtwangler.

 
I'm not sure I don't esteem it, but I don't particularly enjoy it. Thanks for the recommendation though. Maybe it'll change my sentiments. I suspect Chesky might have used some of Leibowitz's Reader's Digest Beethoven as filler for Reiner's Brahms' 4th.
 

 

  Funny, I consider myself a H U G E fan of Beethoven's piano and chamber, but his symphonies do nothing for me, nada, they leave me cold..
 
Maybe someday..

 
I'm partial to his piano concerti and sonatas. I enjoy Schubert's chamber works more, but they're sweeter.