[Quinto]

 
 
Others?

 
I love this cd by Borodin Quartet..and Emerson Q. is pretty good, although I'm not a big fan of their Beethoven..
 
I like the Quartetto Italiano too, much more daring then their Beethoven..
 
Schubert Quartets by Takacs and Quatuor Mosaiques are still on my (huge) wish list
 
Lindsays Quartet (complete Beethoven) on its way..

 

[perhapss]

 
 
I love this cd by Borodin Quartet..and Emerson Q. is pretty good, although I'm not a big fan of their Beethoven..
 
I like the Quartetto Italiano too, much more daring then their Beethoven..
 
Schubert Quartets by Takacs and Quatuor Mosaiques are still on my (huge) wish list
 
Lindsays Quartet (complete Beethoven) on its way..

 
I got a chance to hear some of the Quatour Mosaiques Mozart last week and it was indeed quite excellent.
I didn't even think of them for the Schubert.
Good suggestion though thanks!

 

[chrisjackson]

The BBC did a "Building a Library" on the Death and the Maiden quartet in March this year as part of the "Spirit of Schubert Festival" (a week of 24 hours a day radio where only Schubert's music was played). Looks like the podcast is only officially available in UK :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bal/all
It's actually a bit of a downbeat episode consisting mainly of rejecting recordings on the grounds of perceived errancies, generally in matters of tempo. Also is not clear which recordings were not mentioned because they were unavailable. The Building a Library forums thread on it didn't contain a lot of enthusiasm. However quite a nice list there of available versions :
http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?4848-BaL-31-03-12-Schubert-s-String-Quartet-No-14-quot-Death-and-the-Maiden-quot
The Quatuor Mosaïques recoding is not mentioned as available though endorsed by one poster. The Pavel Hass recording was released since the review.
Not all bad though. One poster in the thread gives a link to his transfer from '78s of the 1936 recording by the Busch Quartet :
http://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk/transcriptions_07.php
 
Edit :
Doh. Just realised the reviewer said only the Borodin Lindsays Jerusalem Belcea and Hagen quartets played the first movement repeat so guess the Quatuor Mosaïques not included in survey.

 

[Andrasdesoria]

I would like to call your attention to Balázs Szokolay. This week I had the chance to hear Liszt Piano Sonata in B-minor played by him. It was a wonderful, energetic, romantic version of the Sonata. With my friends we thought that He played such a magnificiuent version, if Liszt himself would have played in the concert hall.  
http://www.szokolaybalazs.com/ds.htm
http://www.youtube.com/user/szokolaybalazs

 

[chrisjackson]

  I would like to call your attention to Balázs Szokolay. This week I had the chance to hear Liszt Piano Sonata in B-minor played by him. It was a wonderful, energetic, romantic version of the Sonata. With my friends we thought that He played such a magnificiuent version, if Liszt himself would have played in the concert hall.  
 

I recognised the name and realise now must be from a recital with the violist Gyözö Máté that regularly gets aired piecemeal on the BBC "Through the Night" program eg. the Enescu wil be broadcast early hours of Christmas day :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03lzc0g
There's also an arrangement of Beethoven Romance, a Kreisler arrangement and a piece by Stan Golestan.
 
Very much enjoying the Youtube selection of solo piano Bartok now, thanks.  Sounds like you had an evening to treasure.

 

[chrisjackson]

The "Spirit of Schubert" festival mentioned above had a nice "Words and Music" item about Schubert's early life, including readings of his school reports. I think the "Et Incarnatus est" from the D 950 Mass was interleaved with the words. From about 2:20 onwards here with boy soprano : 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AAChRS9vQo&list=PL03EC8A75A626D009
Happy Christmas all 

 

 

[Quinto]

 
around 49:10 would be a nice place to start for the last half hour part,
 
this music is E P I C

 
 
Just imagine, take the final part of Goethe's famous Faust and come up with this as a result..
 
Mahler was a genius of cosmic proportions, reincarnated in the great Leonard Bernstein

 

[amigomatt]

around 49:10 would be a nice place to start for the last half hour part,

this music is E P I C :eek:  

Just imagine, take the final part of Goethe's famous Faust and come up with this as a result..

Mahler was a genius of cosmic proportions, reincarnated in the great Leonard Bernstein

if you can track down the Wyn Morris recording with the Symphonica of London, you'll be in for a treat. The ending is positively overwhelming. So is the live Horenstein recording, taken live from the BBC Proms with the LSO. I think it may have been the UK premiere.

 

[Delirious Lab]

Now playing:
 

 
Merry Christmas, Head-Fi!

 

[Modular]

I don't know if it's been mentioned in this thread, but Aaron Copland's "The Promise of Living" is absolutely stunning. It encompasses what every individual wishes the soundtrack of their lives to sound like. 
 
 

 

[Claritas]

Because OP was first interested in Beethoven, I made a short list of Beethoven records.
 
Sonata, Op 31/2 "Tempest". Sviatoslav Richter. EMI.
Sonata, Op. 53 "Waldstein". Josef Hofmann (live 1938). Marston.
Sonata, Op. 57 "Appassionata". Sviatoslav Richer (live 1960). Melodiya.
 
Piano Concerto no. 3. Leon Fleisher: Szell, Cleveland. Sony.
Piano Concerto no. 3. Glenn Gould; Karajan, Berlin (live 1957). Music & Arts.
Piano Concerto no. 4. Arthur Schnabel; Frederick Stock (1942), Chicago. RCA.
 
Symphony no. 5. Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony (1939). RCA.
Symphony no. 7. Carlos Kleiber, Vienna. DG.

 

[bigshot]

That's a good list, but I would have chosen the Toscanini Eroica instead.

 

[Claritas]

  That's a good list, but I would have chosen the Toscanini Eroica instead.

 
It was on my original longer list, which I kept pruning.

 

[Andrasdesoria]

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.
 
If I would like a less demanding version, with beautiful sound, I typically go for Karajan 1963 version of Eroica, 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. 

 

[Andrasdesoria]