Best Classical Recordings for....

[the hand of boredom]

Rachmaninov's First and Second Piano Concerto
Mozart's 25th Symphony
Barber's Adagio for Strings
and any 'energetic' piece by Bach, Mahler, and Mozart.

Skeptic, you provided alot of assistance to me several years ago. Looking for some help again.

Tanks.

THOB

[Resident Loser]

Rachmaninov's First and Second Piano Concerto
Mozart's 25th Symphony
Barber's Adagio for Strings
and any 'energetic' piece by Bach, Mahler, and Mozart.

Skeptic, you provided alot of assistance to me several years ago. Looking for some help again.

Tanks.

THOB

...hasn't posted here in quite some time...at least under that moniker...He might be lurking, but...

jimHJJ[...Pat D. (also rather low-key these days) may have some suggestions...]

[Pat D]

...hasn't posted here in quite some time...at least under that moniker...He might be lurking, but...

jimHJJ[...Pat D. (also rather low-key these days) may have some suggestions...]

Just joking, Jim. I've never warmed up to Rachmaninoff's First Concerto and the Second is not my favorite, so perhaps I'm not the best person to ask. Skeptic or Soundmind, as he now calls himself, has a much vaster collection of recordings and lots more money than I do, and as I recall, his wife is a pianist.

I think I only have two recordings of the First Concerto and you could probably only get one of them. Earl Wild with Jascha Horenstein and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is quite virtuosic. The recording is also very good, with Recording Engineer Kenneth G. Wilkinson (1965). Chesky has reissued it.

There are any number of good recordings of the Second Concerto. Wild/Horenstein is very fine, and I have a couple of good recordings on LP by Rubinstein with Reiner and Ormandy conducting.

Now, the Third Concerto . . . well, I've several excellent recordings there (all three Horowitz recordings, three with Ashkenazy, one with Wild, Bolet, Mogilevsky, Malcuzynski, Van Cliburn . . . there's a few more I'd like to hear. But that wasn't the question.

The Penguin Guide thinks Ashkenazy/Previn is a good set, but I haven't heard it, only the Third Concerto. They also like Glemser/Wit for Concertos 1 and 4 on Naxos.

[Dusty Chalk]

Just to continue the off-topic -- for the 3rd, Argerich should handily make the short list.

Sorry, we now return you to your regularly scheduled 1st and 2nd.

I'll second the Rubinstein (he's a universal recommendation from me -- I like pretty much everything he's ever performed). I thought I had more renditions of this, but it seems that I don't. I think I have it on the fox box from Grimaud, but that's the only other one I can think of at the mo. And yes, I would recommend it. I like Grimaud for everything she has chosen to perform as well. I think it also comes as an individual disk, but not paired with the first, I don't think. Yeah, here it is:

http://cover6.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/410/415118.jpg

[JohnMichael]

I like

Rachmoninov's Piano Concerto No. 2
Lang Lang, piano
Orchestra Of The Marinsky Theater
DG

Rachmoninov's Piano Concerto No. 3
Leif Ove Andsnes
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
(live recording)
EMI

Mahler Symphony 5
Simon Rattle
Berlin Philharmonic
EMI

[the hand of boredom]

Thanks fellas, just what I'm looking for.

Barber's Adagio? I have heard this performed quite well from a download, but don't know which performance it's from at all.

I remember falling in love with 25th symphony the moment it pentrated my brain. I'm obviously looking for a virtuous rendition of this work also.

I checked out arkivmusic's database and they have so much to choose from, it's just a matter of knowing which performances are great, and which recordings are mastered best.

Cheers All.

THOB

[bobsticks]

Hey THOB,

Lot of possibilities for Barber,but I prefer the Sony Masterworks disc (sk90390) with Bernstein conducting the New York Phil. I also second the Rach 2 by Van Cliburn,

Cheers