...cool things about this hobby is the choices...particularly with the music and even more so with classical pieces...In rock/pop they're called "covers" and in classical, simply "interpretations"...

In another thread there was some inquiry as to recordings of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and ultimately the OP chose Seji Ozawa and the BSO on Telarc...OK, but I got to thinking "a conductor and orchestra?"...for a chamber piece? Soooo...I did some sampling and head-to-head comparisons of both the above mentioned disc and one that I had suggested from Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante...

Now I have heard the "Seasons" for more seasons than I care to mention and have always liked the piece...in fact I own two "versions" on cassette (I forget the performers) and other than minor interpretive differences, they're pretty much the same...as is the Telarc disc...

To these old ears all three vintage recordings now sound just too sweet and thick (talk about audiospeak) and the tempo is plodding...the scale of the piece is far overshadowed by the virtual space presented on these discs, no immediacy...Now all of these things were perfectly fine and dandy until I heard Biondi and the boys.

I wanna' tell ya', as one remark in a review stated "...this is not your momma's Seasons..." I'm not sure if it's the manuscripts chosen, the original instrument movement, the players, the producer or what ever, but this version has really breathed new life into the moribund cycle of seasons IMHO.

Some of my other multiples are of solo guitar, Beethoven piano concertos, Mozart and Wagner operas...and two really different versions of Carmina Burana...

Anywho, having said that, I'm curious as to others who have multiple recordings of any classical piece, yet have a fave and why that might be.

jimHJJ(...and no, I don't get a cut for touting FB and EG...)