Quote Originally Posted by chancethegardener
Well, that certainly is good little collection of classical music. And I'll bet it's just the tip of the iceberg as far as what you have in total. Some great new things there for all of us to check out.

You have made some interesting choices in performances!

For example, I can't even begin to imagine Messiah with Robert Shaw and Atlanta, however am willing to be convinced. I'll see if I can get a copy over here and listen. Always on the lookout for new and interesting performances.

You certainly have the best Ring cycle (Solti) - I think everyone agrees on that.

Suitner is not to my liking in Beethoven Symphonies - that's just me. I tend to go for different conductors for each Symphony. For example, Karl Bohm's mid 70's recording for No 6, Toscanini for No 5, and my tastes in No 9 vary. At the moment my favourite is Ferenc Fricsay's 1958 version - brilliant. Szell's late 60's version with the Cleveland is excellent too.
LOL! Not evryone agrees about anything, certainly not in music, not even about Solt's Ring cycle.

Shaw's Messiah on Telarc is very good and very well recorded. It is certainly not an original instruments version but some of the tempos are very fast. The chorus is not all that large, but certainly does not sound small. I also like the old Klemperer and also Beecham, although I think it is so spectacularized as to lose contrast. I like a big Messiah though I have nothing against small ones and have performed in one with a chorus of 18 or 19 people who really could sing. In any case, I can practically sing most of the choruses of Messiah without a score and can so sing the bass arias. It's a fun work to perform.

I do like Suitner's recordings of Beethoven's 4th and 9th Symphonies very much, also the sound. I did get the set, which is not bad at all, nice enough but nothing special for the most part.

I do like Leibowitz's Beethoven cycle on Chesky, very strong performances in fine sound. Recorded in the '60's by RCA for Reader's Digest, I understand.

My favorite Eroica is Ansermet, SRO, but I also like a number of others.

For the 4th, Ansermet is with the best, I think, also Leibowitz.

The 5th is not my favorite, but I do like Leibowitz as well as any. Carlos Kleiber's dramatic performance is given rather strange sound, though it sounds better on my new speakers. Ansermet's very different and rather subdued version brings out the musical structures very well and I quite enjoy it--but I'm something of an Ansermet fan.

Leibowitz is very good on the 6th, as is Ansermet, and also the older Karajan. I haven't listened to Walter for a while as my turntable stopped working--but a new one is coming, supposedly this week.

For the 7th it is Ansermet hands down. But Leibowitz is excellent, too, and Kleiber's performance is fine.

For the 8th, the best I've heard is Leibowitz, who brings out the humour in the work. I conceive it as a sort of take off on Beethoven's heavier symphonies.

Suitner's 9th is the first one I ever really liked. Leibowitz is fine, too. Sometime I will have to listen to the earlier stereo Karajan on DG, I suppose.