# Greatest BIS albums?



## VanCrusty

I am looking for the finest recordings on the BIS label. Anyone have recommendations?

VanCrusty


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## Taplow

Here are some of my favourites:

CPE Bach Cello Concertos: BIS CD 807 (Hidemi Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan)
Grieg Orchestral Songs: BIS SACD 1531 (Ole Kristian Ruud, Bergen Philharmonic)
Handel Recorder Sonatas: BIS CD 300955 (Dan Laurin, Masaaki Suzuki, Hidemi Suzuki)
Hindemith Violin Sonatas: BIS CD 761 (Ulf Wallin, Roland Pöntinen)
Sibelius Symphony No.5 (Original and Final versions): BIS CD 863 (Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra)
Villa-Lobos Complete Choros and Bachianas Brasileiras: BIS CD 1830/32

Should be something there for all tastes. :tiphat:


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## bigshot

All the Sibelius symphonies are good. My only quibble about BIS is that the dynamic range is sometimes too broad to listen to comfortably.


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## Bulldog

Some other favorites:

1. Quite a few Aho recordings.
2. Every Bach recording featuring Suzuki as conductor and those as keyboardist.
3. Berwald string quartets.
4. Shostakovich symphony cycle/Wiggelsworth


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## Pugg

If you like piano music: Evgeny Sudbin on Bis.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/ad...k=&performer=sudbin&medium=all&label=bis&cat=


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## Kjetil Heggelund

I have several BIS albums, they won "label of the year" this year at ICMA! Try some Schnittke


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## Guest

Well I'm about to listen to Shostakovich 11th Symphony by Wigglesworth/NLRSO on BIS - I'll let you know.


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## bigshot

Some of the 99 cent megabox downloads at Amazon include BIS recordings. That would be a good way to sample them cheaply.


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## wkasimer

A couple of terrific vocal CD's:


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## Dirge

My favorite/most-listened-to BIS albums …

W. A. MOZART: Divertimento in E-flat major (String Trio), K. 563
:: Trio Zimmermann
Zimmermann, Tamestit & Poltéra are a touch buttoned-down and formal in mien, but their playing is impeccably stylish and proficient, and their rapport couldn't be better.

_Im Herbst ~ Choral Works by Brahms & Schubert_
:: Pedersen/Det Norske Solistkor
The exceedingly well-matched and balanced Norwegians sing in as pure and flawless a manner as humanly possible while managing not to sound neutral/generic/faceless-no mean trick. It's all very sublime. The album contains a superb account of what is perhaps my favorite Romantic choral work, Brahms's _Geistliches Lied_, a deceptively simple work of great beauty that conceals a structure of unexpected complexity-a rather ingenious double canon as it turns out. In that regard, it might be thought of as the Romantic counterpart to Tallis's _Miserere nostri_.

Edvard GRIEG: _The Complete Music for String Orchestra_
:: Tønnesen/Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
The included recording of the _Holberg Suite_ has been my go-to recording of the work since I bought this album in the early '80s-it's one of those exceedingly rare "just right" recorded performances.

_The Solitary Cello ~ Cello Music from the Twentieth Century_
:: Frans Helmerson
Helmerson's focused/concentrated/tense/high-strung brand of playing isn't for everyone, but it works for me, especially in Crumb's early Cello Sonata.


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## Chatellerault

Ronald Brautigam has recorded Beethoven's complete solo piano works on fortepiano (modern copies of pianos from Beethoven's time)
"This could be a Beethoven piano-sonata cycle that challenges the very notion of playing this music on modern instruments, a stylistic paradigm shift." (Fanfare Magazine)

Also recommended are his recordings of Mozart's Piano Concertos, also on fortepiano and to be completed soon, there are still a couple of concerti to be released.


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## JSBach85

Bulldog said:


> Some other favorites:
> 
> 2. Every Bach recording featuring Suzuki as conductor and those as keyboardist.


It's that simple.


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## Bill Cooke

BIS discs I've enjoyed and returned to include:

Tubin symphony cycle conducted by Neeme Jarvi

Holmboe symphony cycle conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes

Martinu symphony cycle conducted by Jarvi

Saeverud: Piano Concerto / Symphony 9 (I absolutely love this piano concerto; modern and interesting)

Japanese Orchestral Music (works by Ifukube, Tanaka, Toyama, Otaka, Wada)


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## Triplets

I'm wondering why the OP is particularly interested in BIS. Is it because of their support of SACD/DSD? Is he or she supportive of all things Swedish?:lol: 
I have dozens of BIS recordings but before making recommendations it would be helpful to know what you are looking for


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## Melvin

BIS is a generally a good label in my consideration. I like all the BIS I own, usually interesting repertoire, and usually well played.

Favorite out of my collection (of less than a dozen) is BIS-CD-52
The Contemporary American 'C'
5 works by 5 different American composers each who's name begins with 'C'! Each piece is a good one (but not overheard) from each respective composer, and excellently played. 

Again, in my book you usually can't go wrong with BIS.
(Especially) If you're fond of off-the-beaten path repertoire, it's a pretty reliable source.
I'll always pick them out if I see them at the libraries, because BIS is no BS.


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## bigshot

They're better with Northern European stuff. But they do tend to have an unlistenable dynamic range sometimes.


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## Triplets

bigshot said:


> They're better with Northern European stuff. But they do tend to have an unlistenable dynamic range sometimes.


I haven't heard every BIS disc out there, but I don't understand what you mean. My beef is that some of their Orchestral discs seem to be recorded at a very low level, requiring turning up the volume


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## bigshot

And then they hit a peak that makes you turn the volume down again.

In digital, dynamic range extends downward, not upward.


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## CDs

The only BIS albums I currently own are of Yevgeny Sudbin. All of which are great!


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## Triplets

bigshot said:


> And then they hit a peak that makes you turn the volume down again.
> 
> In digital, dynamic range extends downward, not upward.


I haven't had that issue once I hit a listenable volume, I've never heard any distortion or hard digital edges. If anything, my experience is their discs have a bit less treble energy, which is a good thing in my system, which tends toward the bright side and can sound a bit to clangorous with some Piano Music


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