# Best Recording of Lieutenant Kije



## JesseHolmz

Could someone recommend some really good recordings of "Lieutenant Kije"?


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## Tapkaara

Reiner/Chicago


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## joen_cph

I´ve got the Scherchen and the Abbado/Chicago. Can´t say anything about 
the Reiner. Scherchen often has a refreshingly unorthodox view of the music 
that he records, but in this case there isn´t anything in particular to recommend,
it is all rather mainstream, and the sound is poor. The Abbado is good, sufficiently 
lively and circus-like when necessary. Moreover it is usually coupled with the 
Scythian Suite, a masterpiece and a contrast to Kije as regards style. 

Whether there is a more complete recording of the music than the suite - 
well, one will have to do some research.


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## Tapkaara

joen_cph said:


> I´ve got the Scherchen and the Abbado/Chicago. Can´t say anything about
> the Reiner. Scherchen often has a refreshingly unorthodox view of the music
> that he records, but in this case there isn´t anything in particular to recommend,
> it is all rather mainstream, and the sound is poor. The Abbado is good, sufficiently
> lively and circus-like when necessary. Moreover it is usually coupled with the
> Scythian Suite, a masterpiece and a contrast to Kije as regards style.
> 
> Whether there is a more complete recording of the music than the suite -
> well, one will have to do some research.


I have that Abbado disc you mention with Scythian and Kije...but also Nevsky. Is this the same disc you have?

The Reiner is really quite good. It's on Living Stereo.


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## joen_cph

Only got the old vinyl coupling
of Scythian + Kije; but I have the Nevsky/Abbado separately, also on vinyl. What is on the Reiner ?


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## Tapkaara

joen_cph said:


> Only got the old vinyl coupling
> of Scythian + Kije; but I have the Nevsky/Abbado separately, also on vinyl. What is on the Reiner ?


Mysterious Mountain by Hovhaness and Le Basier de la fée of Stravinsky.


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## Moldyoldie

I'll vouch for the Reiner, but my release pairs it with _Alexander Nevsky_...in English! (bah!)


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## joen_cph

Well, a bit off-topic - No wait - this is also about film music - and there´s a poignant piccolo player in Kijé - a quote from the musician Mischa Stutzman:
During the 1947-48 season with the Pittsburgh Symphony, William Zinn shared a room with the orchestra’s piccolo player. They hung out together, and wherever they went, his friend carried his piccolo in his jacket pocket. Whenever the spirit moved him, he would pull out his piccolo and play a passage from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4, or Sousa’s The Stars and Stripes Forever. 

One evening they sat in the balcony of the local cinema, watching a mystery movie, and pulled of an impromptu prank: at the film’s climax, a balcony door slid open near the seated victim and a hand holding a long knife appeared, ready to strike. Zinn’s friend quickly pulled out his piccolo and began to play the solo from Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, double forte. The woman seated in front of him screamed in terror, and ushers quickly ran up the balcony with flashlights. The movie stopped, the houselights came up, and Zinn and his friend sat there looking innocent until the search was finished and the movie resumed. 

The next day, at the Symphony’s rehearsal of the Strauss tone poem, conductor Fritz Reiner stopped the orchestra right after the piccolo solo. He said to the soloist, "You played it better last night."


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## david johnson

reiner/chicago for me.


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## JesseHolmz

where can i purchase the reiner/chicago MP3? what album is it on? i can't find it on itunes. it seems like someone deleted my post, perhaps thinking i wanted to illegally download it.


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## joen_cph

Doesn´t seem to be on classicsonline or e-music, where "Kije" and "Nevsky" 
produce most results.

Its on this Danish page, price DKK 29,- or about 3,75 Euros for the Kije only
http://yousee.musik.tdconline.dk

The company is acknowledged and has many shops in DK.


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## JesseHolmz

joen_cph said:


> Doesn´t seem to be on classicsonline or e-music, where "Kije" and "Nevsky"
> produce most results.
> 
> Its on this Danish page, price DKK 29,- or about 3,75 Euros for the Kije only
> http://yousee.musik.tdconline.dk
> 
> The company is acknowledged and has many shops in DK.


what did you search for exactly?


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## joen_cph

Searching for Fritz Reiner, 59 titles come up;
on the 2nd page, Kije can be seen (5 tracks).


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## shsherm

CSO with Reiner-I just heard this on the radio Friday evening KUSC 91.5 Los Angeles. They play a lot of Reiner CSO on this station.


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## christmashtn

Serge Koussevitzky and Boston Symphony on the Pearl label is the granddaddy of all performances. The ear will easily adjust to the 78 RPM sonics.


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## robert

Leinsdorf RCA

Robert


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## drth15

*Lt Kije*

Szell/Cleveland. Also one of their best sounding ecordings.


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## qualityaudio

I was pleased to finally find the music from Woody Allen's "Love and Death". Thanks!

Rhapsody has the Rainer/Chicago version from the RCA Basic 100 series and the sonically superior Everest recording by the London Symphony, led by Sir Malcolm Sargent, among several other recordings. Both are downloadable for US$8.99.


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## tahnak

JesseHolmz said:


> Could someone recommend some really good recordings of "Lieutenant Kije"?


The best I have heard is Ormandy and Philadelphia on CBS.


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## Vaneyes

Tennstedt.


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