# Composers' own recordings - any better?



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I've been reading reviews of Marin Alsop's recording of Bernstein's _MASS_, several of them saying that it's better than Bernstein's original recording...

...which got me thinking: Have you heard any recordings of works (Rachmaninov PCs, Britten's War Requiem, for example) that are better in quality or performance than their composers own recordings of those pieces?


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

No, not really. Unless it's just a bad performance, there isn't any better or worse.


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## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

Well, I personally like Karajan's Symphony of Psalms more than Stravinsky's own.. But that's just opinion..


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I have a lot of Rachmaninoff stuff played/conducted by himself by I can't stand it. Simply because of the sound quality. It is possible that with better sound recording they would be my favourite interpretations but since it's unlistenable... no, thanks. The domination of composer performing his work over other performers is not so obvious that I could resign from comfortable sound for it.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

There's no maxim that says a composer's performance/recording of his own work is necessarily better (or even more likely to be better than) the recordings of others. I would not at all be surprised that many recordings of works are better than the composer's own, and I would never assume that the composer's version is the immediate 'must-have' edition; more something of historical interest. Indeed, I believe a number of composers have often spoken about their preferences for certain performers who interpret their works better than anyone else (themselves included).


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I don't know if they're better, but I really like some composer's performances of their own works, namely Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Hovhaness, Hindemith, Copland, Kodaly, Stravinsky & Tippett. I don't think classical (or any) music should be seen as a competition, there's no such thing as the "best" version, IMO. But it's always good to get the composer's gloss on his/her own piece, especially if they are competent at conducting or playing an instrument, and I agree that it helps if the sound quality is also good.


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## scytheavatar (Aug 27, 2009)

How many composers could claim to be good conductors in the first place? That left any sort of recordings for us? I personally never considered Bernstein to be a good conductor, but even so he's pretty much the only composer I can think of that's highly respected as a conductor. The skillset you need to write good music has nothing to do with the skillset you need to led an orchestral, to get them to perform the way you want them to perform.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

No, not really. Unless it's just a bad performance, there isn't any better or worse.


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## jack1234 (Dec 8, 2009)

*Will symphonic orchestras survive*

agree live performance makes the composition live, but using advanced synthesisers you can really perform live. Imagine a flute with 88 keys. With breath controller this is at least as good as a real flute and even more...


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Stravinsky's own performance of Le Sacre is a good example of a composer's own recording not being the final word. Though this is a praised performance, I find it dull with a thin-sounding orchestra. Tempi are nothing special and there is a general lack of pagan fire throughout.

So no.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> No, not really. Unless it's just a bad performance, there isn't any better or worse.


En Garde!


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## qualityaudio (Dec 8, 2009)

Seems to me that a good composer would know his limitations or strengths as a performer. Judging by the liner notes, Philip Glass seems to have found a team of people he trusts to record his music and the resulting performances are usually spectacular.

While the original is still spectacular, I tend to prefer the Crouch End Festival Chorus version of "Songs from Liquid Days" however.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Oh, that we could have the BBC broadcast of Rubbra conducting his fourth symphony...

Elgar and Stravinsky spring to mind. Elgar for pretty much anything other than the violin concerto (which truly IS definitive, can't imagine it being played any other way than by the young Menuhin!); Stravinsky for The Rite of Spring (Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic absolutely capture the essence of the work, where Stravinsky rather falls flat).


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Agree with what others have said about Stravinsky's own Rite - the final sacrificial dance is even quite sloppy in parts. I guess it may just come down to the fact that conducting is a difficult skill quite different to composing.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Though it is true that many conductors or pianists were composers and vice versa, not many _great_ pianists after Liszt were also great composers. Not to say that there weren't composers who had loads of _talent_ as a pianist. Generally these are the pianists that rock the world stage at an early age and then run off and become enraptured by their composing (Prokofiev, Dohnanyi, Debussy, Bartok, Grieg, Albeniz...) Obviously, we can't blame such great minds for not maintaining a large technique. (Though all these composers named above had a huge technique)

There are some exceptions though, like Rachmaninov, who is often considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century. Unlike Aramis, I do consider Rach's recording of some of his works _definitive_, among the likes of Horowitz, Richter, Moiseiwitsch, Janis, Ashkenazy, Van Cliburn, Kapell, and some others. Though even Rachmaninov, being the virtuosic pianist he was, probably considered his composition first and foremost.

I'm listening to Grieg plays his Lyric Suite right now, actually. It may not be definitive, but it is pretty darn good!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I've recently read in a book that *Pierre Boulez* turned to conducting partly because he thought that other conductors' efforts with his pieces were not up to the high standard that he expected. Of course, he was already in the conducting game by then, but this must have given him an added reason to become a full-time conductor...

& one composer who ended up conducting pretty good recordings of his own work was *Witold Lutoslawski*. I've read that he wanted to conduct his own works because he wanted a high degree of control over how they would be recorded, as they have some built-in chance elements which sound quite different in the hands of other conductors...


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Andre said:


> I've recently read in a book that *Pierre Boulez* turned to conducting partly because he thought that other conductors' efforts with his pieces were not up to the high standard that he expected. Of course, he was already in the conducting game by then, but this must have given him an added reason to become a full-time conductor...
> 
> & one composer who ended up conducting pretty good recordings of his own work was *Witold Lutoslawski*. I've read that he wanted to conduct his own works because he wanted a high degree of control over how they would be recorded, as they have some built-in chance elements which sound quite different in the hands of other conductors...


Rachmaninoff apparently played his works different every time in order to allow room for interpretation. He also praised a good number of interpretations of his works for the same reason, even going so far as to say that the interpreter was his "better".


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## jack1234 (Dec 8, 2009)

agree live performance makes the composition live, but using advanced synthesisers you can really perform live. Imagine a flute with 88 keys. With breath controller this is at least as good as a real flute and even more...

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