# Recordings that you can't stand



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I thought it would be interesting to see what recordings other TC members really don't like listening to.

I really can't stand these two:


















They both sound like sludge.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

This though I wouldn't say I can't stand. It just lacks the energy imo. Credit to them for recording all that music. Manze/Pinnock own the Op.5 and Op. 6. But this collection is good for Op. 1-4.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

^You surprise me, neoshredder. When you bought it you were telling everyone how great it was!


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

It's pretty good. Just nothing special. And comparing it to Pinnock's version of Op. 6 was not a good thing to do for it. lol


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

neoshredder said:


> It's pretty good. Just nothing special. And comparing it to Pinnock's version of Op. 6 was not a good thing to do for it. lol


Well what are some recordings you just can't stand?


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

I don't have enough recordings to blame it on the recording. But non-HIP recordings of Baroque music tend to not be to my liking. I Musici for an example.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

neoshredder said:


> I don't have enough recordings to blame it on the recording. But non-HIP recordings of Baroque music tend to not be to my liking. I Musici for an example.


That slipped my mind. Here's more sludge:


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Pretty much every recording of Turangalîla that isn't conducted by Antoni Wit, he seems to be the only person on record to treat the tempi with any care. Where others take it so fast as to make it sound almost fluffy, Wit takes each movement at paces where the detail really shines through but without losing any of the wild energy and vigour necessary in movements such as the _Joie du sang des etoiles_. The resulting performance has far more weight, substance and power than a Chung or a Previn or even Andrew Davis' Proms performance from the early 2000s, which is actually pretty good for a youth orchestra. While I'm at it, it is a terrible shame that there is no extant recording of Bernstein's 1948 première, if there's any piece that can handle Lenny's "swooning and hamming" it's this one, especially in the huge final utterance of the love theme.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

I can't stand any recording by Toscanini, Stokovsky, Baremboin (conductor nor pianist), Rosalynd Tureck and Argerich.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Odnoposoff said:


> I can't stand any recording by Toscanini, Stokovsky, Baremboin (conductor nor pianist), Rosalynd Tureck and Argerich.


I like Barenboim and I love Argerich.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Entonces estamos de acuerdo en que no estamos de acuerdo.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Colin Davis' recording of Bruckner's 6th with the LSO. I know for one reason or another it's supposed to be the Bruckner symphony that is most difficult to justice do but this performance sounds to me that it is not just lightweight but also in many places strangely lacking any genuine involvement.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Since some of the ones I don't care for have been mentioned, I'm gonna go with Uchida Mozart sonatas.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I dislike most of the recordings Szell made with the Cleveland orchestra . The playing is polished to a faretheewell - incredibly precise and clear in texture , but as interpretations, most I've heard are unbelievably wooden and pedantic . Szell was a control freak . Everything is so tight-fisted and the phrasing is 
exaggeratedly clipped . 
The brass, particualrly the horns and trumpets , produce a very brittle sound and play with too much tongue and not enough tone . They tend to peck at the notes rather than produce a sustained tone . The overall sound of the orchestra is extremely dry and greyish . This may be partly the fault of the recorded sound, as Columbia/CBS recordings always tended to lack resonance, color and bloom . 
When Lorin Maazel took the Cleveland orchestra over a couple of years after Szell's death, they began to make recordings for Decca and moved from the orchestra's home in Severance hall to another more resonant location, I believe a masonic hall or something like that, and I could scarcely recognize the orchestra .
Now it sounded so warm ,resonant and colorful . 
I prefer Szell's other recordings made with the Concertgebouw orchestra, the LSO and the VPO etc .


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I dislike most of the recordings Szell made with the Cleveland orchestra . The playing is polished to a faretheewell - incredibly precise and clear in texture , but as interpretations, most I've heard are unbelievably wooden and pedantic . Szell was a control freak . Everything is so tight-fisted and the phrasing is 
exaggeratedly clipped . 
The brass, particualrly the horns and trumpets , produce a very brittle sound and play with too much tongue and not enough tone . They tend to peck at the notes rather than produce a sustained tone . The overall sound of the orchestra is extremely dry and greyish . This may be partly the fault of the recorded sound, as Columbia/CBS recordings always tended to lack resonance, color and bloom . 
When Lorin Maazel took the Cleveland orchestra over a couple of years after Szell's death, they began to make recordings for Decca and moved from the orchestra's home in Severance hall to another more resonant location, I believe a masonic hall or something like that, and I could scarcely recognize the orchestra .
Now it sounded so warm ,resonant and colorful . 
I prefer Szell's other recordings made with the Concertgebouw orchestra, the LSO and the VPO etc .

Absolute Blasphemy! A a native Clevelander I can assure you that the Lorin Maazel doesn't come near to having been the greatest conductor the Cleveland Orchestra ever had, while Szell was most certainly among the best ever... if not THE best. I can't think of a single recording by Maazel and the Cleveland Orchestra that I would think of as "essential" while Szell has any number of such. His recording of Schumann's symphonies lead me to truly believe that Schumann was indeed one of the great symphonic composers. His Brahms and Beethoven piano concertos with Leon Fleischer are among the finest ever recorded, as is his Brahms violin concerto with David Oistrakh. Neither would I be without Szell/Cleveland's Mozart symphonies and several other discs.

* Allow me to correct myself... there is one brilliant recording by Maazel and the Cleveland Orchestra: Prokofiev's _Romeo and Juliet_. I had mistakenly thought that this was recorded under Christoph von Dohnányi.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I have many of Argerich's recordings and generally very much like her work, but I hate the Kremer and Argerich rendition of Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra. I saw one review that said, "Kremer and Argerich's tempos and overall characterization are almost hysterical." Awhile later I received the CD as a present and listened for myself. All I can say is that they managed to take a work that I love and make it awful (for me). The review was pretty much right on.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Odnoposoff said:


> I can't stand any recording by Toscanini, Stokovsky, Baremboin (conductor nor pianist), Rosalynd Tureck and Argerich.


Well, you've named enough of the greatest performers of all time in an "I hate" thread, so I think we can call the game over now.

Listng Szell and the Cleveland puts the game into overtime.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

superhorn said:


> I dislike most of the recordings Szell made with the Cleveland orchestra . The playing is polished to a faretheewell - incredibly precise and clear in texture , but as interpretations, most I've heard are unbelievably wooden and pedantic . Szell was a control freak . Everything is so tight-fisted and the phrasing is
> exaggeratedly clipped .
> The brass, particualrly the horns and trumpets , produce a very brittle sound and play with too much tongue and not enough tone . They tend to peck at the notes rather than produce a sustained tone . The overall sound of the orchestra is extremely dry and greyish . This may be partly the fault of the recorded sound, as Columbia/CBS recordings always tended to lack resonance, color and bloom .
> When Lorin Maazel took the Cleveland orchestra over a couple of years after Szell's death, they began to make recordings for Decca and moved from the orchestra's home in Severance hall to another more resonant location, I believe a masonic hall or something like that, and I could scarcely recognize the orchestra .
> ...


In Severance Hall they have or did have a great experience in that some of the orchestra would mingle with the audience during the interval. You should have heard what they had to say about Maazel. But CBS were disgraceful in treating Szell to such bad recording his European efforts were far superior.
On the other hand no recording could save Maazel from being a third rater.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Odnoposoff said:


> I can't stand any recording by Toscanini, Stokovsky, Baremboin (conductor nor pianist), Rosalynd Tureck and Argerich.


You have upset me now, I love Toscanini and Stokowski. And we had such a good friendship going !!


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Well, we should concentrate on common things and forget those that keep us apart.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I actually like Maazel, for his emphasis on restraint and clarity. But yeah some people may see it as just being bland. The usual thing, different folks, different strokes.

But recordings I can't stand are *Bernstein doing Mahler *(but I like him doing his own stuff or other American music), *von Karajan* doing anything outside of 1800-1900 orbit (but his interps of R. Strauss is to my taste, but I see him as a Romantic composer of the 20th century anyway). I also don't understand how *Martha Argerich *is considered among the greatest chamber musicians alive today, yet as a lover or chamber music I have found her interps to be on steroids and too beefy, so to speak. Some things of hers I've clicked with though, esp. 20th century stuff.

As with *Maestro Celibidache*, I find his Bruckner (how should I put it?) kind of constipated. It's so freaking slow I'm like hanging on for him to push out every single note. It becomes kind of like a waiting game. I'm kind of working on it though, but I prefer Bruckner done more 'normally' in terms of tempo, not so slow and drawn out to infinity.

But I generally go for the interpreter putting the composer and the music itself first, not his/her own ego first. So no 'music on steroids' for me, nor that done "with every fibre of your body" (which is what Lenny said about him doing Mahler).

But I like far more musos than I dislike. I am pretty flexible with interpreters, or I try to be as much as I can. They are all unique and have their strengths and weaknesses. & as a non-muso, most of the times I've no clue why I respond to them the way I do, its often based on 'gut' feelings.


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## AndorFoldes (Aug 25, 2012)

Norrington/Beethoven symphonies


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Dissatisfied at Marek Janowski's 'Das Rheingold'


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Like his conducting or not, Lorin Maazel is anything but a"third rater". It may be that the Cleveland musicians didn't like him, but many other orchestra do admire his superb conducting technique,ear, and utter mastery of the score .


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

superhorn said:


> Like his conducting or not, Lorin Maazel is anything but a"third rater". It may be that the Cleveland musicians didn't like him, but many other orchestra do admire his superb conducting technique,ear, and utter mastery of the score .


Everybody is allowed their opinion but he's never made a hit on the scene and his readings are uninteresting.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

This one. Too fast. Same with the Handel one from Mackerras.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

This....






O....M....G.....


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Concerning* Celibidache*, there is usually a lot of difference between the late EMI releases (mainly slooooow) and the earlier material (DG and various other labels), which tend to be livelier, also in Bruckner.

An example: 4th Symphony: 
DG release: 19:06 - 16:06 - 9:48 - 23:44
EMI release: 22:08 - 17:50 - 11:20 - 27:52


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## ValleyRacer (Feb 27, 2015)

mmsbls said:


> I have many of Argerich's recordings and generally very much like her work, but I hate the Kremer and Argerich rendition of Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra. I saw one review that said, "Kremer and Argerich's tempos and overall characterization are almost hysterical." Awhile later I received the CD as a present and listened for myself. All I can say is that they managed to take a work that I love and make it awful (for me). The review was pretty much right on.
> 
> View attachment 7556


Of my 600 CD's collection, which I treasure, (just joined up as a frantic search for a 2nd Bruckner 4th for my collection) - when I saw this post/thread - the first recording that came to my mind was this shabby Mendelssohn CD. Now I"m going to give it a try on my newer CD player - but it's been ghastly to listen to.


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## ValleyRacer (Feb 27, 2015)

*Just ghastly Beethoven,*

That Beethoven 9 even puts Gustavo Dudamel (DG's latest schill) to shame. Hideous and the conductor is a MORON. Another AGONIZING recording is Karajan doing Mozart Divertimento KV334 with the full BPO.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Not sure that I really enjoy this type of thread.

Honestly the only classical recordings I ever have disliked is Andrea Bocelli. Everything else has been good to me.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

I am sure that Ormandy did good work ... some of the time ... but I haven't heard anything that I would put in that category. On more than one occasion I became familiar with a work through one of his recordings. Only later did I hear other versions and heard many things that were not even hinted at in the Ormandy versions. Having this happen made me consult the scores and it was clear that he was more concerned with his lush string tone than with following the composer's directions.

OK, it's now time for all the Philadelphia fans to come out of the woodwork and castigate me


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Celibidache's Brahms doesn't do anything for me, and I'm at best mildly appreciative of Gardiner's Mozart's Requiem. 

Next to those I have about 2800 hours of recordings that I enjoy! 

I don't really believe in putting myself in judgment of world-class performers who've spent their lives studying and practicing the music they record. I listen to learn, not to judge. If I can't help my judgments, as of Celibidache's Brahms or Gardiner's Mozart, the flaw is certainly in me rather than the music.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Becca said:


> I am sure that Ormandy did good work ... some of the time ... but I haven't heard anything that I would put in that category. On more than one occasion I became familiar with a work through one of his recordings. Only later did I hear other versions and heard many things that were not even hinted at in the Ormandy versions. Having this happen made me consult the scores and it was clear that he was more concerned with his lush string tone than with following the composer's directions.
> 
> OK, it's now time for all the Philadelphia fans to come out of the woodwork and castigate me


There´s quite a difference between earlier and later Ormandy recordings. Earlier ones are often very engaged and can be quite unusual. His mono Sacre (29mins) for instance is even faster than Dorati/Minneapolis, and the early Serkin mono concerto recordings are very passionate and interesting (Beethoven Concertos 1+2, for example).


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Slight revision... other recordings that I don't favor are purely sonic engineering. I am bugged by the early to late 1980's DDD recordings because of the clipping (stares at DG) in some of them. James Levine's The Planets is an example of this.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Taneyev said:


> I can't stand any recording by Toscanini, Stokovsky, Baremboin (conductor nor pianist), Rosalynd Tureck and Argerich.


Stand them? You can't even spell them!


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Ormandy was a fine conductor who just lived a little too long. On the other hand, Stokowski couldn't live long enough.

The only recordings that have outright irritated me recently have been in the abbado box set. His Beethoven is AWFUL.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

To give an idea of my varied tastes, I even enjoyed this very awesome vinyl transferred album:






Even this has some value to my ears.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I once had an LP of Robert Casadesus playing Mozart Piano Concertos. Couldn't stand it after being accustomed to the great Rudolf Serkin in Mozart.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

If a recording was that bad, I generally didn't listen to it twice (unless I just had to confirm that it was as bad as all that) -- and since I don't usually dig through the dustbin, I have long since forgotten most of them.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

There's a Metropolitan Opera DVD out there somewhere of Ariadne auf Naxos with the tenor James King wobbling his way painfully through his admittedly treacherous part, but whos the genius who decided they needed to preserve such a performance for posterity?


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

hpowders said:


> There's a Metropolitan Opera DVD out there somewhere of Ariadne auf Naxos with the tenor James King wobbling his way painfully through his admittedly treacherous part, but whos the genius who decided they needed to preserve such a performance for posterity?


Better yet there are consumers who are dying to get their hands on such a vivid performance.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Pierre Boulez conducting Wagner's _Parsifal_ as if it were by the seventh member of Les Six.

http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Parsif...id=1425102302&sr=1-1&keywords=parsifal+boulez

This is for people who really don't like the opera very much, or those who need to be home by midnight because the baby sitter has exams first thing next morning. Besides Boulez skating over the surface of the score we have Gwyneth Jones trying to seduce priggish boy scout James King away from the straight and narrow path with a wobble as wide as the road to hell. The only thing more surprising than the continued availability of this recording is the apparent number of people (see Amazon) who think it's "refreshing," or something like that. Guess there's someone out there for everything.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

albertfallickwang said:


> To give an idea of my varied tastes, I even enjoyed this very awesome vinyl transferred album:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Portsmouth Sinfonia are classic! The members are all musicians, but they don't play their own instrument. The results are hilarious :lol:


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough: I can't think of anything, offhand, that I cannot tolerate. I mean the performance; there's lots of stuff I'm not particularly into.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Robert Craft's Firebird on Naxos.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I find it difficult to tolerate the various Toscanini/NBC Beethoven cycle recordings from the late 1930's.

They promise "extraordinary sonic improvements" yet all remasterings sound like they were recorded in a phone booth, a small phone booth at that.

I don't know how much money I've wasted hoping for a decent Toscanini cycle from this time.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Primarily

1) boring musicianship 
2) poor singing 
3) exaggeratedly lightfoot HIP-style performances
4) a lack of space/"room" in the recording, especially for operas, too closely placed microphones, etc.
5) musical works I don´t like


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

brotagonist said:


> The Portsmouth Sinfonia are classic! The members are all musicians, but they don't play their own instrument. The results are hilarious :lol:


Not quite, bro: players had to either be non-musicians, or (as you say) if a musician, play an instrument that was entirely new to them.

http://http://www.talkclassical.com/34265-worst-symphony-recordings-post738622.html#post738622


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

Pascal Roge's Ravel is just way too fast most of the time........Ondine was very impressive, maybe even the best, but he just speeds through almost everything.....would much prefer a more sensitive performance with Ravel's works.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Honestly, I can't think of any recordings that repel me to the extent that I can't stand them.

I recently bought a recording of a few Beethoven piano sonatas by Daniel Barenboim, they left me _completely_ unmoved. I wouldn't say I can't stand it, though. I think we're all extra harsh on the recordings/soloists/conductors of our favorite composers. For example, Mahlerian has some strong feelings on how Karajan handles Mahler's music. I like HIP for most of Beethoven's symphonies, but please leave the Ninth and Sixth alone! Give me Karajan/Fricsay/Walter any day over Gardiner/Zinman. I'm incredibly picky on how I think each symphony "should" sound.


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## Revel (Feb 25, 2015)

It was only after _THIS_ purchase that I realized just how important Karajan is (to me). Not sure if I gave it away or purposely lost it...but I truly hated this recording. Thank you, Mr. Bohm, for giving me a sense of direction in my quest for Conductor preference.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

the worst recording I've ever heard is this one


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

This is one of the few CD's that I have discarded.


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## Guest (Mar 1, 2015)

joen_cph said:


> 5) musical works I don't like


Interesting criteria


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Recordings I can't stand? Any that has me playing clarinet.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

nathanb said:


> Interesting criteria


I was just trying to be original


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Those Wagner in English performances by Reginald Goodall and the English National Opera Orchestra.

I find them to be dreadful.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2015)

This album just about killed me:









I'm still getting bad flashbacks some times.

(What I say is absolutely true for me but should not be taken by anyone to mean that this performance or even this work are anything less than excellent. I'd rather crawl across hell than listen to this work again but plenty of people claim to like it so your mileage may vary!)


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Karajan's last recordings of Tchaikovsky's 4 , 5 and 6 symphonies.
Horrible..........


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Revel said:


> It was only after _THIS_ purchase that I realized just how important Karajan is (to me). Not sure if I gave it away or purposely lost it...but I truly hated this recording. Thank you, Mr. Bohm, for giving me a sense of direction in my quest for Conductor preference.
> 
> View attachment 65108


True, but imho, Bohm's analog recording blows Karajan away.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Itullian said:


> True, but imho, Bohm's analog recording blows Karajan away.


Can you post a picture of the analog recording, please?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

hpowders said:


> Recordings I can't stand? Any that has me playing clarinet.


John Adams (who played the clarinet, sort of) writes of his experience pinch-hitting in a professional orchestra. I can't remember the exact quote, but the conductor said something like, "Mr. Adams, please play the notes that the composer wrote. You will find them on the stand in front of you." A regular Professor Kingsfield!


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Can you post a picture of the analog recording, please?












Its in here too..............


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## Lord Lance (Nov 4, 2013)

Itullian said:


> Its in here too..............


This cycle cannot possibly be analogue. It is from the 1960s and/or 1970s. Bohm had outdated technology fetish?


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Lord Lance said:


> This cycle cannot possibly be analogue. It is from the 1960s and/or 1970s. Bohm had outdated technology fetish?


Bohm's recording is before the advent of digital recording so ADD at best.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Itullian said:


> Its in here too..............


Thanks, Itullian. I'm going to give the first movement a test listen tonight! I look forward to it. We'll see if it blows Karajan and Fricsay out the water.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> Thanks, Itullian. I'm going to give the first movement a test listen tonight! I look forward to it. We'll see if it blows Karajan and Fricsay out the water.


Kabooooom .....................


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## brg5658 (Mar 2, 2015)

Maybe it's just me, but most recordings of live concerts with _audible coughing, sneezing, and audience chatter_ annoy me to death.

It's possibly because I do almost all of my listening with closed-back audiophile headphones (not on an open air speaker system) -- but I can nearly never get past a "cough" bout in a classical recording. Drives me bonkers.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

George Costanza's recorded phone message song. Can't Stand Ya, Costanza!!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Nobody around here has heard France Clidat's Satie recordings, and nobody around here should.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Can't stand the singing on this one (and this is a song cycle! you can't balance that no matter how good the orchestra is managed).


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> Nobody around here has heard France Clidat's Satie recordings, and nobody around here should.


I own the set, and at times it seems a bit too rushed for instance, but it could be that it is more "authentic" in its approach, certainly if compared to De Leeuw´s very creative (and eminent) recordings.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

hpowders said:


> George Costanza's recorded phone message song. Can't Stand Ya, Costanza!!


I never really saw Seinfeld but wondering if I missed anything there.

And I don't mind coughing on live recording. Audience probably pointed fingers at me too LOL.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Roger Norrington in general, is repellant to me. I have given his music several chances but his approach and results just aren't for me.

Herbert Von Karajan's 1980's Beethoven repelled me from the Conductor for a very long time. Far too produced, glossy and slick for my tastes. My change of opinion of Karajan appropriately enough was thanks to the Philharmonia Cycle - a complete contrast to 1980's horror.

Sergiu Celibidache's Beethoven - Symphony 9 in particular. I love Celibidache's Bruckner, Brahms - many works in fact but Beethoven is not Bruckner. The Ninth is painfully slow and only Karajan's 1980's recording equals it in making one of my favourite pieces unenjoyable. The rest of the cycle varies piece by piece.

Chailly's Beethoven is the anti-Celibidache. Too much so. Both have enjoyable moments in the cycle but both kill the Ninth Symphony. In fairness I will re-review Chailly in the near future.


HIP Beethoven Ninth Symphonies. It doesn't sound right to me - too lightweight, thin sounding and the tempo always seems a shade too fast. The rest of Beethoven's Cycle sounds interesting and enjoyable HIP depending on the performance but the Ninth just doesn't suit it for my tastes.

Karl Bohm's Mozart Symphonies on DG with the Berliner Philharmoniker. Lifeless, bland and simply meh. The same can be said of Mackerras Scottish Chamber Orchestra latter Mozart Symphonies. Both Conductors are great elsewhere but in these recordings, I won't be listening to them again in the foreseeable future.

Valery Gergiev's LSO Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances. One of my first purchases and it killed my interest in Rachmaninov for a very long time. I literally cannot stand this recording, it has since been disposed of and will never darken my HiFi again. Rachmaninov however was saved thanks to YouTube and I enjoy his music very much.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

^^^^
Quite a few of my less favoured too .


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## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Who was it that did the two-hour version of Beethoven's Ninth I saw discussed on TC a while back?

I went looking to give it a play but couldn't find it.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

SimonNZ said:


> Who was it that did the two-hour version of Beethoven's Ninth I saw discussed on TC a while back?
> 
> I went looking to give it a play but couldn't find it.


Maximianno Cobra, it's listed on the 2nd page of this thread. He strikes as fast as his namesnake (if heavily sedated and trapped in glue). I actually quite like the recording. Well when I say "like", it is rather "admire from a distance". It is remarkable and fascinating that they manage to hold it together. Sure i've never actually listened to the whole of it, and I likely never will as it makes you feel like your toenails and teeth are being slowly pulled out, but people watch sports on slo-mo to get more insight, why not music.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Charles Ives Complete Symphonies, Dallas Symphony Andrew Litton.

Litton speaks Ives with a foreign accent.

Misguided, IMHO.


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## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

Schubert - Sonata in G Major, D894
Arcadi Volodos.

When Lupu, Brendel, Pires and others play this work i hear the beauty and torment of life. One of the most moving works I've ever heard.

When Volodos recorded it i wanted to tear my hair out. He put so-so-so much solemnity and drama into the work, as if performing a tribute to himself, and somehow removed all the true emotion. Excruciating and boring, quite a feat.


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## pentaquine (Mar 4, 2015)

Thielemann's Beethoven symphony no.7 from his cycle with VPO. I like most from that cycle, but that 7, it's like someone punched me in the stomach, so dark and devastating.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP: Most keyboard Bach CD's played on the modern piano.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

pentaquine said:


> Thielemann's Beethoven symphony no.7 from his cycle with VPO. I like most from that cycle, but that 7, it's like someone punched me in the stomach, so dark and devastating.


It's definitely darker than Kleiber's version which I consider to be definitive here.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I can't stand low-bit rate encoded mp3 classical music tracks. So awful and distorted.  My ears are rather picky.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yeah. There was a recording made by Norrington of Beethoven's Pastoral using "original instruments" that was so insenitive, I labeled it UN-HIP!

Thankfully, the majority of HIP Beethoven performances these days capture the spirit of the music.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Why dwell on them?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> I own the set, and at times it seems a bit too rushed for instance, but it could be that it is more "authentic" in its approach, certainly if compared to De Leeuw´s very creative (and eminent) recordings.


I don't hear this as authentic Satie. She plays Satie as if she's playing Chopin. Listen to the mess she makes of the Embryons Desseches. On the second piece, at 2:24, she even plays the grace notes with rubato. Or the Gnossiennes with the sudden extremes of volume. Why? It's not in the score. The same with the Prelude De La Porte; at .31 and .35, she actually rolls the chords. That's not in the score, either.

She is too idioscyncratic; she takes liberties that don't work. That type of thing works with Glenn Gould, but it's because he understands what he's playing. I don't think she has a clue of what Satie is about.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

No doubt there´s a point there; De Leeuw´s extremely slow, barren versions are however as far from the original, "music-hall"-inspired atmosphere of Satie´s origins than one could imagine, and Clidat (who I am not really a fan of as regards these recordings; Ciccolini for example is better), I imagine, is perhaps mainly taking liberties more within that capricious tradition too.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> No doubt there´s a point there; De Leeuw´s extremely slow, barren versions are however as far from the original, "music-hall"-inspired atmosphere of Satie´s origins than one could imagine, and Clidat (who I am not really a fan of as regards these recordings; Ciccolini for example is better), I imagine, is perhaps mainly taking liberties more within that capricious tradition too.


Just as a closing remark, personally, I think though Mr. de Leeuw is significantly slower than everyone else (though the pieces he recorded actually are marked "lent" or "calme"), he actually gets closer to the _spirit_ of Satie. Satie was at his core selfless and childlike, almost a mystic at the beginning. He reacted to the excesses of the previous era by reverting to a simpler style. The pieces recorded by de Leeuw reflect this selflessness and mysticism.

Ms. Clidat, on the other hand, in her quirkiness of playing, draws attention _to_ herself. That's why I don't think she gets what Satie was all about.

And I do agree with you; especially on the humorous pieces, Ciccollini (in his first cycle) is my preferred interpreter.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I found my first YouTube clip that was awful sounding... Neither by Morton Feldman that sounded so shrill and it hurt my ears... It was very low bit encoding I think because I found another version that sounded much better.


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