Brainwave Symphony CD 4

Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 4; Francesca da Rimini - London Symphony Orchestra; Antal Dorati
Classical | 1 CD | EAC prebeta 099 RIP | FLAC | 416 MB | scans + log | No CUE | RS links
Label: Mercury Living Presence

A truly rare excellent recording and performance, October 29, 2003
With each additional Living Presence CD I purchase I am more amazed at the sheer technical genius possessed by the Mercury recording engineers. The Tchaikovsy 4th and Prince Igor recordings are among the best recorded works that I have ever heard; the artistic merit is equally high. Fracesca de Rimini is vital from a performance point of view, though the recording quality is less.
To make an editorial statement: I think that this old Mercury recording shows how timeless technique, such as microphone placement, on a 40-year-old recording surpasses today's technical capabilities placed in less-capable hands. These old Mercury recordings bring out the music in a truly "living" way. Many of today's "wide dyanmic range" (ie. you often can't hear 50% of the music) recordings and their creators would be well-advised to learn from these old LP-era masterworks.
In any event Dorati and his orchestras have given the user a truly desert-island, compelling recording that you will reach for over and over again.
By A Customer form Amazon.com

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Edith Mathis (sop); Berliner Philharmoniker; Herbert von Karajan
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 226 Mb | FLAC+LOG+M3U+Cue | Full scans | 2 RS links
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon DG (E) 415 323-2GH

…Such playing (though if I'm to be hyper-critical I don't care for some of the solo-violin playing), such excellent recording balance and, above all, such conducting, Karajan at his most relaxed and winning, making all the humorous and fantastic points in the score with such affection.
The Gramophone

Johannes Brahms: Variation on a Theme by Joseph Haydn op. 56a; Nänie op. 82; Symphony No. 4 in E minor op. 98 -
Rundfunkchor Berlin; Berliner Philharmoniker; Claudio Abbado
Classical | 1 CD | EAC Rip | 374 MB | FLAC+LOG+M3U+Cue | Complete scans | FP & RS links
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon | Recorded: 1989 | Published: 1998

This last installment in Claudio Abbado's fine Brahms cycle has the same virtues as the previous recordings: excellent playing, fine recording, and an intensely lyrical response to the music that never precludes a healthy dose of energy where required. The high point of the cycle is the Third Symphony, followed by the Second. If you have those and wish to collect the others, they are not far behind in quality and you can buy this disc (and the one with the First Symphony) with complete confidence. The couplings are also very well done. –David Hurwitz

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4 & Capriccio Italien op. 45
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Daniele Gatti
SACD ISO: 2,89 GB (Stereo + MCH DSD) | FLAC @ 24bit/88.2kHz: 930 MB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Harmonia Mundi USA # HMU 807393 | Country/Year: Europe 2005 | 5% Rec. Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…If old timer stereo buffs still hold to the iron-handed Mravinsky or the leather-gloved Abbado, even they will have to admit that only Jansons of digital recordings comes close to Gatti in making the case for Tchaikovsky's Fourth as a masterful symphony. Harmonia Mundi's English-based recorded sound is just as clear and bright as its French- or American-based recorded sound, but also warmer and lusher and more vivid.

Darius Milhaud evidently planned his musical career on a long-term basis. In 1920 he announced that he would write eighteen string quartets in his life, and he did so, completing his last quartet in 1951. Milhaud said that he did not plan on writing symphonies until 1942 (when he would be fifty years old), but that when a commission came in for a symphonic work to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he judged that he was ready, and accepted the commission. Symphony No. 1 was the result…….