Jeno Jando is an interesting case. He was the original house pianist for Naxos, and made a bunch of records, everything from Bach to Bartok, and remarkably well played. So well played that I guess the critics thought he must be some kind of mindless automaton, or even a robot. But I always thought he was one of the most engaging musicians of the day and really liked pretty much everything I heard. Like Schubert's "Unfinished" Piano Sonata no. 15.



16/44 FLAC download

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Been there done that . If you don't insist on the original movie sound track I think this is your best bet:



On CD, LP.

And not just because it is from LA. I have a decent London pressing but if you want to go crazy there is a MFSL issue that I recall was pretty sweet:

https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?sort=price%2Cdesc&limit=25&master_id=45657...

P.S. Star Wars absolutely belongs here

I look forward to your further adventures. IMO (and back in the day I spent plenty of time with both) Mehta/London runs up the score on the original for sound. It is an arrangement and "only" 20something minutes, which is a downside for some but I consider that a bonus compared to the full movie soundtrack. Also Close Encounters is very good as well.

And since we're talking Star Wars, I've seen a couple of screenings where the music was performed live by an orchestra. Which is very cool. Except, if you know anything about trumpet playing, hitting all the high notes at the end after playing for 2 hours was a struggle, even for pros.

My first exposure to Mozart's c minor wind serenade was as a teenager in youth orchestra and I though it was pretty close to the best thing ever. At the time I felt like it's perfect marriage of pathos and classical elegance was just what I needed to feed my adolescent angst, and even having outgrown my angst I still think it is pretty much the best thing ever.



16/44 FLAC download

I'd probably call the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra my "go to" recording, but when I want to spice it up I'll go with the Czech Philharmonic winds.

I don't want to say that 1600 was actually a good time to be alive, but you had Shakespeare writing plays and Josquin des Prez composing some of the most magnificent choral polyphony ever written. So there were things to look forward to beyond plague and religious wars.



On CD

Bohuslav Martinů wrote an enormous amount of music, and most of it is unrelentingly good natured. But WWII brought out a darker more agitated side of his art. For example Symphony no. 3.



16/44 FLAC download.

There are more an more recordings of Martinů showing up these days, but the Naxos symphony cycle for the turn of the century is as good gets in this reporters opinion.

Is there are transitive property for musicians? Ivan Moravec's favorite pianist, or at least the one he said was most influential, was Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He was a complicated person and performer, but he is also one my favorites.



On CD.

He didn't record much, but his recordings are all beautifully played.

Also starting to listen to "Bartok, The String Quartets" by the Juilliard Quartet from 1950 on Pearl - a rare (for me) classical recording that is mono.



I'm sure it will take me a while to get all the way through these, but have enjoyed the first quartet.  

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I was going to say something about the Juilliard Quartet's late '40s recordings of the Bartok Quartets, which was the first commercial recording of the cycle. But they also were early and eager proponents of the Schoenberg Quartets which are equally important, difficult and ultimately rewarding. And today I learned among the many many people, places and things lost in the LA fires was a "vast trove of Schoenberg's music."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/arts/music/arnold-schoenberg-scores-fire.html...



On CD from the Complete Epic Recordings box.

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The first two Bartok quartets are very approachable. I find them dreamily expressionistic almost to the point of ambient, but if you listen carefully you can hear the Eastern European harmonies and rhythms in the background. It is the third and fourth where things get hairy. You get your Bartok Badge^tm when you make friends with them .

For me I was listening to a little Wagner, the classic recording by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.



DSD rip from SACD.

These Columbia recordings have a reputation for mediocre sound, but this SACD remastering (from early in the SACD era, like 20 years ago) sounds really good.  

This is a fantastic set, as I mentioned upstream a favorite to listen to of my Dad and I together. I need to dust it off and listen again soon.

Albeniz piano music that is also Albeniz guitar music.



On CD

The BIS Complete Albeniz Piano Music is a great collection.

Chopin wrote some of the most popular music ever written, but my favorite Chopin work is relatively unknown: The Cello Sonata.



On CD.

I have a few recordings and they are all good, but Janos Starker is the best.

I've said before and I'll say again that Rachmaninov's masterpiece, along with The All Night Vigil, is the Choral Symphony The Bells. It is four movements reflecting four different bells: sleigh, wedding, alarm and funeral.



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Like a lot of Naxos recordings, this one is a really good performance in really good sound at a really good price.

Edward Elgar's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius is unquestionably a masterpiece but I have issues with it. Similar to several operas I love the music, but the words don't do much for me, YMMV. Unlike opera, where the words are hidden in a foreign language Gerontius is in English so I kind of listen through them. And, to be clear, it is worth it because the music is magnificent.



On  CD.

I have two recordings of Gerontius, one by Thomas Beecham and the other by John Barbirolli. Both are excellent but different so I tend to alternate, and Beecham was up.

I'll see Copland conducts Copland and raise you Hanson conducts Hanson.



On CD.

I hadn't listened to this disc in a long time, and it is killer! Hanson's 2nd Symphony has one of those "once in lifetime" themes that you'll never be able to forget once you hear it.

The Sonotape reel to reel recording of Soldiers Tale, I downloaded from YouTube. One of the best recordings I have.

This recording is amazing! MFSL version.

Geno wrote on 01/31/25 at 13:01:56:

That's a great one.

Absolutely agree--Spain is great, especially that expanded SACD from RCA. I could listen to hours of Leontyne singing like that.

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And that goes double extra for Bernstein conducting Mahler. When I think of the recordings that had the biggest impact on Classical Music, and I mean both on the business and on the listening public, I can't think of anything more influential than Lenny's 1960s Columbia/CBS/Sony recordings the of the Mahler Symphonies, mostly with the New York Philharmonic (the orchestra Mahler conducted at the end of his life, FWIW).

Two of Mahler's assistants, Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer were among the leading conductors of the 20th century and had been making interesting and excellent recordings of Mahler since the 30s. But Mahler was still considered the lunitic fringe of classical music before Bernstein, and in fact I (vaguely) recall my mom's 1950s music appreciation text from college that had only a paragraph about Mahler and nothing good to say about him. But that all changed with Bernstein, and now Mahler is recorded, programmed and as far as I know, listen to as much as any composer who ever lived. Which is as it should be because his music is amazing, and Bernstein brings it to life like no one else, before or since.



DSD download from HDTT

I had been on a Mahler binge a few months ago so hadn't listened to it recently and Dom's post was a good excuse to spin something up. I went with certainly the least loved of the symphonies, No. 7, with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Phil. And the way they play it it is hard to understand why it isn't as popular as Beethoven's 7th.

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.Glad my post conjured up a listening session.  

Finally getting back to some critical listening…a lot of times there are just too many distractions between my wife and my daughter.  My vinyl selection is limited with classical music.  I landed on this one from Rachmaninov because it’s dead silent.