Great Recordings of 20th C?

[Gordon]

Thanks to all for their contributions, fascinating. I have tried to make a list and have failed miserably to agree with myself!!

#19 silvestrione, Celibidache did make at least two recordings. I've got one, it is from very early in the LP era, Decca LXT 2558, he conducts the LPO in Mozart symphony 25, with Bohm conducting the VPO in symphony 36 on the other side.

According to Norman Lebrecht ('Maestros, Masterpieces and Madness'), "Sergiu Celibidache, who deputised in Berlin during Furtwangler's denazification, found Decca so uncongenial that, after a Tchaikovsky Fifth with the London Philharmonic, he refused to make another sound recording so long as he lived."

Sounds as if we have to blame Decca, but I wouldnt be too harsh, they gave us many splendid recordings.

And Lebrecht is not correct: the Tchaikovsky Fifth was issued just before the Mozart and has the number LXT 2545, so Decca did get one more recording out of him.

Here is the Decca discography data for Celi: he made only a few records for them in London, possibly related to concert dates. The falling out with Decca, if there was one, might just as well been about rehearsal time, he was very demanding. The three records he did make with the LPO [all available on a Membran 10CD set of Celi] were made between April 1948 and July 1949 with quite a few remakes. The Nutcracker wasn't issued on 78 or LP, it seems, perhaps again because he was so fussy. I suspect that Decca was fed up as well! Note that the eartlier LP catalogue number was issued after the later one but the 78s were the reverse!

Pr: Victor Olof Eng: Kenneth Wilkinson
9 Apr, four sides [12170-73] re-made 29 Dec 1948 Kingsway Hall
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache
MOZART Symphony No.25 in G minor K183 AR12170-75
(Jly49) AK2197-99; (Dec49) T5141-43 = LA97,
(Jan51) LXT2558; (Jly51) LLP88, (Jun01) Urania URN22162.

Pr: Victor Olof Eng: Kenneth Wilkinson
5,6&9 Jly 1948 Kingsway Hall
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.5 in E minor Op.64 AR12485-96
(Jan49) AK2036-41; (c50) T5319-24 = LA136,
(May51) LXT2545; (Apr51) LLP168, (Nov90) 425 958.2DM.

Pr: Victor Olof Eng: Kenneth Wilkinson
28-29 Dec 1948 Kingsway Hall
three sides [13115/17/18] re-made 23 Jly 1949
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sergiu Celibidache
TCHAIKOVSKY The Nutcracker : suite Op.71a AR13113-18
Unpublished on 78rpm: (nr ’49) AK2148-50; T5094-96 = LA86
and (nr Jun49) LPS117, advertised but evidently withdrawn
for the re-makes, which eventually appeared as
(Jly79) ECM836, (Nov90) 425 958.2DM.

[silvestrione]

[I]

Richter for Bach - vade retro, Satanas!

Careful Vinteuil: you know enthusiasts of HIPP are sometimes accused of dogma and fanaticism! A playful comment no doubt, but susceptible to a Freudian interpretation.

[silvestrione]

Thanks for that fascinating info, Gordon

[martin_opera]

Could easily just do operas:

Bluebeard's Castle - Kertsz
Carmen - Abbado
Fidelio - Bernstein
Norma - Serafin (1963)
I Puritani - Bonynge
Gloriana - Mackerras
Lucia di Lammermoor - Serafin
Merry Widow - Gardiner
Cosi Fan Tutte - von Karajan
Don Giovanni - Giulini
Figaro - Jacobs
Zauberflote - Christie
Boheme - von Karajan
Butterfly - Barbirolli
Tosca - De Sebata
Turandot - Mehta
L'Italiana in Algieri - Abbado
Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Marriner
Der Rosenkavalier - Solti
Salome - Sinopoli
Aida - Muti
Ballo - Davis
Don Carlo - von Karajan
Falstaff - von Karajan
Traviata - Kleiber
Ring - Solti
Tristan - Bernstein

...oh hang on...

[makropulos]

Could easily just do operas:

Bluebeard's Castle - Kertsz
Carmen - Abbado
Fidelio - Bernstein
Norma - Serafin (1963)
I Puritani - Bonynge
Gloriana - Mackerras
Lucia di Lammermoor - Serafin
Merry Widow - Gardiner
Cosi Fan Tutte - von Karajan
Don Giovanni - Giulini
Figaro - Jacobs
Zauberflote - Christie
Boheme - von Karajan
Butterfly - Barbirolli
Tosca - De Sebata
Turandot - Mehta
L'Italiana in Algieri - Abbado
Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Marriner
Der Rosenkavalier - Solti
Salome - Sinopoli
Aida - Muti
Ballo - Davis
Don Carlo - von Karajan
Falstaff - von Karajan
Traviata - Kleiber
Ring - Solti
Tristan - Bernstein

...oh hang on...

What a nice idea, and a very nice list. But yes, it runs into the same sort of trouble. I tried limiting it just to operas composed in the 20th century, and it's still ridiculous...here are 20 anyway. But what's missing is pretty startling:

Bartók - Bluebeard's Castle (Kertész, Decca)
Britten - Billy Budd (Britten, Decca)
Britten - Gloriana (Mackerras, Decca)
Delius - Village Romeo and Juliet (Meredith Davies, EMI)
Dvorak - Rusalka (Chalabala, Supraphon)
Janacek - Katya (Mackerras, Decca)
Janacek - Makropulos Affair (Mackerras, Decca)
Janacek - From the House of the Dead (Mackerras, Decca)
Janacek - Cunning Little Vixen (Gregor, Supraphon)
Janacek - Fate [Osud] (Mackerras, EMI/Chandos)
Lehár - Lustige Witwe (Matacic, EMI)
Poulenc - Dialogues des Carmélites (Dervaux, EMI)
Poulenc - Mamelles de Tirésias (Cluytens, EMI)
Prokofiev - War and Peace (Lloyd-Jones, ENO, Oriel Music Trust, or Melik-Pashayev, Melodiya)
Puccini - Turandot (Leinsdorf, RCA or Mehta, Decca)
Rimsky - Golden Cockerel (Svetlanov, Melodiya)
Strauss - Ariadne (Kempe, EMI)
Strauss - Elektra (Böhm, DG DVD)
Strauss - Rosenkavalier (Erich Kleiber, Decca, or Solti, Decca, or Carlos Kleiber, DG DVD)
Vaughan WIlliams - Pilgrim's Progress (Boult, EMI)