Reddit mentions: The best symphonies

I came to the 8th in the same route as you, through Solti's recording. It's a real show of power, and reportedly, members of the Vienna Philharmonic were sitting in the hall during the recording sessions (it was recorded in Vienna) and had never heard such orchestral force before. But, after living with the piece over time and listening to other recordings, Solti's style with it didn't seem right to me.

I have the Nagano recording and I enjoy it. It's recorded beautifully, the orchestra plays spectacularly, and the soloists are generally good. I think Nagano's conception of the work and his conducting are very good. The coda to Part I is exciting - all of the scalar figures getting passed among choirs and instruments is captured wonderfully. The opening section of Part II is very slow, but I think it works and the orchestra sustains the tempo well. "Blicket auf" is gorgeous as is the closing to the symphony. I do wish he didn't take quite as quick of tempo for the coda, but it's overwhelming - in a good way.

Others you might look to: Riccardo Chailly with the Royal Concertgebouw and his more recent DVD with the Leipzig Gewandhaus. His Concertgebouw recording has one of the best vocal line-ups of any recording.

My favorite overall recording of the 8th is Gary Bertini/Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra. It's part of this box set. It was recorded live in Tokyo. It's on YouTube here, but the uploaded sound quality is not good. Bertini's tempos are perfect (for me) top to bottom, the orchestra is great, and the soloists are top notch. The ending is truly awe-inspiring. If you listen on YT, or get a good recording, the octave jump in the orchestra and choir at 1:21:48 never fails to give me goosebumps. The closing coda is powerful, weighty, and not too fast. It would have been quite the concert experience in the hall!

Pleasantly surprised to see this here. I wasn't planning to write on this at all, but I'm unleashing now!

Just this past week I found an extremely rare treasure: Herrmann's manuscripts for Vertigo, Citizen Kane, and North by Northwest! It's taken me the last few days to clean up the Vertigo scans, but I can finally share it!

Herrmann's manuscript for Vertigo [100MB]

Not many people know this, but Herrmann actually re-recorded some of his scores in the '60s and '70s with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in beautiful stereo sound. He used a recording process called Phase 4 which had multiple microphones accenting different instruments, so some of the earlier releases had wonky mixing, but they've all finally been properly remastered and released under the Decca Eloquence label:

http://www.amazon.com/Cinema-Spectacular-Bernard-Herrmann/dp/B004B3PF84/

http://www.amazon.com/Hermann-Film-Classics-Bernard-Herrmann/dp/B004B3PF5W

One of my biggest annoyances is when people try to separate Hitch's film and Herrmann's score from each other and praise one to the detriment of the other. There are undoubtedly mediocre films with undeservedly better scores (Hitch saw his own Topaz as an example of that), but no one really praises a film exclusively for its music. Trying to divorce the film and the score doesn't really make sense when they were tailored for each other. One could just as easily say The Godfather wouldn't be as good without Nino Rota, Jaws without John Williams, or 2001 without the Blue Danube. Ever try watching Lawrence of Arabia muted? I wouldn't say it's boring, but the desert definitely loses a lot of its grandeur and the whole thing starts to feel like what it probably was in real life, an unremitting slog through the sands. The whole reason for scores in the 1^st place is to provide an encompassing audiovisual experience.

Herrmann's contract with Hitch expressively gave him total musical control, a holdover from his days with Orson Welles. This clause caused him to quit The Magnificent Ambersons during the studio editing, and would split him and Hitch while making Torn Curtain. However, it mostly served its purpose; Hitchcock would always bring Herrmann into the process while filming and sometimes before, so that Herrmann would get ideas before formal composition began. Hitch frequently had him visit the Vertigo set; Anecdotally, I've heard that during one of these visits, he asked Hitch for a lunch date with Kim Novak for more 'inspiration'. If that's true, then Novak in person must have been seriously inspiring, he never wrote a love theme so potent as in Vertigo.

Hitchcock gave Herrmann enormous freedom, and Herrmann exploited that freedom to the hilt...everyone knows the Psycho shower scene was supposed to be unscored, but Herrmann started disobeying Hitchcock way before that. The driving scenes in Vertigo were supposed to be scored with jazz and pop music playing on the radio, certainly nothing like the contemplative pulsing melody in the final product.

However, Hitchcock always remained in control. His music notes make it clear that, while he didn't always know exactly what Herrmann was going to give him, he knew what each scene needed tonally. Particularly important to him was the issue of contrast:

> "An important factor is the contrast between the dramatic music over the rooftops and the soft totally different quality of the background music in Midge’s apartment....The rooftop’s music is background music and Midge’s apartment music is coming from the phonograph. . . small, concentrated music coming out of a box." - Alfred Hitchcock

He would repeat this trick again in the sanitarium scene, playing Mozart's Symphony #34 from a tinny box at an accelerated tempo to emphasize the futility of trying to reach Scottie's psyche. The 3 bells during the shot of Carlotta's gravestone were also in the script from the beginning.

An ASCAP strike made Herrmann unable to conduct the score, to his great annoyance. He tried to get around it by going overseas, but the union forbid that too. He had to go to producer Herbert Coleman's office to deliver the news, and rant about ASCAP, the world, and liberals in the process (Herrmann was always a bit abrasive). It was entrusted to Muir Mathieson, who had to go on a mad dash across Europe trying to get orchestras before union reps could reach them first. I think he did a very good job, especially given the absurd situation and complexity of the score, but there are certainly a couple of mistakes that Herrmann probably wouldn't have allowed, and it ticked him off terribly. It's kinda amusing to read their attitudes during the sound mixing, Herrmann was irate as ever but Hitch seemed content:

> The mixing went smoothly except for an occasional outburst from Benny [Herrmann] that Hitch would squelch by lowering the dry end of his Havana cigar from his lips and softly remarking, “Now, Benny.”

Herrmann only returned to Vertigo once, in that Decca release linked above. An earlier version is here on YouTube. However, it certainly had an impact on his relationship with Hitchcock; Hitch knew from this point on that Herrmann was able to deliver on the psychological aspects he wanted to explore; Herrmann would quote Vertigo in some of his subsequent films (the love theme is played almost verbatim twice in North by Northwest), Obsession (1975) being as close to a remake as one can get, and hugely irritating Hitch, who'd fired him 10 years before. However, Herrmann probably realized he couldn't bring the past back just by mimicking it, he was seen breaking down and sobbing during the scoring sessions.

The failure of Vertigo also irked him personally. After Joseph Stefano saw Vertigo while writing the script for Psycho, he tried to get Herrmann to talk about it, but he wouldn't open up.

> We liked it, but even in the States, people thought [Vertigo] was a backache or something. - Bernard Herrmann

There's been a couple re-recordings of the score, but to date only one of them is complete, James Conlon with the Paris Opera Orchestra in 1999. Unfortunately, it was released as a supplement to some limited edition art book, and has been out of print for years...however, I was able to find a rip. Ordinarily I wouldn't link this, but this is the only way of hearing it unless you can find the book:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/n8pamm01jmc3xka/VERTIGOCSBH.rar

Finally, just yesterday MUBI released an 80min mix of Herrmann's soundtracks. If you want a general intro to Herrmann, this is as good a place to start as any:

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/notebook-soundtrack-mix-4-fragments-of-the-mirror-the-music-of-bernard-herrmann

Martha Argerich Rach 3 and Tchaikovsky - A classic. First rendition of Rach 3 I heard. Not the most technically perfect (e.g. compare with Kissin) but just so powerful and exhilarating.

Solti Mahler 8 in Vienna - Perfect soloists, perfect sound, perfect interpretation. Completely different league with respect to any other recording in terms of the soloists and Part 1.

Solti Brahms cycle - Great cycle. Either I love CSO/Solti recordings or I can't stand them. This is one of the former probably because Brahms is more in line with Solti's type of conducting. The fourth is particularily strong.

Mahler 2 Bernstein - Another classic. Not your everyday Mahler 2 but then again you don't listen to Mahler 2 every day. Pushing the score to its romantic limits as one reviewer put. Spiritual listening experience of death and transfiguration for the listener.

Eugene Ablulescu's Hammerklavier - Very interesting academic performance (not as slow or heartfelt as Solomon in the adagio for example). Rigid adherence to marked tempi. No idea why it isn't more well known.

Also I totally second the Gilels/Jochum Brahms concertos.

I was in the classical recording business for a long time, and often was called on to make recommendations for newbies. For someone who is brand new, I always recommend Beethoven's Nine Symphonies, and I love this one the best:

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 1-9 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000095IUM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_HPo3Ab1Y4808P

This is performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. It runs about $28, and is well worth it for what is arguably the greatest music ever composed.

In general, when people picture classical music in their head, they are thinking of the music of Beethoven. Start with the odd numbered symphonies. The Fifth Symphony is the most famous with the great opening (Dit Dit Dit Daaah!), and is thrilling from start to finish. The Ninth is probably the greatest and most influential music in history. It intimidated and guided literally every composer who followed for the rest of the 19th century. The Seventh is my favorite piece of music in any genre. The second movement is beyond beautiful. The third symphony re-wrote the rules of music and was instrumental in transitioning music from the classical era to the romantic era. The rest may not be as influential, but they are all incredible works and well worth getting to know.

Start with Beethoven, and then start trying some other stuff, like Mozart, or Bach, or Vivaldi, or Mahler, or Stravinsky, etc. It's all worth listening to.

A little advice, when you are trying to introduce a new genre of music to your life, try to dedicate at least several weeks to listening to nothing but that kind of music. It seems to rewire your brain so that it starts to make sense, and once that happens, you'll always be able to listen to and enjoy that style of music. I've done that many times in my life, and now I can enjoy almost any kind of music there is. I once spent a couple of months listening to nothing but traditional Chinese music, but now whenever I hear something like that I slip right into it and love it.

A good starter list of a few different styles, with links to Amazon to get some samples...

• Barber: Adagio For Strings Op.11 - Slow yet intense string piece.
  
  
• Dvorak: New World Symphony - Good symphony with a wide range, from slow moving parts to more bombastic parts. (at times, you can hear similarities to the score from Star Wars/Imperial March)
  
  
• Rachmaninov: Vespers - One of my personal favorites. Choral music - intense, haunting at times, interesting harmonies founded on that trademark Russian low bass.
  
  
• Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro A very accessible opera, and one of Mozart's most famous, perfect for a beginning opera listener.
  
  
• Beethoven - Symphonies 5 and 9. Easily two of Beethoven's most famous symphonies. Beyond the parts you hear in movies and commercials, very moving and complex pieces. The 9th is incredibly deep, particularly the 4th movement. I literally have over a dozen recordings of this piece alone, and hear something new every time I listen to it.
  
  
• Vivaldi: Four Seasons. You'll recognize this in quite a few places. I'm fond of the Winter suite, especially the third movement.
  
  
• Bach: Brandenburg Concertos. A good example of Bach's counterpoint style in Baroque string music
  
  
• Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto #2. Intense and melodic, this piece transitions from sweeping melodic lines building to full frenzy - almost chaotic at times.
  
  
• Beethoven: Piano Concerto #5 - Emporer. You could call this a "fancy" piece - several running lines across the piano, including heavy ornamentation and embellishments, particularly in the 1st and 3rd movements. The 2nd movement is more reserved, and it's tranquility bridges the more lively movements.
  
  
• Stravinsky: Rite of Spring. Fascinating, driving intensity - asymmetrical rhythms make this very interesting, unconventional.
  
  
• If you're feeling adventurous and want to delve into a longer piece of a different style, Handel's Messiah or Mendelssohn's Elijah are two great oratorios.

Sorry for replying so late. It's generally regarded that Karajan's earlier stereo recordings (late 50s-60s) are his best, with some exceptions. His Beethoven set from the 60s is often considered one of the greatest of all time. If you like Second Viennese School (Schoenberg, Webern, Berg) then you might like this CD. Karajan's Mahler is generally regarded as excellent, any of it really; his Mahler 6th is what got me into the composer. If you like Tchaikovsky, in my opinion Karajan was authoritative in that music—here is a CD that I enjoy very much. Bruckner, again, take your pick. There's a live recording he made of Bruckner 8 that is well liked. Karajan made about 900 recordings so it's hard to even remember some of them, but mostly he excelled in the Romantic composers. I think he was underrated in Mozart. This CD has my favorite performance of Mozart's 40th, bar none. Hope this post was helpful.

Yes! I came here to post this. This is one of the few pieces of music I would describe as 'powerful' and not mean it as a sarcastic way of making fun of the cliched adjective. I always interpreted this as a thanatopsis by Mahler and it is not something I can casually listen to. I have to be in a specific mood to hear it. I can't think of any other piece of music that shares that quality.

Also, the Gorecki piece mentioned (as of this post) above is from his third symphony. That whole symphony fits your criteria of 'good cry music'. I am not the classical music buff that I am sure many people on this subreddit are, but Gorecki's 3rd is the only piece of classical music I have bought multiple performances of. The best I found is this one. Gorecki was Polish and the performance I linked to is conducted by Antoni Wit (Polish) and performed by the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. The soprano is also a native Pole. This may seem minor, but I would swear that not only is there a more natural enunciation of the words, but a bit more passion in the whole thing. The symphony as a whole is very rewarding to learn more about. Example, the lyrics from the second movement jjia25 linked to were written on in the basement of the Gestapo's headquarters in Zadopane by an 18 year Jewish girl.

With Schubert, oh yes I do! The Fischer-Dishkau/Demus recording of Winterreise is a real treasure. Even people who aren't keen on lieder may find it appealing:

http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Winterreise-Dietrich-Fischer-Dieskau/dp/B000001GQE

Kleiber's rendition of the "Unfinished" symphony is the best I've heard:

http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-Symphonies-Nos-3-8/dp/B000001GXE/

And I love the Takacs Quartet's take on the 13th and 14th string quartets:

http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-String-Quartets-Death-Maiden/dp/B000I5Y8W8/

Finally, the Emerson Quartet playing with Rostropovich (what a team-up!) for the String Quintet:

http://www.amazon.com/Schubert-String-Quintet-d-956/dp/B000001GFA/

As for Mahler you can't go wrong with Rattle's recording of the 2nd Symphony or Bernstein's recording of the 5th. Bernstein playing Rhapsody in Blue is terrific as well. Hope this helps :-)

Yo-Yo Ma has an entire CD of arrangements of Ennio Morricone music for cello + orchestra. I'm not sure if this is morose (probably not), but here's the version of "Ectasy of Gold" from that CD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBelSZAx4ro (The CD is on Spotify if you've got that and probably the other streaming services. I think the full thing can probably be on YouTube.)

Since we're talking about music from films (which I kind of think makes a good gateway to classical :-)):

I've also really fallen in love with the track "Il bell'Antonio, Tema III" from his latest(?) CD; here it is played by the composer (Giovanni Sollima) and Kathryn Stott (the same pianist as accompanies Ma on his CD).

Many of the tracks from Memoirs of a Geisha, composed by John Williams with Yo-Yo Ma as soloist. Here is a piano+cello arrangement of the theme (Ma on cello, Williams on piano), and here is a later track called "A Dream Discarded" for unaccompanied cello.

Many parts of the soundtrack from the video game Journey (composer Austin Wintory) also perhaps qualify; here's a concert arrangement, called "Woven Variations," of some of that music for orchestra + cello. (The recording quality isn't particularly good, but it's never been properly recorded, at least to my knowledge.)

---

Edit: a few more suggestions from "less-standard" repertoire:

• "Dark Pastoral"; by David Matthews based on a very incomplete concerto started by Ralph Vaughan Williams (man I wish that RVW had a chance to finish...)
  
• "Requiem" by Peter Sculthorpe -- this is a stretch, just skip over it if you don't like it (Part 1, Part 2)
  
• If you liked Sollima's "Il bell'Antonio" linked above, you might listen to his "Violoncelles, Vibrez!"
  
• John William's "Elegy" (there for cello + piano; here is Yo-Yo Ma playing it with orchestra)
  
• Astor Piazzolla's "Invierno porteno" (Winter) from the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
  
• Piazzolla's "Oblivion", here arranged for Piano/Flute/Cello (this is available in so many different instrumentations that I have no clue what it was originally)

I did this very same thing, my friend. Here's what I did:

• Listened to this album (a lot)
  
• Read the book The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross, and listened to a bunch of the recommended recordings, and followed his blog
  
• Listened to lots of EMI's "Great Recordings of the Century" series
  
• Read lots of stuff online about composers I liked, including Wikipedia and this website and this one too. I also started to learn about the different forms/genres within classical music, and the different time periods as well
  
• But mostly, just listened to lots and lots of classical music. The more times you hear the same piece, the more you will feel you understand it and the better it becomes - and there is no upper limit to this. Explore!
  
  I still love rock and metal for the record, they are not mutually exclusive :P

Goodreads' Users Choice awards for the "best" books of 2016 are out. The history category is, uh, well it exists. The winner being a ghostwritten celebrity death cash-in is not great. Oddly the only book on this list I'd heard any buzz about at all this year was White Trash, which I didn't get around to reading.

This Mozart 220 CD collection is being tooted as the "best selling album of 2016." Don't believe it - it's only because they're counting EACH CD as an individual sale, so any other album has to sell 221 copies to make up for one of these doorstoppers. It's not even the #1 classical album on Amazon for pete's sake. Sloppy journalism.

The Great Beethoven Natural Sign Debate got even spicier after last week. I am pretty invested now.

The spotify list mentioned earlier is awesome. I highly recommend it. Specifically, though, I have three songs that I use to test out headphones (which also are great for fun/bassy types):

Foy Vance - She Burns

1812 Overture (this version with the badass canons at the end)

Blue Man Group - Above


EDIT:

If you ever splurge on some hi-fi speakers, definitely use that telarc version of the 1812 overture to demo them. With the right setup you'll damn near feel THX certified.

For a vinyl recommendation, I would highly recommend Vivaldi's Four Seasons played by I Musici with Felix Ayo on violin. Probably my favourite recording of The Four Seasons. It's energetic without being overly dramatic (like so many interpretations tend to be) and very nicely paced. A very enjoyable listen. I don't think I've enjoyed movement 1 of Winter (track 10) more than on this recording. The pacing and speed of playing is just to my liking and the cello really gives the two crescendos a lot of life.

I recently purchased David Zinman's cycle which tries to follow the original metronome markings. I find the music much more exciting this way.
It becomes easier to imagine the relentless energy that original audiences were confronted with, and if we have it on good authority that this is how Beethoven wanted his music played, then I can't imagine hearing it any other way.

Daniel Barenboim did all 9 of Beethoven's Symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic, and I absolutely love those recordings. I generally like Barenboim's interpretations; earlier in his career focused on Classical and early Romantic-era works, so I feel the choices he makes with the Beethoven Symphonies regarding tempo, style, etc. tend to be pretty well-informed and true to Beethoven's intentions.

If you really want to test your system...
Get a mic that can record down to 1-5 Hz and set it up on a laptop in front of your "system"
Find a copy of this:
https://www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Overture-Kunzel-Cincinnati-Multichannel/dp/B00005AVNH
The gold coated disc version is impossible to find, but the regular CD will suffice.
You should recognize the music - just play the main track all the way through at a modest level, then you can test the limits. When played on good systems it's easy to close your eyes and be there in the auditorium with the musicians

Ah, so there is some opera you like already! When I first started studying music in college I wasn't too keen on opera, other than some Wagner excerpts I'd heard. It wasn't until I started seeing opera (live or on DVD) that it really made sense to me. Unless you speak German, French, or Italian (or whatever other language it happens to be in) well enough to understand it when it's sung, it's much harder to really get into audio-only opera, even if you have translations in front of you. But when you can see what's going on, it makes for a much more satisfying experience - especially if you have the aid of subtitles (on DVD) or supertitles (live).

Since your thread here is about Mozart specifically, I'd suggest finding a good DVD recording of Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). It's one of his comic operas, and is riotously funny if done right. Plus, it has some absolutely gorgeous melodies. There are lots of good traditional productions out there, but one of my favorites is one by Peter Sellars that sets the action in a New York Highrise rather than an Italian estate: http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Sanford-Ommerle-Sellars-Symphoniker/dp/B00092ZANG/. If you're a netflix subscriber you can find it, along with a handful of traditional productions, on there.

Even if you are not a "classical" music fan, you need to devote a quiet afternoon to listen to his third symphony. It's a gorgeous masterpiece.

Amazon link - the most popular recording

I prefer this performance

You bet.

I'm pretty certain this isn't actually the Gardiner recording of the Ninth, but it's close. I was always on the fence about Beethoven until I heard his recordings of Beethoven's symphonies. It was like a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, for reference if you're interested, this is the box set:
http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-9-Symphonies-Ludwig-van/dp/B0000057EO

If I may first say congrats. Then recommend this:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0000057EO

Best Beethoven recordings I've heard. Gardiner back to the original handwritten notes on his Manuscripts to record they way B wanted it to sound. Also instruments in b's day weren't as advanced as now and had less sustain. So b wanted much of the symphonies played faster than is normal today.

Which means they are even better for neighborly vengeance.

Try to find this version.

Wellington's Victory was performed with two orchestras, one for the British and one for the French. The opening is very quiet, just be patient as the orchestras "march" toward each other.

During the "battle," Beethoven also added musket fire which he also added to the score. He had a machine built to simulate the musket fire and used it in the performances. It's pretty awesome when done right.

Trouble is, some of the versions I've heard sounds like someone is spinning one of those clackity noisemakers you use on New Year's Eve.

The version above is the best rendition of the battle sounds. It's not a great work, but it's a fun one and gives some nice imagery.

My friend, also, has one of these chairs (along with lightning goggles, elephant chode headphones - the works). He actually had to go out to Cali to be trained by the creators; and had some... interesting... experiences while there. When he finally got back with the chair - which reclines back to the point where you practically feel zero gravity - I gave it a test run. . . . . . . . DEEEEE-YEEEEE-CENT! He had me listening to the NASA Voyager (1&2) recordings, and I went on a fucking holy voyage to the great beyond. I whole-heartedly recommend every psychonaut check these recordings out. And, if you can, listen to them on one of these chair machiney type thingies.


edit: for the boobytube links:

Symphony 1

Symphony 2

Symphony 3

_____ <-This is where I draw the line.

There is this collection, called the "People's Edition"- over 5,000 people voted on their favorite recordings and the ones with the most votes made it into the boxed set. It's very good! I've only figured out my favorite for some of them:

First: Boulez/Chicago

Second: Bernstein/New York

Third: Abbado/Vienna

Sixth: Boulez/Vienna

Ninth: Karajan/Berlin

This is fun and exciting, but this is the best recording of Mahler 2 ever.

I'm pretty sure that what you saw was the Peter Sellars production of "The Marriage of Figaro," which aired on PBS in 1990. The production was set in the present day in Trump Tower.

I saw it too, and remembered that Cherubino (the boy character portrayed by a female singer) looked quite a bit like kd lang and wore a hockey uniform early on.

Here's a link to an Opera News interview with the singer who played the role. You can scroll down for a photo from that production.

I read your comment and thought: "there are lots of commercially unknown orchestras with great recordings....". Then I went to the amazon page for the Beethoven collection pictured: http://amzn.com/B00012QMDG

Listen to the opening of Beet 5. Yuck. I'm not trying to be an elitist or anything. It just really really sucks even compared to other cheap CDs. Shit, you can get the entire 1963 Karajan Beethoven cycle used for about $15 on amazon: http://amzn.com/B000001GBQ

If you like classical music as background music while you work or whatever, fine. But if you want to hear it the way it's meant to be heard, you can do much better for the same amount of money.

EDIT:
I'll be constructive and recommend a few cheap and great recordings (buying used off amazon, nothing more than $5). Others might be able to do better....

Mozart Symphonies 40, 41

Mozart Symphonies 32, 35, 39

Beethoven 5, 7

Bach cello suites

Bach Brandenburg 1-3

Honestly, it's worth it to listen to all of Beethoven's symphonies. Each one builds on the last. The first sounds like a schizophrenic Mozart and the last sounds like pure joy. I've had my hearing all my life and the Ninth still brings me to tears.

Remember, if you do listen to the Fifth, don't just listen to the first movement! A symphony is one complete piece of music, conceived and executed as a whole, but split into four movements; the Fifth is even more unified, since all four movements deal with the same primary theme. Listening to just the first movement of the Fifth is a cop-out, especially because the last movement kicks even more ass.

I find conductor Herbert von Karajan strays too widely from the music as written in general, but Beethoven scholars the world around swear by his 1963 recording. I personally, however, am a huge fan of the late conductor Georg Solti, and think his 1972 symphony cycle is awe-inspiring.

Some of the stuff from this release was put out with a whole lot of other electromagnetic -> audible sound recordings from the other planets a couple years ago on CD.

http://www.amazon.com/Symphonies-Of-The-Planets-Recordings/dp/B000001V2O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLDWKpAkRHs

A lot of them, especially the Jupiter and Saturn ones, would make for a great 'filler' in the music from the default soundtrack, in my opinion. They are also nice to meditate to.

Is it the Kashmir from Symphonic Led Zeppelin by the London Philharmonic Orchestra? Because that whole album is AWESOME!!

The obvious choice would be Holst's The Planets. Bach would be a good choice as well, since he's kind of awe inspiring and cerebral. However, I would like to suggest an oddball: NASA made a series of albums called Symphonies of the Planets, which are based off of the EM recordings made by Voyager I and II as they passed various planets. It's not exactly music, but it is strange, beautiful, haunting ambient stuff.
purchase
torrent
info

Orchestral sessions. Fuck yeah.

There's still a fond place in my heart for symphonic led zeppelin

https://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Symphonies-Nos-5-7/dp/B000001GPX

This is awesome

Sorry, this got caught in the spam filter for some reason.

Personally I'd recommend Abbado or Marriner (which has the added bonus of having several completions for Schubert's unfinished and unbegun symphonies), supplemented with some classic Kleiber.

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Festival Overture. Antal Dorati's version.

Alternate link, yarrrgh

I found the vinyl you sent me on Amazon and that's what i worked with.

Sadly because I live in Serbia almost none of them shipped to me for less than the actual cost of the vinyl so after reading some reviews I ended up buying this one, since the shipping cost around 6 dollars.

Again thank you very much for your help.

My favorite recording.

Bam. Currently my favorite recordings of his symphonies.

$329 for the 200 CD box. If I liked Mozart more, I'd be tempted to pull the trigger.

https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-225-New-Complete-200/dp/B01FW8XWSG

2000!

https://www.academia-music.com/academia/templates/pdf/SPA_50_37_Beethoven.pdf

Del Mar has a huge essay at the beginning of each Symphony talking about all the different sources he used and the major changes to articulations. It caused a big stir. In 2000 a few recordings came out that were based on this edition: Zinman

> It is very important you get TELARC edition

Is this the right one?

[The whole set] (http://www.amazon.com/Beethoven-Nine-Symphonies-Ludwig-van/dp/B00000IFP6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408039024&sr=8-1&keywords=beethoven+symphonies+zinman)


[CD with just the 5th and 6th] (http://www.amazon.com/Zinman-Conducts-Symphonies-5-6/dp/B0007PLKSO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1408039024&sr=8-4&keywords=beethoven+symphonies+zinman)



Just wait until you hear the 3rd movement of the 9th, I've never heard it that fast.

its an official thing they put out

Kashmir: Symphonic Led Zeppelin

http://www.amazon.com/Kashmir-Symphonic-London-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B0000040V8

Harnoncourt / Chamber Orchestra of Europe / 1991.

Amazon / Spotify

Mozart 225: The New Complete Edition [200 CD Box Set] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FW8XWSG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rqytybTRV2J19

I guess this is it