This is one of those grammy technical award gems - best engineering a year or two ago (maybe best performance as well). I find Shostakovich is an acquired taste but when Im in the right mood this is great. I wish everything was produced like this, its gives me a sense of whats possible from a classical music production standpoint. It feels like you are standing right in front of the conductor and all the sound is directed right at you and given that is Shostakovich you need to be ready for that.
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So Im trying to listen to it but I cant get past the bloody crowd noise, people coughing and muttering and shuffling, its vexing. Gonna try again later.
Been wandering around the threadā¦
I think I found a remastered version of this on primephonic, 2015 release date. Listening now.
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It really is absolutely awful. Itās as though they deliberately seated those with coughs next to the mics in the concert hall. Iāve not been able to concentrate long or well enough to be able to appreciate Gouldās interpretation.
Thanks for the Shostakovich recommendation! Iām going to check it out.
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So I guess DG has been recently releasing various live recordings from the Verbier festival in Switzerland. I have come across three of them so far and I think this is the stand out. I was unfamiliar with the piece so it was a great find for me.
Focusing on the Elgar Cello Concerto. Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a talent and this is his favourite cello piece. He has an excellent touch demonstrating both delicacy and strength when called upon.
Excellent dynamics and at times near explosive. Well conducted, Sir Simon Rattle controls the orchestral swings and timing to just the peak of overwhelming the cello but never lets it stray past. I especially enjoy the 2nd movement.
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Iāve been on hp.com a few months and just stumbled on this thread. Mostly Classical, followed by Soundtracks and Jazz in that order for me. Classic Rock for my nostalgia trips.
And I see perogie is here as well, preparing them is a lost art indeed.
A lot of catch up reading to do for me on this thread.
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This 
. Very much this! The Firebird by Stravinsky. Magnificent and blew me away when I first heard this recording. This is dynamics at its finest. Just great. Some composers just throw in dynamic elements just to have them, just for the hell of it I feel, not this, Stravinsky has an innate sense of just how to pull this off damn near flawlessly and Andris Nelsons has peaked my interest here in exploring even more of his works (the Shostakovich 4th & 11th I submitted a little bit earlier in this thread was also conducted by him). On Tidal or Primephonic (high res Primephonic is preferred).
Im finding the flac of this and buying it outright.
Use your most dynamic and most resolving gear (hopefully one and the same) to catch everything and make sure you have gapless playback enabled.
(Didnt listen much to the Psalms, not really a choral fan.)
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Thanks. Added to the library for some later listening.
Allow me to share you folks this one, which YT Music kept pushing me ā damn AIs:
Have to say though, probably the most beautiful version of Swan Lake I have listened. Too bad I havenāt listened to many but thatās another debate and am happy to change that. 
Other favorite tracks include: Caruzo, Air on G String, Piano Concerto No. 21, Nessun Dorma and a few others. The whole album is really good.
Enjoy.
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Thanks! Itās on my must listen list now.
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This piece has been criticized for being a bit sprawling comparatively but that indulgence is very much worth it in my opinion. Iām not sure I would say that anyways, itās so well recorded, conducted and played that it kept me listening. Its a ballet score, so the structure and considerations are a bit different.
It just waxes and wanes so lyrically and is punctuated by perfectly placed flurries, I donāt know, it just captured my attention in a way that surprised me. Hopefully Iām not wasting anyoneās time with it.
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Your not wasting anyoneās time.
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This one of my favs, but I prefer the extended suite to the complete ballet.
I have it on CD, might be hard to locate a copy and Iām not sure if itās available for download.
There is one review on Amazon and the writer claims he hears fan noise of some sort in the recording.
The recording was made on a Hollywood sound stage and I hear the ambient air of the space. Blower thru duct-work, like in the concert hall at times? Incredible low strings to open the work, wide dynamic range, instruments sound pretty pure to me. Very good performance although my all-time favorite performance would be a 50ās recording with Stoki at the helm (not sure of the orchestra and I donāt think Iāve ever been able to locate a copy on CD - Iāve just got a vague remembrance of the LP jacket). Iāll give the Sheffield a spin today or tomorrow with my HD800S and custom OTL as well as with my SR1a + Jot to hear what I can of extraneous noise.
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This for the Stokowski? Found on Primephonic. With the LSO. Listening to it now and its impressive. Im finding the Stokowski is more forward and powerful but the Nelsons is more layered and at times more delicate (at least on preliminary listening). They evoke much different imagery in my mind. This is why I love classical music.
Dont have the 800S or the SR1a. Running a Utopia on a properly tubed Starlett, may not get the wide soundstage (tubed Utopia is OK for soundstage for me) but the detail, dynamics and imaging are top notch.
I have to order the Nelsons on CD, cant find it for download. I have been considering investing in a CD transport but ripping them to flac from CD is straightforward and right now, cheaper.
Cant find the Stravinsky/Debussy on Primephonic or Tidal. Will look again later under different search parameters although the Primephonic search engine is pretty good. Iām planning to undertake a long listen to the Stravinsky catalogue.
EDIT: Found a Stokowski Firebird on vinyl, Capital Records, 1958, Berlin Philarmonic. Here
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Maybe. Cover doesnāt look right but often they change them for reissues. Canāt remember if it was mono or stereo and Phase 4 got started in 1961. Possibly the Capital Records one or maybe even an RCA. Stoki also did my favorite Romanian Rhapsodyās #1 and #2 by Enesco. Itās not like I donāt have at least a dozen Firebird Suites and 2 maybe 3 complete score versions. But I search casually on occasion. Sometimes in the earlier days of CD it took years before a few of my favorite vinylās got digitized. One was the first Mahler (#2) I was introduced to in the early 70ās with Ormandy and the Phila. Orch. on RCA LP (and boy, did that send me down Gustavās rabbit hole big time).
Another, the only Gregorian Chant LP that ever really got my attention on Telefunken
When they issued the CD they did away with the traditional Telefunken cover of the LP and went with this crap cover and title to appeal to the then current audience attention to āNew Ageā stuff.
LOL, $0.69cents for the disc - $4.00 for shipping. Crazy!
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One poster āIām afraid I am absolutely lost in the classical music realmā, well Iām in the same boat. Is there any recommended classical music for a beginner.
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There are many suggested lists of music for those just getting started. Just type in your search engine ārecommended classical music for beginnersā and you should get plenty of suggestions like this:
and this
and many others.
What do you want to try first? Symphonies, smaller scale symphonic pieces (tone poems and such) Concertoās for what instruments, Chamber Music, Choral, the choices are numerous in each category.
Do you want large scale works or small scale works?
If you indicate what you think you might be interested in Iāll make a few suggestions, for example; top 12 symphonies to try or something along those lines.
Will you be going CD or downloads?
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Iāll bet you know more classical music than you realize. You just didnāt know that the melodies in your head were classical. Lots of people started with the 1940 Disney movie Fantasia. Worth a rental or listen any day.
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I think the secret to starting any new type of music (classical, rock, jazz etc) is find your gateway by trying a few different things and figuring out what you liked or disliked about them. Once you find something you like, then you can listen to more by the same composer, or branch out into composers from the same period, or later composers that were influenced by this one.
For instance, when I was young, I loved rock and wanted to try classical. So I went to the library and got a random bunch of classical CDs (or maybe tapes?) and played them in the background while I was reading, until I stopped reading and thought āI like thatā. āThatā was Mozartās piano concerto no 15. So I figured I either liked piano concertos or Mozart, or perhaps both. So I did some research, found out that no 15 isnāt one one of his most popular piano concertos (although to this day one of my favorites), and got nos 20 and 21, which I liked even more. And then I turned into an addict, ordering lots of Mozart from the library, diving into his symphonies and operas. Someone told me if I liked Mozart, I should try Beethoven, who came after him. And if I wanted to try piano concertos from a completely different period, I should try Rachmaninoffās 3rd and Tchaikovskyās 1st. And so onā¦ you get the gist.
Your gateway might be something completely different, but I think of Mozart as the classical equivalent of the Beatles (I know, the Beatles are really the pop equivalent of Mozart) and in my opinion, like the Beatles, heās a good starting point to see if you like that style of classical. Try his piano concerto 20 or 21. If you donāt like them, thatās totally OK, you can try a different composer thatās completely different, like Tchaikovsky.
Just like with any music, thereās a good chance that you might hate something I love, or vice versa. But thatās perfectly fine.
Just my humble opinion. 
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For me, the starting point was Bach, as Iāve mentioned before in this thread. Iāve always liked instructional pieces - ones designed to teach something to the aspiring musician. Iāve found they also teach something to the listener. (For classical guitar, I like the Sor studies).
Bachās āInventionsā were a great starting point. They taught me something about what to listen for elsewhere. After Bach, probably was next drawn to Beethoven, then Mozart.
One piece of Bach that became well known to rock music fans is in Jethro Tullās track from Stand Up, āBoureeā
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I wasnāt familiar with Elgarās music and havenāt listened to any cello concertos, so I decided to get some different versions from the library to see (a) if I liked it and (b) if I had a favorite performer.
I compared the performances by Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Alisa Weilerstein and Sol Gabetta (earlier of her 2 CDs).
First, thanks so much @perogie, I loved this! I will try more Elgar and more cello concertos by other composers - any recommendations?
I liked all 3 performers, but there was something about Sol Gabetta that really grabbed me. So Iām also going to try to find more of her recordings.
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