Best Performance and Sound

There are about 180 orchestral recordings we believe offer the discriminating audiophile the best performances with the highest quality sound.

These are the records on our list as of 2024. We expect to find many more in the coming years, so stay tuned if the best sounding classical and orchestral recordings are important to you.

Mendelssohn / Symphony No. 3 / Maag

More of the music of Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

More music conducted by Peter Maag

  • With two seriously good Double Plus (A++) sides, you’ll have a hard time finding a copy of Mendelssohn’s famed concert overture and orchestral symphony that sounds remotely as good as this vintage Ace of Diamonds pressing
  • A truly superb recording with huge, spacious, dynamic, lively sound – Tubey Magical richness is a big plus too
  • There is a rosiny texture to the strings that no record made in the last 30 years can capture, and if you don’t believe me, we offer this pressing as proof
  • When you hear how good this record sounds, you may have a hard time believing that it’s a budget reissue from the 60s, but that’s precisely what it is
  • Even more extraordinary, the right copies are the ones that win shootouts
  • This is one of our favorite performances with top quality sound

Audiophiles have known of this record’s sublime sonic qualities for decades. As our stereos get better, so do amazingly powerful recordings such as this one.

Both sides of this record have that classic Decca rich, sweet sound. It’s not for everybody, it’s probably not the sound one would hear in a concert hall, but we love it and so do many audiophiles.

The performance here by Peter Maag and London Symphony Orchestra is legendary and definitive. The sound is perfectly suited for this music, with massed strings to die for. This is classic Tubey Magical Decca orchestral sound.

If you want immediacy, buy a Mercury. If you want luscious, rich string tone, this vintage Ace of Diamonds reissue should be right up your alley. This is a sweetheart of a record, full of the Tubey Magic for which Decca recordings are justly famous.

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Bach / Brandenburg Concertos / Munchinger

More of the music of J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

  • This wonderful 3 LP Box Set boasts rich and Tubey Magical Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER on all SIX sides
  • All six sides play about as quiet as any UK pressings from this era every do (and with no audible marks), making this is a very special copy indeed
  • There are only two complete Brandenburgs that we like for music and sound, this Munchinger on Decca/London from 1959 and the Britten from 1969
  • When you have enough of each for a shootout, and can play them side by side, you hear the differences between 1959 and 1969, but choosing one over the other when they can both be so good is a lot harder than it sounds
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

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Dvorak – Symphony No. 8 / Von Karajan

More of the music of Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)

More Imported Pressings on Decca and London

  • Here is an early pressing (one of only a handful of copies to ever hit the site) with the big, rich and tubey Decca sound we were hoping for, earning excellent Double Plus (A++) grades from first note to last
  • These sides are doing just about everything right – they’re rich, clear, undistorted, open, spacious, and have depth and transparency to rival the best recordings you may have heard
  • Our recent major survey for the 8th symphony produced this outstanding London – no other recording had sound even close to this quality, and the performance by Karajan was as good as any we heard
  • The original Decca pressing we had was especially disappointing, especially considering that it was mastered by one of our favorite cutting engineers, Ted Burkett
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

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Falla / Turina – Nights In The Gardens Of Spain / Danzas Fantásticas

More of the music of Manuel De Falla (1876-1946)

  • With excellent Double Plus (A++) grades on both sides, this original UK import pressing of these wonderful classical works will be hard to beat
  • These sides are doing pretty much everything right – they’re rich, clear, undistorted, open, spacious, and has depth and transparency to rival the best recordings you may have heard
  • Soriano’s piano is especially clear, solid, and present throughout Danzas Fantásticas, with practically no trace of vintage analog tube smear
  • When you hear how good this record sounds, you may have a hard time believing that it’s a budget reissue from the 70s, but that’s precisely what it is.
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

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Prokofiev / Symphony Nos. 1 & 7 – Our Favorite “Classical” Symphony

More of the music of Sergei Prokofiev

  • This stunning classical recording returns to the site for only the second time in three years, here with solid Double Plus (A++) sound throughout this British EMI import – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Previn has a spritely take on the first symphony, which is precisely what it needs and, every bit as important, the LSO has the chops to bring his vision to life
  • “[The Classical Symphony] is rather a brilliant display of charm, gaiety and good humor as well as a delightful and respectful homage to the early masters whom Prokofieff had at one time so scornfully rejected.”
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

This superb release contains one of my favorite performances of the Classical Symphony, and it also carries the distinction of having the best combination of sonics and performance that we have ever heard on vinyl. (There is a recording by Previn and the LA Phil from 1986 with a performance to die for; unfortunately, it comes with the kind of mid-80s tear-your-head-off digital shrillness that makes the CD medium the worn-out joke we analog lovers know it to be.)

The First Symphony happens to be one of my favorite classical works of all time, right up there with The Planets and Pictures at an Exhibition. I wouldn’t want to go to a desert island without all three.

This remarkable pressing has exceptional transparency and dynamics, allowing the energy and precision of the performance to shine through. Truly a sublime recording that belongs in any music collection, whether you’re a fan of classical music or not.

If I had to choose one piece of classical music that I would never want to live without, it would have to be the performance of Prokofiev’s First Symphony found on this very side one. It’s a work of such joy that I’ve never failed to be uplifted by it (except when the performance is too slow, which it often is).

This is a difficult piece to pull off. Most of the time either the orchestra is not up to the task or the conductor misunderstands the work. Previn has a spritely take on the piece, which is precisely what it needs and, every bit as important, the London Symphony has the chops to bring his vision to life.

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Haydn / Symphony No. 94 / Fjeldstad

More of the Music of Joseph Haydn

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sound or BETTER on both sides, this original RCA Camden pressing of Fjeldstad and the Oslo Phil’s outstanding performance is doing just about everything right
  • It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
  • This copy is simply bigger, more transparent, less distorted, more three-dimensional and more REAL than most of what we played
  • The rich, textured sheen of the strings that Living Stereo made possible in the 50s and early 60s is clearly evident throughout these pieces, something that the Heavy Vinyl crowd will never experience, because that sound just does not exist on modern records
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

This vintage RCA Living Stereo Camden LP has stunning Hot Stamper sound on both sides. It’s one of the best Camdens, if not actually the best. In true Living Stereo fashion, a natural, realistic concert hall perspective unfolds before you. The sound is rich, smooth, sweet and tubey, with lovely sheen on the strings — what’s not to like?

Fjeldstad’s performance is excellent as well. Fjeldstad, you may remember, is the man behind the definitive Peer Gynt on Decca (SXL 2012). His recordings may not be common but they have never disappointed. If you can’t own all 104 of Haydn’s symphonies, make sure that at least this one is in your collection.

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Offenbach et al. / French Overtures / Ansermet

More Music Conducted by Ernest Ansermet

  • This original London pressing (CS 6205) of these wonderful Romantic works boasts KILLER Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades or close to them from first note to last
  • You’d be hard-pressed to find a copy that’s this well balanced, yet big and lively, with such wonderful clarity in the mids and highs
  • The sound of the orchestra is dramatically richer and sweeter than you will hear on practically all other pressings – what else would you expect from Decca‘s engineers and the Suisse Romande?
  • This shootout has been many years in the making – we’ve been trying to do these wonderful French overtures for about five years, which just goes to show how hard it is to find these kinds of records in audiophile playing condition nowadays
  • We also have a recording with Fremaux at the helm for EMI coming soon to the site that’s every bit as good
  • Which one is better is probably a matter of taste as they are both head and shoulders better than any other recordings we have come across in the last five or more years
  • If you’re a fan of delightful orchestral showpieces such as these, Decca’s wonderful recording from 1961 belongs in your collection

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Berlioz / Symphonie Fantastique / Monteux

More Living Stereo Recordings

  • Boasting two solid Double Plus (A++) Living Stereo sides, this original Shaded Dog pressing was giving us the sound we were looking for on Monteux and the Vienna Phil’s performance of this orchestral spectacular
  • An outstanding pressing, with gorgeous Golden Age Tubey Magical strings and lovely hall acoustics
  • This is our favorite performances of Berlioz’s masterwork
  • Ansermet’s recording for Decca (CS 6025) is also a favorite, but when you play the best of them against the top Shaded Dogs, the differences are clear and so is the winner, the RCA
  • The hall is huge, the brass solid and powerful, the top and bottom extends properly, the stage is wide and clear — what more can you ask for?
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

This is a piece that’s difficult to squeeze onto two sides of a single LP, clocking in as it does at around 45 minutes, which means that the mastering engineer has three options when cutting the record: compress the dynamics, lower the level, or filter out the deep bass.

The RCA mastering engineer for this pressing managed to hold on to the powerful dynamics captured by the Decca (as far as I know) recording team, seemingly without doing harm to dynamics, levels or deep bass. How, I have no idea.

Maybe it’s the gorgeous Living Stereo strings and hall acoustics that let us forget about the possibility of compromises in other areas.

Of course this was always the downfall of the Classic Records RCA remasterings. Their records had bass and dynamics, no one could deny it, but the strings were usually shrill and smeary, and the hall a fraction of the size the vintage pressings had.

We found out some years ago that there was a new series of recuts coming from Acoustic Sounds. Based on their dismal track record, I will be very surprised if they are much better than mediocre.

UPDATE 2024:

We finally got one in — no less than LSC 2446, Scheherazade — and put it right into a shootout.

The results: a mediocre side one, a bad side two. Not worth the vinyl it’s pressed on. Almost any White Dog or Shaded Dog will beat it (although it should be noted that there are plenty of vintage pressings of the album on those two labels that don’t sound much better than mediocre. Still, no matter what early vintage pressings you have, on side two it should be no contest.)

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Vivaldi / The Four Seasons / I Solisti Di Zagreb / Janigro

More of the Music of Antonio Vivaldi

  • With two solid Double Plus (A++) sides or close to them, this superb Vanguard recording of one of our favorite performances of the work (and only one of a handful of copies to hit the site in over three years) will be very hard to beat
  • Side two of this pressing has all the qualities that make analog so involving and pleasurable – the warmth, the richness, the naturalness, and above all the realism, and side one is not far behind in all those areas
  • The sound here has the power to transport you completely, with solid imaging and a real sense of space, qualities that allow us to forget we are in our listening rooms and not in the concert hall (particularly on side two)
  • There is a long story to be told about how this recording compares to the famous Living Stereo (LSC 2424), but the short version is that we may just prefer it for the phenomenal immediacy and richness it exhibits in the midrange
  • The dubious vinyl these records are pressed on is the main reason it has sometimes taken us ten years to do a shootout for this potentially amazing sounding LP
  • The bottom line: we know of no better recording of the work, and if you can stand some ticks, you are in for a very special sonic and musical treat
  • There are about 150 orchestral recordings we think offer the best performances with the highest quality sound. This record is certainly deserving of a place on that list.

Paul Shoemaker wrote about this recording:

Nothing I have heard changes my view that the best Seasons ever was performed by Jan Tomasow and I Solisti di Zagreb and beautifully recorded by Vanguard at the very beginning of the stereo era. If you have almost every other version of the Seasons, you’ll want this one, too.

Folks, we have some good news for those of you who have been waiting for one of the best-sounding, most beautifully performed Four Seasons ever recorded. Let’s just say that this small ensemble recording is as close to perfect as any we have ever heard. The harpsichord is especially good on the Vanguard recording, better than the RCA I would venture. Its placement in the soundfield is subtly natural, precisely the way one would expect to hear it in performance.

All four movements are performed with great spirit, and other than a sour note right at the start — listen for it! — the playing is of the highest quality. I prefer the performance — slightly — to the famous RCA. (more…)

Rachmaninoff – Symphonic Dances / Johanos

Hot Stamper Pressings of Rachmaninoff’s Music 

  • With solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it on both TAS-approved sides, this original Turquoise label pressing of this orchestral spectacular is doing just about everything right
  • Fairly quiet for a Vox pressing too – noisy vinyl is the rule and not the exception
  • It’s an extraordinary recording, and so wonderful on this pressing that after playing it, you may agree with us that few other classical Demo Discs are in its league (particularly on side two)
  • The bottom end on side two of this record is powerful and solid, and side one is not far behind in both those areas – this is the way to record tympani!
  • The sound is dynamic, lively and big – jumping out of the speakers and bringing the power and the vibrant colors of the symphony right into your listening room (also particularly on side two)
  • True, side one earned a minimal Hot Stamper grade of 1.5+, but we still guarantee that it will beat the pants off any Heavy Vinyl reissue, because every one of those that we played was opaque, muddy and thick enough to have us crying “uncle” after five minutes

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