
- Huge hall, massive weight and powerful energy, this is DEMO DISC QUALITY SOUND by any standard
- The sound here is glorious, full of all of the qualities that make listening to classical music in analog so involving
- There are many great recordings of the work, and we had plenty to choose from, but for sonics and performance combined, Solti’s Decca recording from 1965 could not be beat
- “Solti’s Concerto for Orchestra with the LSO was one of the finest of its day and remains so. Highly recommended.”
- If you’re a fan of Bartok’s orchestral masterpiece, this London from 1965 belongs in your collection.
- The complete list of titles from 1965 that we’ve reviewed to date can be found here.
- Watch out for Solti’s later recordings for Decca – they usually have an obvious shortcoming which we cannot abide in the classical records we play
Solti breathes life into these works as only he can and the Decca engineering team led by Kenneth Wilkinson do him proud.
“Solti was regarded as, above all, a superb Wagnerian. His performances and countless recordings of other nineteenth century German and Austrian music were also well-regarded, as were his Verdi and his frequent forays into such twentieth century repertory as Bartók, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky.”
There are about 150 orchestral recordings we’ve awarded the honor of offering the Best Performances with the Highest Quality Sound, and this record certainly deserve a place on that list.
(more…)