I love my Solti Beethoven 9th London FFRR Chicago Symphony.

Love Solti! Thanks😊

Lovely video…although I do not share the same level of enthusiasm for Solti in orchestral repertoire especially Beethoven…his tendency to let the tension flag in places or go brutally fast in others being primary reasons. His best Mozart opera IMHO is the second Magic Flute in Vienna…with pin point rhythms overlaid with oodles of charm a quality not often associated with Solti. Love his Haydn and his Bruckner outside Chicago (the first three in Chicago are superb especially the first however). A special mention for his wonderfully unique dark Brahms …the weight of the beginning of the first is different from anyone else. And of course his Mahler and Wagner and Strauss operas are up there with the best. Thanks from India…we had a lot of Solti on CD from the 1990s onwards here

Thanks for the info ❤ Please keep posting

I can see this series being my favorite from the channel, good work!

Solti's Figaro is a great choice. It's long been my favourite recording of that opera, despite some strong competition before and since (e.g. Gardiner, Jacobs). His _Rosenkavalier_ is analogue, but like all those Solti/Culshaw/VPO recordings, the quality is so good it might as well have been digitally recorded in the 1980s! Excellent start to this new series; I look forward to the rest :)

Thank you! I have multiple of his decca lp box sets on my collection including a “der ring des nibelungen” Wagner Decca set. 👌🏼 I do enjoy his style and energy.. a specially his Beethoven 5th with “the Vienna philharmonic” on London label. Nice series to watch..

I agree with your appreciation of Solti and have the Wagner Ring on LP, CD and Blu-ray Audio. I much prefer the Blu-ray, not least because we get all four operas on one disc.His Elgar too is brilliant and he did my favorite Falstaff. I bought the Solti in London Decca CD box and it is brimful with great performances and you mentioned some of them in this video.

I particularly love his 1972 recording of Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture with the Chicago Symphony. He captures the Rossini Italian secco style perfectly. The articulation in the violins is just right for the music. Wonderfully Italianate elegant performance. Recorded in 1972 at Krannert Center University of Illinois.

My three favorite Solti recordings are the Chicago "Le Sacre," which is barbaric, the 1980 digital "Dance Suite" by Bartok which is apocalyptic even with the overblown bass drum; and, the biggest surprise of all, the 1959 recording of Von Suppe Overtures with the Vienna Philharmonic. I found the original London blueback for 10 cents at a thrift shop in great shape. I had no idea what was coming. The recording is not particularly distinguished, but the tempo is so impossibly fast and exciting that I practically came flying up out of my listening chair at the end of its brisk 30 minute play time. Astonishing.

The Solti Mahler 8th is unique for 2 reasons: - recording the CSO in Vienna, Sofiensaal, - recorded by BOTH Gordon Parry AND Kenneth Wilkinson. (And of course, the bird’s view photo of the recoding event on the cover.)

In the South is IMO the finest overture ever written. Solti’s recording is of course excellent but not my favourite. As an opera conductor he is possibly my overall favourite, particularly with Verdi. His Falstaff at Covent Garden remains in my mind as one of the finest Verdi orchestral performances I’ve every heard. In addition and very different is his Mahler 1st symphony recording with the LSO, my favourite of all. His Ring Cycle, while not to everyone’s taste, is legendary with the VPO at the top of their game.

Great selection! Love the Solti stories! One record worth tracking down is the King Super Analogue version of Also Sprach Zarathustra with Chicago. On the original LP it was unfathomably put on one side of a record! But the King version is spectacular and it's a nice alternative to both of Karajan's (I cannot wait to hear and review the new DG Original Source version of the Steinberg). Three of my most prized LPs are early wide band Deccas of Solti and the VPO doing Beethoven 3,5, 7. The CD legends twofer is also very good. It's that quintessential late 50s/early 60s VPO Decca sound, and the performances are riveting - I especially like the Eroica. You can find an original London for affordable money! I love those LSO Bartok records, and the Figaro is the only one that comes close to the classic DG Bohm. Yes, the new vinyl remasterings of the Ring are disappointing (as I discussed in my Tracking Angle overview), but the new SACDs are superb (though I envy you having the Esoteric). I just got the new remastering of Britten's War Requiem for review, and again they've gone to Abbey Road half-speed - why oh why! I am not optimistic, though hopefully the new SACD will, like the Wagner, be good.

Can't believe you don't like his Mahler 2 with the LSO. The sound alone is spectacuular, and the performance is quite good as well. Mybe not as good as klempi but just behind it. BTW - I've got an extra copy of Solti conduicting the CSO in The Rite of Sprig on London, made in England, if your interested, NM of course.

There are many great conductors. Even the best of them have had their off days when the made only good to very good recordings and some not so good. There are some who are less than top notch but iccasionally hit a home run. Most are somewhere in the middle. I also like Von Karajan, Reiner, often Szell, Ormandy, Monteaux, and many others (including Bernstein.) I've been following Dave Hurwitz and there hasn't been a single one of his top picks that have disappointed me. iMO he gives great advice. Still I enjoy your postings and will try some of your suggestions.

Very pleasant review, thanks much! A call out for Solti's Chicago Zarathustra, especially with the Super Analogue Disc/RTI treatment, spectacular. The amount I've enjoyed listening to it comparing it to the Mehta LA Phil, Fritz Chicago stiff one......and then coupla days ago saw my fav band Wein Phil play it and I almost pissed in my pants. After the live experience I cannot get myself to listen to the records anymore, hope this passes....sigh

How can you tell that a vinyl is a third pressing? And… what is the significance? Is a 3rd better than a 1st? Thank you for your video - always something new for me to learn.