The New-Old Classical vinyl

While there is a good number of entries around classical music on vinyl that go back several years across the posts on this blog they are around those bought a fair bit in the past but in looking at the collection, not least finding some missing discs there's been some gap filling and replacements.

Take this Vaughan Williams set that has great accounts of The Lark, Fantasia on Greensleeves and his Sixth Symphony which was originally issued around 1991on cd for Teldec but only came out on record as classical lps just were not made new after about 1990 in 2022.

It's a similar story here where my original Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 was a Russian recording by the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra on classics for pleasure but I did by on cd the Piano Concerto No.2 which came out in 1994 when you could go whistle for a new recording on vinyl.

Strangely enough that recording of the First made in 1991 was never issued at the time - perhaps DG held it back as they a high profile recording session lined up for another soloist they wished to promote instead.

This pairing only came out on vinyl in late 2021.

Then sometimes you get a recording old enough that might of bought back in the day but recently remixed and re-issued sounding much freshier and firmer sounding such as Gulda's recording of Mozart's Piano Concertos 25 and 27 for the first time ever direct from the original master tapes.

Re-released in 2016, their recording which was part of the Mozart series they covered of the Piano Concertos 20 and 21 was one I original had on chrome cassette as a DG Galleria issue from 1986 but recorded in 1975.

The re-release uses the original artwork.

Anne-Sophie Mutter's début recording of Mozart's Violin Concertos 3 and 5 always was a favourite of mine but this record re-issued in 2016 sounds so much fuller than the original from back in 1978

This stunning account of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique by the Boston Sympony Orchestra conducted by Osawa from 1973 sounds amazing cut and remixed from the original four track master tape.

Same orchestra this time conducted by Czech born Kubelik perform here arguably the best ever account of Smetana's Ma valst, his massive homage to his native Slovenia with great passion.

This was one I had on tape for a period but this record simply is amazing sounding for a recording made in 1973.

Similar story with this 2017 issue of Schubert's Trout Quintet to go with my original copy of the 9th "Great" Symphony in a much loved performance by Amadeus Quartet conducted by Zepperitz with Giles playing the piano.

This is a classic account from 1970 of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto, a kind of replacement for the recording I had in my teens,

This little sub series of posts really looks at classical music on record that either didn't get an original vinyl release or where it has been reissued on vinyl often with new mastering.

Much of the action when it comes to classical record releases today is centred around recordings from the 1960's to 1970's recorded on analogue tape with just a handful of new digitally recorded titles.

This bias towards older analogue era performances isn't just a preference to particular recordings but the idea only tape should be cut to vinyl, a viewpoint having grown up in and bought new digitally recorded records between the late 1970's and mid 80's I cannot agree with having loved those I did get.

Thus last year that most English of classical labels Hyperion decided to start a limited vinyl reissue series of its much loved mainly digitally recorded titles starting with a batch of five and this March they issued a further five.

Debussy for me was music I loved as young child and Stephen Osbourne's modern (2016) recording of the original piano versions of Images and especially Children's Corner is very much me so I was glad to add this to the collection.

Mendelssohn always held a fascination and there are few records of his music in the collection (and a great many on cd the Mendelssohn in Birmingham series on Chandos for instance) so a series of recordings by Felix AND Fanny's String Quartets held an interest having the cd versions by the Takacs Quartet from 2021.

They were birthday presents on pre-order from Presto

This was one from the first bunch I bought with excellent performances of the Violin Concertos in a  2016 recording.

Steven Hough's 2011 set of the complete Chopin Waltzes was something else!

Back to the other sort of reissue, remixed direct from the 8 track analogue tape, this account by the Berlin Philharmonic musically was always a firm favourite of Dvorak's Ninth but suffered in it's recording and is certainly an improvement on the 1974 original having grown up literally on that.

Pollini was a genius of the Piano and this set of Chopin's 24 Preludes is essential.

There have been many great accounts of Le Sacre de Printemps but the London Symphony Orchestra account from the mid 1970's conducted by the great Cludio Abbado is a firm favourite and was my first on compact disc.

The freshly mastered from the original multitrack tapes directly version here sounds really amazing and the cover art was exceptional which is always better on a bigger canvas.

The violin is an instrument I really do like and this late 2024 reissue from the 1985 previously Emi Angel  digital recording of Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole one of the finest by the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is superb.

The rear cover apart from notes shows the original album cover.

In with the new was this May 2025 recording of Shostakovitch's two Cello Concertos performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with the celebrated Yo-Yo Ma on cello conducted by Andris Nelsons, part of a new series of recordings by DG by that composer and amazingly being issued on vinyl too as it's are for new recordings to come out on vinyl.

Talking of that series Yuja Wangs playing on this recording of the Piano Concertos was much liked by the at times snooty anti digital vinyl The Tracking Angle magazine and technically superb.

This is a rarity for other reasons, it is an old school box set with the records in inner sleeves in the box with a booklet rather than in a jacket (or individual jackets), the way we bought them in vinyls heyday.

This is a set of all Brahms's symphonys recorded live in 2008 and issued on compact disc in 2009 during Sir Simon Rattle's tenure as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra gaining awards but was not issued on vinyl until late 2022.

It was recorded and issued by Emi Classics but following the demise of Emi as a separate concern in 2013, Emi Classics was absorbed into Warner Classics who produced this box set.

A much talked about pianist is Yuja Wang, a Chinese-American performer and in 2023 she recorded all four of Rachmaninov's Piano Concertos for D.G. with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and this was issued as three lps in a gatefold sleeve where it can live next to a classic vintage record of the Third.

In June this classic 1976 account by Maurizo Pollini was reissued and remastered from the original four track tapes in the DG The Original Source series as a double 45 rpm set gaining as the original was just over an hour on a single discs that compromised the sound.

As ever I'll add to it over time.