Being a true VL fanatic, I've either purchased or sampled quite a number of recordings of many of his works, including the complete piano music, symphonies, many ballets, choral music, lieder, chamber music, etc. etc. etc. Given the number of recordings I've listened to it's hard not to notice that nearly all of the performers who attempt his work are relatively obscure; unfortunately, many of them are also awful. Sorry, but it's really true - finding a good VL recording is exceedingly difficult and I've become convinced that only a very small number exist. Really the only solo pianist I've found to be satisfactory is the great and underappreciated Aline van Barentzen; the Cuarteto Latinoamericano has produced by far the best recordings of the string quartets (though the Stuyvesant Quartet's offering is quite good - I think they only recorded one, though); only VL himself seems to have known how to interpret his guitar music (I include Segovia in that); and, most relevant to the topic, Eleazar de Carvalho was apparently the only great conductor to attempt more than one of VL's works.
I am aware of the existence of the recording of Kondrashin conducting Rostropovich in an arrangement of Bachianas 1, and also of Leinsdorf conducting Bidú Sayão on Bachianas 5, plus Bernstein doing the same work. But as far as I can tell, no other conductor of similar caliber has produced any recordings, save Carvalho. (Though Weingartner did conduct a couple of his works, I can't find any recordings.) And unfortunately, Carvalho - apparently the only good conductor who really understood how VL should be played - doesn't seem to have made very many recordings either. I do have the CD of him doing Choros 8, the Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra (+Starker), and Uirapuru (along with a short work by Marlos Nobre). And I've found maybe one or two other works available for purchase, IIRC (I think the Guitar Concerto? or Harp Concerto? don't remember, maybe neither). But he definitely conducted a wide variety of VL works, and I am aware of the existence of footage of him doing other stuff (like Choros 10) from the 1988 festival. Apparently, that never found its way into the form of a recording, though it is easily one of the greatest performances of the work ever captured (along with that conducted by VL himself, which turned out unusually well for him).
So, my question is as follows: does anyone know of VL recordings by really good conductors? More of Bernstein, Kondrashin, or Leinsdorf - or Ormandy, Mitropoulos, Mravinsky, Rozhdestvensky, Gergiev, Monteux, Solti, Karajan? Or how about Scherchen, Mengelberg, Ansermet, Klemperer, Kleiber, Munch, Szell, Furtwängler? I realize that it's sort of a long shot for most of them
but really, it would be great to find an 'alternate discography' to the mostly awful versions being recorded today (looking at you, Neschling and Minczuk). Duarte and St. Clair are about the cream of the crop nowadays, as far as I know, but they still can't compare to Carvalho. (I admit I haven't heard Ben-Dor's recording of Symphony No.10, though given that it's one of his worst symphonies I'm not too enthusiastic about the prospect. Ben-Dor is quite good on other Latin-American composers, though. Can anyone recommend that recording, incidentally?)Anyway, thanks in advance
I had previously noted the MTT recording, but from the (longish) samples I can freely access of it I think that like most recent interpretations, it is firmly on the conservative side - though yes, he generally has an excellent command of the orchestra, the freedom and vitality of rhythm and phrasing are not quite what I would hope for in what I would judge to be a 'good' recording. This review might elucidate what I mean slightly, not sure if you've read it: