My preference is the Starker, it is vibrant and beautifully played--the Mercury is a classic reading and recording, couldn't tell you about the RCA. I have also listened to some of the EMI Rostropovich recordings on CD, which sounded pretty good sonically and were played by a master; not sure if those are still available or out of print.
BACH Cello Suites - CD only
So far I've come across these:
Maria Kliegel from Naxos, Yo-Ma Ma from CBS, and two by Janos Starker: an early recording (released '04 - Mercury Living Presence - hybrid sacd); and a later one (released '97) from RCA.
(Realize I am a classical music dunce and can therefore only repeat what I've read about these recordings.)
Kliegel's is interesting as she is credited with performing these with good emotion; and on a Stradivarius which was made before Bach even wrote these! But Naxos supposedly can be a gamble on sound quality.
Yo-Ma Ma gets mixed reviews of these: no emotion, too technical, too much vibrato, etc. (I sometimes suspect these comments come from the sour grape crowd, but I'm too ignorant to tell.)
Starker gets great reviews. I suspect the best fidelity would be the one from Mercury as it is a Hybrid SACD; but the latter one from RCA is credited as a better performance.
My goal is to purchase one which is of high fidelity (Casals may be the best performer, but samples I've heard from him do not sound good - high quality sound is a must for me) and good performance. I've sampled Starker on Mercury, which sounds good on my cheapie PC speakers, though his performance seems heavy-handed compared to Kliegel - maybe a man vs. woman thing? A clue to what I like is a recent purchase: Carl Stamitz - Cello Concertos Nos. 1-3 on Naxos, which I love (the music and performance is awesome, the sound quality is acceptable).
Not being independantly wealthy to buy all of them and judge for myself (preferred method), nor living near a decently stocked library, please help me decide which to get. Any preferences? Or other CD recordings of this specific music preferred? (CD only, please.)
Maria Kliegel from Naxos, Yo-Ma Ma from CBS, and two by Janos Starker: an early recording (released '04 - Mercury Living Presence - hybrid sacd); and a later one (released '97) from RCA.
(Realize I am a classical music dunce and can therefore only repeat what I've read about these recordings.)
Kliegel's is interesting as she is credited with performing these with good emotion; and on a Stradivarius which was made before Bach even wrote these! But Naxos supposedly can be a gamble on sound quality.
Yo-Ma Ma gets mixed reviews of these: no emotion, too technical, too much vibrato, etc. (I sometimes suspect these comments come from the sour grape crowd, but I'm too ignorant to tell.)
Starker gets great reviews. I suspect the best fidelity would be the one from Mercury as it is a Hybrid SACD; but the latter one from RCA is credited as a better performance.
My goal is to purchase one which is of high fidelity (Casals may be the best performer, but samples I've heard from him do not sound good - high quality sound is a must for me) and good performance. I've sampled Starker on Mercury, which sounds good on my cheapie PC speakers, though his performance seems heavy-handed compared to Kliegel - maybe a man vs. woman thing? A clue to what I like is a recent purchase: Carl Stamitz - Cello Concertos Nos. 1-3 on Naxos, which I love (the music and performance is awesome, the sound quality is acceptable).
Not being independantly wealthy to buy all of them and judge for myself (preferred method), nor living near a decently stocked library, please help me decide which to get. Any preferences? Or other CD recordings of this specific music preferred? (CD only, please.)