What innovative, unconventional cartridge designs can you recommend?

I heard Barbirolli at the Albert Hall (from memory) in one of the long Mahler symphonies - could have been #9.  He almost had to be carried to the podium, became fully alive for well over an hour of conduction, then slumped again.  

Another purchase in my Presto basket is a 7 CD set of Barbirolli conducting Elgar, many are recognised as the best performances of Elgar, ever.  About A$32 the lot!  I've already got most of these performances, but ...

Interesting story you got there!

I have Elgar cello concerto with Du Pre conducted by Barbirolli. It’s excellent. It’s been a while since I heard other Elgar compositions. Will stream some with Barbirolli and see what’s worth hunting down on vinyl. 

Yes, the Elgar Cello Concerto with du Pre was the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s top voted classical piece last year.  I have records of Barbirolli conducting the symphonies.  If you ever want to hear how not to conduct the Enigma Variations, Leonard Berstein is your man, but some of his Mahler was superb.  Horses and courses.

Adrian Boult's versions of Elgar's symphonies are well worth a listen, and for something out of the ordinary I'd recommend Simon Rattle conducting The Dream of Gerontius.

I don't think there is a better version of the Cello concerto than Barbirolli's (though I attribute that more to duPré than to Barbirolli). When it was released it was in both stereo and mono versions, and if you have a mono cartridge it is worth seeking out a mono copy.

@dogberry 

I think I know where I can find used vinyl records of Sir Adrian Boult’s Elgar symphonies. I’m tempted ...

Boult was a great Elgarian and superb in Vaughan Williams, but I don’t know how he did it!  Whereas Barbirolli marked up the scores for every player in his orchestra, and was exciting to watch, Boult seemed to me to just stand there and wave both arms in synchronization - something he deplored when taking master classes for conductors.  But there’s no denying his results.

Going right back, the electrical recordings made by Elgar himself at the then new EMI Abbey Road Studio are available on CD.  The sound quality in mono is better than expected for the early 1930s but the performances are definitive.

The conductor I recall most vividly from my youth is the Russian Kyrill Kondrashin, who conducted without a score and without a baton.  His thumb seemed about two feet long.  Hastings was a provincial warm-up for London concerts, and you could see Kondrashin bringing every instrument in, and shading the dynamics by hand gestures.  Pretty much the exact opposite of Boult, but both got brilliant results.

Can’t wait for my optical cartridge to arrive to get the thread back on topic ...