To get a great classical music recording you need six things. A fantastic performance of a great composition must be recorded under a great conductor in a great sounding hall. The recording engineer must also be superb and later the recording must be mastered and transferred onto a recording. Audiophiles, people who collect recordings, study all aspects of this process including for vinyl records such esoterica as in which production plant and production run a particular recording was pressed. (This super technical information is printed in code on the area between the end of a recording grooves and the label.) For reasons having to do with all of the above the recordings of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra made in the 1950's and 60's are considered to this day the best ever made. Some say it was the tube equipment used back then, particularly the tube microphones, others credit the sound engineer Louis Layton who worked on most of them. Below are some of the recordings on this blog that are considered the best of the Reiner sound and most avidly sought after by audiophiles. Schererazade, Brahms and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos, and Overtures and Dances.
Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky is also a great Reiner recording.
There is more discussion of the "Reiner sound" in my blog entry on Schererazade
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