That’s 'cos I lied.
Meant the 5th, apologies 
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Must have been thinking of Honeck’s Bruckner 9 which is stupendous.
Hint: not to be played if you’re feeling down…
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Just listened to it. “Four Hands” turns out to be a separate piece. And on this performance of The People United, Ursula Oppens does add the groans, which honestly I could live without.
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You are correct, “Four Hands” is separate piece and nothing at all to do with The People United!
Ursula Oppens was the dedicatee of the former and made the first recording in 1978 I think.
Also the (optional) improvized cadenza wasn’t there on the original recording. The vocalisations are implied in the score:
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Interestingly, rather divided opinions of this on the web. The Strad giving a decidedly negative review while The Violoncello Foundation awarded it “the winner” in its 1st Annual Listener’s Choice Award.
Personally, I think it’s superb in all respects.
Johannes Brahms : Sonatas for Cello and Piano, Op. 38 & 99
Laura Buruiana, cello
Matei Varga, piano
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Mosaïque’s Haydn cycle is amazing. To my mind, much better than the Festetics (Arcana), harsher and dryer.
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For Dvorak or more generally speaking ?
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oh, any composer at all
I’m quite taken with this recording of the original 1841 version of Schumann’s 4th Symphony. Apparently it’s premiere was marred by a conductor who may have been drunk, and the work received withering reviews, prompting the composer to shelve it until a major rewrite was completed years later, or so say the notes accompanying this release in the most recent BBC Music Magazine (on the US side of the pond, that is). I’ll need to get more familiar with the more commonly heard revised version so I can compare them.
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It would take full time 2 weeks of a music fan’s life to answer such an issue ^^
If this implies special (or even unparalleled) affinity composer/conductor, conductor/orchestra, if it implies 0 failure in the cycle, the choice turns bit narrower.
And even then, somebody would say that such part of the cycle has been better singularly exposed by another performance venture.
Among the more significative and immaculate collaborations, I would say (at first glance) :
Mozart symphonies 25-41 by Joseph Krips / Concertgebouw (Philips)
Haydn 6 Paris Symphonies by Leonard Bernstein / NYP (CBS)
Haydn 12 London Symphonies by Eugen Jochum / London Philharmonic (DG)
Beethoven 9 Symphonies by Karajan (many complete recordings, I would choose the mid-1970’s one)
Schubert 9 symphonies by Karl Böhm / Berlin (DG), or in softer tones by Istvan Kertesz (Decca)
Mendelssohn 5 Symphonies by Kurt Masur / Gewandhaus (Eurodisc), or Claudio Abbado / LSO (DG)
Schumann 4 symphonies by Wolfgang Sawallisch / Dresden Staatskapelle (Emi)
Brahms 4 symphonies by Bruno Walter / NYP (CBS [mono] for the Dionysian impetus, or Bernard Haitink / Concergebouw (Philips) for the Apollonian design, or Rafael Kubelik in Vienna (Decca) for the splash of colors
Rossini complete Ouvertures by Neville Marriner / ASMF (Philips)
Bruckner 9 symphonies by Eugen Jochum (Emi, with Staatskapelle, or DG, Berlin)
Mahler 9 symphonies by Leonard Bernstein (DG) or Bernard Haitink / Concertgebouw (Philips)
Dvorak 9 symphonies by Istvan Kertesz / LSO (Decca)
Liszt full symphonic poems & symphonies by Kurt Masur (Emi)
Wagner orchestral music from operas by Otto Klemperer / Philharmonia (Emi)
Strauss family light music by Willy Boskovsky / Vienna Philharmonic (Decca)
Tchaikovsky 6 symphonies by Antal Dorati (Mercury, especially the 3 first) or Igor Markevitch (+ including to my mind the best Manfred ever recorded) / LSO (Philips)
Tchaikovsky last 3 symphonies by Mravinky / Leningrad (DG/Melodiya)
R. Strauss symphonic works by Rudolf Kempe / Dresden Staatskapelle (Emi)
Sibelius 7 symphonies by John Barbirolli / Hallé Orchestra (Emi)
Honegger 5 symphonies by Charles Dutoit (Erato) or Serge Baudo (Supraphon)
Saint-Saëns 5 symphonies by Jean Martinon (Emi)
Debussy symphonic works by Jean Martinon (Emi)
Ravel symphonic works by Charles Munch (RCA) or Seiji Ozawa (DG), both in Boston
Rachmaninov 3 symphonies by André Previn / LSO (Emi)
Scriabin symphonies by Eliahu Inbal / Frankurt RSO (Philips)
Vaughan Williams 9 symphonies by Adrian Boult / LPO (Decca [mono])
Glazounov symphonies by Vladimir Fedoseyev in Moscow (Melodiya)
Shostakovich 15 symphonies by Bernard Haitink / LPO & Concertgebouw Amsterdam (Decca)
Prokofiev 7 Symphonies by Walter Weller / LSO (Decca) or Seiji Ozawa / Berlin (DG)
Prokofiev ballets by G Rojdestvensky (Melodiya)
Stravinsky ballets by Ernest Ansermet (Decca)
Honegger 5 symphonies by Charles Dutoit (Erato) or Serge Baudo (Supraphon)
Hindemith symphonic works by Herbert Blomstedt in San Francisco (Decca)
Nielsen 6 symphonies by Herbert Blomstedt / Danish RSO (Emi)
Bartok ballets & symphonic works by Pierre Boulez (CBS)
Messiaen symphonic works by Myung Whun Chung (DG)
That’s some mouthfuls for mainstream symphonic repertoire.
Even generally acclaimed, my choices could of course be discussed, and are anyway not the only ones.
For piano, organ, lieder, concertos, sacred works, baroque instrumental etc, that deserves another post, in case you need (opera is not my cup of tea).
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Wow! what a great list. Ive only explored about 3 or 4 of these. Will have to digest it some more and do some searching. Thanks!
Of Note:
Ive listened to all of these fairly recently and glad to see them appear in your list.
I might have to jump in first on your Saint-Saëns, Shostakovich, Bartok, and Stravinsky suggestions. They stand out to the particular listening moods I’ve been in lately
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I’ll second the Mravinsky/Leningrad Tchaikovsky 4-6. Favorites of mine since the ‘70s.
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adding to first listens list 
If there ever existed a kind of performance perfection, here we are. Conjonction of fire and steel, full bodied and cold blooded. No concession to the sugar-sweet Tchaikovsky. And very well recorded in London. I know nobody who wouldn’t place these recordings on the first step for the 4-6 Symphonies.
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A lot of Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony on the market, but for the full cycle, Martinon is unmatched. JJ Kantorow have recently recorded very good performance for the whole, unfortunately the famous one is rather flat and artificial.
Tchaikovski 1-3 by Dorati is exhilarating.
The silky tones of Staatskapelle in Schumann is unrivalled.
Boulez did some nice remakes for Bartok on the DG label, but more on the confort side.
Some Shostakovich by Haitink are not on the top (2, 3 a bit too heavy, 12 a bit too restrained compared to let’s say Neeme Järvi on DG). But a true pinacle for 5, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14.
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What amuses me is that most of that list could have been written 40 to 50 years ago. Fortunately programming is much more varied and interesting these days, as are concerts.
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Just an expression of my taste. Indeed, most of theses references are rather old. But anyway this range of symphonic repertoire is less recorded nowadays than it was in this kind of golden era, when catalogues were crowded by conductors for these orchestral cycles. I know many recent recordings, but I find them not as inspiring as these ones. I would appreciate to read some alternative recommendations, in the HIP field for Classicism & Romantism, so that DCM could make his mind. In short: waiting for your own list!
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