On this question, we are simply never going back to the days of the
celebrated record producers like Culshaw, Legge etc and that's that. 
In my experience, a great recording of a 'classical' piece, like a great
jazz performance, is a matter of luck, combined with what the conductor
had for breakfast, whether the tympanist is double-parked, how long since
the leader had a fight with his wife, and a lot of other absolutely
unquantifiable things.  Two of my favorite recordings are Horenstein's
Tchaikovsky 5th and his Bruckner's 9th on BBC Legends, one studio and
one live, and equally incandescent, in my opinion; another is Andre
Previn's recording of Shapero's Symphony for a Classical Orchestra,
recorded in concert: if it had had to be recorded in a studio I would
not have it at all.  A recording I bought partly on Dave Hurwitz's
recommendation is a George Szell Cleveland set (Sib 2, Mozart 40, Weber
overture) recorded live in Tokyo, and he was right: it's terrific.  I
thank my lucky stars that today's technology allows good live recordings
to be made; if it had always been thus, since 1925 or so, the whole
complicated, expensive business of assembling symphony orchestras in
recording studios might never have become the norm in the first place.

Donald Clarke

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