Look to the remastered titles you can find in any of a number of places. If the LP has been reissued in a higher quality pressing or high quality CD, then you only need to decide whether the original performance was noted for its sound quality or its performance quality. It would, in many cases, be reasonable to assume the title became well regarded for both qualities.

This would undoubtedly apply to most of the Living Presence and Living Stereo recordings. No one can tell you what you will like any more than they can tell you which system you will like. The pleasure of finding one or two "perfect" versions of a particular piece of music is a part of the hobby that you should learn to appreciate. Anyone who listens at all to classical compositions will have several versions of their favorite pieces from which to select. The more you listen, the more you'll learn.

Look in the advertiser's directory in the back of every issue of Stereophile for a few suggestions of retailers selling high quality vinyl and CD's. Then cruise their inventories on line. Read the "records to die for" suggestions. There's plenty to choose from. But you must stick your own toe in the water first.

Hi, Welsh. If you're willing to indulge yourself, I'd recommend the 3-LP "Stravinsky Ballets" box, which contains "The Rite of Spring," "Petrouchka," and "Firebird." Conducted by Antal Dorati.

http://www.musicdirect.com/product/82623

I know you love dynamic orchestral pieces & I've recommended "Rite" before. I prefer Gergiev's account on CD still, but for vinyl lovers, this box set is the best thing going & I'm glad to have made the purchase. Sounds phenomenal. If you can go for Mercury Living Presence LPs, those labels tend to sound fantastic; but I think Speakers Corner probably does the best job in reissuing classical music, including Mercury Living Presence titles. In fact, I don't have a 1812 LP recommendation to you, but I have every reason to believe the Speakers Corner reissue of Mravinsky/Leningrad performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony #5 is good, as I own the Mravinsky Tchaikovsky symphonies on CDs, and they're still my favorite accounts. This LP is on my wishlist for sure.

http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=9021

From my experience, I've had great luck finding awesome sounding used vinyl. RCA Victor "Shaded Dog" label records sound awesome. Heifetz/Reiner's Brahms Violin Concerto sounds too good to be a $1 record; it's stunning in performance and sound. My CD version can't compare. You should have this in your library, too. I just picked up Brahms Symphony #1 conducted by Guido Cantelli, a conductor I like very much, who died very young - 36 y.o. - in a plane crash. Again, $1 record. But both of these finds play dead quiet, no surface noise, and the sound just has this immediacy. Another label that sounds great to me is Decca. The ones with blue backs are supposed to sound the best, but I've heard the red & black ones that sound fantastic, too. You can get all crazy and hunt for the pressings mastered by Ted Burkett, but seriously, don't get OCD on this kind of thing... I see far too many audiophiles get records based on sound & they end up missing out on a VAST number of great(er) performances. Antal Dorati is great, but one of the things I didn't get when I got into hi-fi was why he was so over-esteemed among audiophiles... I think going for the sonic performance over the interpretation itself is fundamentally weird. Of course it's nice to have both, but if you find yourself passing over a great performance for a better-sounding performance, then you've become a gear weenie. I've also had good luck with London ffrr, so I don't drink the hatorade concerning how Deccas sound better than Londons. I also have some records on small Nonesuch label that sound surprisingly good. The big loser label, at least in my small library? Deutsche Grammophone.

So be mindful of the pressings but DON'T purchase based on their reputation, only.

Oh, I also have Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana," a huge orchestral/choral piece that you'll surely recognize (as it's often used in films & TV spots), that's very dynamic. You'll like it. Again, from the dollar bin, conducted by the young & hungry Michael Tilson Thomas (excellent!) with the Cleveland gang. I gotta say, although I'm not a huge fan of Orff, this is the recording to get. The performance is excellent, and the recording's good, too...