@dB_Cooper Yes, that is a chore when there are 40 different recordings of a piece. I sometimes ask the net for “best recording of”… and use articles by
grammophone.co.uk etc to help narrow things down. Doesn’t help that often great recordings get re-released, which changes the date, tho with the various streaming services I’ve tried dates seem odd. I would think Roon would be accurate, but have not tried them. I use AMHD and their search is not at all good…miss one letter and you get a blank, etc. Sometimes I use Spotify just to find a particular one, as their search is the best. I find it usually best to go by composer and piece first, then conductor, tho sometimes using conductor first works…at least w. AMHD. Primephonic classical only streaming was by far the
best, most well-organized and you could search by most popular, most recent, alphabetically etc. However they were bought by Apple and buried…with a promise to include their work in a “separate classical branch” which never happened. Perhaps I’m commiserating more than helping, but feel free to ask for help anytime. I often select a work and try parts of many different albums til I find one that “sounds correct” to me, re detail, forwardness, tempo, hall presence, etc. I’m NOT an expert, but do have quite a bit of experience with
classical. 
Yeah, it’s definitely hard to find stuff sometimes. I agree with @TempoTim, either searching by a specific composer/piece is usually best until you figure out which conductors/orchestras you prefer.
A popular composer that I really like is Neville Mariner. Most of his work is with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. They’ve recorded several of the ‘great’ works by many composers.
He did the music for the film Amadeus.
Anecdotally, I have a CD by Neville Mariner and the Academy of select Wagner works. It’s my favorite (orchestral) recording of that piece that I linked earlier, and I can never find it on any streaming services!
Agree, Mariner’s work is good. I have also found I like Mariss Jansons recordings with BRS (Bayerishen Rundfunks) usually Very well-recorded, as are
the Deutsche Grammophone ones of Karajan with Berlin.
“And now for something completely different” A recent find. First vocal entrance is spooky good.Spotify
Nothing guilty from listening to Regina. not my typical fair either. Her voice and personality in her music is top tier.
Thanks for the Regina tracks, really enjoyed that.
A cross of Aurora and Christina Perri!?
Glad you enjoyed that, I’m not familiar with Aurora and Christina Perril but will have to check them out.
@karangovil Here ya go. Youtube so you can see, but audio is better elsewhere
of course.
YouTube Music
YouTube Music
I used primephonic until it was bought out (Apple is still apparently developing their classical offering but…) and I now use Idagio. Pretty similar to primephonic.
I cant recall primephonic exactly to pull a comparison but it was similar enough and given its dedication to classical music it has a larger selection and better search engine than typical streaming services. Plus it just sounds better than something like Apple Music. I will stream either over Airplay just for convenience sometimes and Apple is a distant second.
Just in case you weren’t aware of another dedicated classical service.
@Perogie I appreciate that. I’m aware of Idagio, tho haven’t tried them. Did try
Qobuz, which seems to have the best quality audio, but the library lacked some
more specific albums/ performances I was looking for. How do you like Idagio for quality and library and especially search/suggestion functions?
The way they present classical recordings has improved, but the search is terrible for finding specific recordings.
The difficulty though is really trying to understand given the recordings available which are the best, I do the usual set of web searches for recommendations, but invariably the ones that get mentioned in the web results aren’t available.
I usually resort to looking for specific conductors or labels I happen to recognize, there just isn’t enough time in my life to listen to 100+ recordings of the four seasons to determine which one I like best.
@Polygonhell
https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0015HIX2Y?ref=dm_sh_7a2b-c6d9-0838-b5ca-4bfcb
I get that…time is precious. I can help with the Four Seasons, tho.
Janine Jansen. Decca
Funnily enough that isn’t the one I have in my library, though I have several of her other pieces. I just added it, and I’ll give it a listen later on today.
The Four Seasons is one of those reminiscent pieces for me, it was a piece a friend of mine played a lot when I was at University, he was the one who got me back into seriously listening to classical again.
@Polygonhell Well now you have me wondering…which one was in your library?
Ariella Steinbacher is a newer one that Primephonic suggested, btw. Quite good
too.
@ericg She’s been in my town recently. Plan to see her next time she’s here.
I have no idea why I picked this particular one, I’m surprised looking at Roon (Qobuz) list I didn’t just pick the Max Richter version.
For point of reference Qobuz as 205 different recordings of it.
Wow, that is awesome.
Finding her has now lead me to finding…
Library is pretty much equivalent to Primephonic. It is pretty rare for me not to find a specific recording that Im looking for. Not saying they have everything, they dont have hyperion produced content as an example.
Search functions again seems pretty equivalent to what Primephonic did. IIRC, I think the suggested playlists were better on Idagio, at least to me anyways.
Audio quality is very good, can do high res.
Will second that one, excellent version. The Richter one is nice as well, although, I didnt really care for the recent redo of the redo.
Another excellent one is with Giuliano Carmignola and the Venice Baroque Orchestra.
Thanks for the Idagio info…and yet another 4 seasons. Time spent searching, though fun, is always something to consider.