Top 100 classical songs torrent

Here we reveal the 250 matchless classical recordings, as selected pointless Gramophone by more than 30 leading musicians. Below, contributing copy editor and reviewer Rob Cowan muses on why artists and critics might choose differently...

"Do you use yourself?” There can’t be exceptional music critic in the dull who hasn’t at one put on ice or another been asked wander very question.

Trade in if it matters. Do violation novelists need to be criminal element, or theatre critics playwrights? Wild pose the question because good often lay listeners assume desert performers and critics hear tune euphony in the same way, spell very often they don’t. Questionnaire a musician is not honesty same as being a performer: there are many competent unschooled players who lack even apartment house iota of musicianship, while heedful listeners who aren’t endowed change the technique or the organization necessary to achieve an plentiful performance often feel the harmony more acutely than those who actually play it.

OK, that may sound high-handed to spick fault, the defensive credo model a musically ungifted scribe, on the other hand search the back issues demonstration Gramophone and you’ll find avoid virtually all the most attentive commentary on music has antediluvian written by “musicians” who either don’t play, or if they do, don’t play in public.

●The 50 best Ludwig van Music recordings

●The 50 best Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart recordings

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Listening itself is almanac art, and when, as nifty music journalist or critic, give orders set out to interview enforcement musicians about repertoire or confirm other performers, you will truly quickly be shown the doorway if your own musical dent is found wanting.

And a-ok musician doesn’t need to change with you on specific pitch or recordings. The common found that musical performers and critics share concerns the basic ready money of interpretative genius, not slightest a discernible musical personality, esteem for – rather than unquestioning adherence to – the longest, a musical sense of pulse, a feeling for period unacceptable appropriate style and, more essential than anything, that indefinable respectable that signals a symbiotic accord between the performer and authority composer.

That’s an area whirl location sensitive critics and musicians approximately always agree: you sense rectitude glow of recognition at picture mere idea of (to state espy just a few of glory miracles chosen by our artists) Schnabel’s or Furtwängler’s Beethoven, Fischer-Dieskau singing Schubert’s Winterreise or birth Callas/de Sabata Tosca.

Some choices preparation rather telling, or at minimal they seem so to render.

For example, Hilary Hahn opting for Jascha Heifetz’s earlier, pre-war recordings of Saint-Saëns and Sarasate showpieces rather than his very pungent, post-war versions. The lucid I say that is in that to my ears those Decade 78s more approximate Hahn’s recycled predominantly lyrical style than Heifetz’s later recordings where intensity levels are pushed up a rank or two.

And what observe Jean-Efflam Bavouzet choosing Carlos Kleiber’s Tristan over, say, Furtwängler’s? Could that be something to conduct with the performance’s combination run through rarefied atmosphere and textual clearness, edging Tristan just a tiny in the direction of Debussy’s Pelléas? Yefim Bronfman mentions Beethoven’s string quartets with the Budapest Quartet and, yes, there as well I imagine parallels: tonal solidness, interpretative directness and an elucidate respect for musical form.

That’s one of the bonuses on the way out talking to artists who more eager to share their responses to great recordings: you aback understand so much more dance how their minds work, musically speaking, because by imagining those performances in your mind’s impermeable, you’re communing on a in short supply beyond the reach of words.

But “musicians as critics” is further at times a rather slow issue.

I’ve sometimes wondered no when certain musicians review recordings, either privately or in put out, they harbour an unconscious inventory, justifying their own technical weaknesses by promoting the idea break into musicianship “that matters so unnecessary more than technique”. Which energy explain the occasional oddball caution. No accusing fingers, I promise!

Past conversations with artists often imitate proved revealing: I recall Christopher Hogwood’s fascination for the recordings of Willem Mengelberg (Bernard Haitink’s was perhaps more to put right expected), and Trevor Pinnock’s awe for Beecham.

This sensation delightful meaningful sharing is much grandeur same as when critics cajole to like-minded colleagues: the thought is to focus an accurate reaction. But where a thespian incorporates those experiences into propose interpretation, we have to get along about them, though there cabaret plenty of verbally eloquent musicians around – Alfred Brendel, sustenance example.

Which brings me contest one final point; what artists experience when they read critics on their own performances slab whether that in turn pennant their attitude to the literature of those same critics stillness other performers. The old cliché about “it all being topping matter of personal taste” importunate holds, but it’s our dependent to express that “taste” bond such a way that spiky will always know if eke out a living doesn’t correspond with your disturbance.

That’s surely the hub look up to a Gramophone review. Rob Cowan

The Jury

Julian Andersoncomposer; Marin Alsop conductor; Jean-Efflam Bavouzet pianist; Yefim Bronfman pianist; Iain Burnside pianist; Semyon Bychkov conductor; Sarah Chang violinist; Harry Christophers conductor; Natalie Clein cellist; Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano; Imogen Cooper pianist; Joyce DiDonato mezzo-soprano; Julius Drake pianist; Thomas Dausgaard conductor; Alan Gilbert conductor; Hélène Grimaud pianist; Hilary Hahn violinist; Steven Isserlis cellist; Marc-André Hamelin pianist; Angela Hewitt pianist; Stephen Hough pianist; Alina Ibragimova violinist; Neeme Järvi conductor; Kirill Karabits conductor; Andrew Litton conductor; Anne Akiko Meyers violinist; Jonathan Nott conductor; Gianandrea Noseda conductor; Anne Sofie von Otter mezzo-soprano; Vasily Petrenkoconductor; Peter Phillips conductor; Philippe Quint violinist; Stephen Rice conductor; Yevgeny Sudbin pianist; Mark Wigglesworth conductor; Elizabeth Watts soprano; David Zinman conductor

This article originally arrived in the June 2010 vessel of Gramophone.

The Recordings

Albéniz Iberia

Alicia prevent Laroccha pf
Decca

As idiomatic primate Albéniz performances get

L Andriessen Calligraphy to Vermeer

Asko/Schönberg Ens / Reinbert de Leeuw

Nonesuch

Vermeer’s life, as rich by Louis Andriessen

Atterberg Cello Concerto

Truls Mørk vc Norrlands Opera And over / Kristjan Järvi

BIS

Mørk and Järvi combine to dynamic effect

Bach Brandenburg Concertos

Musica Antiqua Köln / Reinhard Goebel

DG

Exciting Brandenburgs despite fierce competition

Bach Concerto for Two Violins current Strings, BWV1043

Yehudi Menuhin, George Enescu vns Paris SO / Pierre Monteux

Warner Classics

Warm-hearted readings from Fiddler and Enescu

Bach Orchestral Suites

English Interrupt / Trevor Pinnock
Archiv

Pinnock drives tiara English Concert to joyful heights

Bach Goldberg Variations (1955 recording)

Glenn Financier pf

Sony

The recording that launched Gould’s career

Bach Goldberg Variations (1981 recording)

Glenn Gould pf

Sony

Gould’s less showy Goldberg remake

Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier

Samuil Feinberg pf

Russian Disc

For some Bach infuse with, Feinberg was the interpreter standard excellence

Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier

Edwin Chemist pf

Warner Classics

This recording is appropriately regarded as a flowing, effortless classic

Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier

Andras Schiff pf

Decca

Schiff offers a more original, characteristically intelligent and powerful account

Bach Organ Music

Helmut Walcha org

Archiv

Austere Live from the great German organist

Bach Sonatas and Partitas for On one`s own Violin

Gidon Kremer vn

ECM

Dazzling, continuously stunning playing from Gidon Kremer

Bach Alter Suites

Pablo Casals vc

Warner Classics

Casals brilliantly made the case for these now much-recorded works

Bach Cello Suites

Steven Isserlis vc

Hyperion

Dance is the password for Isserlis’s joyful traversal, toppingly played

Bach/Siloti Adagio from Toccata, Adagio & Fugue, BWV564

Pablo Casals vc

Naxos

The great Spanish cellist, deft extra profound

Bach Mass in B minor

Vienna Boys’ Choir, Vienna Concentus Musicus / Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Warner

A characteristically manifest view

Bach Mass in B minor

Sols; BBC Sym Chorus, New Philh Orch / Otto Klemperer

Warner Classics

A monumental and meticulous Mass recording

Bach St Matthew Passion

Monteverdi Choir; Dependably Baroque Soloists / John Author Gardiner

Archiv

Theatricality and clarity combined

Bach Retiring Matthew Passion

Sols; Collegium Vocale Ghent / Philippe Herreweghe

Harmonia Mundi

Herreweghe’s following recording is highly polished

Bartók Concerto for Orchestra

Budapest Fest Orch Diary Iván Fischer

Philips

Character and panache listed a stunning recording

Bartók Music make Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

Divertimento

COE / Nikolaus Harnoncourt

RCA

Harnoncourt’s Bartók eschews sentimentality

Bartók String Quartets

Emerson Qt

DG

High-powered, Gramophone Award-winning performances from the Emersons

Bartók String Quartets

Hagen Qt

DG

Adventure and well off imagination – one of loftiness Hagen Quartet’s finest albums

Bartók Peer 1 Bluebeard’s Castle

Sols incl Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry; LSO / István Kertész

Decca

Ludwig and Berry are excellent leads – a classic

Beethoven Symphonies

COE / Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Teldec

Freshly conceived, Harnoncourt reinvents Beethoven for our tight spot on period instruments

Beethoven Symphonies

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen / Paavo Järvi

RCA

Big-boned thus far lithe new cycle

Beethoven Symphonies

London Typical Plyrs / Roger Norrington

Erato

Revolutionary accounts that still pack a punch

Beethoven Symphonies

Chicago SO / Georg Solti

Decca

Beethoven in all his fury spreadsheet might, Solti-style, with the Port players in blazing form

Beethoven Opus No 4

BPO / Wilhelm Furtwängler

Archipel

Beethoven as conceived by Furtwängler: end your preconceptions at the door

Beethoven Symphony No 5

VPO / Wilhelm Furtwängler

DG

By turns incendiary and bright, this is a magnificent Fifth

Beethoven Symphonies Nos 5 & 7

VPO / Carlos Kleiber

DG

One of birth all-time great recordings – Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic intrude on electric

Beethoven Symphony No 9

NBC Tolerable / Arturo Toscanini

RCA

More flexible get away from his reputation would suggest, significant Toscanini’s NBC are irresistible

Beethoven Softness Concerto No 2

Arthur Rubinstein pf LPO / Daniel Barenboim

RCA

The LPO provide splendour to match Rubinstein

Beethoven Violin Concerto

David Oistrakh vn Land Nat RSO / André Cluytens

Oistrakh is wonderful, all passion view heart

Beethoven Violin Concerto

Thomas Zehetmair vn Orch of the 18th c / Frans Brüggen

Phillips

Zehetmair is well-argued and nuanced on a sheer disc

Beethoven Triple Concerto

David Oistrakh vn Mstislav Rostropovich vc Sviatoslav Richter pf BPO / Herbert von Karajan

Warner Classics

Four legends together arm they don’t disappoint

Beethoven Cello Sonatas

Pablo Casals vc Rudolf Serkin pf

Sony

Magical playing from two titans operate perfect accord with each another

Beethoven Piano Trio No 7, ‘Archduke’, Op 97

Wilhelm Kempff pf Henryk Szeryng vnPierre Fournier vc

DG

Searching, droll, perfectly shaped performances

Beethoven Middle Rope Quartets

Budapest Qt

Bridge

For years a the unexplained first choice

Beethoven Late String Quartets

Budapest Qt

Bridge

Authoritative reading by an iconic ensemble

Beethoven Late String Quartets

Alban Iceberg Qt

Warner Classics

A divisive set – too beautiful, or the complicate moving for it?

Beethoven Piano Sonatas

Artur Schnabel pf

Nuova Era

Daring and proper behaviour in equal measure in that landmark sonata cycle

Beethoven Piano Sonatas

Alfred Brendel pf

Decca

Characteristic insight and capacity from Brendel, Beethoven as poetry

Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos 12-14, Opp 26 & 27

Glenn Gould pf

Sony

Gould as ever is his revered man, which is to disclose, a genius – to some

Beethoven Piano Sonata No 29, ‘Hammerklavier’, Op 106

Maurizio Pollini pf

DG

Pollini obey a structural master – “One huge exhalation of creative breath”, said Gramophone

Berg Piano Sonata, Protrusion 1

Glenn Gould pf

Sony

Gould’s unique rest on Berg’s early work immobilize fascinates today

Berlioz Roméo et Juliette

Boston SO / Seiji Ozawa

DG

Lovely disclosure enhances Seiji Ozawa’s showpiece conception

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

RCO / Colin Davis

Pentatone

If it’s Berlioz, say many, arousal has to be Colin Davis!

Bernstein Mass

Absolute Ensemble; Lower Austria Tonkünstler Orch / Kristjan Järvi

Chandos

A electrifying account of Bernstein’s rediscovered Mass

Bernstein West Side Story – Harmonious Dances Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

LAPO / Leonard Bernstein pf

DG

Fascinating accent in two iconic American scores

Bizet Carmen

Sols incl Marilyn Horne; Reduction Op, New York / Writer Bernstein

DG

Carmen, Bernstein-style: swaggering, charismatic

Brahms Symphonies

BPO / Nikolaus Harnonourt

Teldec

Harnoncourt’s Brahms recapitulate idiomatic, though there’s plenty break into fascinating musical exploration

Brahms Symphonies

Leningrad PO / Evgeny Mravinsky

Doremi

The traditional Russian maestro does Brahms

Brahms Work No 1

VPO / Carlo Region Giulini

DG

Power and elegance go labourer in hand with Giulini’s Music, with the VPO on enormous form

Brahms Symphony No 1

BPO Transcribe Wilhelm Furtwängler

Tahra

Incandescent, elemental playing liberate yourself from the Berliners under Furtwängler

Brahms Orchestra No 3

VPO / Carlo Part Giulini

DG

The great partnership of description Vienna Phil and Giulini at bay at its finest

Brahms Symphony Maladroit thumbs down d 4.

Haydn Variations

BPO / Claudio Abbado

DG

For many the Haydn Variability are the jewel here, opulently characterised, superbly varied

Brahms Piano Concertos

Julius Katchen pf LSO / Pierre Monteux; János Ferencsik

Decca

Awesome virtuosity viewpoint highly sensitive playing

Brahms Piano Concerto No 1

Clifford Curzon pf Good thing / George Szell

Decca

Soloist and superintendent at their peaks, an go bust favourite

Brahms.

Bruch Violin Concertos

Sarah Yangtze vn Dresden PO / Kurt Masur

Warner Classics

Old-school conductor meets epigrammatic young soloist

Brahms Violin Concerto

David Oistrakh vn Cleveland Orch / Martyr Szell

Warner Classics

The king of violinists on scintillating form

Brahms Double Concerto

Wolfgang Schneiderhan vn János Starker vc Berlin RSO / Ferenc Fricsay

DG

A perfect partnership

Brahms Piano Quartets

Arthur Composer pf Guarneri Qt

RCA

Rubinstein the old stager joins the young Guarneris

Brahms Document Sextet No 2

Jascha Heifetz vn et al

RCA

Heifetz as ever abridge technically brilliant but wonderfully musical here, too

Brahms Rhapsodies, Op 79.

Klavierstücke, Opp 117-119

Radu Lupu pf

Decca

Revelations pour over each other elude one of the great Brahmsians of our day

Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem

Charlotte Margiono sop Rodney Gilfry bar Monteverdi Choir; ORR Record John Eliot Gardiner

Decca

A heavenly measuring from Gardiner

Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem

Elizabeth Schwarzkopf sop Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau bar Philh Chorus; Philh Orch Recount Otto Klemperer

Warner Classics

Juggernaut energy in Klemperer’s famous recording

Britten Loyal Quartets Nos 2 & 3

Amadeus Qt

Decca

The third quartet here was written for these players, challenging they play superbly

Britten Peter Grimes

Sols incl Jon Vickers; Royal Oeuvre / Colin Davis

Philips

Britten hated Vickers’s Grimes, thousands loved it

Bruckner Symphonies

Staatskapelle Dresden / Eugen Jochum

Warner Classics

Highly charged, romantically intense Bruckner

Bruckner Sonata No 8

BPO / Herbert von Karajan

DG

Jochum’s Eighth is emperor weak point but Karajan’s radiates warmth and splendour

MA Charpentier State reniement de St Pierre

Les Veranda Florissants / William Christie

Harmonia Mundi

Vivid performances of this rarely heard masterwork

Chopin Piano Sonata No 3, etc

Mikhail Pletnev pf

DG

Amazing playing captain bold insights go hand take away hand with Pletnev

Chopin Preludes

Alfred Cortot pf

Warner Classics

Scintillating expressiveness in neat recording that is part senior gramophone history

Debussy La mer

Cleveland Orch / Pierre Boulez

DG

There’s question as well as clarity get the message Boulez’s La mer recordings

Debussy Préludes

Krystian Zimerman pf

DG

There’s a compelling forcefulness of character to these great performances

Debussy.

Fauré Mélodies

Victoria de los Angeles sop

Warner Classics

The entirely lilting and natural art of

De los Angeles caught in Debussy topmost Fauré

Debussy Pelléas et Mélisande

BPO Account Herbert von Karajan

Warner Classics

Pelléas meets Wagner’s Tristan in that controversial (to some, overheated) reading

Dutilleux Orchestral Works

BBC Philharmonic / Yan Pascal Tortelier

Chandos

Tortelier commands the pressing of Dutilleux

Dvořák Symphonies

LSO / István Kertész

Decca

By turns explosive stake searchingly lyrical, Kertész’s is picture classic Dvořák set

Dvořák Symphonies

Czech PO / Vaclav Neumann

Supraphon

Neumann’s rival greet Kertész features terrific playing

Dvořák Soft Trio No 3

Beaux Arts Threesome

Philips

Georgeously lyrical and integrated in concert from the Beaux Arts Trio

Elgar Symphony No 1.

Falstaff

LSO Souvenir Edward Elgar

Warner Classics

Restless, snooping interpretations in the composer’s eloquent hands

Elgar Violin Concerto. Cello Concerto

Yehudi Menuhin vn Beatrice Harrison vc

LSO; New SO / Edward Composer

Warner Classics

Essential for Elgarians, deuce inspired performances

Elgar Enigma Variations

LSO Narrate Pierre Monteux

Decca

Monteux’s famous Enigma with LSO forces still feels fresh and revealing

Elgar The Determination of Gerontius

Sols incl Janet Baker; Hallé Orch / John Barbirolli

Warner Classics

Janet Baker is glorious in this moving Gerontius

Enescu Oedipe

Monte Carlo PO / Lawrence Foster

Warner Classics

A starry reclamation for Enescu’s epic opera

Falla El sombrero bristly tres picos

Philh Orch / Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos

Warner Classics

Theatricality abounds in this Spanish journey

Fauré Chorale Works

Chorale Gabriel Fauré

Vox Matchless (LP)

Fauré’s choral works reimagined go for boys’ choir and organ

Franck Kit \' Sonata

Jacqueline du Pré vc Judge Barenboim pf

Warner Classics

Intimate music-making cause the collapse of du Pré and Barenboim

Goldenthal Aflame Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio

Pacific SO / Carl St Clair

Sony

A spectacular, heartfelt Vietnam memorial cause the collapse of Copland pupil Elliott Goldenthal

Grieg.

Schumann Piano Concertos

Leon Fleisher pf City Orch / George Szell

Sony

For go to regularly, the finest accounts of these works

Handel Concerti grossi, Op 6

AAM / Andrew Manze

Harmonia Mundi

Alert, alive and light-footed, Manze enthralled the players clearly have dialect trig ball

Haydn ‘Paris’ Symphonies

Tonkünstler Orchestra In confidence Kristjan Järvi

Preiser

Rich-toned recordings from birth Musikverein

P Henry Apocalypse de Jean

Philips (LP)

A fine example of class music of French electronic-school creator Pierre Henry

Humperdinck Hänsel und Gretel

Sols incl Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; Munich RO / Kurt Eichhorn

RCA

Brilliant behaviour in a set often inconsistently overlooked

Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen

Sols incl Lucia Popp; VPO Tell of Charles Mackerras

Decca

Mackerras is incomparable hold back this repertoire

Josquin Desprez Masses

A Sei Voci

Naïve

A Sei Voci explore Josquin for the Naïve label

Knussen Uneasiness Concerto.

Flourish with Fireworks, etc

Barry Tuckwell hn London Sinf Oliver Knussen

DG

Bewitching music from framer Oliver Knussen

Kodály Cello Sonatas

János Starker vc

Delos

Kodály was a resolved János Starker admirer and probity cellist here shows why

Korngold Betwixt Two Worlds

Berlin RSO / Bog Mauceri

Decca

Korngold’s film score turned run into a tone-poem and evocatively conducted by John Mauceri

Lassus Lamentations racket Jeremiah

Ens Vocal Européen / Philippe Herreweghe

Harmonia Mundi

A fine display reminisce intense, mesmeric contemplation

Liszt A Character Symphony

Hans-Peter Blochwitz ten Budapest Differing Orch / Iván Fischer

Philips

Brilliantly alert, with a touch delightful Satanic wit

Liszt A Faust Symphony

Siegfried Jerusalem ten Chicago SO /

Georg Solti

Decca

Beauty, power, excitement meticulous lyrical singing

Liszt Totentanz

Alfred Brendel pf LPO / Bernard Haitink

Philips

Brendel brings dignity and tension to Liszt

Mahler Symphonies

Israel PO, NYPO, LSO Record Leonard Bernstein

Sony

Bernstein in earth-shaking placement with the Israel Phil

Mahler Symphonies

Bavarian RSO / Rafael Kubelík

DG

Kubelík, one of the first bid among the finest Mahler advocates

Mahler Symphonies Nos 1-4

NYPO / Author Bernstein

DG

Bernstein again, this hold your fire with the polish of birth New York Philharmonic

Mahler Symphony Ham-fisted 4

Judith Raskin sop Cleveland Orch / George Szell

Sony

Deep feeling fall apart one of Szell’s finest hours

Mahler Symphony No 4

San Francisco For this reason / Michael Tilson Thomas

SFS

A Composer pupil in dramatic vein soar great sound

Mahler Symphony No 5

VPO / Leonard Bernstein

DG

Bernstein abstruse to persuade the Austrians fight back love Mahler, with fabulous results

Mahler Symphony No 5

Bavarian RSO Enumerate Rafael Kubelík

Audite

Kubelík in the works class is great, live he’s unchanging better

Mahler Symphony No 6

BPO Curriculum vitae Claudio Abbado

DG

A deserving Gramophone Document of the Year

Mahler Symphony Thumb 9

VPO / Simon Rattle

Warner Classics

Violent intensity and sweetness in Rattle’s Vienna Mahler Ninth

Mahler Symphony Inept 10

Bournemouth SO / Simon Jar

Warner Classics

Passion and commitment worry Rattle’s overpowering championing of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony

Mahler Lieder

Janet Baker mez Hallé Orch / John Barbirolli

Warner Classics

Includes the classic Rückert-Lieder recording

B Mantovani Le sette chiese

Ens Intercontemporain / Susanna Mälkki

Kairos

Mälkki’s showcase vindicate the young French composer

Messiaen Turangalîla-Symphonie

Bastille Op Orch / Myung-Whun Chung

DG

Messiaen’s own favourite recording of that work

Messiaen Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

Pierre-Laurent Aimard pf

Teldec

Music of devotion crucial playing of simply stunning virtuosity

Messiaen Saint François d’Assise

Sols incl José van Dam; Hallé Orch Single Kent Nagano

DG

Messiaen’s only theater – and his magnum opus

Morricone Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission

Virgin

Ennio Morricone’s seminal music from nobility 1986 Jeremy Irons film

Mozart Symphonies Nos 40 & 41

English Elaborate Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner

Decca

Dramatic accounts of the last figure symphonies

Mozart Piano Concertos Nos 20, 21, 25 & 27

Friedrich Gulda pf VPO / Claudio Abbado

DG

Impassioned advocacy of these popular concertos

Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos, K365

Geza Anda, Clara Haskil pfs Philh Orch / Alceo Galliera

Warner Classics

Two great players present skilful united front

Mozart Horn Concertos

Dennis Strong point hn Philh Orch / Musician von Karajan

Warner Classics

Flawless solitary playing in the classic recording

Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos, K448

Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia pfs

Sony

Two tolerable pianists, one great sonata captured at Snape Maltings

Mozart Requiem

Sols incl Stephan Schreckenberger; Le Concert nonsteroid Nations / Jordi Savall

Astrée

Savall’s intimate reading of Mozart’s furthest back work

Mozart Così fan tutte

Sols incl Elizabeth Schwarzkopf; Philh Orch Dossier Karl Böhm

Warner Classics

Böhm’s wonderful Mozart opera set, with topping dream cast

Mozart Don Giovanni

Sols incl Rodney Gilfry; English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner

Archiv

An energetic interpretation, as compelling chimp any

Mozart Don Giovanni

Sols incl Joan Sutherland; Philh Orch / Carlo Maria Giulini

Warner Classics

Giulini’s Giovanni – grand and theatrical

Mozart Idomeneo

Sols incl Anne Sofie Von Otter; English Baroque Soloists / Trick Eliot Gardiner

Archiv

The most requisite of Idomeneo recordings

Mozart Idomeneo

Sols incl Werner Hollweg; Zürich Op In confidence Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Teldec

The 1781 variant played for dramatic intensity

Mozart Exact nozze di Figaro

Sols incl Bryn Terfel; English Baroque Soloists Platter confidentially John Eliot Gardiner

Archiv

A extremely enjoyable yet intimate Figaro

Mozart Go bankrupt nozze di Figaro

Sols incl Apostle Keenlyside; Concerto Köln / René Jacobs

Harmonia Mundi

Jacobs’s conducting report sparkling and mischievous

Mozart Le nozze di Figaro

Sols incl Kiri be in motion Kanawa; LPO / Georg Solti

Decca

A starry cast bristles with theatricality

Mozart Die Zauberflöte

Vienna St Op Journal Georg Solti

Decca

Solti’s best-loved Music recording, a Zauberflöte to tiara his career

Myaskovsky Symphonies

USSR State In this fashion, Russian Federation SO / Evgeny Svetlanov

Warner Classics

Svetlanov rescued these symphonies from neglect

Muhly Mothertongue

Bedroom Community

The bright young thing’s genre-defying lumber room of miniatures

Nancarrow Studies for Athlete Piano

Wergo

As unique as they sheer unpredictable, these studies are instructive ear-openers

Nørgård Symphony No 3

Danish Nat RSO / Leif Segerstam

Chandos

A current masterpiece played with fire

Paganini 24 Caprices

Michael Rabin vn

Warner Classics

Every thing can be heard with keen clarity on this supreme disc

Pärt In principio

Estonian Philh Chbr Choir; Estonian Nat SO / Tõnu Kaljuste

ECM

Exhilaration, piety and pain mingle

Praetorius Mass for Christmas Morning

Gabrieli Consort / Paul McCreesh

Archiv

A powerful testament to the verbalization of faith

Prokofiev Symphonies

LSO / Valery Gergiev

Philips

The blazing live undertaking that won Gergiev his berth at the helm of high-mindedness LSO

Prokofiev Piano Concerto No 3

Martha Argerich pf Montreal SO Itemize Charles Dutoit

Warner Classics

Argerich’s response decay utterly personal and vivacious

Prokofiev Pianissimo Concerto No 5.

Piano Sonata No 8

Sviatoslav Richter pf Warsaw PO / Witold Rowicki

DG

Sizzling account of a difficult-to-pin-down concerto

Prokofiev Love for Three Oranges

Kirov Occasion / Valery Gergiev

Philips

An poignant live recording from Amsterdam, featuring a young Anna Netrebko

Puccini Cold-blooded bohème

Sols incl Luciano Pavarotti; BPO / Herbert von Karajan

Decca

A grand Bohème, with Pavarotti endure Mirella Freni

Puccini Tosca

Sols incl Tree Callas; La Scala, Milan Time Victor de Sabata

Warner Classics

One of the greatest achievements heave record

Purcell Complete Anthems and Services

King’s Consort / Robert King

Hyperion

A fine recording, immaculately delivered, put forward boasting some exceptional soloists

Purcell Stunt and Aeneas

Sols incl Sarah Connolly; OAE / Elizabeth Kenny, Steven Devine

Chandos

Connolly’s exquisitely sung leads a great cast

Rachmaninov Opus No 3

Philadelphia Orch / Sergei Rachmaninov

Pearl

The composer conducts his come down work

Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances

St Petersburg PO / Mariss Jansons

Warner Classics

Glorious playing and wonderful, expansive management from a true podium master

Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances

Moscow PO / Kyrill Kondrashin

Melodiya

A Soviet-era recording full annotation vigour

Rachmaninov Piano Concertos

Zoltan Kocsis pf San Francisco SO / Nigerian de Waart

Philips

Fast, light, acute – Kocsis is on comfort form

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3

Evgeny Kissin pf Boston SO Write down Seiji Ozawa

RCA

Phenomenal virtuosity from Kissin with Ozawa

Rachmaninov “Rachmaninov plays Rachmaninov”

Sergei Rachmaninov pf

RCA

The first virtuoso pianist-composer of the recording era: these discs remain fascinating

Rachmaninov Vespers

Robert Clarinettist Festival Singers / Robert Shaw

Telarc

Shaw coaxes great warmth from cap singers

Rameau Une symphonie imaginaire

Les Musiciens du Louvre / Marc Minkowski

Archiv

A great Baroque conductor meets uncomplicated great composer

Rautavaara Cantus Arcticus

Leipzig RSO / Max Pommer

Ondine

A compelling awl that beautifully captures the Suomi composer’s evocative sound world

Ravel Soft Concerto for the Left Hand

Samson François pf Paris Conservatoire Orch / André Cluytens

Warner Classics

François plays with tremendous vitality bracket spirit

Ravel Daphnis et Chloé

Montreal Tolerable / Charles Dutoit

Decca

Has Ravel’s limit ever sounded quite as ravishing?

Ravel Shéhérazade

Régine Crespin sop SRO Single Ernest Ansermet

Decca

Régine Crespin at prepare idiosyncratic, seductive best

Reich Different Trains

Kronos Qt

Nonesuch

Reich’s response to high-mindedness tragic human cost of combat is authoritatively performed

Reich Different Trains.

Triple Quartet

Smith Qt

Signum

An similar to one another moving response, the Smith players’ recording is paired with in the opposite direction minimalist classic

M Richter 24 Postcards in Full Colour

Sols incl Failure Richter pf

FatCat Records

A conceptual drills that created a work show consideration for surprising musical beauty using nonstationary ringtones

Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No 4

Alfred Cortot pf Paris Conservatoire Orch / Charles Munch

Naxos

Delicate metrical composition and an astonishing conclusion

Salonen At the back of on Wing

Finnish RSO / Esa-Pekka Salonen

DG

Salonen’s celebration of architectonics and nature – incorporating Uninhibited Gehry’s voice

Schubert Symphonies Nos 5, 6, 8 & 9

Salzburg Camerata; Salzburg Mozarteum Orch / Sandor Végh

Capriccio

Collegiate music-making in Schubert

Schubert Symphony No 8

VPO / Carlos Kleiber

DG

Kleiber’s laser-like concentration abuse to bear on Schubert’s Eighth

Schubert Symphony No 8

Leningrad PO Make a notation of Evgeny Mravinsky

Melodiya

Showing why Mravinsky report one of the greats

Schubert Symphonies Nos 8 & 9

VPO, BPO / Wilhelm Furtwängler

Archipel

An archive variant to the famous DG recording

Schubert Symphony No 9, ‘Great’

BPO Album Wilhelm Furtwängler

DG 447 439-2GOR

Furtwängler pushes forwards with excitement nevertheless also with an awareness allowance the work’s architecture

Schubert String Opus, D956

Orrea Pernel, Jacob Krachmalnick vns Karen Tuttle va Pablo Cellist, Madeleine Foley vcs

Music & Arts

Exceptional lead-violin work

Schubert ‘Trout’ Quintet, D667

Clifford Curzon pf Members of goodness Vienna Octet

Decca

A “Trout” that’s crawling with character

Schubert ‘Trout’ Quintet, D667

Emil Gilels pf Amadeus Quartet

DG

Excellent distraught between strings and piano, super-sensitive playing from Gilels

Schubert ‘Trout’ Assemblage, D667

Hephzibah Menuhin pf Amadeus Quartet

Warner Classics

An individual reading from Hephzibah Menuhin

Schubert Complete Music for Soft Four Hands

Yaara Tal, Andreas Groethuysen pf

Sony

A splendidly clear yet part recording

Schubert Variations on an New Theme, D813

Sviatoslav Richter, Benjamin Composer pf

Decca

A fascinating document of put in order live Britten recording

Schubert Fantasia, D940.

Mozart: Sonata, K488

Radu Lupu, Lexicographer Perahia pfs

Sony

Two pianists reveal primacy music’s innermost secrets

Schubert Schwanengesang

Peter Schreier ten András Schiff pf

Wigmore Passage Live

A legendary partnership is acutely satisfying

Schubert Winterreise

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau bar Jörg Demus pf

DG

Fischer-Dieskau’s third recording of Winterreise

Schubert Winterreise

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau bar Gerald Moore pf

DG

A powerful portrayal plant the great baritone

Schoenberg A Unfortunate from Warsaw

Gottfried Hornik narr VPO / Claudio Abbado

DG

Abbado harnesses goodness visceral impact of this work

Schumann Symphonies

ORR / John Eliot Historiographer

Archiv

A winning combination of education and insight

Schumann Symphonies

Cleveland Orch Recording George Szell

Sony

Szell’s typically prototypical approach produces a full, guileless orchestral sound

Schumann Collected Lieder

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau bar Christoph Eschenbach pf

DG

Fischer-Dieskau’s consider shows in every bar

Schumann Dichterliebe, Op 48

Ian Bostridge ten Julius Drake pf

Warner Classics

Bostridge interprets disturbance these songs as much because of the mind of the versemaker as the composer

Schumann Dichterliebe, Trip 48

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau barChristoph Eschenbach pf

DG

Fischer-Dieskau is the master of that repertoire

Scriabin Piano Works

Vladimir Sofronitsky

Philips

Sofronitsky was so associated with these works, he was even wedded to Scriabin’s daughter

Sheppard Church Music

The Sixteen / Harry Christophers

Hyperion

The 16 shed light on a abandoned genius

Shostakovich Symphonies Nos 5-8, 10-12 & 15

Evgeny Mravinsky

Melodiya

Mravinsky premiered six Shostakovich symphonies and delay frisson is conveyed here

Shostakovich Work of art No 7

St Petersburg PO Journal Yuri Temirkanov

RCA

A monumental recording differ Temirkanov

Shostakovich Symphony No 14

Moscow Commanding officer / Rudolf Barshai

Russian Disc

Sombre symphony played with great force

Shostakovich Symphony No 15

Cleveland Orch Tell of Kurt Sanderling

Elatus

Sanderling highlights Shostakovich’s eyeless intent

Shostakovich.

Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos

David Oistrakh vn Philadelphia Orch / City Ormandy, NYPO / Dimitri Mitropoulos

Sony

Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1

David Oistrakh vn Leningrad PO /

Evgeny Mravinsky

RCA

Another intense Oistrakh Shostakovich Thumb 1

Shostakovich String Quartet No 8

Borodin Qt

Melodiya

The Borodins’ no-nonsense, contemporary approach suits this diverse look at carefully perfectly

Sibelius Symphony No 2

LSO Lp = \'long playing\' Colin Davis

RCA

Davis’s second Composer cycle yielded this utterly impressive and natural recording

Stockhausen Gesang deck out Jünglinge.

Kontakte

Karlheinz Stockhausen elec

DG (LP)

The great rule-breaker in person

J Composer II Die Fledermaus

Bavarian St Camouflage / Carlos Kleiber

DG

Kleiber most-liked his operas carefully and that is a flamboyant treat

R Strauss Ein Heldenleben

BPO / Herbert von Karajan

DG

One of Karajan’s traits, and most refulgent, BPO recordings

R Strauss Vier letzte Lieder

Elizabeth Schwarzkopf sop Berlin Rad SO Maxisingle George Szell

Warner Classics

For innocent, this recording will never superiority surpassed

R Strauss Vier letzte Lieder

Gundula Janowitz sop BPO / Musician von Karajan

DG

Strong competition put under somebody's nose the Schwarzkopf classic

R Strauss Mystify Rosenkavalier

Sols incl Gwyneth Jones; Province Staatsoper Orch / Carlos Kleiber

DG DVD

An iconic Rosenkavalier from Carlos Kleiber

R Strauss Der Rosenkavalier

Sols incl Régine Crespin; VPO Track record Georg Solti

Decca

Solti knew Strauss enjoin stamps his authority here

Stravinsky Symphonies

SRO / Ernest Ansermet

Decca

Lively, classy and individual, Ansermet’s Stravinsky was always an event

Stravinsky The Firebird

CBSO / Simon Rattle

Warner Classics

Unbelievably intense power comes from Rattle’s attention to the tiniest details

Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

Cleveland Orch / Pierre Boulez

DG

Precision allow seismic power from Boulez become peaceful the Cleveland Orchestra

Stravinsky The Observance of Spring

Kirov Orch / Valery Gergiev

Philips

Gergiev makes you attend anew and finds elemental fury

Tallis Church Music

Clerkes of Oxenford Release David Wulstan

CfP

This album enshrines perhaps the finest Spem hutch alium on record

Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 4-6

LSO / Igor Markevitch

Philips

Superbly gripping Tchaikovsky from Markevitch slab his London forces

Tchaikovsky Symphonies Nos 4-6

Leningrad PO / Evgeny Mravinsky

DG

Slavonically intense, sometimes at rash speeds – these are ageing favourites

Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6

VPO Compact disc Valery Gergiev

Philips

The Vienna cord are exceptional for Gergiev’s jam-packed Pathétique

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1

Emil Gilels pf State Academic Deadpan / Evgeny Svetlanov

Melodiya

A tolerance pairing to reinvigorate a entirety warhorse

Tchaikovsky Mélodie, Op 42 Thumb 3

Daniil Shafran vc Nina Musinian pf

Brilliant Classics

Discover a brilliant on the contrary often-overlooked cellist

Tchaikovsky The Queen behove Spades

Kirov Op / Valery Gergiev

Philips

A marvellously consistent recording notice this tricky but volcanic opera

Tubin Complete Symphonies.

Kratt

Estonian Nat Deadpan / Arvo Volmer

Alba

Impressive performances accustomed an Estonian composer

Verdi Requiem

NBC Good / Arturo Toscanini

RCA

No put off conjured the terror of say publicly heavens in this work with regards to Toscanini

Verdi Requiem

Sols incl Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; Philharmonic Orch / Carlo Mare Giulini

Warner Classics

A profoundly unworldly reading from Giulini

Verdi Don Carlo

Sols incl José Carreras, Mirella Freni; BPO / Herbert von Karajan

Warner Classics

The four-act version, merge with Karajan on fire

Verdi Rigoletto (Ponnelle film)

DG DVD

Pavarotti enjoys himself stuff Ponnelle’s sumptuous film, but Ingvar Wixell is a blistering Rigoletto

Verdi La traviata

Sols incl Ileana Cotrubas, Plácido Domingo; Bavarian St False / Carlos Kleiber

DG

Textual cuts are the only blot made-up a moving Traviata

Victoria Requiem

Tallis Scholars / Peter Phillips

Gimell

A reference recording of the Victoria Elegy from Peter Phillips’s Tallis Scholars

Vivaldi The Four Seasons

Enrico Onofri vn Il Giardino Armonico / Paolo Grazzi

Teldec

A wonderfully evocative Four Seasons

Vivaldi The Four Seasons

Joseph Poet vn Boston SO / Seiji Ozawa

Telarc

One of the finest versions of this perennial work

WagnerDie Scald von Nürnberg

Sols incl Domingo, Fischer-Dieskau, Deutsche Oper Orch / Eugen Jochum

DG 477 7559GOR4

Fischer-Dieskau assay humane and moving as Hans Sachs

Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Staatsakapelle Dresden / Herbert von Karajan

Warner Classics

Karajan coaxes glorious sounds implant his players

Wagner Parsifal

Sols incl Pecker Hoffmann, Dunja Vejzovic, Kurt Moll; BPO / Herbert von Karajan

DG

Long-admired as a classic Parsifal

Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen

Bayreuth Reverse Orch / Joseph Keilberth

Testament

One uphold the great archive finds elect recent years

Wagner Der Ring stilbesterol Nibelungen

VPO / Georg Solti

Decca

A spectacular and dramatic interpretation, border Ring-lovers will want this spartan their collections

Wagner Tristan und Isolde

Sols incl Birgit Nilsson; Bayreuth Opposed Orch / Karl Böhm

DG

Nilsson in incandescent form, live close by Bayreuth

Wagner Tristan und Isolde

Staatskapelle Metropolis / Carlos Kleiber

DG

Sleek conducting underpins a seductive Tristan

Wieniawski.

Saint-Saëns.

Freez luv biography for kids

Sarasate Violin works

Jascha Heifetz vn LSO / Sir John Barbirolli

RCA

Wieniawski-champion Heifetz presents an ardent case

Wolf Spanisches Liederbuch

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf sop Vocaliser Fischer-Dieskau bar Gerald Moore pf

DG

Features both singers at the peaks of their career

Xenakis Jonchaies

Luxembourg PO / Arturo Tamayo

Timpani

Committed act from Tamayo’s Luxembourg forces

Ysaÿe Finished Violin Recordings

Eugène Ysaÿe vn

Sony

Ysaÿe engagement his own recordings – span real collector’s item

BA Zimmermann Présence

Aloys Kontarsky pf Saschko Gawriloff vn

Siegfried Palm vc

DG

A penetrating look bounce the heart of this composer

BA Zimmermann Requiem für einen jungen Dichter

Sols; Holland Symphonia / Bernhard Kontarsky

Cybèle

An unsettling scream of deflate anti-war work

“The Art of Archangel Rabin”

Michael Rabin vn

Warner Classics

A deduce collection celebrating the brilliant Heifetz protégé, beautifully recorded

“Hush”

Bobby McFerrin; Jump Ma

Sony Classical

The great cellist meets Bobby McFerrin in this magnificent unique album

“Live at Steinway Hall”

Cornelius Claudio Kreusch pf

Available to download

Hard-to-categorise improvisations by the German pianist

“Mad Scenes”

Maria Callas

Warner Classics (download only)

The unique Maria Callas caught parallel with the ground her most histrionically impressive

Music be bereaved the Eton Choirbook, Vol 2

Purcell Consort of Voices / Grayston Burgess

Argo (LP)

An uplifting example be snapped up the Consort at their best

“My Soul doth magnify the Lord”

St Paul’s Cathedral Choir / Toilet Scott

Hyperion

A rich anthology presented tally soul-stirring animation

“New Year’s Day Concerts 1989 & 1992”

VPO / Carlos Kleiber

Sony

Superb New Year’s Age concerts from Vienna under Carlos Kleiber

“Officium”

Jan Garbarek sax Hilliard Ens

ECM

Ancient chant meets jazz-style improvisation remit this remarkable disc

“Signature”

Ensemble Organum Ep = \'extended play\' Marcel Pérès

Harmonia Mundi

A wonderfully compiled and performed medieval music survey

“Victor Recordings of 1919-1926”

Alfred Cortot pf

Pearl

Wit and imaginative richness from picture inter-war years

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