# 20 Greatest Classical Music Recordings



## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Counting down:

*20*










*19*










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*17*










*16*


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

*15*










*14*










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*12*










*11*


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

*10*










*9*










*8*










*7*










*6*


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

*5*










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*2*










*1*


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Nothing by Mozart? 

Apparently the person who compiled this list only likes Bach and Romantic music.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Well, it's just one person's list. I have to say that anyone who would place Caruso first resides in different universe than mine.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

tdc said:


> Nothing by Mozart?
> 
> Apparently the person who compiled this list only likes Bach and Romantic music.


I would add the Fritsch Busch Glyndebourne recordings and Beecham's Magic Flute to start with.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

tdc said:


> Nothing by Mozart?
> 
> Apparently the person who compiled this list only likes Bach and Romantic music.


I love Mozart. But this list is of great recordings, not works. I put the Requiem and Don Giovanni in the top 10 of all classical works, with Die Zauberflote, piano concerto 20, and symphonies 40 & 41 not far behind.

Maybe Mozart's music is so "perfect" that it's hard to really hail a great interpretation. It's honestly hard for me to think of a recording that really stands out from the rest. Maybe Furtwängler's Don Giovanni with the classic Salzburg cast or Beecham's Zauberflote.


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

I wouldn't at all mind having this collection on a desert island, but surely there have been one or two great records made over the last 60 years?


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

David Phillips said:


> I wouldn't at all mind having this collection on a desert island, but surely there have been one or two great records made over the last 60 years?


Yes, there have. They just don't crack my top 20 all time. They would be in my Top 100 though.

My stereo list:

1. Mahler, Symphony No. 9 - Sir John Barbirolli (1960)
2. R. Strauss, Four Last Songs - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/George Szell
3. Bach, Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould (1981)
4. Mahler, Symphony No. 8 - Jascha Horenstein
5. Monteverdi, Vespers - John Eliot Gardiner (1989)
6. Mahler, Symphony No. 6 - Sir John Barbirolli 
7. Josquin Deprez, Masses - Tallis Scholars
9. Hildegard, Hymns and Sequences - Gothic Voices
10. Copland, Orchestral Works - Leonard Bernstein (1958-61)
11. Allegri, Miserere/Palestrina, Masses - Tallis Scholars
12. Vaughan Williams, Fantasias/Elgar, Orchestral Works - Sir John Barbirolli
13. Ravel, Piano Concerto/Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 4 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Perhaps calling this list the greatest historical recordings may be more accurate
Sad to believe that no one in the past 60 years has been able to make your top 20


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

My knowledge of older recordings is not adequate for a contribution to this thread. But I strongly agree with the inclusion of the Ferrier/Walter 'Das Lied von den Erde' recording. I'm not a Mahler devotee at all, but Ferrier's voice and phrasing produced something utterly beautiful on this occasion.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> I love Mozart. But this list is of great recordings, not works. I put the Requiem and Don Giovanni in the top 10 of all classical works, with Die Zauberflote, piano concerto 20, and symphonies 40 & 41 not far behind.
> 
> Maybe Mozart's music is so "perfect" that it's hard to really hail a great interpretation. It's honestly hard for me to think of a recording that really stands out from the rest. Maybe Furtwängler's Don Giovanni with the classic Salzburg cast or Beecham's Zauberflote.


I dont think this is true - Haskil's Mozart for example - is thought to be special - the Budapest Qt recordings of Mozart from the 1930s - people rave about them. There are many examples we just need more people to contribute. In opera - Schwarzkopf singing various Mozart characters - Heifetz playing VC5 is one of my top historical recordings.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

stomanek said:


> I dont think this is true - Haskil's Mozart for example - is thought to be special - the Budapest Qt recordings of Mozart from the 1930s - people rave about them. There are many examples we just need more people to contribute. In opera - Schwarzkopf singing various Mozart characters - Heifetz playing VC5 is one of my top historical recordings.


My attitude is somewhat different. People may rave about some ancient performance, but I often can't see much "special" about it. It may have been special in its day, but times and tastes change. There are usually recordings since that plumb the depths more effectively, that have more imaginative approaches, that demonstrate improved technical mastery, and (of course) just plain sound better. I have to wonder if sometimes it's just a matter of imprinting at a certain age, or being swayed by ancient propaganda from the major labels' on behalf of their big moneymakers.

An example: Not long ago somebody was praising Arrau's Waldstein as a revelatory performance. I gave it a listen and thought he did a good job. But I easily prefer the contemporary and less-known Stewart Goodyear, who brings the sonata off with a tremendous verve and panache, unerring style, and an unmatched "go" - which is after all what this sonata is all about.

Overall, I'm less interested in what some deem "definitive" performances from yesteryear and more interested in how current artists manage to keep the repertoire, which has been recorded a hundred or a thousand times, fresh and new.


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## OperaChic (Aug 26, 2015)

Great list. I have most of the recordings listed, and am definitely intrigued to check out the few I don't have.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

stomanek said:


> I dont think this is true - Haskil's Mozart for example - is thought to be special - the Budapest Qt recordings of Mozart from the 1930s - people rave about them. There are many examples we just need more people to contribute. In opera - Schwarzkopf singing various Mozart characters - Heifetz playing VC5 is one of my top historical recordings.


Agree with all of those being top choices for Mozart, but I just don't think those recordings measure up to the other ones on my list. I would also add Edwin Fischer's Mozart. Again, has nothing to do with my regard for Mozart.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

KenOC said:


> My attitude is somewhat different. People may rave about some ancient performance, but I often can't see much "special" about it. It may have been special in its day, but times and tastes change. There are usually recordings since that plumb the depths more effectively, that have more imaginative approaches, that demonstrate improved technical mastery, and (of course) just plain sound better. I have to wonder if sometimes it's just a matter of imprinting at a certain age, or being swayed by ancient propaganda from the major labels' on behalf of their big moneymakers.
> 
> An example: Not long ago somebody was praising Arrau's Waldstein as a revelatory performance. I gave it a listen and thought he did a good job. But I easily prefer the contemporary and less-known Stewart Goodyear, who brings the sonata off with a tremendous verve and panache, unerring style, and an unmatched "go" - which is after all what this sonata is all about.
> 
> Overall, I'm less interested in what some deem "definitive" performances from yesteryear and more interested in how current artists manage to keep the repertoire, which has been recorded a hundred or a thousand times, fresh and new.


I started collecting classical recordings in the early 90's. I kept up with every new release and performance fad. My first Beethoven symphony set was Gardiner. Everything was about how to play things faster, clearer and slicker.

Then I opened my ears to older recordings and my world changed. I heard a deep communion and understanding of the music as opposed to concerns over mere efficiency. Once I experienced this level of music-making I could never go back. To each their own.

It was interesting compiling the above list of great stereo recordings and noticing how many were either early music or Mahler, both of which of course weren't recorded much if at all pre-stereo.


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## Gallus (Feb 8, 2018)

The 20 greatest classical music recordings...if you think history stopped in 1955.


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> I started collecting classical recordings in the early 90's. I kept up with every new release and performance fad. My first Beethoven symphony set was Gardiner. Everything was about how to play things faster, clearer and slicker.
> 
> Then I opened my ears to older recordings and my world changed. I heard a deep communion and understanding of the music as opposed to concerns over mere efficiency. Once I experienced this level of music-making I could never go back. To each their own.


When I first began listening to and collecting classical music recordings, I was only really interested in hearing modern-ish stereo recordings in good sound. But it's true, once you start listening to historical recordings you hear great musicianship with an entirely different sensibility. While historical recordings are not all I listen to now by any means, I cherish the experience of being able to hear these exceptional performers and giving great performances from a bygone era that have expanded my appreciation for the possibilities of much of my favorite music and who are links in a great and long tradition.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

After the first dozen, I was convinced that I could post: "I have none of them". But then you spoiled it by including Ferrier's Das Lied von der Erde.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

For comparison here are BBC Music's greatest 50 recordings of all time: http://www.classical-music.com/article/50-greatest-recordings-all-time

Gramophone magazine also made a list, based on reader submissions, of the 100 greatest recordings of the 20th century but I couldn't find it online. Solti's Ring topped that list, too, and has topped just about every best recording list I've ever seen.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

larold said:


> For comparison here are BBC Music's greatest 50 recordings of all time: http://www.classical-music.com/article/50-greatest-recordings-all-time
> 
> Gramophone magazine also made a list, based on reader submissions, of the 100 greatest recordings of the 20th century but I couldn't find it online. Solti's Ring topped that list, too, and has topped just about every best recording list I've ever seen.


Oh yes the dupre elgar or course - The mravinsky Tchaik. Some of the others though? Joan Sutherland? No Callas.

For those who are saying they only listen to stereo or recent recordings due to quality. You should listen to some of those mono recordings from the 50s - Decca HMV and ask whether they are truly inferior. Surely the artists are the first consideration.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I love many of those listed but would not necessarily choose them as a single best of the work in question or even in the top three. My reason for saying this has nothing to do with recording quality or that I might have chosen a few different historical recordings in place of the ones listed here. The thing with historical recordings that capture something wonderful and unique is that few of them are in any way definitive. They mostly stand best as exceptional. If they stood alone and we had no other performances of the works they would lose some of their shine. What they tell us is strong and special, a moment in time when things came together in a special way, but there is so much about the music performed that they do not tell us that I can only think of them as unique and special.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Two things strike me about lists:

1. They are always intensely personal, whether they are made by an individual or committee.

2. These lists rarely (neither cited here) include any integral group of the Beethoven symphonies. Every poll ever taken shows the Beethoven symphonies are at least among the most popular and greatest works ever written.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

I'll nominate this one:









There are many fine recordings of the Sibelius Concerto, including some from the last couple of decades. But none has the warmth and vigour of Oistrakh, nor his feel for the overall shape of the piece. And the orchestra are excellent.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

larold said:


> Two things strike me about lists:
> 
> 1. They are always intensely personal, whether they are made by an individual or committee.
> 
> 2. These lists rarely (neither cited here) include any integral group of the Beethoven symphonies. Every poll ever taken shows the Beethoven symphonies are at least among the most popular and greatest works ever written.


I have Furtwangler's 9th at #2. What more do you want? 

The thing with Furtwangler, of course, is you have to patch together a set from his various recordings. No doubt IMO a set of Furtwangler's best Beethoven symphony recordings would represent the greatest set of orchestral recordings available:

*CD1*
Symphony No. 1 (11/29/52)
Symphony No. 2 (1948)

*CD2*
Symphony No. 3 (1944)

*CD3*
Symphony No. 4/Coriolan overture/Leonore No. 3 (1943)
Egmont overture (1947)

*CD4*
Symphony No. 5 (5/25/47)
Symphony No. 6 (5/23/54)

*CD5*
Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 (1953)

*CD6*
Symphony No. 9 (3/22/42)


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> I have Furtwangler's 9th at #2. What more do you want?
> 
> The thing with Furtwangler, of course, is you have to patch together a set from his various recordings. No doubt IMO a set of Furtwangler's best Beethoven symphony recordings would represent the greatest set of orchestral recordings available:
> 
> ...


I fail to hear anything special in Furtwangler's Beethoven symphonies interpretively, try as I might. I do love his Tristan and Isolde, though. I also find Horowitz's Tchaikovsky hard to really get into.


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## gHeadphone (Mar 30, 2015)

Very interesting list. Wouldn't be my list right now, but ill give some of the recordings a listen, maybe they'll supplant some of my existing top 20!


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Pat Fairlea said:


> I'll nominate this one:
> 
> View attachment 110400
> 
> ...


I'll give that another listen. My preference has always been for the earlier Oistrakh account with Ehrling. Of versions I've heard, my ranking for the Sibelius concerto is:

Jascha Heifetz/Leopold Stokowski
Jascha Heifetz/Sir Thomas Beecham
Ginette Neveu/Walter Susskind
David Oistrakh/Sixten Ehrling
Jascha Heifetz/Dimitri Mitropoulos
Jascha Heifetz/Walter Hendl
Tossy Spivakovsky/Tauno Hannikainen
Camilla Wicks/Sixten Ehrling
Cho Liang-Lin/Esa Pekka Salonen
David Oistrakh/Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
David Oistrakh/Eugene Ormandy
Ivry Gitlis/Jascha Horenstein
Georg Kulenkampff/Wilhelm Furtwängler
Christian Ferras/Herbert von Karajan
Igor Oistrakh/Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
Ida Haendel/Karel Ancerl
Efrem Zimbalist/Erich Leinsdorf
Kyung-Wha Chung/André Previn


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Phil loves classical said:


> I fail to hear anything special in Furtwangler's Beethoven symphonies interpretively, try as I might. I do love his Tristan and Isolde, though. I also find Horowitz's Tchaikovsky hard to really get into.


Wow. Of course, I don't know which recordings you have heard - perhaps it was the recordings gathered together by EMI? - but I have almost the exact opposite feeling (mostly based on recordings from the 40s and early 50s): his Beethoven seems so fresh and contemporary that I don't think of them so much as historical. I wonder where all that insight went after Furtwangler: did no-one learn from him?


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I personally don't understand the obsession of some people with the "best recording". Every major work has several excellent recordings with unique strengths and weaknesses. The recordings are like different perspectives on the same work. Why should a particular perspective be the "best"? I honestly cannot tell if Skrowaczewski's or Celibidache's or Wand's Bruckner is the best. They are all different and excellent.


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## OperaChic (Aug 26, 2015)

Enthusiast said:


> Wow. Of course, I don't know which recordings you have heard - perhaps it was the recordings gathered together by EMI? - but I have almost the exact opposite feeling (mostly based on recordings from the 40s and early 50s): his Beethoven seems so fresh and contemporary that I don't think of them so much as historical. I wonder where all that insight went after Furtwangler: did no-one learn from him?


Ditto for his Wagner as far as I'm concerned, where he is the greatest interpretive figure of the music that we have on record.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

OperaChic said:


> Ditto for his Wagner as far as I'm concerned, where he is the greatest interpretive figure of the music that we have on record.


I'll take his Brahms too, where he finds meaning no one else does and can generate an intensity that's just diabolical. And his Schumann 4th, and his Bruckner - unbelievable.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

KenOC said:


> My attitude is somewhat different. People may rave about some ancient performance, but I often can't see much "special" about it. It may have been special in its day, but times and tastes change. There are usually recordings since that plumb the depths more effectively, that have more imaginative approaches, that demonstrate improved technical mastery, and (of course) just plain sound better. I have to wonder if sometimes it's just a matter of imprinting at a certain age, or being swayed by ancient propaganda from the major labels' on behalf of their big moneymakers.


I largely agree, but with a few caveats. There are certainly exceptions - I don't think, for example, that anyone in the last half century has conducted Bruckner's 8th as well as Furtwangler. And with respect to singing, I don't think that many modern singers come close to the level of sheer vocalism that was common in the first half of the century. The older singers made singing sound easy, giving them plenty of room for interpretation. Most singers currently active have so much trouble just generating the notes that imagination is nonexistent.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

wkasimer said:


> I largely agree, but with a few caveats. There are certainly exceptions - I don't think, for example, that anyone in the last half century has conducted Bruckner's 8th as well as Furtwangler. And with respect to singing, I don't think that many modern singers come close to the level of sheer vocalism that was common in the first half of the century. The older singers made singing sound easy, giving them plenty of room for interpretation. Most singers currently active have so much trouble just generating the notes that imagination is nonexistent.


I find that the repertoire makes a difference. In Baroque music we've definitely made progress in understanding style and becoming proficient on old instruments (which isn't to say that all "HIP" performances are successful). In Romantic music, though, I think we've lost some of the spontaneity, imagination and individuality that some old performers brought to it. Listen to Mengelberg in Liszt's Les Preludes or the adagietto from Mahler's 5th; nothing like them has been heard for half a century. Furtwangler and Knappertsbusch knew some secrets about Wagner that we don't, and their recordings will remain classics forever. Ignaz Friedman playing Chopin, or Rachmaninoff playing himself, are _sui generis._ National traditions in playing and in orchestral sound have vanished too. And singing! Just sample Battistini, Caruso, Schumann-Heink, Ponselle... Well, you know all about that.

But don't mind me. I'm a nostalgic old fart who's always thought that paradise was lost before I was born.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

I think the Toscanini way has won the day in past 20 years or so.
(which I don't care for) Furtwangler about Toscanini conducting the LvB 9th first movement, "Timekeeper!"
I long for the day when feeling returns rather than precision.
mho of course.


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## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

I was going to go out and buy a couple of those then I realized, what am I going to play them on? I went to my attic and found this, will it work?


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Pyotr said:


> I was going to go out and buy a couple of those then I realized, what am I going to play them on? I went to my attic and found this, will it work?
> View attachment 110420


When I was a kid in the 50s, I had a windup Victrola in my bedroom. At that time, my father could only afford a few of the new LPs since they were quite expensive. When he went to work, I would sometimes grab his LPs and play them on the Victrola. If I pushed the tone arm down slightly, little vinyl spirals would curl up from the grooves. That was fun!

Many years later I mentioned that to him. He just looked at me and said, "You know, I always wondered why those records wore out so fast." He was always too polite to say what he really thought!


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

As ever this is a work in progress, but here is my Top 100 list. I have been compiling this list now for 20 years.

1.	Opera Arias – Enrico Caruso
2.	Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 – Wilhelm Furtwängler (3/1942)
3.	Bach, Cello Suites – Pablo Casals
4.	Beethoven, Piano Sonatas – Artur Schnabel
5.	Puccini, Tosca – Maria Callas/Victor de Sabata
6.	Bach, St Matthew Passion – Willem Mengelberg 
7.	Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde – Kathleen Ferrier/Julius Patzak/Bruno Walter (live 1952)
8.	Chopin, Nocturne, Op. 55/2, Mazurkas/Mendelssohn, Songs Without Words – Ignaz Friedman
9.	Beethoven, String Quartets – Busch Quartet
10.	Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 3 – Vladimir Horowitz/John Barbirolli 
11.	Wagner, Die Walkure: Act 1 – Lotte Lehmann/Lauritz Melchior/Bruno Walter
12.	Brahms/Tchaikovsky, Violin Concertos – Bronislaw Huberman (1944-46)
13.	Bruckner, Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9 – Wilhelm Furtwängler (1944)
14.	Schubert, Piano Sonatas Nos. 17, 20 & 21, Moments Musicaux – Artur Schnabel
15.	Wagner, Tristan und Isolde – Kirsten Flagstad/Wilhelm Furtwängler
16.	Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier – Edwin Fischer
17.	Verdi, Requiem – Victor de Sabata 
18.	Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 – Vladimir Horowitz/Arturo Toscanini (1943)
19.	Russian Opera Arias – Fedor Chaliapin
20.	Bach, Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites – Busch Chamber Players
21.	Debussy/Ravel, String Quartets, Intro and allegro – Calvet Quartet
22.	Mahler, Symphony No. 9 – Sir John Barbirolli (1960)
23.	Beethoven/Brahms/Mendelssohn, Violin Concertos – Fritz Kreisler/Leo Blech
24.	Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 – Wilhelm Furtwängler (5/25/1947)
25.	Verdi, Otello – Ramon Vinay/Giuseppe Valdengo/Herva Nelli/Arturo Toscanini
26.	Bach, Violin Sonatas and Partitas – George Enescu (1949)
27.	R. Strauss, Four Last Songs – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/George Szell
28.	Schubert, String Quartets Nos. 14 & 15 – Busch Quartet
29.	Opera Arias – Claudia Muzio
30.	Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 – Leopold Stokowski (1939)
31.	Massenet, Werther – Elie Cohen
32.	Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 2/Schumann, Carnaval – Sergei Rachmaninoff
33.	Debussy, Piano Works – Walter Gieseking (1927-39)
34.	Mozart, Don Giovanni – Cesare Siepi/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Wilhelm Furtwängler (1953)
35.	Beethoven, Violin Concerto, Violin Sonata No. 9 (“Kreutzer”) – Bronislaw Huberman
36.	Arias and Songs – Kathleen Ferrier
37.	“Golden Jubilee Concert” – Josef Hofmann
38.	Donizetti, Lucia di Lamermoor – Maria Callas/Hebert von Karajan
39.	Bach, Goldberg Variations – Glenn Gould (1981)
40.	Faure/Duparc, Chansons – Charles Panzera
41.	Mahler, Symphony No. 8 – Jascha Horenstein
42.	Bartok, String Quartets – Vègh Quartet (1950)
43.	Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition – Sviatoslav Richter (1958)
44.	Monteverdi, Vespers – John Eliot Gardiner (1989)
45.	Khachaturian, Piano Concerto – William Kapell/Serge Koussevitzky
46.	Debussy, Pelleas et Melisande – Roger Desormiere
47.	Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 2, Preludes, Impromptus, Berceuse, Barcarolle – Alfred Cortot 
48.	Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 – Vaclav Talich (1954)
49.	Brahms, Clarinet Quintet/Horn Trio – Reginald Kell/Aubrey Brain/Busch Quartet
50.	Stravinsky, Petrushka, Firebird Suite – Leopold Stokowski (1935-37)
51.	Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) – Wilhelm Furtwängler (1944)
52.	Schubert, Impromptus, Wanderer Fantasy – Edwin Fischer (1936-38)
53.	Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra – Serge Koussevitzky
54.	Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique – Pierre Monteux (1930)
55.	Franck/Debussy/Faure, Violin Sonatas – Jacques Thibaud/Alfred Cortot
56.	Bellini, Norma – Maria Callas/Antonino Votto (1955)
57.	Brahms, Symphony No. 1 – Wilhelm Furtwängler (1951)
58.	Liszt, Piano Concerto No. 1, Solo Piano Works – Simon Barere
59.	Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen – Kirsten Flagstad/Wilhelm Furtwängler
60.	Tchaikovsky, Francesca da Rimini, Hamlet - Leopold Stokowski
61.	Mahler, Symphony No. 6 – Sir John Barbirolli 
62.	Josquin, Masses – Tallis Scholars
63.	R Strauss, Ein Heldenleben – Willem Mengelberg (1928)
64.	Beethoven, Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5 – Artur Schnabel/Sir Malcolm Sargent
65.	Opera arias – Titta Ruffo
66.	Debussy/Ravel, Orchestral Works – Piero Coppola
67.	Verdi, La Traviata – Maria Callas/Nicola Resigno
68.	Mahler, Symphony No. 1 – Bruno Walter (1939) 
69.	Sibelius, Violin Concerto – Jascha Heifetz/Leopold Stokowski
70.	Scarlatti, Keyboard Sonatas – Wanda Landowska
71.	Brahms, Symphony No. 4/Mozart, Symphony No. 40 - Wilhelm Furtwängler (1949)
72.	Schumann, Piano Concerto, Kreisleriana, Etudes symphoniques – Alfred Cortot
73.	Bach, Violin Concertos – Yehudi Menuhin/George Enescu
74.	Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade – Leopold Stokowski (1927)
75.	Shostakovich, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto – David Oistrakh/Mstislav Rostropovich
76.	Mozart, Die Zauberflöte – Sir Thomas Beecham
77.	Schubert, Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9 – Wilhelm Furtwängler (1953)
78.	Mendelssohn, Elijah – Sir Malcolm Sargent (1947)
79.	Brahms, Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 – Artur Schnabel 
80.	Haydn, String Quartets – Pro Arte Quartet
81.	Elgar, Cello Concerto – Jacqueline Du Pre/Sir John Barbirolli 
82.	Verdi, Falstaff – Arturo Toscanini
83.	Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique) – Wilhelm Furtwängler (1951)
84.	Hildegard, Hymns and Sequences – Gothic Voices
85.	Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 2/Paganini Rhap – Sergei Rachmaninoff/Leopold Stokowski
86.	Beethoven/Schubert, Piano Trios – Jacques Thibaud/Pablo Casals/Alfred Cortot
87.	Dvorak, Cello Concerto – Emanuel Feuermann/Leo Barzin
88. “Kasimir Hall Recital” – Josef Hofmann
89.	Shostakovich, String Quartets - Beethoven Quartet
90.	Mahler, Symphony No. 4 – Willem Mengelberg 
91.	Bach, Ich habe genug/Brahms, Lieder – Hans Hotter
92.	Prokofiev, Symphonies Nos 1 & 5 – Serge Koussevitzky
93.	Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht – Hollywood Quartet
94.	Copland, Orchestral Works – Leonard Bernstein (1958-61)
95.	Handel, Messiah – Sir Malcolm Sargent (1946)
96.	Sibelius, Symphonies Nos. 1-3 & 5 – Robert Kajanus
97.	Ravel, Piano Concerto/Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No. 4 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
98.	Allegri, Miserere/Palestrina, Masses – Tallis Scholars
99.	Schubert, Lieder – Heinrich Schlusnus
100.	Vaughan Williams, Fantasias/Elgar, Orchestral Works – Sir John Barbirolli


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

Surprised not to see Szigeti's recording of Prokofiev's first violin concerto make the list. That performance is stunning.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

WildThing said:


> Surprised not to see Szigeti's recording of Prokofiev's first violin concerto make the list. That performance is stunning.


Oh my, wish I could squeeze in more because you are right! It actually is at #116 on my working list:

Mendelssohn/Mozart/Prokofiev, Violin Concertos - Joseph Szigeti


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Bulldog said:


> Well, it's just one person's list. I have to say that anyone who would place Caruso first resides in different universe than mine.


Especially that Nimbus abomination.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

It's a great list, but I don't think that "greatest" really applies. These are all important, and often historic recordings, but many of them have been supplanted by more recent recordings. For example, Casals and Gould may have rescued Bach's Cello Suites and Goldberg Variations from obscurity, but they're no longer the sine qua non in those works.


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Oh my, wish I could squeeze in more because you are right! It actually is at #116 on my working list:
> 
> Mendelssohn/Mozart/Prokofiev, Violin Concertos - Joseph Szigeti


This is the version I have:









If I were making my own list, I have no doubt it would be in my top 25.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

WildThing said:


> This is the version I have:
> 
> View attachment 110437
> 
> ...


This is the one I have. The other concertos are great too, especially the Mendelssohn.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

wkasimer said:


> For example, Casals and Gould may have rescued Bach's Cello Suites and Goldberg Variations from obscurity, but they're no longer the sine qua non in those works.


They are in my opinion and many others. Great artistry doesn't age any more than the composers themselves do.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

So here is a new entry to my Top 100. Just discovered the 1954 Beecham recording of Sibelius 2. Astounding! The Dvorak 8 is not quite as characterful as Talich or Barbirolli, but the outer movements are plenty exciting as well.

The Sibelius 2 however now ranks as my favorite Sibelius symphony recording. Bernstein's 5th is also pretty high.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)




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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

And I'll add:


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

A very limited view of Classical music that hardly represents what people want to listen to nowadays... but I like some of the choices anyway. Furtwangler is deserving but I prefer Knappertsbusch in the same repertory.

This should be included


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

philoctetes said:


> A very limited view of Classical music that hardly represents what people want to listen to nowadays...


If I was so concerned about "what people want to listen to nowadays" I wouldn't be listening to classical music at all in the first place.

As I said in another part of the thread, I am well familiar with newer recordings and tastes having cut my teeth on it when I began listening in the 90s. This list is a result of being open to older recordings, not limited to them.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> If I was so concerned about "what people want to listen to nowadays" I wouldn't be listening to classical music at all in the first place.
> 
> As I said in another part of the thread, I am well familiar with newer recordings and tastes having cut my teeth on it when I began listening in the 90s. This list is a result of being open to older recordings, not limited to them.


Well, if repetition was a virtue, I wouldn't listen to CM either. This list is francophoibic as well.

"having cut my teeth on it when I began listening in the 90s"

The 90s are so... yesterday....


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

philoctetes said:


> Well, if repetition was a virtue, I wouldn't listen to CM either. This list is francophoibic as well.
> 
> "having cut my teeth on it when I began listening in the 90s"
> 
> The 90s are so... yesterday....


On my top 100 mentioned later in the thread I have both the Calvet Qt's Debussy/Ravel and Elie Cohen's Werther just outside the top 20. You should check them out.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> So here is a new entry to my Top 100. Just discovered the 1954 Beecham recording of Sibelius 2. Astounding! The Dvorak 8 is not quite as characterful as Talich or Barbirolli, but the outer movements are plenty exciting as well.
> 
> The Sibelius 2 however now ranks as my favorite Sibelius symphony recording. Bernstein's 5th is also pretty high.


This is a great record. And it is also a great example of a performance that could never, for me, be classed as "the best" or "a favourite". The Sibelius especially is extraordinarily visceral and powerful. A great performance but not one that sums up or captures to perfection the work in question, nor one that I would want to hear very time I wanted to listen to Sibelius 2. It is an exception, a great moment in time. There are quite a few great performances of this type among the historical recordings that we have (Toscanini's astonishing London Brahms, anyone?). They are wonderful but not because they are definitive: quite the contrary, I think.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> As ever this is a work in progress, but here is my Top 100 list. I have been compiling this list now for 20 years.
> 
> 1.	Opera Arias - Enrico Caruso
> 2.	Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 - Wilhelm Furtwängler (3/1942)
> ...


Surprising to see that many historical recordings.

Looks as if it is made by someone who swears to shellac.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Abrahamsen, H.: Let Me Tell You - Barbara Hannigan / Andris Nelsons, Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (2015)










Adès, T.: The Tempest - Simon Keenlyside, Kate Royal, Toby Spence, Ian Bostridge, Cyndia Sieden, Philip Langridge, Donald Kaasch, Jonathan Summers, David Condier, Stephen Richardson, Graeme Danby / Thomas Adès, Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (2009)










Bach, J. S.: Cello Suites - Pablo Casals (1927-1939)










Bach, J. S.: Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould (1955)










Bach, J. S.: Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin - Nathan Milstein (1973)










Bartok, B.: Concerto for Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Hungarian Sketches - Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1955)










Bartok, B.: Piano Concertos - Zoltán Kocsis / Iván Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra (1984-1987)










Bartok, B.: String Quartets - Takács Quartet (1996)










Beethoven, L. V.: Fidelio - Kirsten Flagstad, René Maison, Julius Huehn, Alexander Kipnis / Bruno Walter, Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera (1941)










Beethoven, L. V.: Missa Solemnis - Zinka Milanov, Bruna Castagna, Jussi Björling, Alexander Kipnis / Arturo Toscanini, Westminster Choir, NBC Symphony Orchestra (1940)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Beethoven, L. V.: Piano Sonatas 18 & 32 - Annie Fischer (1962) 










Beethoven, L. V.: Piano Sonatas 30 & 31 - Myra Hess (1954) 










Beethoven, L. V.: Symphonies 5 & 7 - Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2014) 










Bellini, V.: Norma - Maria Callas, Mario Del Monaco, Giulietta Simiomato, Nicola Zaccaria / Antonino Votto, Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro alla Scala (1955) 










Benjamin, G.: Written on Skin, Duet for Piano and Orchestra - Christopher Purves, Barbara Hannigan, Bejun Mehta, Victoria Simmonds, Allan Clayton / Pierre-Laurent Aimard / George Benjamin, Mahler Chamber Orchestra (2012) 










Berg, A.: Wozzeck - Eileen Farrell, Mack Harrell, Frederick Jagel, Ralph Herbert, Adolph Anderson, Joseph Mordino, David Lloyd, Edwina Eustis, Hubert Norville / Dimitri Mitropoulos, High School of Music and Art Chorus, New York Philharmonic, Chorus of the Schola Cantorum (1951) 










Berlioz, H.: Les Nuits D'Été, La Captive, Le Jeune Patre Breton, Zaïde, - Eleanor Steber / Dimitri Mitropoulos / Jean Morel, Colombia Symphony Orchestra (1954) 










Boulez, P.: Pli Selon Pli, Livre pour Cordes - Halina Lukomska, Maria Bergmann, Paul Stingl, Hugo D'Alton / Pierre Boulez, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Strings of the New Philharmonia Orchestra (1969) 










Brahms, J.: Violin Concerto - Jascha Heifetz / Serge Koussevitsky, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1939) 










Brahms, J.: Piano Concerto No. 2 
Beethoven, L. V.: Piano Sonata No. 23 - Sviatoslav Richter / Erich Leinsdorf, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1960)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Brahms, J.: Symphony No. 4 
MacMillan, J.: Larghetto for Orchestra - Menfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (2017, 2018) 










Britten, B.: War Requiem - Galina Vishnevskaya, Peter Pears, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Simon Preston / Benjamin Britten, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Melos Ensemble, Highgate School Choir, The Bach Choir (1963) 










Bruckner, A.: Symphony No. 8 - Günter Wand, North German Radio Symphony Orchestra (1988) 










Cherubini, L.: Medea - Maria Callas, Jon Vickers, Teresa Berganza, Nicola Zaccaria / Nicola Rescigno, Dallas Civic Opera Company Orchestra & Chorus (1958) 










Chin, U.: Three Concertos - Sunwook Kim / Alban Gerhardt / Wei wu / Myung-Whun Chung, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (2014) 










Chopin, F.: Ballades, Piano Concerto No. 1 - Claudio Arrau / Otto Klemperer, WDR Symphony Orchestra (1953, 1954) 










Chopin, F.: Preludes, Nocturnes Op. 62 - Rafał Blechacz (2007) 










Chopin, F.: Nocturnes - Nelson Freire (2009) 










Crumb, G.: Black Angels - Kronos Quartet (1990) 










Crumb, G.: Makrokosmos - Yoshiko Shimizu, Rupert Struber, Akiko Shibata, Natsumi Shimizu (2018)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Debussy, C.: Images, Children's Corner - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1971)










Debussy, C.: Pelléas et Mélisande - Jacques Jansen, Irène Joachim, Henri Etcheverry, Germaine Cernay, Paul Cabanel, Leila Ben Sedira / Roger Désormière, Chorus Yvonne Gouverne Orchestre Symphonique (1941)










Debussy, C.: Preludes - Paul Jacobs (1978)










Donizetti, G.: Anna Bolena - Maria Callas, Giulietta Simionato, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, Gianni Raimondi / Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro alla Scala (1957)










Dvorák, A.: Cello Concerto
Brahms, J.: Double Concerto - Pablo Casals, Jacques Thibaud / George Szell, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Alfred Cortot, Pablo Casals Orchestra of Barcelona (1929, 1937)










Dvorák, A.: Piano Trios 3 & 4 - Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt (2018)










Ginastera, A.: Harp Concerto, Piano Concerto, Estancia - Nancy Allen, Oscar Tarango / Enrique Bátiz, Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México (1989)










Handel, G.: Alcina - Joan Sutherland, Fritz Wunderlich, Norma Procter, Jeannette Van Dijck, Nicola Monti, Thomas Hemsley / Ferdinand Leitner, Capella Coloniensis, Kölner Rundfunkchor (1959)










Holst, G.: The Planets
Strauss, R.: Also Sprach Zarathustra - William Steinberg, New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1970, 1971)










Janáček, L.: Glagolitic Mass, Taras Bulba - Libuse Domaninska, Vera Soukupová, Beno Blachut, Eduard Haken, Jaroslav Vodrazka / Karel Ancerl, Prague Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (1961, 1963)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Lieberson, P.: Neruda Songs - Lorraine Hunt Lieberson / James Levine, Boston Symphony Orchestra (2006) 










Liszt, F.: Années de Pèlerinage - Lazar Berman (1977) 










Liszt, F.: Piano Sonata 
Scarlatti, D.: Sonatas
Chopin, F: Mazurka & Etude - Vladimir Horowitz (1932-1935) 










Machaut, G.: Messe de Notre-Dame - Marcel Pérès, Ensemble Organum (2018) 










Mahler, G.: Das Lied von der Erde - Kerstin Thorborg, Carl Martin Öhmann / Carl Schuricht, Concertgebouw Orchestra (1939) 










Mahler, G.: Symphony No. 9 - Claudio Abbado, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1999) 










Massenet, J.: Werther, Arias - George Thill, Ninon Vallin, Germaine Féraldy, Marcel Rocque / Elie Cohen, Children's Chorus of the Cantoria, Paris Opera Orchestra & Chorus (1931) 










Mascagni, P.: Cavalleria Rusticana - Lina Bruna Rasa, Antonio Melandri, Afro Poli, Rina Gallo Toscani, Maria Meloni / Pietro Mascagni, Orchestra & Chrous of the Opera Italiana d'Olanda (1938) 










Mendelssohn, F.: Violin Concerto No. 2
Schumann, R.: Violin Concerto
Various: Encores - Henryk Szeryng, Charles Reiner / Antal Dorati, London Symphony Orchestra (1964) 










Messiaen, O.: Quator pour la Fin de Temps - Tashi Quartet (1976)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Messiaen, O.: Turangalila Symphony - Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Takashi Harada / Riccardo Chailly, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (1992) 










Monteverdi, C.: L'Incoronazione di Poppea - Claudia Parada, Mirto Picchi, Mirella Parutto, Renato Cesari, Boris Christoff, Oralia Dominguez, Nicola Monti / Carlo Franci, Orchestra & Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (1966) 










Monteverdi, C.: Vespro della Beata Vergine - Jordi Savall, Chorus of the Centro Musica Antica di Padova, La Capella Reial (1989) 










Mozart, W. A.: Don Giovanni - Ezio Pinza, Elisabeth Rethberg, Luise Helletsgruber, Margit Bokor, Dino Borgioli, Virgilio Lazzari, Carl Ettl, Herbert Alsen / Bruno Walter, Vienna State Opera Orchestra & Chorus (1937) 










Mozart, W. A.: Piano Concerto 19 & 23 - Maurizio Pollini / Karl Böhm, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (1976) 










Mozart, W. A.: Symphonies 38 - 41 - Charles Mackerras, Scottish Chamber Orchestra (2007) 










Mussorgsky, M.: Boris Godunov - Aleksandr Pirogov, Georgi Nelepp, Maria Maksakova, Maxim Mikhailov, Vassily Lubenchov, Nikander Kanayev, Vassili Yakuschenko, Aleksey Petrovich Ivanov, Yelena Dimitrienvna Kruglikova, Alexandra Tourtchina, Ivan Kozlovsky, Ilya Bogdanov, Alexander Peregudov, Eugenia Verbitskaya, Sergei Krazovsky, Ivan Spinayev / Nikolai Golovanov, Orchestra & Chorus of the Bolshoi Theatre (1949) 










Ponchielli, A.: La Gioconda - Zinka Milanov, Giovanni Martinelli, Bruna Castagna, Carlo Morelli, Nicola Moscona, Anna Kaskas / Ettore Panizza, Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera (1939) 










Prokofiev, S.: Piano Concertos 2 & 3 - Horacio Gutierrez / Neeme Järvi, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (1992) 










Prokfiev, S.: Romeo & Juliet - Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Symphonic Orchestra pf the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre (1959)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Prokofiev, S.: Violin Concertos, Violin Sonata No. 2 - David Oistrakh, Vladimir Yampolsky / Lovro von Matacic, London Symphony Orchestra / Alceo Galliera, Philharmonia Orchestra (1954-1958) 










Puccini, G.: La Bohème - Beniamino Gigli, Licia Albanese, Afro Poli, Duillio Baronti, Arristide Barrachi / Umberto Berrettoni, Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro alla Scala (1938) 










Rachmaninov, S.: Piano Concerto No. 2
Tchaikovsky, P. I.: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Sviatoslav Richter / Stanislaw Wislocki, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan, Vienna Symphony Orchestra (1959, 1962) 










Ravel, M.: Daphnis et Chloé - Charles Munch, New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1961) 










Ravel, M.: Gaspard de la Nuit
Prokofiev, S.: Piano Sonata No. 6 - Ivo Pogorelich (1983) 










Respighi, O.: Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome, Roman Festivals - Riccardo Muti, Philadelphia Orchestra (1984) 










Rimsky-Korsakov, N.: Scheherazade - Eugene Goossens, London Symphony Orchestra (1959) 










Rossini, G.: Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Luigi Alva, Nicola Zaccaria, Fritz Ollendorff / Aleco Galliera, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus (1957) 










Saariaho, K.: L'Amour de Loin - Daniel Belcher, Ekaterina Lekhnia, Marie-Ange Todorovitch / Kent Nagano, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (2006) 










Scriabin, A.: Piano Recital - Sviatoslav Richter (1972)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Scarlatti, D.: Sonatas - Jean Rondeau (2018) 










Schnittke, A.: Faust Cantata, Ritual, Kein Sommernachtstraum, Passacaglia - Inger Blom, Mikael Bellini, Louis Devos, Ulrik Cold / James DePreist / Leif Segerstam, Malmö Symphony Orchestra (1989) 










Schubert, F.: Winterreise - Hans Hotter, Michael Raucheisen (1942) 










Shostakovich, D.: String Quartets 1, 8 & 14 - Borodin Quartet (2015) 










Shostakovich, D.: Symphonies 5 & 9 - Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic Orchestra (1959, 1965) 










Sibelius, J.: Violin Concerto, Serenades, Humoresque - Anne-Sophie Mutter, André Previn, Staatskapelle Dresden (1995) 










Strauss, R.: Elektra - Astrid Varnay, Leonie Rysanek, Hans Hotter, Res Fischer, Helmut Melchert / Richard Kraus, Kolner Rundfunkchor & Orchestra (1953) 










Strauss, R.: Salome - Ljuba Welitsch, Kerstin Thorborg, Herbert Janssen, Frederick Jagel / Fritz Reiner, Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera (1949) 










Stravinsky, I.: The Firebird, The Song of the Nightingale - Pierre Boulez, New York Philharmonic (1975) 










Stravinsky, I.: The Rite of Spring, Fireworks, Firebird Suite - Seiji Ozawa, Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Erich Leinsdorf, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1964, 1968)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Szymanowski, K.: Violin Concertos, Myths - Baiba Skride, Lauma Skride / Vasily Petrenko, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (2013) 










Takemitsu, T.: From Me Flows What You Call Time, Twill by Twilight, Requiem for String Orchestra - Carl St. Clair, Nexus, The Pacific Symphony Orchestra (1997) 










Tallis, T.: Spem in Allium, Sancte Deus, Salvator Mundi, Gaude Gloriosa, Miserere Nostri, Loquebantur Variis Linguis, etc. - Peter Phillips, The Tallis Scholars (1985) 










Tchaikovsky, P. I.: Piano Trio - Emil Gilels, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonid Kogan (1952) 










Tchaikovsky, P. I.: Swan Lake, Nutcracker Suite - Anatole Fistoulari, London Symohony Orchestra / Paris Consservatoire Orchestra (1951, 1952) 










Verdi, G.: La Forza del Destino - Renata Tebaldi, Mario Del Monaco, Aldo Protti, Cesare Siepi, Fedora Barbieri, Renato Cappechi / Dimitri Mitropoulos, Orchestra & Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (1953) 










Verdi, G.: La Traviata - Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Ettore Bastianini / Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro alla Scala (1955) 










Verdi, G.: Messe di Requiem - Zinka Milanov, Bruna Castagna, Jussi Björling, Nicola Moscona / Arturo Toscanini, Westminster Choir, NBC Symphony Orchestra (1940) 










Verdi, G.: Otello - Giovanni Martinelli, Elisabeth Rethberg, Lawrence Tibbett / Ettore Panizza, Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera House (1938) 










Wagner, R.: Die Walküre - Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Marjorie Lawrence, Julius Huehn, Karin Branzell, Emanuel List / Erich Leinsdorf, Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera House (1940)


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Wagner, R.: Tannhäuser - Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Kerstin Thorborg, Herbert Janssen, Emanuel List / Erich Leinsdorf, Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera House (1941) 










Wagner, R.: Tristan und Isolde - Kristen Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Karin Branzell, Emanuel List, Julius Huehn / Artur Bodanzky, Orchestra & Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera House (1938)


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> This is a great record. And it is also a great example of a performance that could never, for me, be classed as "the best" or "a favourite". The Sibelius especially is extraordinarily visceral and powerful. A great performance but not one that sums up or captures to perfection the work in question, nor one that I would want to hear very time I wanted to listen to Sibelius 2. It is an exception, a great moment in time. There are quite a few great performances of this type among the historical recordings that we have (Toscanini's astonishing London Brahms, anyone?). They are wonderful but not because they are definitive: quite the contrary, I think.


Haha, thanks Op 123 for resurrecting this thread.

I did want to reply to this post by Enthusiast to clarify something. My list is not about "definitive" recordings. I don't believe in such a thing. When I say "greatest" I am talking about the ones that make the biggest impact for me as a listener. Sometimes this includes what we might call a "one off." Furtwangler's 1942 Beethoven 9th could be classified as such. One of my most treasured recordings, and yet I still listen to dozens of other 9ths, including Gardiner and Mackerras.

Maybe what turns people off to old recordings is precisely this need to find a "definitive" or "perfect" recording. By definition, poor sound would disqualify all the recordings on my list. But I don't subscribe to the idea of perfection. I just want to be entertained and wow'ed.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

.......................................


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

In most of these "greatest" lists compiled by magazines and musicologists the *Solti Ring* is the winner. I have never seen anything by Caruso do this before. If I were asked to select my top 20 ...

Bach Cantatas Rilling
Bach Orchestral Suites Casals
Beethoven Symphonies Ansermet 1958-60 & Norrington 1985
Beethoven Fidelio Vickers, Dernesch, Karajan
Beethoven Last 5 Piano Sonatas Pollini 1977
Berg Violin & Chamber Concertos Ivry Gitlis
Brahms Symphony 4 Furtwangler 1948
*Haydn Symphonies* Dorati - greatest recording ever for what it did for Haydn and the recording industry
Liszt Symphonic Poems Masur
Mozart Piano Concertos Buchbinder
Mozart Wind Concertos Hogwood
Mozart Don Giovanni Maazel, Losey
Mozart Mass in C Minor Colin Davis
Rossini Messe di Gloria Handt 1976
Schuman Violin Concerto (Zukofsky) & Piston Symphony No. 4 Tilson Thomas
Schoenberg Verklarte Nacht Horenstein Baden-Baden 1964
Shostakovich Symphonies Mravinsky & Oleg Caetani
Schubert Symphonies 8 and 9 Krips
Tchaikovsky Symphony 4 Bohm & London Symphony 1977
Verdi Otello Del Monaco, Tebaldi, Protti, Karajan


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## Otis B. Driftwood (4 mo ago)

Caruso is one of the few things on the OP's list I own. It's worth remembering that his records popularized the gramophone in its early days, and despite the limitations of acoustic recording still manages to impress today.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

YMMV. With the differing tastes between myself and Brahmsianhorn, and with my aversion to most historical recordings, and particularly those conducted by Furtwangler, not a single selection from the original posts would make it into my list of classic recordings.

I would need to think long and hard about coming up with 20 but some recording that I can think of that I consider landmarks:











































































I need to think which other recordings round up my greatest classical recordings of all time.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

haziz said:


> YMMV. With the differing tastes between myself and Brahmsianhorn, and with my aversion to most historical recordings, and particularly those conducted by Furtwangler, not a single selection from the original posts would make it into my list of classic recordings.
> 
> I would need to think long and hard about coming up with 20 but some recording that I can think of that I consider landmarks:
> 
> ...


I dunno, I like a lot of the recordings you mentioned. I adore the Kondrashin Scheherazade, and the Vegh are my favorite complete Beethoven SQ cycle. I think the Kleiber Beethoven 5th is a tad overrated, but it is still a knockout version. So I don't have an "aversion" to your choices as you have to mine. I just think the ones I listed probe the music more deeply. I like performers who lay it all on the line, emotionally and intellectually. That transcends sound limitations for me.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

1. Machaut - Messe des Nostre Dame - Andrew Parrott/Taverner Consort (tied with Mary Berry)
2. Leonard Bernstein - Mass - original Bernstein recording
3. Liszt - Sonata in B minor - Kristian Zimerman
4. Haydn - String Quartets - Festetics
5. Bach - Well-Tempered Clavier - Schiff (EMC)
6. Monteverdi - Madrigals - La Venexiana
7. Beethoven - Piano Sonatas - Annie Fischer
8. Schubert - Lieder - Fischer-Dieskau/Moore
9. Brahms - Sonatas/Trios - Golub/Kaplan/Carr
10. Durufle - Requiem - Ledger/Baker


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

1. Marco Polo 8.223316: *The Epic of Gilgamesh* by Bohuslav Martinů
2. Cybelia CY 829: Charles Koechlin's 2 quintettes
3. Ondine ODE 790-2: orchestral works by Väinö Raitio
4. Koch International Classics 3-7341-2 H1: Richard Rodney Bennett's violin concerto, etc.
5. Koch Schwann 3-6491-2: Henri Dutilleux's _L'arbre des songs; Timbres, espace, mouvement_; etc.
6. Claves CD 50-2817: Luis de Pablo's _Danzas Secretas_ + _Frondoso Misterio_
7. Finlandia Records FACD 385: Finnish Flute Concertos








8. Timpani 1C1039: Maurice Ohana's piano concerto, T'harân-ngô + "In Dark & Blue"
9. Simax PSC 1318: _Epitaffio_ for Arne Nordheim
10. ebs 6070: Ernest Bloch's _Voice in the Wilderness_, _Schelomo_, etc.
11. Vanguard Classics SVC-40: Nocturnal, Ecuatorial + Amériques by Varèse
12. Valois V 4687: Florent Schmitt's symphonie concertante, etc.
13. BIS-CD-1030: Hekla, Icelandic Ouverture, Loftr-Suite, Réminiscence du Nord, etc. by Jón Leifs
14. Conifer Classics 74321-15005-2: Malcolm Arnold's symphonies 7 & 8
15. mode 238: Morton Feldman's orchestral works
16. EMI CDS 7 54011 2: George Enescu's opera _Oedipe_
17. Denon CO-78839: Nirvana-Symphony by Toshiro Mayuzumi
18. Delos DE 1017: Uirapurú, Fantasia, Chôros No. 8 by Villa-Lobos
19. Olympia OCD 439: 3 of Alexander Tcherepnin's piano concerti
20. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901417: _Conte Fantastique_ + other chamber works by André Caplet
Ensemble Musique Oblique - Caplet: Conte Fantastique; Septet; Prières Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Symphonies edition.


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

Olivera's Barber?


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