# Most essential discs for a composer/



## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

What would you call the 10 (or however many you want, i'm doing 10) most essential discs for your favourite (or any) composer? Not including large box sets, where heaps of things from different times are thrown together, like the 'complete ______ recordings' (you can take up individual volumes from those sets) taking up 40 disks or what not (but including box sets like the 'complete Beethoven symphonies' as an individual volume in 5 discs or whatever). I kinda struggled to explain that so I hope you know what i'm asking...Basically individual volumes yes, big box sets made up of individual volumes, no.

Anyway, here's mine for Liszt (granted I have done most of my listening on youtube and am not a great source for what the best discs are, and I have a LOT more listening to do, some genres i've barely scratched, so I will update this a lot over time).

In no order...

1. Liszt: Sonata in B minor / Nuages gris / La notte / La lugubre gondola II / Funérailles. Krystian Zimerman.
2. Liszt: Faust-Symphony / Bernstein, Riegel, Boston Symphony Orchestra.
3. Liszt: Années de pèlerinage (Complete Recording). Lazar Berman.
4. Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2; Totentanz. Krystian Zimerman, Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra.
5. Liszt: Dante Symphony, S 109 / Dante Sonata, S 161 No. 7. Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Philharmonic.
6. Liszt: Orchestral Works / Works for Piano and Orchestra - Michel Béroff / Gewandhaus-Orchester Leipzig / Kurt Masur.
7. Liszt: The Complete Etudes. Claudio Arrau/Nikita Magaloff.
8. Liszt: Sonata in B Minor; Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude. Claudio Arrau.
9. Liszt: Christus. Helmuth Rilling.
10. Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religeuses. Leslie Howard.

What about you guys?

P.S. While I do think this is a good idea for a thread, I am aware that my directions are a bit flawed and perhaps restricting. If anyone has a better idea of how to do it, do say.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I don't think I have the expertise to do this legitimately, but for the sake of community spirit I'll put out some Brahms stuff: 

Ein Deutsches Requiem - Klemperer 
Piano Quintet - Rubinstein, Guarneri Quartet
Symphonies, other orchestral works - Abbado
Piano Concertos - Gilels, Jochum
Piano Trios - Suk, Katchen, Starker 
Violin Concerto - Heifetz, Reiner 
Clarinet Quintet - Shifrin, Emerson 
Piano Quartets - Trampler, Beaux Arts Trio
Cello Sonatas - Rostropovich, Serkin
Violin Sonatas - Perlman, Ashkenazy

That is ten, and it'd be a very, very good start on Brahms. The Abbado set probably falls within Lisztian's guidelines, and it is a convenient choice for including the oddballs as well as very nice symphonies, but you might want Kleiber's 4th, and my own favorite recordings of the symphonies are Karajan's analogue ones (the red set from DG). At that point you'd be heading towards having a really substantial Brahms collection, and if that were a goal you'd want to get at least Klemperer, Celibidache, and Szell as well. 

I'd also like to mention the Gould/Bernstein recording of the first piano concerto, and there are many very good options on the violin concerto (Perlman, Bell, Hahn at least). 

There are options on the Requiem and Piano Quintet, but I think I've listed ones that absolutely must not be missed. 

For the cello sonatas, Du Pre / Barenboim is the obvious alternative, and I wouldn't argue against it, though I like Rostropovich's dominance in the set I listed. 

I had a hard time omitting the string sextets, but there is nothing to remove to replace them. So I'd like to make a supplement to the top ten: 

String Sextets - Raphael Ensemble
4 Serious Songs - Hotter, Moore 
Double Concerto - Oistrakh, Rostropovich, Szell
Solo Piano - Katchen 
Clarinet Trio - Ma, Ax, Stoltzman 
Hungarian Dances (orchestrated) - Bogar (Naxos)
Horn Trio - Sebok, Grumiaux, Norvall 
String Quintets - Aronowitz, Amadeus Quartet 
Clarinet Sonatas - King, Benson
Lieder - Norman 

The horn trio is in the Beaux Arts trio set, which is about as good as the Suk/Katchen/Starker set that is my first choice. 

In general I think recordings are good - so you can get just about any recording of, say, the symphonies or the string sextets - but one thing I'd like to steer anyone away from is the De Peyer / Barenboim recordings of the clarinet sonatas. I should give them another chance soon, but King / Benson is at any rate a much safer recommendation.

Some will complain that the string quartets were omitted. No loss, I say, but of the two sets I've heard, I prefer the Emerson set.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Schubert

1. Die Winterreise - DFD/Demus

2. Symphony no. 9 in C major ''Great'' - Krips/LSO or Furtwangler/BPO

3. Die Schöne Mullerin - DFD/Moore

4. String Quintet in C - Alban Berg Quartet/Schiff, Amadeus Quartet/Rostoprovich

5. Symphony no. 8 ''Unfinished'' - Bernstein/NYPO

6. Piano Sonata no. 21 in B Flat - Richter (any year)

7. String Quartet no. 14 ''Death and the Maiden'' - Takacs Quartet (Hyperion label)

8. Impromptus - Perahia (any label)

9. String Quartet no. 15 in G major - Busch Quartet (vintage)

10. Piano Quintet in A major ''Trout" - Amadeus Quartet/Gilels

Special mention to the: * Hyperion's Schubert Complete Songs.* These 37-disc of all Schubert's Lieder is one of the greatest undertaking in recording history.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Messiaen (big surprise!)

1. Turangalîla-Symphonie / L'ascension (Wit/NPRSO)
2. St. François d'Assise (Nagano)
3. Complete Organ Works (Latry)
4. La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jesus-Christ (Chung)
5. Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Moglia/Arrignon/Henriot/Benedetti)
6. Vignt Regards sur l'enfant Jesus (Loriod)
7. Poèmes pour Mi / La Reveil des oiseaux / Sept Haikai (Boulez)
8. Visions de l'Amen (Messiaen/Loriod)
9. Des canyons aux étoiles (Constant)
10. Concert à quatre (Chung)


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Dvorak and Beethoven are my favorites. I'll do Dvorak later. Here's the Badboy from Bonn.

#1
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=60899

#2
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...er=15&album_group=5&name_id=16651&name_role=2

#3
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...d2=16651&name_role2=2&bcorder=21&comp_id=4357

#4
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=5880

#5
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=451

#6
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...enre=70&bcorder=195&name_id=61787&name_role=4

#7
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...d2=61787&name_role2=4&bcorder=41&comp_id=3864

#8
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...d2=61787&name_role2=4&bcorder=41&comp_id=3880

#9
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...er=15&album_group=5&name_id=15551&name_role=2

#10
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=148620&album_group=2
(and one DVD for Fidelio)


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Sorry, let me withdraw this for now.


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