# Too obvious a thread? Your best 5 records please



## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

Hi there, 

I have been transferring my CD collection to computer over the last weeks and now I am noticing gaps in my collection - composers or works that I never got around to. Maybe someone will shed light on a recording I don't have that is good enough to be put in their top 5 recordings. I refer of course to music and performance. If you could limit yourself to single or double CDs only. 

It is in no particular order and yes, this aint easy to do I admit but let's say it gives a good idea...

here is mine:


Rite of Spring and Poem of Ecstasy (Gergiev)

Das Lied von der Erde (Klemperer)

Ravel Complete Piano Music (Lortie)

Bach Violin Concertos (Manze and Podger)

Rachmaninov 3 and Tchaikovsky 1 (Argerich live)


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## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

Just tried doing that for ~3-4 mins. It's impossible, as with any Top N. There's just way, way too much stuff


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

Yeah, I know what you mean, but what about the CDs that first sprang to mind when I said 'the top'? Don't worry about exclusion. I ruthlessly excluded too.


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## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

Currently? Oh, dunno...

Brahms, Symphony No.4 - Solti
Shostakovich, String Quartets - Emerson SQ
Beethoven, Piano Sonatas - Annie Fischer
Mahler, Symphony No.4 - Bernstein
Schnittke, String Quartets - Kronos SQ


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## Toccata (Jun 13, 2009)

You might find this thread useful


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

oh cool thanks Toccata!


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Wow, for me, this would be humanily impossible to list 5 recordings.


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

It is possible though that when asked the question of best recordings then one or two CDs might immediately spring to mind. When the brain starts to analyze it gets increasingly difficult though!


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

Following the 'pop into your head' approach (  ) I offer these, though I don't actually know if all of them are available right now.

1) Rubinstein/Shostakovich: Piano Quintets, performed by the Pihtipudas Quintet
2) Bruckner: Symphony #8, performed by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw under Bernard Haitink (the earlier recording)
3) Mahler: Symphony #6, performed by the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell
4) Strauss: _Also Sprach Zarathustra_, performed by the Chicago Symphony under Fritz Reiner (though I do have to say, having heard both, that the LP sounds better than the CD)
5) Wagner: _Der Ring des Nibelungen_, performed by various soloists and the Vienna Philharmonic under George Solti


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

You are the second person to recommend that version of The Ring in the last week. Must be a sign  I think that Szell recording is live? I heard it once - electric stuff. Must get the Reiner/Strauss for sure.


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## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

jaibyrne said:


> You are the second person to recommend that version of The Ring in the last week. Must be a sign  I think that Szell recording is live? I heard it once - electric stuff. Must get the Reiner/Strauss for sure.


The Solti _Ring_ was the first complete studio recording, made when stereo LPs themselves were fairly new, so they made incredible efforts to achieve something remarkable (I recommend John Culshaw's book _Ring Resounding_, which is an informative and often entertaining account of the recording process by someone intimately involved with it). There are six complete studio recordings of _Der Ring des Nibelungen_; this is still considered by most listeners and critics to be the best.

You're right about the Szell/Mahler; there are a few audible coughs and such sounds, but they are very minor blemishes on what you quite accurately describe as "electric." It's an intriguing performance in many ways, not least because this isn't the sort of music most people would associate with Szell (he also recorded the 4th symphony and the first movement of the 10th, as well as some of the _Wunderhorn_ songs). Thinking about Szell reminds me of another recording I'd place at the top of my list: the Brahms first piano concerto with Leon Fleischer: absolutely stunning.

I know of no performance led by Reiner that isn't among the best available. I just looked up the Reiner/Strauss and discovered that the coupling of _Zarathustra_ and _Ein Heldenleben_ is on sale ( http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...09A14491C0DAE3D24FA1491DDF77403?album_id=1701 ); you may want to get it. I also highly recommend Reiner's _La Mer_ and _Isle of the Dead_.


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## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

jaibyrne said:


> You are the second person to recommend that version of The Ring in the last week.


And I'll be the third one. Solti's Ring is simply gorgeous, one of the best Rings out there.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Toccata said:


> You might find this thread useful


Yeah... and there's this one, too!


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I can only think of one:

Dvorak symphonies no 7,8 & 9 + Symphonic variations - Koninklijk Concertgebouw Orkest with Sir Colin Davis


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I know it's over the limit, but the (separate) 3 cd sets of Varese's complete works conducted by Nagano & Chailly. Christopher Lyndon-Gee's accounts on Naxos are also fine, but you miss out on the _Poeme Electronique_.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

mmk, I can think of 5 of my favorite:

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde (Bohm, Windgassen, Nilsson)
Tchaikovsky - Pathetique Symphony (Berlin Philharmonic)
Chopin - Preludes (Maurizio Pollini)
Haydn - Complete Symphonies (Adam Fischer)
Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3 (Ashkenazy)


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## christmashtn (Aug 29, 2009)

1.) Mahler 2nd - Bernstien 1963 recording with Jennie Tourel, Lee Venora, and New York 
Philharmonic (Sony)
2.) Mahler-Cooke: Symphony 10 - Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony Orchestra (Berlin 
Classics)
3.) Beethoven Symphony 3 "Eroica" - Karajan, Berlin Phil. 1963 Recording (DG)
4.) Tchaikovsky: Symphony # 6 "Pathetique" - Svetlanov, USSR Symphony Orchestra, 
1967 Melodiya Recording
5.) Liszt: "Les Preludes" - Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops (Last available on RCA Living 
Stereo CD)


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Here goes my list - these are not recordings of my top pieces, but the recordings of works that I can't even imagine to enjoy more with other performers:

Beethoven Piano Concertos (Zimerman, Bernstein)
Berlioz SF (von Karajan)
Rachmaninoff No. 2 (Rubinstein)
Mozart Symphonies 38-41 (Johann Nicolaus count de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt)
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 and Tchaikovsky No. 1 (Argerich, Chailly)


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

jaibyrne said:


> It is possible though that when asked the question of best recordings then one or two CDs might immediately spring to mind. When the brain starts to analyze it gets increasingly difficult though!


Anything is possible, but it's a daunting to task to compile a list of favorite recordings, but here are a couple of mine (off the top of my head):

1. Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe, Charles Dutoit, Montreal Symphony Orch., Decca

2. Bartok: Cantata Profana, The Wooden Prince, Pierre Boulez, Chicago Symphony Orch., Deutsche Grammophon

3. Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orch., RCA

4. Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Symphony In C, Symphony In Three Movements, Symphony of Psalms, Igor Stravinsky, Sony

5. Delius: Orchestral Works, Sir Charles Mackerras, Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Decca

6. Rachmaninov: The Symphonies, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Royal Concertgebouw Orch., Decca

7. Saint-Saens: Piano Concertos 1-5, Charles Dutoit, Pascal Roge (piano), Decca

8. Bruckner: Complete Symphonies, Gunter Wand, Cologne Radio Symphony Orch., RCA

9. Bruckner: Complete Symphonies, Riccardo Chailly, Berlin Radio Symphony Orch., Royal Concertgebouw, Decca

10. Mahler: Complete Symphonies, Gary Bertini, Cologne Radio Symphony Orch., EMI

11. Nielsen: Complete Symphonies, Herbert Blomstedt, San Francisco Symphony Orch., Decca

That's all for now.


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