In a catalogue that lists over 200 recordings of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons", and even 60 versions of Orff's "Carmina Burana", which is the very best?
With the help of Gramophone, Penguin Stereo Guide, BBC Music, and our own ears, we have put together the definitive guide to the popular classics.
Here are a selection of recommended recordings that should find a place in everyone's collection.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: 12 Etudes Mitsuko Uchida (piano) [ Philips Originals / CD - released 15/Apr/2006 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - "Mitsuko Uchida's remarkable account of the Etudes is not only one of the best Debussy piano records in the catalogue, but also one of the best ever recordings of the instrument." |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Capriccio Italien (with Beethoven-Wellington's Victory) Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra / London Symphony Orchestra / Antal Dorati [ Mercury Originals / CD - released 14/Jun/2007 ] "This most famous of all Mercury records was one of the most successful classical LPs of all time, selling some two million copies in the analogue era. Remastered for CD, it sounds even more spectacular than it ever did in its vinyl format, vividly... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: 3 Violin Sonatas Krysia Osostowicz (violin) Susan Tomes (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 26/May/2008 ] 'Subtle enough to suggest that for both artists these performances were a revelatory voyage of discovery' (Gramophone) |
W. A. MOZART
4 Horn Concertos / Piano and Wind Quintet (rec 1953, 1955) Dennis Brain (horn) / Walter Gieseking (piano) / Philharmonia Wind Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan [ Naxos Historical / CD - released 6/Feb/2007 ] "This disc is pure joy. At the price, it is almost a crime not to snap it up." Bargain of the Month MusicWeb May 2007 |
FREDERIC CHOPIN
Chopin: Scherzi, Preludes & Piano Sonata No. 2 Ivo Pogorelich (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon Duo / 2 CD - released 15/Mar/2012 ] "Second to none in sheer keyboard brilliance … everything he does is always done with princely authority." (Gramophone) |
HILDEGARD von BINGEN
A Feather on the Breath of God Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Gothic Voices [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Sep/2010 ] "These hymns and sequences, most expertly performed and recorded, have excited much acclaim - and rightly so. A lovely CD" Penguin Guide |
J.S. BACH
Alio Modo (keyboard works transcribed for viols) Fretwork [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/Dec/2005 ] British viol consort Fretwork revel in the contrapuntal intricacies of J.S. Bach's works for organ and harpsichord transcribed for a consort of viols. |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn BWV1127 Elin Manahan Thomas / English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / CD - released 10/Oct/2005 ] Premiere recording of a newly discovered aria by Bach, unearthed in a library in June 2005 |
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Also Sprach Zarathustra / Tod und Verklarung [Death & Transfiguration] Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Andre Previn [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 16/Apr/2002 ] "Previn draws magnificent playing fromthe Vienna Philharmonic in powerful, red-blooded readings of the symphonic poems, and the recording is among Telarc's finest. Strongly recommended for anyone wanting this particular coupling, and enjoying... |
VIVALDI
Amor Sacro-Vivaldi Sacred Motets Simone Kermes (soprano) / Venice Baroque Orchestra / Andrea Marcon [ Archiv / CD - released 20/Feb/2007 ] "If any doubts still linger among readers concerning Vivaldi's originality in the setting of sacred texts, then this recital should dispel them once and for all. Simone Kermes is an agile singer with a wide vocal range who is comfortably able to... |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Christmas Oratorio Mary Bevan (sop) Joanne Lunn (sop) Clare Wilkinson (mezzo) Nicholas Mulro (ten), etc / Dunedin Consort and Players, John Butt [ Linn / 2 CD - released 14/Oct/2016 ] "Way-too-early seasonal content (sorry), but this latest release from the Dunedin Consort is too good to wait. It's surely one of the finest accounts now available of Bach's Christmas Oratorio." Guardian Five Stars |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Goldberg Variations Beatrice Rana (piano) [ Warner Classics / CD - released 1/Mar/2017 ] "Her detailing is one of the aspects that makes this performance so compelling, be it the bringing out of a new line in the repeat, subtle changes in phrasing, a touch of pedal - examples are to be found in every single variation." Gramophone |
J. S. BACH
Bach Transcriptions (arrangements by great composers) BBC Philharmonic / Leonard Slatkin [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 5/Jul/2000 ] Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Oct 2000) - Five Stars (*****) Classic CD (Oct 2000) |
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Beethoven: Early Cantatas Judith Howarth, Janice Watson (soprano), Jean Rigby (mezzo soprano), John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Jose Van Dam (bass) / Corydon Singers & Orchestra [ Hyperion Helios / CD - released 28/Aug/1997 ] 'Arguably Beethoven's first major masterpiece … superb performance, at once fresh and incisive and deeply moving' - PENGUIN GUIDE ROSETTE |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Fidelio (compete opera recorded in 1962) Gottlob Frick, Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry, Ingeborg Hallstein / Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus, Otto Klemperer [ Warner Classics the Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 1/Feb/2016 ] "Christa Ludwig, a mezzo rather than true soprano, brings dark colours to the role of Leonore, while tenor Jon Vickers is a superb Florestan." BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas (rec 1964-65) [CD set plus Blu-ray audio] Wilhelm Kempff (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon CD + Blu-ray audio / 9 CD Box Set - released 10/Sep/2019 ] "These are all great perfornmances, and the remastered recordings have all been enhanced to an extraordinary degree to give an uncannily realistic piano-image, helped by the immediacy of Kempff's communication." Rosette Recording Penguin Stereo Guide |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: String Quartets Nos 7-10 (The Middle Quartets) Takacs Quartet [ Decca Records / 2 CD Box Set - released 25/Aug/2002 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2002: Chamber - "The bold‚ disciplined and spirit-seeking Takács have the edge over the imaginative and warm-hearted Lindsays." |
PURCELL
Dido and Aeneas / Indian Queen (complete operas) Catherine Bott, Emma Kirkby, John Mark Ainsley, David Thomas / Chorus and Orchestra of The Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood [ Decca Operas / 2 CD - released 22/Apr/2012 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (pre 1700) - "Key to the whole opera is the casting of Dido herself - and no singer surpasses Catherine Bott's poignant acceptance of death in the famous 'Lament'" (GP 1001 Classical recordings) |
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / BRUCH / PAGANINI / TCHAIKOVSKY / SIBELIUS / etc
Best Of Maxim Vengerov Maxim Vengerov (violin) / Various orchestras & conductors [ Warner Classics / 11 CD Box Set - released 20/Nov/2006 ] "his technique is highly impressive, and he produces a beautiful tone even in the violin's lower regions." (BBC Music) |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Bolero / La Valse / Rapsodie Espagnole / Ma Mere l'Oye / Daphnis et Chloe Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 12/Jul/2000 ] "Anyone beginning a Ravel collection, or coming fresh to most of this repertoire and willing to duplicate, will find this Double Decca unbeatable value" A Rosette recording - Penguin Stereo Guide |