100 Best Classical Recordings (Telegraph.uk)

[Franco]

So, do you basically agree with this list?  

I have some problems:

They list Mozart Così fan tutte (conductor Bernard Haitink); I prefer Solti or Jacobs.

They list Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos 3 and 4 (soloist Mitsuko Uchida); I prefer Fleisher and Szell

They list Bach Mass in B Minor (Andrew Parrott, Taverner Consort and Players), but while I like Parrott, his small forces are not the best overall choice, which I prefer Harnoncourt.

[Brian]

That list is silly. Even the descriptions of the music itself are often silly (eg, Beethoven's is the best of all violin concertos).

[Gurn Blanston]

The whole concept is silly. It's one thing to attempt to list the 100 greatest pieces of music (frighteningly shallow, but barely do-able), but something else again to have a go at the greatest recording of each of them. Chances are, no one of us will agree with more than 5% of their selections.



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Listening to:
Franz Josef Haydn - Hob 23c 5c Motets of the Holy Sacrament #3 - 'In Figuris'

[DavidW]

I like how they list recordings that are oop.   Lists like that don't help move new recordings, it just encourages collectors to stay stuck in the past.

[Franco]

I like how they list recordings that are oop.  

Yes, I thought that was an odd touch, seeing as the subhead is "the music no classical fan should be without".

[Brian]

I did find some that might make my personal list...

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 4 (soloist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli)
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 (soloist Sviatoslav Richter)
Martha Argerich The Legendary 1965 Recording
Beethoven Symphonies 5 and 7 (Carlos Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra)

There's a lot of pro-England homeboyism on the list (Simon Rattle, Anthony Collins, "Be sure to have something by each of three British Bs: Beecham, Boult, Barbirolli," Stephen Hough and John Ogdon mentioned in the same sentence as Richter, Moravec and Argerich - actually let me repeat that: Hough and Ogdon in the same sentence as Richter and Argerich) and the insults directed at Karl Böhm and Alfred Cortot are rather rude. The demeaning attitude towards Karajan and Ashkenazy is odd given that each of them actually made the list, and the list of endorsed record labels is just stupid.

Oh yeah, and call me a heretic, but if they want to convince people to get a Bach Cello Suites album, it should be Jean-Guihen Queyras', not Pablo Casals'. New sound, a bonus DVD, and Queyras might actually earn a buck off your purchase. Plus the cello playing is just un-freaking-believable. Of course, Fournier is not an option, because we can't have any Frenchmen on the list!

[Todd]

A somewhat predictable, conservative list for many of the works.  I am surprised that Barenboim's Ring beat out Keilberth's (or Solti's for that matter), and how did Carter make it onto the list? 

The list is probably not bad for newcomers, but people who've been collecting a while will find something to gripe about.