The GMG essential collection: a desert island briefcaseful

[Sergeant Rock]

I liked the Studer, but the rest I haven't heard. I thought that Stratas was an excellent Salome, and I love the dvd.

It's hard for me not to pick Nilsson, she's my favorite female heavy metal singer, ever.

My admiration for Nilsson knows no bounds. A tremendous talent, a unique voice, a force of nature....utterly mindboggling live (I only heard her once unfortunately). But the love is missing. I just don't love her voice, especially in Salome where I think Behrens is more sensitive to the text, Studer more beautifully sung, Caballé more girlish sounding, and Nielsen far more believable as a spoiled adolescent brat determined to get her way. Considering her vocal acting, Nielsen is my favorite Salome.

Sarge

[Brian]

There are a few surprising omissions in my opinion:
Prokofiev Peter and the Wolf
Verdi Otello
Holst The Planets
Rimsky-K: Scheherezade

If it is any consolation, I finally decided on my two discs after several days of agonizing, while in the shower this morning, and then checked this thread to see the game is over  but at least, without consulting the thread, I chose to include one of those four works!!

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Scriabin: La poeme d'extase. LSO, Evgeny Svetlanov (BBC Legends)
Gershwin by Grofe: Rhapsody in Blue, I Got Rhythm, etc. Lincoln Mayorga, Al Gallodoro, Harmonie Ensemble (harmonia mundi)

[Ten thumbs]

Because it is the CD I play the most often, I nominate:
Bonis: Piano Quartets, especially No.2 in D Major (Mozart Piano Quartet)
Not only does this CD provide two works of exceptional vigour and spirituality but as an added bonus the delightful 'Soir' and 'Matin' for violin, cello and piano. 'Matin' is almost the perfect piece of music to wake up to!

[Scarpia]

I think this has been fantastic and shouldn't be allowed to sink.  I suggest that David Ross add a final post with the finalized list (maybe including who suggested each entry) that the thread be locked and made into one of those sticky threads stuck at the top.

[Brahmsian]

I wonder if that list can be somehow put on the GMG classical music home page www.good-music-guide.com?

[Scarpia]

I wonder if that list can be somehow put on the GMG classical music home page www.good-music-guide.com?

Does anyone ever look there?  I never have.  But one doesn't preclude the other.

[George]

I wonder if that list can be somehow put on the GMG classical music home page www.good-music-guide.com?

There's a Basic Collection link already there, but only 10 or releases are listed.

[Brahmsian]

Does anyone ever look there?  I never have.

You are probably right, however for someone new searching for the site, they could be led there with their searching, instead of www.good-music-guide.com/community.

Just an idea.

[Brahmsian]

I think this has been fantastic and shouldn't be allowed to sink.  I suggest that David Ross add a final post with the finalized list (maybe including who suggested each entry) that the thread be locked and made into one of those sticky threads stuck at the top.

Sounds like a great idea!

[AndyD.]

Sounds like a great idea!

I second! I would have loved seeing that back in 2006 (my first foray onto the site).

[(poco) Sforzando]

There's a Basic Collection link already there, but only 10 or releases are listed.

E'en so, that's not at all a bad list for the person just starting out. Not every beginner wants to buy 100 CDs at the outset.

[DieNacht]

The GMG Essential 100

1   Anonymous   Ludus Danielis     Estampie-Munich Ensemble     
2   Bach            Cello Suites           Fournier     
3   Bach                   Sonatas & Partitas for Violin    Enescu     
4   Bach            Goldberg Variations           Hantai/Mirare     
5   Bach                   St Matthew Passion    Fink/Goerne/Harnoncourt (2001)     
6   Bach                   Well-Tempered Clavier   Tureck/DG     
7      Bartόk           Wooden Prince           Boulez/CSO     
8   Beethoven   Symphonies 5 & 7    Kleiber/WP     
9   Beethoven   Piano Cto #5           Kempff/van Kempen/BP     
10   Beethoven   Pathetique Sonata   Moravec     
11   Beethoven   String Quartet #14, op 131   Busch Quartet     
12   Beethoven   Missa Solemnis         
13   Beethoven    Symphony #9           Furtwängler/London Philharmonia (1954)     
14   Berlioz           Symphonie Fantastique   Davis/LSO     
15   Berg                   Chamber Cto     Boulez/Barenboim/Zuckerman     
16   Bloch           Evocations     Sedares/NZSO     
17   Brahms           Symphony #4     Reiner/RPO     
18   Brahms           Piano Cto #1     Gilels/Jochum/BP     
19   Brahms           Piano Trios op 87 & 101/Clarinet Trio Op.114       Beaux Arts Trio /Pieterson     
20   Brahms           String Sextets      Amadeus Quartet et al     
21   Brahms           German Requiem      Kempe/Gruemmer/Fischer-Dieskau     
22   Bruckner           Symphony #7     Karajan/WP     
23   Chopin           Études             Pollini     
24   Chopin           Nocturnes     Arrau     
25   Copland           Appalachian Spring        Orpheus Chamber orch     
26   Debussy           Chamber Music for Woodwinds (+ Saint-Saens)   Bennett/Gough/et al     
27   Debussy           Preludes Bks 1 & 2        Michelangeli     
28   Debussy           Prélude...faune, Jeux, Images, Danses       Baudo/Czech Phil     
29   Dufay           Isorhythmic Motets       Huelgas Ensemble     
30   Dvořák           Symphonies 8 & 9       Mackerras/Prague     
31   Dvořák           Cello Cto (w/Elgar cello cto)           Fournier/Szell/Wallenstein/BP     
32   Dvořák           Symphony 7 / The Water Goblin   Belohlavek/Czech Phil     
33   Durufle            Requiem (w/Faure Requiem)           Barley/Bar/Murray/Cleobury/ECO     
34   Gluck           Orfeo & Euridice        Jacobs     
35   Godowsky   Studies on the Etudes of Chopin   Hamelin     
36   Grainger           Country Gardens (+ works by Coates)       Fennell/Eastman-Rochester Pops     
37   Handel           Messiah           Christie     
38   Handel           Heroic Arias   Bowman/King     
39   Haydn          11 Keyboard Sonatas   Brendel     
40   Haydn          String Quartets op 76   Quatuor Mosaïques     
41   Hildegard          A Feather on the Breath of God-Sequences and Hymns       Kirkby, et al     
42   Janáček          Cunning Little Vixen     Mackerras/WP     
43   Ligeti          Etudes, bks 1-3          Aimard     
44    Liszt                Favourite Piano Works     Bolet
45   Mahler          Das Lied von der Erde   Ludwig/Wunderlich/Klemperer     
46   Mahler           Symphony #5          Dohnanyi/CO     
47   Mahler          Symphony #9          Bernstein/RCO     
48   Martin          Der Cornet/Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets   Lipovsek/ORFSO/Zagrosek     
49   Martinu          Symphony #4/Piano Cto #4/Tre ricercari        Turnovsky     
50   Massenet          Mélodies         Kruysen/Lee     
51   Medtner          Sonata op. 25/2, "Night Wind"         
52   Mendelssohn  Violin Cto (w/Shostakovich Violin Cto #1)     Hahn/Wolff/Oslo Philharmonic     
53   Monteverdi      L'Orfeo           Pickett     
54   Monteverdi      Vespers           Bernius     
55   Mozart             Don Giovanni   Jacobs     
56   Mozart           Cosi fan tutte   Böhm (1953)     
57   Mozart            Late Symphonies          Harnoncourt/RCO     
58   Mozart           Great Mass in C minor   Leppard (EMI)     
59   Mozart           Requiem            Böhm/WP     
60   Mozart           Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet     Frost/Oundjian/Amsterdam Sinf
61    Mussorgsky   Boris Gudunov       Abbado/BP
62   Pärt                   Tabula Rasa/Fratres/Cantus      Kremer/Jarrett/Sondeckis     
63   Pärt                   Kanon Pokajanen           
64   Pergolesi           Stabat Mater    Alessandrini/Concerto Italiano     
65   Prokofiev           Romeo and Juliet   Maazel/CO     
66   Prokofiev           War Sonatas           Richter     
67   Puccini           Turandot           Pavarotti/Sutherland/Mehta     
68   Rachmaninov   Piano Cto #2 (w/Tchaikovsky Piano Cto #1)      Richter     
69   Rachmaninov   Vespers           Svechnikov/USSR Nat'l Choir     
70   Rameau           Keyboard Works   Tharaud     
71   Ravel           Piano Trio            Rouvier/Kantorow/Muller     
72   Ravel           Daphnis et Chloe   Dutoit/Montreal     
73   Satie           Selected piano compositions       Aldo     
74   Schoenberg   5 pieces op 16 (w/ Webern & Berg)        Levine/BP     
75   Schubert           String Quintet in C major          Emerson or Melos SQ w/Rostropovich     
76   Schubert           Sonata in G, D.894       Richter     
77   Schubert           Schwanengesang       Munteanu     
78   Schumann   Kinderszenen/Kreisleriana/Carnaval   Cortot     
79   Schumann   Symphony #4               Furtwängler/BP     
80   Schumann   Dichterliebe               Wächter/Brendel     
81   Shostakovich   String Quartet #8       Emerson or Borodin SQ     
82   Shostakovich   Symphony #7 "Leningrad"   Ančerl/Czech Phil     
83   Sibelius           Symphony #5/Violin Cto           Haendel/Berglund/Bournemouth     
84   Sibelius           Symphony #4 & #7/Tapiola   Maazel/WP     
85   Strauss           Four Last Songs          Janowitz/Karajan/BP     
86   Stravinsky   Rite of Spring                  Bernstein/NYPO (1958)     
87   Stravinsky   Symphony of Psalms (w/Poulenc & Bernstein)          Bernstein/LSO/NYPO     
88   Stravinsky   L'oiseu de feu (complete)            Rattle/CBSO     
89   Suppe           Overtures (w/ Auber Overtures)   Paray/DSO     
90   Tallis                   Spem In Alium/Salve Intermerata   Summerly/Oxford Camerata     
91   Tchaikovsky   Violin Cto (w/Brahms Violin Cto)   Heifetz/Reiner/CSO     
92   Tchaikovsky   Swan Lake      Svetlanov     
93   Tchaikovsky   Piano Trio op 50 (+ Shostakovich Piano Trio #2 op 67)    Argerich/Kremer/Maisky     
94   Vaughan Wms   Symphony #5      Previn/RPO     
95   Verdi           Requiem              Toscanini/NBC (1951)     
96   Victoria           Requiem 1605      Christophers/The Sixteen     
97   Vivaldi           Vespri per l'Assunzione di Maria Vergine      Alessandrini     
98   Wagner           Tristan und Isolde               Böhm (1966)     
99   Wagner           Der Ring des Nibelungen       Solti/WP     
100   Weber           Der Freischütz       Keilberth

Agree concerning 8,62,69,
and perhaps no. 5 & 99 ...

Suppé Ouvertures - and no Nielsen, for instance

There´s a lot of important repertoire missing here ...

[mc ukrneal]

Suppé Ouvertures - and no Nielsen, for instance

There´s a lot of important repertoire missing here ...

You aren't seriously suggesting that Nielson is better than Suppe are you?!?!? Nah, can't be...  (in case you hadn't guessed, that was my nomination).

It is difficult to pick this sort of list - and with lots of contributors, there are bound to be disagreements. If I could only bring 5 cd's with me to the so-called desert island, that would be one of them. I can't imagine life without it. 

[DieNacht]

Well, we can agree that Paray is one of the best in such repertoire (Scherchen together with him also) ...

[mc ukrneal]

Well, we can agree that Paray is one of the best in such repertoire (Scherchen together with him also) ...

Common ground! Excellent!

[Jared]

I'm not sure whether this thread is alive and kicking, and counting it's way up to the magical 'Top 1000' disks or not, but my choice will be:

Schumann: String Quintet/ String Quartet: Michelangelo Qtt: Chandos/ Chaconne

If however, you've already reached your milestone, then please ignore me... 

[Moonfish]

I have a feeling of that the list this thread finally produced back in 2011 is very biased (as most lists) based on the active members' interests at the time. A "new" list would probably replace at least half of the entries, don't you think?   I guess we at GMG have a love/hate relationship with lists.....   

[Karl Henning]

. . . I guess we at GMG have a love/hate relationship with lists.....   

Aye.

[The new erato]

I guess we at GMG have a love/hate relationship with lists.....   

Yes. That is no 1 on my list of things I have a love/hate relationship with.

[Mirror Image]

I guess we at GMG have a love/hate relationship with lists.....   

It's not so much of a hate thing with me. I like making lists, but the only problem I seem to run into is these lists become irrelevant once a new phase begins. In terms of my own 'Essential Collection,' I'm quite happy with my list even though I didn't include any Delius or R. Strauss.

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,17174.msg685511.html#msg685511