Topic: GMG Members' Personal Essentials Lists

[kishnevi]

Yes, is the Tallis Missa Pange Lingua the best out there? I don't know and I'm generally not a big fan of the Tallis Scholars approach to the Flemish masters BUT I've had it for nearly 20 years and wouldn't part with it for the world. As for the Grisey, I agree, it stands alone as a monument to sound and what one person can get out a single viola 

Suggested more as an alternative approach than as something "superior" is the recording by Ensemble Organum with Ensemble Clement Janequin on Harmonia Mundi (reissued in 2008 as part of their HMGold series, which is the one I have).

The music of Josquin is presented as part of a full mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi,  with the hymn Pange lingua as the last track, so you hear the Gregorian Propers (am I remembering the terminology correctly?) and another short hymn interspersed with Josquin in liturgical order:  Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Gradual, Alleluia, Credo, Offertory, Sanctus, the short hymn O salutaris, Agnus.

[George]

Bach - WTC - Samuel Feinberg
Bach - Cello Suites  -Wispelwey - Channel Classics
Haydn - Piano Sonatas - Brendel
Mozart - Piano Concertos - Serkin/Szell/Ormandy
Schubert - Piano Sonatas - Richter
Beethoven - 9 Symphonies - Wand - RCA
Beethoven - 32 Piano Sonatas - Annie Fischer
Beethoven - String Quartets - Vegh stereo
Chopin - Nocturnes - Arrau
Chopin - Preludes - Sokolov
Chopin - Ballades - Moravec
Brahms - Late solo works - Lupu
Brahms - Piano Concertos - Barenboim/Barbirolli
Rachmaninoff - PC 2 and 3 - Janis/Dorati
Rachmaninoff - Preludes - Ashkenazy
Debussy - Preludes - Michelangeli
Satie - Piano Works - Thibaudet
Bruckner - Celibidache EMI set
Shostakovich - String Quartets - Borodin Chandos
Schoenberg - String Quartets - Arditti

Josef Hofmann - The Complete Josef Hofmann Vol. 6 "The Casimir Recital - Marston Records
Moritz Rosenthal - The Complete American Recordings - Biddulph
Cortot - Schumann - Carnaval, Kresleriana, Kinderszenen
Richter - Rachmaninoff Preludes and Etudes - Olympia/Regis
Natan Brand - Schumann and Chopin - Studio Recordings

[Bogey]

Beethoven - String Quartets - Vegh stereo

[Sid]

Ok, well here are some personal favourites off the top of my head, which I try to listen to as much as I can:

C20th:

American Piano Sonatas - Griffes, Sessions, Ives (EMI American Classics)
Berg - Wozzeck (Berlin Classics)
Carter - String Quartets 1 & 5 (Naxos)
Carter - Concerto for Orchestra; Three Occasions for Orchestra; Violin Concerto (EMI American Classics)
Debussy - Jeux, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Images, La Mer, etc (Double Decca)
Dutilleux & Lutoslawski - Cello Concertos (EMI)
Ives - Songs; Sets for chamber or Theatre Orchestra (EMI American Classics)
Ligeti - Chamber Concerto, Ramifications, Lux Aeterna, Atmospheres (Wergo)
Ligeti - Requiem, Aventures, Nouvelles Aventures (Wergo)
Martin - Petite Symphonie Concertante; Mass for Double Choir; Ballades; etc (EMI Gemini Double)
Messiaen - Poemes pour Mi, etc (Naxos)
Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time (Philips Eloquence)
Schoenberg & Sibelius - Violin Concertos (DG)
Sculthorpe - Sun Musics I-IV, Piano Concerto, Irkanda IV, Small Town (ABC Classics)
Varese - Deserts, Arcana, Integrales, Offrandes (Naxos)
Walton - String Quartet (Naxos)
Xenakis - Le Legende d'eer (Naive/Montagne)

C19th:

Liszt - A Faust Symphony (EMI Encore)
Sibelius - Lemminkainen, Tapiola (EMI Encore)
Beethoven - Grosse Fuge (EMI Encore)
Schubert - Piano Trios, Notturno, Trio Sonata (EMI Gemini Double)
Schumann - Cello Concerto; Piano Concerto; Manfred Overture; etc (Double Decca Eloquence)

C18th:

Handel - Messiah (Naxos)
Haydn - The Seven Last Words of Christ (Naxos)
Mozart - Clarinet Quintet (coupled with Brahms) (Supraphon Archiv)

Renaissance:

Byrd - Three Masses (Decca Eloquence)

EDIT - so much I'd have liked to have added, but especially:
 Partch - Delusion of the Fury (Sony/Innova)

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Ligeti - Chamber Concerto, Ramifications, Lux Aeterna, Atmospheres (Wergo)

This was the first Ligeti disc I ever got, back in 1997. I still think it's probably the best 1-disc survey of the composer. I put the Aimard piano etudes on my essentials list, though.

Xenakis - Le Legende d'eer (Naive/Montagne)

Well that didn't take long!    Made my list too.

[canninator]

Suggested more as an alternative approach than as something "superior" is the recording by Ensemble Organum with Ensemble Clement Janequin on Harmonia Mundi (reissued in 2008 as part of their HMGold series, which is the one I have).

The music of Josquin is presented as part of a full mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi,  with the hymn Pange lingua as the last track, so you hear the Gregorian Propers (am I remembering the terminology correctly?) and another short hymn interspersed with Josquin in liturgical order:  Introit, Kyrie, Gloria, Gradual, Alleluia, Credo, Offertory, Sanctus, the short hymn O salutaris, Agnus.

I do have this one also and it is a great choice. I always prefer to listen to sacred music from the Renaissance and earlier in an appropriate liturgical setting so appreciate the efforts that Marcel Peres goes to to present more than just the Ordinary (as most other ensembles are wont). Having said that, I do listen to the Magnifitat in the morning sometimes 

[Holden]

I will treat this as if I was going on a sabbatical/retreat/vacation.

Bach - Goldbergs, Rieu
Bach - WTC Richter (RCA)
Bach Partitas - Schepkin
Bach - Inventions and Sinfonias - Koroliov

Beethoven - Symphonies, Cluytens
Beethoven - PCs Perahia
Beethoven - PS Fischer
Beethoven - VS Francescatti/Casadesus

Brahms - late piano , Lupu
Brahms - Symphonies, Walter
Brahms PCs Gilels (1) Richter/Ormandy (2)
Brahms VC - Heifetz

Bruckner - Symphony 9, Walter

Chopin - Etudes, Ashkenazy
Chopin - Ballades and Scherzos Rubinstein
Chopin - Nocturnes - Rubinstein (Stereo)
Chopin Waltzes - Anievas

Debussy - Anything by Michelangeli

Grieg - Lyric pieces, Gilels
Grieg - Peer Gynt Incidental Music - Barbirolli/Halle

Hummel Piano trios BAT

Janacek Piano works - Firkusny

Liszt TEs - Ovchinnikov
Liszt Paganini Etudes - Ousset
Liszt - PCs Richter

Mahler Symphony 1 and 2 - Walter
Mahler Sym 4 - Klemperer

Mozart PCs - Perahia
Mozart PS - Wurtz

Paganini VCs Perlman

Orff -Carmina Burana - Previn EMI

Ravel PC in G - ABM

Rachmaninov - Preludes/Etudes Tableaux - Richter
Rachmaninov - PCs, Rachmaninov

Scarlatti - PS Babayan

Schubert - Sym 9, Abbado/COE
Schubert String Quintet - Hollywood SQ
Schubert PS - Lupu
Schubert Leider - Ann Muray, Lott
Schubert Wintereisse , DF-D
Schubert Piano Trios BAT

Schumann Op 9 Solomon, Op 12 Rubinstein, Op 17 Fiorentino

Shostakovich Symphony 8 - Haitink/LSO

Tchaikovsky Symphonies - Markevitch

Verdi Requiem - HvK/Soloists/La Scala Milan.

[George]

Brahms Richter/Ormandy (2)

Do you mean Leinsdorf or Maazel?

Chopin - Etudes, Ashkenazy

Early Melodiya or later Decca?

[Gabriel]

Let's see what appears from this exercise:

Arriaga/Vorísek: Symphonies (Mackerras)
Beethoven: Leonore (Blomstedt)
Boccherini: Fandango, Sinfonie & La Musica Notturna di Madrid (Savall)
Boieldieu: La Dame Blanche (Minkowski)
Cherubini: Mass in D minor (Muti)
Chopin: Works for Piano and Orchestra (Arrau/Inbal)
Dussek: Chamber music for piano (Barton)
Haydn: Die Jahreszeiten (Jacobs)
Hummel: Piano Trios (Parnassus)
Krommer: Oboe Concertos (Shelley)
Massenet: Mélodies (Kruysen/Lee)
Méhul: Overtures (Sanderling)
Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Herreweghe)
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro (Jacobs)
Rameau: Keyboard works (Tharaud)
Rejcha: Piano Trios (Guarnieri)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Suites (Järvi)
Rode: Violin Concertos (Pasquet)
Rossini: Le Comte Ory (Gardiner)
Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin (Wunderlich)
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos, Piano Quintet (Salonen)
Spohr: Die Letzten Dinge (Kuhn)
Victoria: O Magnum Mysterium (Hill)
Vivaldi: Vespri per l'Assunzione di Maria Vergine (Alessandrini)
Weber: Piano Concertos (Mackerras)

[Holden]

Do you mean Leinsdorf or Maazel?

Early Melodiya or later Decca?

Hello George - I always make this mistake - Leinsdorf!

The Melodiya, though I also have the Decca and place it second

[Sid]

This was the first Ligeti disc I ever got, back in 1997. I still think it's probably the best 1-disc survey of the composer. I put the Aimard piano etudes on my essentials list, though.

...Well that didn't take long!    Made my list too.

Yes, considering how old those Wergo Ligeti recordings are (1960's & '70's) it's amazing how clear and bright the sound is - not easy to get right with this kind of music. & the Xenakis I just got last week, but now I'm addicted to it, and it's instantly become one of my favourites. Such exciting, visceral and well thought out/structured music...

[Clever Hans]

Here's a collection which I could survive on:

Machaut: Mirror of Narcissus (Gothic Voices), Motets (Ensemble Musica Nova), Messe de Nostre Dame (Ensemble Gilles Binchois)
Dufay: Sacred Music from Bologna Q15 (Clerks' Group), Missa Se la face ay pale (Diabolus in Musica)
Ockeghem: Missa de plus en plus - chansons (Orlando Consort), Requiem (Ensemble Organum)
Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua (Ensemble Clement Janequin), Motets (Orlando Consort)
Byrd: Masses (Tallis Scholars), Keyboard Music (Moroney)
Lassus: Lagrime di San Pietro (Herreweghe)
Monteverdi: Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi (Concerto Italiano)
Biber: Rosenkranz-Sonaten (Goebel)
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (Hogwood), The Fairy Queen (Christie), King Arthur (Christie)
Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie (Christie)
Handel: Messiah (Dunedin Consort), Acis & Galatea (Dunedin Consort), Alcina (Curtis), Giulio Cesare (Jacobs or Minkowski), Ariodante (Minkowski), Water Music (Savall)
Francois Couperin: (Hantai), (Scott Ross)
Scarlatti: (Scott Ross), (Hantai), (Pogorelich)
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, Orchestral Suites, and Chamber Music (Musica Antiqua Koln), Goldberg Variations (Hantai I and Gould I), WTC (Gilbert and Koroliov), Partitas (Gilbert or Leonhardt and Xiao-Mei), Violin Sonatas & Partitas (Kuijken I or Mullova), Cello Suites (Bylsma I), Matthew Passion (Herreweghe I or Leonhardt), Cantatas (Leonhardt/Harnoncourt, Herreweghe, Gardiner, Suzuki), Organ Works (Rubsam, Alain, Foccroulle, or Vernet)
C.P.E Bach: (Spanyi, Keyboard Concertos vols 13, 14 & 15), Symphonies and Cello Concerto (English Concert)
Haydn: Quartets (Quatuor Mosaiques), Paris Symphonies (Harnoncourt), Sturm und Drang and London Symphonies (Bruggen and Harnoncourt), The Creation (Hogwood or McCreesh), The Seasons (Jacobs), Piano Sonatas (Brautigam or Schornsheim)
Mozart: Piano Concertos (Bilson and Gardiner), Da Ponte Operas (Jacobs), Magic Flute (Ostman or we'll see new Jacobs), Symphonies (Mackerras on Linn), Requiem (Harnoncourt), Mass in C Minor (Gardiner or Herreweghe), Piano Sonatas (Brautigam and Gulda), Night Music (Manze), Quartets (Quatuor Mosaiques), Quintets (Quatuor Talich)
Beethoven: Symphonies (Harnoncourt and Mackerras/Edinburgh, 6th Walter, 9th Fricsay and Lucerne Furtwangler), Sonatas (Schnabel, Gulda, Serkin, mono Kempff, Pollini and Richter late, Brautigam), Diabelli Variations (Schnabel or Serkin), String Quartets (Takacs and Talich), Cello Sonatas (Schnabel/Fournier), Violin Sonatas (Faust/Melnikov), Archduke Trio (Cortot/Thibaud/Casals), Piano Concertos (Schnabel/Sargent, Fleisher/Szell, Kempff/Kempen, and Lubin/Hogwood, Gilels/Ludwig 4, Moravec/Turnovsky 4), Missa solemnis (Klemperer and Herreweghe)
Schubert: Winterreise (Fishcer-Dieskau, Quasthoff), Die Schone Mullerin (Fischer-Dieskau, Gura), Late Sonatas, Musicaux etc (Schnabel, Richter, and Staier), String Quartets (Takacs), Trios (Cortot/Thibaud/Casals and Stern/Istomin/Rose; or Florestan Trio), Symphonies (Harnoncourt), Quintet (Casals)
Chopin: Nocturnes (Moravec), Preludes (Cortot), Ballades (Cortot), Etudes (Pollini), Scherzi (Pogorelich or Moravec), Waltzes (Cortot or Lipatti), Mazurkas (Sofronitsky or Kapell), Sonata 2 (Rachmaninov), Sonata 3 (Argerich) 
Schumann: Kreisleriana, Davidsbundlertanze, Dichterliebe (Cortot), Symphonic Etudes (Richter or Pollini or Cortot), Kinderszenen (Cortot or Moravec), Carnaval (Rachmaninov or Michelangeli '57), Toccata (Pogorelich), Concerto (Richter or Moravec), Quintet (Serkin/Budapest)
Liszt: Sonata (Levy perhaps), Transcendental Etudes (Arrau or Berman), Concertos (Richter), Richter in the 1950s 3
Wagner: Tristan and Isolde (Furtwangler), Walkure (Keilberth or Krauss)
Brahms: Symphonies (Klemperer, Walter/Columbia 2-3, Giulini LAPO 1 and 2, Kertesz, Kleiber 4), Serenades (Mackerras or Kertesz) Piano Music (Katchen), Ballades (Michelangeli or Gilels), Piano Concertos (Fleisher/Szell, Freire/Chailly), String Quintets (Leipziger Streichquartett), Trios (Stern/Rose/Istomin or Florestan Trio), Piano Quintet (Staier/Leipziger, Tackas/Hough), Piano Quartets (Gilels/Amadeus), Cello Sonatas (Immerseel/Hough or Serkin/Rostropovich)
Bruckner: Symphonies (set Jochum DG, Giulini 8 & 9)
Verdi: La traviata (Callas), Falstaff (Karajan), Requiem (Giulini)
Dvorak 7-9 Harnoncourt, 8-9 Kubelik, 9 Ancerl and 8 & 9 Talich, Slavonic Dances (Harnoncourt or Kubelik), Quartets (American, etc, Janacek Quartet or Panocha Quartet)
Scriabin: Sofronitsky (Denon)
Janacek: Piano Music (Firkusny), Cunning Little Vixen and From the House of the Dead (Mackerras), Taras Bulba, Glagolitic Mass, Sinfonietta (Mackerras and Ancerl)
Debussy: La Mer/Nocturnes, and Images/Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (Boulez/Cleveland), Preludes I and Images (Michelangeli), Complete Piano Works (Bavouzet), Pelleas et Melisande (Desormiere)
Ravel:Daphnis et Chloe (Boulez or Munch), Bolero (Boulez), Concerto in G (Michelangeli), Piano Works (Bavouzet), Gaspard (Michelangeli BBC and Pogorelich), Trio (Trio Dali)
Mahler: Symphonies (impossible to list but some options):  1 Kubelik (Audite) 2 Walter or Klemperer 3 Kubelik (Audite) or Bernstein (NYPO) or Gielen 4 Walter, Kubelik (DG) or Kletzki 5 Walter or Barshai 6 Mitropoulos (WDR) or Bernstein (NYPO) or Boulez 7 Kubelik (Audite) or Gielen 8 Kubelik (Audite) 9 Walter or Ancerl 
Rachmaninov: Richter (Regis)
Stravinsky: Petrouchka (Monteux/Boston), Le Sacre (Markevitch), or Stravinsky for both, Symphony of Psalms (Ancerl or Stravinsky), Les Noces (Ancerl)
Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht (Hollywood Quartet), Quartets (Juilliard mono), Piano Music (Pollini or Paul Jacobs), Serenade and 5 Pieces for Orchestra (Boulez, BBC), Pierrot Lunaire (Boulez and Schafer)
Box sets, because they are great:
Berg: Alban Berg Collection (DG)
Webern Complete Webern (DG)
Bartok: Quartets (Juilliard '63 or Vegh stereo), Concerto for Orchestra (Reiner), Piano Concertos (Anda or Kocsis), Mikrokosmos/Piano Music (Kocsis), Bluebeard's Castle (Kertesz)
Ligeti Ligeti Project I-IV, Ligeti Edition 1-3, 4 - or the two main Wergo cds with Lux Aeterna and Requiem

[rimon45]

But to keep it a bit more challenging, let's limit the number of box sets to 5, and further restrict that to cycles (i.e. LvB 4tets) and not complete collections:  no 100-disc Complete Haydn on Brilliant or similar offerings.  Operas, oratorios, Mahler symphonies (  ), etc.,  will not count as such a set but rather as one work



اغاني

[Fëanor]

I'm submitting my 50 recommendations for chamber music.  I've included recommended records for each, but I admit that these recordings are from my own, small collection hence they are not necessarily the best versions available, but I think they are all respectable.

 
50 Great Chamber Works Recommended by Feanor

[MishaK]

Late to the game, but here is mine:

Un viaggio musicale - Il Giardino Armonico
Monteverdi - Vespro della beata Vergine - Christie/LAF
Bach Brandenburg Concertos - Il Giardino Armonico
Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin - Hahn
Mozart Zauberflöte - Abbado

Mozart piano concertos - Barenboim/BPO
Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro - Solti/te Kanawa/von Stade et al.
Beethoven Sym. No.3 Eroica - Antonini
Beethoven Sym. No.9 - Solti/CSO/Norman et al.
Beethoven Pathetique Sonata etc. - Moravec

Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata etc. - Gilels
Chopin Nocturnes - Moravec
Wagner Parsifal - Kubelik/BRSO
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique - Jansons/RCO
Brahms Symphonies - Barenboim/CSO

Schubert 9 "the Great" - Furtwängler/BPO
Bruckner 8 - Schuricht/VPO
Mahler 5 - Chailly/RCO
Mahler 9 - Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin
Strauss Tod und Verklärung/Vier Letzte Lieder - Janowitz/Karajan/BPO

Strauss Eine Alpensinfonie - Dresden/Luisi
Stravinsky Firebird - Boulez/CSO
Debussy Piano Works - Michelangeli
Debussy La Mèr etc. - Rattle/BPO
Janacek Glagolitic Mass - Boulez/CSO (forthcoming recording)   

[laredo]

Bach - Die Kunst der Fuge - Gould (uncomplete)
Bach - Matthaus Passion - K. Richter
Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro - Giulini
Mozart - Don Giovanni - Giulini
Beethoven - Sonata op. 111 - Arrau
Beethoven - Ninth Symphony op. 125 - W. Furtwangler, BPO, 1942
Beethoven - Grosse Fuge op. 133 - Quartetto Italiano
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde - W. Furtwangler

Greatest recordings ever?
Furtwangler recording the Ninth in 1942
Gould plays Goldberg Variation in 1982.

[chung]

Okay, y'all:  We've gotten warmed up with a group effort at an Essentials List for newbies.  How about we each offer our own essentials list, picking a manageable number of titles (cycles included here) that's neither too daunting for a newbie nor insufficiently restrictive to prevent us from careful consideration of our selections...say, 25 titles apiece?  But to keep it a bit more challenging, let's limit the number of box sets to 5, and further restrict that to cycles (i.e. LvB 4tets) and not complete collections:  no 100-disc Complete Haydn on Brilliant or similar offerings.  Operas, oratorios, Mahler symphonies (  ), etc.,  will not count as such a set but rather as one work

You can approach this however you like, as a broad overview intended for a rank newcomer, as a narrower but deeper exploration of a particular era or genre that excites you and you think will excite others, or as a personal "desert island faves" list that you would not want to be without...or by throwing darts at your CD collection, if that's what floats your boat!

Anyone care to begin?

I've taken the added liberty of defining a box set as anything with 3 CDs or more containing any music, regardless of whether it forms a cycle or not.

1. Balakirev: Symphony No. 2 (Naxos - Golovschin, Russian State Symphony Orchestra)
2. Bartók: Complete Solo Piano Works (Decca - Kocsis) (BOX SET 1 - 8 CDs)
3. Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Naxos - Ligeti, Jandó et al.)
4. Beethoven: Choral Fantasy (Vox - Semkow et al.)
5. Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 (EMI - Cluytens, BP)
6. Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (DG - C. Kleiber, WP)
7. Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 (Berlin Classics - Konwitschny, LGO)
8. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (RCA - Leinsdorf, BSO et al.)
9. Brahms: Hungarian Dances (Philips - Masur, LGO)
10. Chopin: Polonaises (EMI - Ohlsson)
11. Handel: Messiah (EMI - A. Davis, TSO et al.)
12. Janáček: Lachian Dances (Reference Recordings - Serebrier, Czech State Philharmonic)
13. Khachaturian: Gayaneh (Complete ballet) (RCA - Tjeknavorian, LSO)
14. Kodály: Háry János (Hungaroton - Ferencsik, Sólyom-Nagy et al.) (N.B. I mean the complete "opera" with the original dialogue. As far as I know that version was issued only on vinyl or cassettes (which I have). The current version on 2 CDs includes almost all of the music but none of the dialogues)
15. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 1-6 (for orchestra) (EMI - Boskovsky, Philharmonia Hungarica)
16. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 (RCA - Anda, WS)
17. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 (Pro Arte - Freeman, Han, The Philharmonia)
18. Mozart: Complete Symphonies (Philips - Marriner, Krips, ASMF, COA) (BOX SET 2 - 12 CDs)
19. Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 1 (Naxos - Anichanov, St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra)
20. Schubert: Symphonies (Brilliant lic. from EMI - Muti, WP) (BOX SET 3 - 4 CDs)
21. Schumann: Symphony No. 4 (EMI - Sawallisch, SD)
22. Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Legends (Chandos - Gibson, Scottish National Orchestra)
23. Sibelius: The Sibelius Edition, Voice & Orchestra (BIS -  Assorted performers) (BOX SET 4 - 6 CDs)
24. Smetana: Má Vlast (Naxos - Wit, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra)
25. Wiener Musik (RCA - Stolz, BS, WS) (BOX SET 5 - 12 CDs)

Yes, I am biased toward ("good") symphonic or orchestral music...

[MishaK]

This one:

Has been reissued more cheaply thus:

[Mirror Image]

Personal Essentials List (in no particular order):

[Palmetto]

it would be more useful to a beginner if y'all would mention WHY you selected these particular pieces.  Obviously it's too late to retrofit the previous comments, and doing so for 25 recordings would result in double-wide posts.  However, perhaps future posters could explain what motivated one or two of their choices?

Thanks.