Topic: GMG Members' Personal Essentials Lists

[Philoctetes]

Only what I can recall:

Bach (Weissenberg)
Bach's Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas (Enescu)
Beethoven's Piano Concertos (Uchida)
Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (Kuerti)
Brahms's Piano Concertos (Gilels/Jochum)
Brahms's Symphonies (Barenboim)
Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 (Jochum)
Chopin (Argerich)
Mahler's Symphony No. 3 (Boulez)
Mahler's Symphony No. 5 (Solti)
Massnet's Esclarmonde (Sutherland)
Messiaen's Complete Organ Music (Latry)
Satie's Complete Piano Music (Aldo)
Schubert's Piano Music (Kuerti and Afanassiev)
Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 (Rozhdestvensky)

[canninator]

Chant de l'Eglise de Rome Ensemble Organum (Zig Zag)

I don't know if I'll put a list together but I do know this would be on it (either that or the Easter Vespers recording...both are superb). You should check out Soeur Marie Keyrouz-Byzantine Chant, I suspect it would be right up your street.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

As of today -

Bach: Goldberg Variations (Gould 1982, Sony)
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos (Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Harmonia Mundi)
Beethoven: Symphony #3 (Eroica), Symphony #8 (Szell, CO, Sony)
Beethoven: Symphonies 5 & 7 (Kleiber, VPO, DG)
Beethoven: String Quartets (Alban Berg Qt., EMI)
Brahms: Symphonies (Solti, CSO, Decca)
Brahms: Piano Quintet; String Quartet #1 (Arcanto Qt., Harmonia Mundi)
Bruckner: Symphony #4 (Jochum, BPO, DG)
Bruckner: Symphony #9 (Walter, ColSO, Sony)
Byrd: Harpsichord Music (Leonhardt, Alpha)
Haydn: London Symphonies (Jochum, LPO, DG)
Ligeti: Piano Etudes etc. (Aimard, Sony)
Lutoslawski: The Essential Lutoslawski (Sym. #3 etc.) (Philips, various performers)
Mahler: Symphony #5 (Chailly, Con'bouw, Decca)
Mahler: Symphony #6 (Barbirolli, NPO, EMI)
Mahler: Symphony #9 (Abbado, BPO, DG)
Martinu: Symphony #5, Frescoes, Parables, Memorial to Lidice (Ancerl, CzPO, Supraphon)
Scarlatti: 22 Sonatas (Hantai)
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (DeGaetani et al., Nonesuch)
Sibelius: Symphonies 1, 2, 4, 5 (Davis, BSO, Philips)
Shostakovich: String Quartets (Fitzwilliam Qt., Decca)
Stravinsky: Symphonies and Concertos (Philips, various performers)
Vaughan Williams: Symphony #4 etc. (Berglund, RPO, EMI)
Xenakis: La Legende d'Eer(8-channel electronic tape)
Best of the Renaissance(various composers) (Tallis Scholars, Philips)

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Dufay, Isorhythmic Motets, Huelgas Ensemble

Nice choice. People who think modern stuff is "too complex" oughta listen to this!

[Octo_Russ]

Who says it all needs to be Classical?, here's my top 25, in order of favourite,

1 Schubert - 8 Impromptus [Brendel] Philips digital
2 Chopin - 27 Etudes [Lortie] Chandos
3 Beethoven - 5 Piano Concertos [Perahia/Haitink] Sony/CBS
4 Bantock - Celtic Symphony / Witch Of Atlas [Handley] Hyperion
5 Jackson Browne [I'm Alive]
6 Victoria Soames [British Clarinet] Clarinet Classics
7 Keith Jarrett [Standards - Volume One]
8 Itzhak Perlman [Violin Showpieces] DG
9 Van Der Graaf Generator [World Record]
10 Eric Alexander [Straight Up]
11 Manic Street Preachers [The Holy Bible]
12 Schubert - Piano Sonata 21 [Brendel] Philips Digital
13 Mary Chapin Carpenter [Stones In The Road]
14 Bach - Goldberg Variations [Schiff] Decca
15 Chopin - 21 Nocturnes [Rev] Hyperion
16 Various Artists [Happy Buzzer - Volume One]
17 Brahms - Handel Variations / 4 Ballades [Osorio] ASV
18 John Hiatt - [Walk On]
19 Dvorak - Piano Quintet / String Quintet [Gaudier Ensemble] Hyperion
20 Ernie Watts [Reaching Up]
21 Schubert - Piano Sonata 16 / 3 Klavierstucke [Brendel] Philips Digital
22 Joshua Bell [Poeme / Violin Showpieces] Decca
23 Mozart - Serenade 10/Gran Partita [Marriner] Philips
24 Saint Saens - Symphony 3 [Preston/Levine] DG
25 The Muffs [Blonder And Blonder]

[(poco) Sforzando]

Nice choice. People who think modern stuff is "too complex" oughta listen to this!

Thanks! It's a fabulous disc.

[Drasko]

I don't know if I'll put a list together but I do know this would be on it (either that or the Easter Vespers recording...both are superb). You should check out Soeur Marie Keyrouz-Byzantine Chant, I suspect it would be right up your street.

I heard some of it, fantastic singing undoubtedly, but couldn't quite get into Arabic texts of Syrian Chant for some reason. Will give it another go some day. You could check Greek Byzantine Choir under Lycourgos Angelopoulos.

[karlhenning]

Mr Henning, I particularly love that you selected this!

Markevich, Arrangement of JS Bach The Musical Offering / Lyndon-Gee, Arnhem Phil

Glad I'm not alone in adoring it so much (though it could do with a better recording - somewhere I have an almost hallucinatory LP of it which I used to spin endlessly)

It's an oasis, isn't it!

12 - Chopin - Mazurkas (Rubinstein)

I knew I forgot something -_-

Yes, I can hardly forgive myself for leaving the Mazurkas off, myself!

[Sergeant Rock]

Mahler symphonies (  ), etc.,  will not count as such a set but rather as one work

Good man 

[DavidRoss]

Dufay, Isorhythmic Motets, Huelgas Ensemble

Thanks! It's a fabulous disc.

Is that the one titled O Gemma Lux?

[Guido]

OK - I'll play!

I want to take that Bach/Markevitch disc too, of course. So, I'll put it first. Otherwise, just the order they occur to me:

1 - Bach/Markevitch - A Musical Offering. In the Marco Polo recording seeing as no other is available right now
2 - Martinu - Symphony 4/Tre Ricerare - Turnovsky (Apex disc also includes a wonderful PC 4, so I'll take that one)
3 - Enescu - works including Violin sonata 3 and Piano sonata 3 (Enescu/Lipatti, twofer)
4 - Janacek - String Quartets (Smetana Quartet)
5 - Brian - Emi twofer including symphonies 7, 8, 9 (Mackerras/Groves)
6 - Ravel - Piano Concerti/Gaspard (Francois)
7 - Ravel - L'enfant et les sortlieges (Ansermet)
8 - Janacek - piano works (many versions I'd be happy with)
9 - Janacek - Diary of one who Disappeared (Blachut)
10 - Janacek - Violin Concerto/Schluck und Jau (Suk)
11 - Faure - Nocturnes (Thyssens-Valentin)
12 - Chopin - Mazurkas (Rubinstein)
13 - Bryars - After the Requiem (Frisell etc.)
14 - Silvestrov - Silent Songs (ECM)
15 - Part - Arbos (ECM)
16 - Chopin - Preludes (Cortot)
17 - Ives - Concord Sonata (Lubimov - yes, really, that is my considered choice)
18 - Brahms - Violin Sonatas 1-3 (Grumiaux)
19 - Brahms - Horn Trio/Clarinet Quartet (A Brain/Kell)
20 - Beethoven - Late Quartets (Busch)
21 - Beethoven - Late Sonatas (again, I'd choose from a few possibles)
22 - Bach - Violin Sonatas/Partitas (possibly Sergiu Luca, if available)
23 - Cage - Sonatas and Interludes (Butterley, if available, otherwise Steinberg)
24 - Mozart - any of a number of choices of later piano concerti, but must include K488
25 - Xenakis - Chamber music (Arditti/Helffer)


Yes, I think I could be happy with that... though I'd want some late Schubert in there too, I might have to sneak in the Lindsay's box set...

Edit - and oh dear, I'd NEED the CPO disc of Schoeck's Elegie too. And Ian Partridge's Schumann Dichterliebe/Eichendorff Liederkreis.... Can I go to 30??

Further Edit - and what about Kagan/Bashmet/Richter in the Shostakovich violin/viola sonatas? Or a set of the quartets, or the fugues. What about the Brilliant box set of Poulenc chamber music and piano music. I also NEED all of those. More thought needed, I think....

Glad that the Smetana is your favourite for the Jnacek quartets - I love the too. What is yor reasons for that Ives interprter? And I should get hold of that Musical Offering I guess too

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Is that the one titled O Gemma Lux?

That's the one

[Sergeant Rock]

No surprises, I'm afraid.

Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen Karajan/Berlin Phil
Wagner Parsifal Knappertsbusch/Bayreuth 1964 (with Jon Vickers)
Beethoven Complete Symphonies and Overtures Szell/Cleveland
Beethoven String Quartets Gewandhaus Quartet
Beethoven 29 Piano Sonatas Gilels
Berg Violin Concerto Mutter/Levine/Chicago
Brahms Complete Symphonies and Piano Concert #2 Furtwängler/Various Orchestras (Archipel Box)
Brian Symphony #1 "Gothic" Lenard/CSR Bratislava
Brian Symphonies 7 and 31 Mackerras/Royal Liverpool
Brian Symphonies 8 and 9 Groves/Royal Liverpool
Bruckner Symphonies 3-9 Celibidache/Munich Phil
Bruckner Symphony #9 Giulini/Wiener Phil
Bruckner Symphony #5 Dohnányi/Cleveland
Dvorak Complete Symphonies Rowicki/LSO
Haydn Symphonies 93-104 Norrington/RSO Stuttgart
Haydn Symphonies 88,92-99,104 Szell/Cleveland
Haydn Symphonies 82-87 Haroncourt
Mahler Complete Symphonies Chailly/Concertgebouw
Mahler Complete Symphonies Sinopoli/Philharmonia
Mahler Symphony #6 Szell/Cleveland
Mahler Symphony #4 Battle/Maazel/Wiener Phil
Mozart Die Zauberflöte Klemperer/Philharmonia
Mozart Original Jacket Collection Szell/Cleveland
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2/Prokofiev Piano Concerto #5 Richter/Wislocki/Rowicki/Warsaw Phil
Schmidt Complete Symphonies Rajter/RSO Bratislava
Schönberg 5 Pieces op.16, Berg 3 Pieces op.6, Webern 6 Pieces op.6 Levine/Berlin
Schubert Complete Songs The Hyperion Box
Shostakovich Symphony #15 Sanderling/Cleveland
Sibelius Symphonies 3, 6, 7, Violin Concerto, Tapiola Davis/Boston
Sibelius 1 and 4 Maazel/Wiener Phil
Sibelius Symphony 5 and Night Ride and Sunrise Rattle/Philharmonia
Sibelius Kullervo Davis/LSO
Strauss Elektra Solti/Wiener Phil
Strauss Der Rosenkavalier Solti/Wiener Phil
Strauss Four Last Songs plus Orchestral Lieder Fleming/Eschenbach/Houston
Strauss Complete Orchestral Works Kempe/Staats Dresden
Vaughan Williams Complete Symphonies Haitink/LPO

Sarge

[canninator]

1. Chants de L’Eglise de Rome-Byzantine Period (Ensemble Organum, Harmonia Mundi)
2. Canto Gregoranio-Missa de Difuntos, Oficio de difuntos (Dom Jean Claire; Coro de monjes de la abadia San Pedro de Solesmes)
3. Early French Polyphony (Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Cantus)
4. Machaut-Messe de Notre Dame (Ensemble Organum, Harmonia Mundi)
5. Desprez-Messes de l’Homme Arme (A Sei Voci, Naïve)
6. Desprez-Missa Pange Lingua (Tallis Scholars)
7. Bach-WTC (Glenn Gould, Sony)
8. Gibbons/Byrd/Sweelinck Keyboard Works (Glenn Gould, Sony)
9. La Belle Homicide (Rolf Lislevand, Astree)
10. Weiss-Sonatas (Jakob Lindberg, BIS)
11. Music for the Vihuela (Dolores Costoyas, Glissando)
12. La Guitarra Espanola (1536-1836) (Jose Miguel Moreno, Glossa)
13. Schubert-Winterreise (Fischer-Dieskau and Moore, EMI)
14. Bruckner Symphony No. 8 (Boulez, DG)
15. Faure-Requiem (Willcocks-Cambridge College Choir)
16. Durufle-Complete Organ Works (Friedhlem Flamme, cpo)
17. Debussy-Orchestral Music (Haitink)
18. Debussy-Martyr de San Sebastien (Tilson, Sony)
19. Messiaen-Vingt regards pour l’enfant Jesus (Yvonne Loriod, Warner)
20. Nielsen-Symphony 4; Sibelius-Symphony 5 (Simon Rattle, CBSO)
21. Shostakovich-VC1 and 2 (Vengerov, Rostropovich, LSO)
22. Stockhausen-Electronic Music (Stockhausen-Verlag)
23. Gerard Grisey-Les Espace Acoustiques (Kairos)
24. English String Music (Barbirolli, EMI)
25. Agustin Barrios-Guitar Music Vol 2 (Enno Voorhorst, Naxos)

[kishnevi]

That limitation to five sets is a killer!  Had a larger number been allowed, the list would have a somewhat different look.
Yes, there are some obvious works that aren't on here, but there just wasn't enough space for them, given my obvious liking for Bach, Beethoven. Mahler, and Shostakovich.  As it was, I had to delete one whole category (opera), and winnow down the Bach to only six (which is why the WTC, cello suites, and cantatas make no appearances on this list)

Five sets:
Beethoven: Symphonies/Gardiner
Beethoven: Late String Quartets/Quartetto Italiano
Beethoven: Piano Concertos/Triple Concerto/Pollini-Abbado
Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas/Brendel (last cycle)
Mahler:  Symphonies/Bernstein  (DG cycle)

Six Bach:
Brandenburg Concertos/English Baroque Soloists
Violin Concertos/Manze/Podger/AAM
Partitas/Schiff (ECM recording)
"A State of Wonder" (both Gould recordings of the Goldberg Variations paired together)
Preludes, Fantasia and Fugues for Organ/Rogg
Solo Violin Works/Podger

Four Shostakovich:
Symphony 4/Gergiev
Symphony 11/Rostropovich/LSO
Violin Concertos (with Prokofiev concertos)--Sitkovetsky
String Quartets 2,3, 7,8, 12--Borodin Quartet

Ten others:
Tallis Scholars: Masters of the Renaissance
Vivaldi: Late Violin Concertos/Carmignola/Marcon
Handel: Messiah (Jacobs recording)
Haydn:  Symphonies 99-104/Norrington
Mozart: Violin Concertos/Carmignola/Abbado
Schubert: Schone Mullerin /Fischer Dieskau (EMI recording)
Chopin: Nocturnes/Rubinstein (1965 recording)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony 4/Solti
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde/Klemperer
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto 2-Paganini Rhapsody/Rubinstein/Reiner

On another day, I might take the Sony Bernstein Mahler cycle, which includes DLvdE, and put in a Brahms CD in place of the individual entry for DLvdE, but there are more performances on the DG cycle I wouldn't want to be without than on the Sony cycle.

[MN Dave]

I don't think I listen enough to make a list like this but I will sure enjoy browsing through them! Thanks.

[Brewski]

6. Desprez-Missa Pange Lingua (Tallis Scholars)
23. Gerard Grisey-Les Espace Acoustiques (Kairos)

I had these two on my list originally, but had to cull something.  That Tallis Scholars disc is a longtime fave, and I think the Grisey piece is one of the most important works of the late 20th century.

--Bruce

[(poco) Sforzando]

Is that the one titled O Gemma Lux?

Yes!

[Papy Oli]

25 recordings I couldn't live without, with the ones in bold being among the very first records I bought when I started to explore classical music 3 to 4 years ago and that are still among my very favourites.

Obviously, Lots more works and genres to discover and get familiar within my own collection or to purchase later, but it will take something special to knock some off that list. 

Mahler Symphony No.1 – Maazel / VPO
Mahler Symphony No.2 – Boulez / VPO (live)
Mahler Symphony No.3 – Haitink / Concertgebouw / Forrester
Mahler Symphony No.4 – Reiner / Chicago
Mahler symphony No.5 – Tennstedt / LPO (Live)
Mahler Symphony No.6 – Fischer / Budapest
Mahler Symphony No.6 – Barbirolli

Beethoven – Symphony No.9 – Karajan '63
Bruckner – Symphonies 3-9 – Celibidache / Munich
Bruckner – Symphony No.8 – Giulini / VPO
Gorecki – Symphony No.3 (Swoboda / Kilanowicz / Polish State PO)

Arvo Part – Kanon Pokajanen (ECM)
Tallis – Spem in Alium / Salve Intemerata – Summerly / Oxford Camerata
Pergolesi – Stabat Mater – Alessandrini / Concerto Italiano
Arvo Part – Berliner Messe (Naxos)
Byrd – Mass for 4 & 5 voices - Summerly / Oxford Camerata

Chopin – Nocturnes - Moravec
Rameau – Suite en Mi Mineur – Marcelle Meyer
Satie – Piano Works – Klara Kormendi (Naxos)
Schumann – Piano Works (Kempff)
Schubert – D.940 (Lupu / Perahia)
Schubert – Arpeggione sonata (Queyras / Tharaud)
Schubert – Impromptus (MJ Pires)
Beethoven Op.7 / Brahms 4 Ballads / Schubert D.537 – Michelangeli

Beethoven – String Quartets – Gewandhaus Qt.


Credit where it is due, my thanks to GMG members for their guidance and recommendations which helped shaping up that list along time 

[Bogey]

Ah, a bit more breathing room as the last list I plugged in pieces I loved, but also wanted to round out what was already chosen, hence leaving many favorites off.

1. Bach St. Matthew Passion Herreweghe (1985)
2. Bach Complete Harpsichord Concerti Vol. II Leonhardt  Consort/Gustav Leonhardt
3. Bach Cello Suites Ma
4. Bach Goldberg Variations Gould (’55 or ’81…it’s all good.)

5. Beethoven Symphonies 1-9 Karajan/BPO ‘63
6. Beethoven Triple Concerto/Rondo in B Flat/Choral Fantasy Harnoncourt/Aimard
7. Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 Serkin/Ozawa/BSO
8. Beethoven The Chamber Music for Winds Consortium Classicum
9. Beethoven Complete String Quartets Végh Quartet

10. Bruckner Symphony No. 4 Karajan/BPO (EMI)

11. Copland “Copland Conducts Copland/LSO” Our Town/Red Pony Suite/El Salón México/Danzón Cubano/Three Latin American Sketches

12. Dvořák String Quartet No. 12 “American”/Piano Quintet in A Major Op. 81 Smetana Quartet/Josef Hala

13. Haydn String Quartet Op. 77 Tátrai Quartet

14. Handel Italian Cantatas Kirkby/Hogwood/AAM
15. Handel Water Music Pinnock/English Consort

16. Hildegard  A Feather on the Breath of God-Sequences and Hymns Kirkby, et al

17. Mozart Requiem Böhm/Wiener Philharmoniker
18. Mozart Symphonies Mozart: The Late Symphonies: Nos. 25, 29, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41 (I actually do not own this, but it is the only way to net 39-41 without repeating two 40’s like I had to do.)
Bernstein/Wiener Philharmoniker
19. Mozart Flute Quartets Kuijken/ Kuijken/Van Dael/ Kuijken
20. Mozart Piano Sonatas Uchida

21. Rachmaninov Isle of the Dead/Symphonic Dances Ashkernazy/Concertebouw Orchestra
22. Rachmaninov  Vespers Svechnikov/USSR Nat'l Choir
 
23. Ravel Complete Works for Solo Piano Collard

24. Tallis Spem in Alium Summerly/Oxford Camerata

25 Vivaldi Complete Works for Italian Lute Linberg

David,
I only ask that with the guidelines that you set down that you do not report my list to the NCAA.  I would hate to return my: