Desert Island Discs

[kishnevi]

Pop/Rock
Bruce Springsteen The River
Backstreet Boys Nevergone
Backstreet Boys Unbreakable
Fleetwood Mac Rumours
The remaining four would be greatest hits compilations from Foreigner, the Beatles, Van Halen, and Guns n Roses.

The BSB CDs, btw, are two they released after their boy band peak, much more mature and high quality, in part because they had better than usual songwriters, especially on Nevergone.

[Turner]

Is this the hard-to-find Philips recording made about 1982? I'm a fan of that one, but an even bigger fan of the 9th they did about the same time.

Yes, I was too lazy to check the shelf for the date, but concerning this Bruckner VIII, it's the digital 2CD one from 1981, in my case coupled with a 1974 "Siegfried Idyll".

I also have it as a 3LP set, together with the mentioned 9th.

[vandermolen]

I'll have a go at non-classical:

Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour
Beatles: White Album
Beatles: Abbey Road
Dreams (short-lived American Jazz-Rock band c.1970): Dreams
Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority
Jimi Hendrix: The Cry of Love
Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here
Santana: Caravanserai

Boxed set: George Harrison: All Things Must Pass.

[vandermolen]

Hardly showing off, surely - just sharing an amusing story.

[vandermolen]

John, just for you, we can send you to a Desert Archipelago with a canoe so you have multitude of eight discs for each island.


For me:
Feldman: For Philip Guston (This is 4 CDs. If not acceptable, I will pick For Piano and String Quartet)
Stravinsky Rite of Spring (Markevitch)
Bach: Goldberg Variation (Gould 3)
Beethoven: Overtures (Klemperer, EMI)
Liszt: Transcendental Etudes (Bolet, Ensayo)
Rubbra: Symphony #3 and #7 (Hickox)
Brian Symphony #10 and #30 (Brabbins)
Beethoven Quartet op95 and op127 (Smetana Quartet)


Boxset: Furtwangler: The Legacy (108 CDs)
(I did not choose the Rubinstein Boxset just to avoid the misunderstanding that I am only choosing it because of the large number is discs in it)

Love the Rubbra choices and Brian No.10.

[vandermolen]

Respighi: Vetrate di Chiesa, Impressioni Brasiliane (Simon, Chandos)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony Nr. 5 (Karajan, BPO, EMI)
Schubert: String quintet (Rostropovich, Melos Quartett, DG)
Sibelius: Symphony Nr. 5 (Karajan, DG)
Khachaturian: Symphony Nr. 2 (Järvi, Chandos)
Nielsen: Choral works (Segerstam, Chandos)
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis (Karajan, DG)
Bantock: A Celtic Symphony, A Hebridean Symphony (Handley, Hyperion)

Box-set: Atterberg's symphonies (cpo)

I could have selected half of these myself and thought of the Atterberg for my boxed set choice or the complete Tubin symphonies.

[NikF]

More difficult than I imagined.

Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 In D Minor - Pollini/Thielemann/Staatskapelle Dresden.
Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 - Abbado/Berlin Phil.
Stravinsky: Apollo/Agon/Orpheus - Craft/LSO.
Bartok: Piano Concertos 1, 2 & 3 - Anda/Fricsay/Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit - Michelangeli (BBC Legends 1959) Chamber Works - Kantorow/Muller/Rouvier.
Mahler 6: Horenstein/Stockholm Phil.
Prokofiev: Piano Concertos - Krainev/Kitajenko/Moscow Phil.
Debussy: Preludes 1 - Michelangeli.

Box - Shostakovich: String Quartets - Borodin Quartet.

No luxury item? Huh...

I'll do one featuring beat music later.

[Turner]

More difficult than I imagined.

Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 In D Minor - Pollini/Thielemann/Staatskapelle Dresden.
Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 - Abbado/Berlin Phil.
Stravinsky: Apollo/Agon/Orpheus - Craft/LSO.
Bartok: Piano Concertos 1, 2 & 3 - Anda/Fricsay/Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit - Michelangeli (BBC Legends 1959)
Mahler 6: Horenstein/Stockholm Phil.
Prokofiev: Piano Concertos - Krainev/Kitajenko/Moscow Phil.
Debussy: Preludes 1 - Michelangeli.

Box - Shostakovich: String Quartets - Borodin Quartet.

No luxury item? Huh...

I'll do one featuring beat music later.

An extremely great set indeed. I could easily substitute one of my choices with it. There are some major performance differences from the Krainev/Kitayenko/Frankfurt RSO set.

[NikF]

An extremely great set indeed. I could easily substitute one of my choices with it. There are some major performance differences from the Krainev/Kitayenko/Frankfurt RSO set.

I wasn't aware of that, although the Frankfurt RSO set is on my 'to buy' list due to someone (Mirror Image?) speaking highly of it.

[NikF]

And catering to the hoi polloi...

Joe Pass: Virtuoso.
Duke Ellington: Masterpieces.
Brubeck: Time Out.
The Ronettes: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes featuring Veronica.
Steely Dan: Can't Buy a Thrill.
American Graffiti OST
Beach Boys: Sunflower.
Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five (Don't Take Your Love From Me)

Box: Louis Armstrong -  The Complete RCA Victor Recordings.

[James]

I used to listen to this show .. i'll do art music now, maybe popular music later ..

Bartok, 6 SQs (Juilliard, Sony, 2 discs)
Bach, Brandenburg Ctos (Pinnock, Archiv, 2 discs)
Bach, Partitas (Gould, Sony, 2 discs)
Wagner, Overtures & Preludes (Various, DG, 2 discs)
Faure, Works for Pno (Doyen, Erato, 2 discs)
Stravinsky, Apollo/Agon/Orpheus (Craft, Naxos)

8 popular music selections, albums/discs  ..

Jan Hammer, The First Seven Days
Charlie Parker with Strings
Jeff Beck, Blow by Blow
Funkadelic, Mothership Connection
Shakti, Natural Elements
Miles Davis, Live at the Plugged Nickel
Weather Report, Mysterious Traveller
Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti

Classical Boxes? Could pick any of these and be extremely happy on an island .. all great.

Webern/Boulez (3 discs)
Stravinsky Works (22 discs)
Bach/Chapuis (14 discs)
Gould/Bach (38 discs, 4 dvds)
Schiff/Bach (12 discs)
Dowland/O'Dette (5 discs)

[NorthNYMark]

More difficult than I imagined.

Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 In D Minor - Pollini/Thielemann/Staatskapelle Dresden.
Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 - Abbado/Berlin Phil.
Stravinsky: Apollo/Agon/Orpheus - Craft/LSO.
Bartok: Piano Concertos 1, 2 & 3 - Anda/Fricsay/Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit - Michelangeli (BBC Legends 1959) Chamber Works - Kantorow/Muller/Rouvier.
Mahler 6: Horenstein/Stockholm Phil.
Prokofiev: Piano Concertos - Krainev/Kitajenko/Moscow Phil.
Debussy: Preludes 1 - Michelangeli.

Box - Shostakovich: String Quartets - Borodin Quartet.

No luxury item? Huh...

I'll do one featuring beat music later.

Nice list (and probably the one with the most overlap with mine). The Bartok Piano Concertos might have been my very next pick.

[Karl Henning]

Just a note that I am interpreting this as eight pop/rock discs which are perennial favorites of mine.  Why?  Taking the premise of being stranded on a desert island with eight pop/rock albums, how should I prevent growing sick even of Abbey Road?  But of course, this is all fun, so . . .

(And keeping the eight to eight discs, no doubles)

Fleetwood Mac, Tusk
Jeff Beck, You Had It Coming
Jethro Tull, Minstrel in the Gallery
Ian Anderson, Homo erraticus
Frank Zappa, Freak Out! (which has seriously grown on me in its remastered glory)
Captain Beefheart, Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot
Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington
Chas Mingus, The Saint and the Sinner Lady

Bonus box: The Beatles Mono

[Mahlerian]

Trying to go for a broad range of repertoire and ensemble types...

Lassus: Lagrime de San Pietro (Herreweghe)
Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610 (Boston Baroque)
Bach: Motets (Gardiner)
Mozart/Brahms: Clarinet Quintets (Berlin Soloists)
Debussy: Preludes Book II (Zimerman)
Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, Schoenberg/Webern/Berg: Piano Pieces (Uchida/Boulez)
Stravinsky: Threni, Requiem Canticles (Herreweghe)
Takemitsu: Garden Rain etc.

Boxed set: Tennstedt conducts Mahler Symphonies

[NorthNYMark]

Since I didn't add a non-classical list above:

Pop/Rock:

King Crimson, Red
Joe Jackson, Night & Day
Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden
Kate Bush, The Sensual World
Genesis, A Trick of the Tail
Cousteau, Cousteau
Seal, Seal
Roxy Music, Avalon

Boxed Set: King Crimson, Starless  (Live 1973)

Jazz:

Cannonball Adderley, Something Else
Tina Brooks, True Blue
Anthony Williams, Life Time
John Coltrane, A Love Supreme
Andrew Hill, Point of Departure
Cecil Taylor, Conquistador
William Parker Quartet, O'Neil's Porch
Duke Ellington, Masterpieces by Ellington

Boxed set: Miles Davis, The Complete Columbia Album Collection

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Jethro Tull, Minstrel in the Gallery

A Tull album would probably have been my #9. Though I would find it hard to decide between Aqualung and Songs from the Wood.

It would be fun to break down the Desert Island lists even further (chamber, early music, baroque, post-1950, solo piano, etc.). The possibilities are endless.

[NikF]

Nice list (and probably the one with the most overlap with mine). The Bartok Piano Concertos might have been my very next pick.

It does indeed overlap. And your choice of Szell/Curzon for the Brahms PC would also have been mine at one stage. I've told this story many times, but... An ex girlfriend was (mostly) responsible for introducing me to classical music. She was sure I'd like Brahms, but I just wasn't open to his work. I tried so hard, but I didn't like it. My ex was determined ("But Brahms is very manly music! So it should appeal to you!" ) and her patience finally paid off when she let me hear the Szell/Curzon. It's still a recording I find wonderful.

[NorthNYMark]

It does indeed overlap. And your choice of Szell/Curzon for the Brahms PC would also have been mine at one stage. I've told this story many times, but... An ex girlfriend was (mostly) responsible for introducing me to classical music. She was sure I'd like Brahms, but I just wasn't open to his work. I tried so hard, but I didn't like it. My ex was determined ("But Brahms is very manly music! So it should appeal to you!" ) and her patience finally paid off when she let me hear the Szell/Curzon. It's still a recording I find wonderful.

LOL--very cool story!

[vandermolen]

My chamber music selection:

Bloch: SQ No.1 (an epic work)
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet
Shostakovich: Piano Trio
Vaughan Williams: Violin Sonata (a late, craggy masterpiece IMHO)
Vaughan Williams:SQ No.2 'For Jean on her Birthday'
Weinberg: Piano Quintet
Schnittke: Piano Quintet
Cesar Frank: Violin Sonata in A

[springrite]

Xenakis - Orchestral Works (because I love practically all Xenakis, it's a matter of quantity for a box)

I don't have that much Xenakis (one not so big box and a few others, totally 10 or 12). They also have the advantage of annoying the neighbors and drive away household pests.