If you had a gun to your head...

[Keemun]

How did that get there?!

Maybe the psychotic bastard is a Britney Spears fanatic, he broke into your home and put the CD in your collection in hope that when the time came for you to choose a CD while having a gun pointed at your head you would panic and select Britney Spears, thereby (in his twisted mind) affirming the psychotic bastard's Britney Spears obsession. 

[MN Dave]

Maybe the psychotic bastard is a Britney Spears fanatic, he broke into your home and put the CD in your collection in hope that when the time came for you to choose a CD while having a gun pointed at your head you would panic and select Britney Spears, thereby (in his twisted mind) affirming the psychotic bastard's Britney Spears obsession. 

Yeah, that's the ticket. Phew. Thanks for the save.

I don't know what I'd pick. This is too hard for me. Something by Bach or Beethoven. Maybe Chopin. Oh, hell. Maybe this:

[marvinbrown]

Well, there was a gun to my head and I couldn't concentrate!

  I was going to say that that is quite easily the worst "music", if it can be called music, ever recorded but then I saw this:



  Talk about trash on record!

marvin
   

[MN Dave]

  I was going to say that that is quite easily the worst "music", if it can be called music, ever recorded but then I saw this:

I was supposed to buy that for the music?

[marvinbrown]

I was supposed to buy that for the music?

  Like I said, talk about trash on record!

  marvin

[Brian]

Okay, so this takes place at my school?   

If you're allowing a CD set it would be the Mackerras Beethoven Symphony Cycle (which is packaged in ONE double CD case).

Edinburgh or Liverpool?

[greg]

[greg]

then again, i probably should've waited until page 3 to post my CD picture......

Brittney Spears, Spice Girls and Mahler on the same page just isn't right...

[op.110]

If (comically big) sets are allowed--maybe this psycho has a soft spot?--then this would be my easy and obvious choice:

Such a selection would likely result in instant death (our psycho has no sense of humor).

[rubio]

The Bruckner 8th from the below box set (it does not exist as an individual CD at the moment), or some Bach oratorio (like the Veldhoven Christmas Oratorio).

[hornteacher]

Edinburgh or Liverpool?

Both are great, but my preference is Liverpool.  Better sound quality and brisker tempos on the allegros.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

XB, that was good!  And as a fellow Canadian, I agree pretty much with that statement, as I'm sure a lot of other Canucks do as well.

Beethoven String Quartets - Quartetto Italiano

In all fairness, it wasn't a crack against the RCMP, who, when they're not tasering harmless people, are doing a largely dangerous and thankless job. They must risk their lives to catch dangerous criminals, murderers, etc. only to have judges fail miserably to enforce any sort of appropriate sentence. The recent example of two teenagers who beat a Sikh man to death with baseball bats is particularly horrible. The judges ruled that since the kids (13 and 15, or something like that) were underaged, they were too young to realize that repeatedly hitting someone in the head with a baseball bat could cause injury or death. Therefore they were found not responsible for their actions. WOW, if Canadian teenagers are really that stupid, what does that say about the Canadian educational system?

[Monsieur Croche]

John Cage - Variations I (1958), for any number of players and any sound-producing means.

If the psycho doesn't allow that, then it would probably be this one:



I prefer the pre-war Gieseking performances, but there is no way of getting all of them in a single set, and I would gladly trade off a little quality for more variety.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I like Gieseking's Ravel much better than his Debussy, but still, I prefer Vlado Perlemuter for most of the pieces, as well as the Concerto in G. For the Concerto for the Left Hand, Samson Francois is hard to beat.

[Brian]

Though I'm very impressed with Brian's choice for Paul Komen's Beethoven, justice at last...

Indeed, an unforgettable and unallow-it-to-burn-able recording; my deepest thanks to Gurn Blanston for exposing me to Komen's Beethoven!!

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams Symphony 6 LPO Boult. This is my first attempt to include a picture in my post. Apologies if it goes horribly wrong!

[Monsieur Croche]

I like Gieseking's Ravel much better than his Debussy, but still, I prefer Vlado Perlemuter for most of the pieces, as well as the Concerto in G. For the Concerto for the Left Hand, Samson Francois is hard to beat.

Now that is a name I've never heard! (Perlemuter). Can you describe how his Debussy is like, Valkyrie?

(I learn something new from this board every day, for sure!)

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

For one thing, he has a very beautiful tone, perfectly suited to Ravel's music. For another, I think his interpretations have a very persuasive gentleness and grace to them. He was one of Ravel's students, and studied most of these pieces with him. Anyway, I found a 3LP Vox Box (made in the early 60s before that label started its decline) in perfect condition for $1.99 at a local store. I recorded them onto CD and listen to them frequently. I think they are available on a Vox CD set pretty cheap:



Read the reviews: http://www.amazon.ca/Vlado-Perlemuter-Plays-Ravel-Maurice/dp/B000001KC3/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1211520209&sr=1-3

His performance of the concerto in G is very moving, but for the Concerto for the left hand I prefer Samson Francois.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

There WAS a good video on YouTube, but I can't find it now. It was probably removed to make room for a video of a trio of 19 year old girls making funny faces and jumping around. Lord knows there isn't much of that type of content on You Tube already.

[MN Dave]

XB-70, did anyone ever tell you that your signature if bloody huge?