Brahms library limited to 5 discs

[val]

3 Sonatas violin/piano    / Suk, Katchen

The 3 piano Trios  / The Trio Wanderer

The Clarinet Quintet, The String Quintets / Amadeus Quartet, Leister, Aronowitz

Ein Deutsches Requiem  / Klemperer

The Piano Quartet opus 25  / Serkin, Busch Quartet

[samuel]

Piano Concerto No. 2/Tragic Overture: Gilels/Reiner/CSO
Symphony No. 1/Haydn Variations/Alto Rhapsody: Beinum/Heynis/Concertgebouw
Ein deutsches Requiem: Kempe/Gruemmer/Fischer-Dieskau/BPO
Symphony No. 4: Kleiber/VPO
Violin Concerto: Oistrakh/Konwitschny/Dresden

[Moldyoldie]

Let's see if I can remain copacetic with the OP and previous posters...and still cheat a little.

One list will include a boxset of symphonies and a few multi-disc packages to allow for more choices....

Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2;   Symphony No. 3;   Symphony No. 4;    Academic Festival Overture; Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn;  Tragic Overture; Violin Concerto
Thomas Zehetmair, violin
Cleveland Orchestra
Christoph von Dohnányi, cond.
TELDEC or WARNER CLASSICS (4-CD)

Piano Concerto No. 1; Piano Concerto No. 2; Fantasias
Emil Gilels, piano
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Eugen Jochum, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON (2-CD)

Cello Sonata No. 1; Cello Sonata No. 2
Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Emanuel Ax, piano
RCA (or MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY)

String Sextet No. 1; String Sextet No. 2
Raphael Ensemble
HYPERION

Piano Trio No. 1;    Piano Trio No. 2;    Piano Trio No. 3
Isaac Stern, violin;   Leonard Rose, cello;   Eugene Istomin, piano
Piano Quartet No 1;    Piano Quartet No. 2;    Piano Quartet No. 3
Isaac Stern, violin;   Jaime Laredo, viola;   Yo-Yo Ma, cello;   Emanuel Ax, piano
SONY (3-CD)


Here's a list of only single CDs...

Symphony No. 1
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Carlo Maria Giulini, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter, cond.
SONY

Symphony No. 4
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Carlos Kleiber, cond.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Violin Concerto
Nigel Kennedy, violin (Yeah, that's right!)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Klaus Tennstedt, cond.
EMI

Piano Concerto No. 2;    Intermezzi
Van Cliburn, piano
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Fritz Reiner, cond.
RCA

[Keemun]

5 Cds of BRAHMS? You're a sadistic nut.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing about Mozart when I saw the Mozart thread. 

[dirkronk]

Funny, I was thinking the same thing about Mozart when I saw the Mozart thread. 

Ditto.

(Which doesn't mean I might not try, just for grins--but c'mon. There's simply no way.)

Dirk

[adamdavid80]

The point with these threads - I believe - is to introduce your personal five favorite interpretations and performances to others who might not be in the know.  It's not like your going to be fined if Gurn comes to your home and sees a sixth Brahms CD in your collection.

If someone has two of the CDs you mention in your list and loves those two examples, and is unfamiliar with your other three, that might inspire them to seek them out.  Or if soemone simply wnats a solid respectable classical library.  So while it's doesn't need to be a recommended "starter kit", it doesn't need to be an exercise in sadomasochism either.

[Todd]

As with Mozart, I couldn't possibly due with only five discs, but when considering five recordings/sets:

Symphonies – Kubelik / BRSO (Orfeo)
Symphony 2 – Carlos Kleiber / VPO (Philips DVD)
Piano Concertos – Kuerti / Rescigno (Analekta)
Cello Sonatas – Fournier / Firkusny (DG)
String Quartets / Piano Quintet – Emerson Quartet, Fleisher (DG)

[Holden]

Symphony 2/Alto Rhapsody - Fricsay BRSO  here

PC #2 Richter/Leinsdorf

Eine Deutsches Requiem - Klemperer

Hungarian Dances - Labecque Sisters (piano)

Paganini Variations - Cziffra

[MichaelRabin]

Wanderer - You chose the Brahms Schumann Andsnes Piano Quintets. This was the Gramophone chamber award choice. Do you find it too straight and fast?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Tough one, but here goes:

String quartets - Juilliard Quartet
String quintets - Leipzig Quartet w/Rohde
Sextets - Raphael Ensemble
Piano quartets (1 & 3) - Heimbach Festival Chamber Ensemble
Piano concertos - Gilels/Jochum

[Sergeant Rock]

Symphonies 1, 2, 3, 4 Wand/NDRSO

Piano Concertos Szell/Fleisher/Cleveland

String Sextets Raphael Ensemble

Op.116, 117, 118, 119 Hélène Grimaud

Ein Deutsches Requiem Celibidache/Munich Phil


Sarge

[Hector]

This is hellishly difficult but here goes:

Symphony No. 4 (whatever ones favourite recording is);

Brahms/Schoenberg Piano Quartet opus 25;

Ein Deutsches Requiem (Klemp's);

The choral works including the Alto Rhapsody (must be Baker but not always);

...uh, oh, now I'm really struggling

Give me time, I'll find a fifth!

[DFO]

I´ve all his chamber in historical recordings (Pro-Arte, Budapest, Busch-Serkin,
Rubinstein,Boris Golstein,Heifetz,Piatigorsky, Feuermann, Primrose,Winthertur SQ,
Menuhin,Milstein-Horowitz, Long, Fournier,Thibaud,Primrose SQ, Hollywood SQ
etc.)

[hornteacher]

Symphonies 1-4
Mackerras
Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Violin Concerto
Hilary Hahn
Marriner/ASMF

Piano Concertos 1+2
Nelson Freire
Chailly/Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Clarinet Quintet/Double Concerto
R. and G. Capucon
Myung-Whun Chung/Mahler Youth Orchestra

Hungarian Dances
James and Kathryn March