OUR CLASSIC CLASSICS
A List of All-Time Great Recordings
John Quinn
What a challenge! The compilation of this list
has been fascinating and frustrating in almost equal measure.
The frustration has sprung from the necessary decisions about
what provisional choices should be culled in order to reduce
the list to manageable proportions. The fascination has stemmed
from the process of asking myself, critically,
which works – and, in most cases, which performances of them – are really essential
to me.
In the end I have approached the task from the standpoint of compiling a list
which I could, if asked, offer to a neophyte collector. It includes many of the
core works of the repertoire, spiced up with
a few more recherché choices. Inevitably, the list is driven by personal taste
so it is dominated by vocal, choral and orchestral music. That, I’m afraid, represents
my own listening tastes and habits, for better or worse.
It has been a struggle to restrict the list to manageable proportions and there
have been some notable casualties along the way as the original list has been
whittled down. The casualties include: Bach’s Christmas Oratorio; and
Rosalyn Turek in Das Wohltemperierte Clavier;
Handley’s cycle of the Bax symphonies; Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (Georg Kulenkampff’);
Brahms’s Violin Concerto (Ginette Neveu); Dvořák’s Eighth symphony;
Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Second symphony; Mendelssohn’s Elias (Sawallisch);
and Michelangeli’s incomparable reading of the Ravel G major Piano Concerto.
In addition, choice between competing versions has sometimes been difficult,
not
least in works such as Mahler’s Fifth and the Vier letzte Lieder of
Strauss.
Readers will notice a bias towards certain
composers – Berlioz, Elgar and Mahler in particular. There’s also a bias towards
certain artists whose work I’ve found particularly satisfying and/or stimulating
over the years. With that latter point in mind I have deliberately restricted
myself. I could have recommended happily Gardiner’s recordings of either of the
Bach passions, for example, or his ongoing cycle of the cantatas but it would
have been unbalanced to have had in the list even more recordings of Bach or
by Gardiner.
So, with all those caveats here is my list. I hope that any collectors who have
not yet heard any of these particular recordings and are prompted to do so as
a result of scanning this list will derive as much pleasure from these great
performances as I have done over some four decades of collecting firstly LPs
and, more recently, CDs.
J
S Bach Mass
in B minor • Monteverdi
Choir/English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner • DG
Archiv 4155142
J
S Bach Cantatas • Lorraine
Hunt Lieberson/Orchestra of Emmanuel Music/Craig Smith • Nonesuch
79692 2
Beethoven Symphonies
1-9 • Scottish
Chamber Orchestra/Philharmonia/Sir Charles Mackerras. • Hyperion
CDS 44301/5
Beethoven Symphonies
5 & 7 • Vienna
PO/Carlos Kleiber • DG 447 4002
Beethoven Piano
Concertos 4 & 5 • Emil
Gilels/Philharmonia/Leopold Ludwig • Testament
SBT 1095
Beethoven Missa
Solemnis • Concertgebow
O/Leonard Bernstein • DG 413 7802
Berlioz Grand
Messe des Morts • London
SO/Sir Colin Davis • Philips
416 2832
Berlioz Symphonie
Fantastique • Concertgebouw
O/Colin Davis • Philips
411 4252
Berlioz Te
Deum • European
Community YO/Claudio
Abbado • DG
410 6962
Brahms Symphonies
1-4 • Berliner
Philharmoniker/Rudolf Kempe • Testament
SBT 3054
Brahms
Piano Concertos
1 & 2 • Emil Gilels, Berlin PO/Eugen Jochum • DG
4191582
Brahms Ein Deutsches
Requiem • Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique/John
Eliot Gardiner • Philips 432 140 2
Britten War Requiem • London
SO & Ch/Benjamin
Britten • Decca 414 383 2
Bruckner Symphony
4 • Vienna
PO/Karl
Böhm. • Decca 411 581 2
Bruckner Symphony
7 • Berlin
PO/Gunter Wand • RCA
Red Seal 74321 687162
Bruckner Symphony
8 • Vienna PO/Herbert von Karajan • DG 427
611 2
Debussy La
Mer, Nocturnes & other
orchestral works • Concertgebouw
O/Bernard Haitink • Philips
438 742 2
Delius Orchestral
works • Royal
PO/Sir Thomas Beecham • EMI
CDS 7475098
Elgar Symphony
1 • Hallé O/Sir
John Barbirolli • BBC Legends BBCL41062
Elgar Violin
Concerto • Nigel Kennedy/London PO Orchestra/Vernon Handley • EMI
CDC 747210 2
Elgar The
Dream of Gerontius • Hallé Ch & O/Sir
John Barbirolli • EMI
CMS 7631852
Elgar The
Kingdom • London
PO & Ch/Sir Adrian Boult • EMI
CDS 7493812
Elgar/Vaughan Williams English
string music • Sinfonia of London/Sir John
Barbirolli • EMI 7475372 (currently
available on EMI 5672402)
Fauré/Duruflé Requiems
• Corydon Singers/MatthewBest
• Hyperion CDA67070
Finzi Cello & Clarinet
Concertos • Yo Yo Ma, Royal PO, John Denham, New PO/Vernon
Handley • Lyrita
SRCD236
Gershwin Porgy
and Bess • London PO/Sir Simon Rattle • EMI CDS 7495682
Handel Israel
in Egypt • Monteverdi Ch, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner • Philips
4321102
Handel Messiah • English
Consort/Trevor Pinnock • DG Archiv 4236302
Haydn The
Creation
• Academy
of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood • L’Oiseau-Lyre
4303972
Howells Hymnus
Paradisi • Bach Ch, New Philharmonia/Sir David
Willcocks • EMI CDM 7633722
Kern Showboat • London
Sinfonietta/John McGlinn • EMI Angel 4910828
Janáček Glagolitic
Mass • Czech PO/Sir
Charles Mackerras • Supraphon 33C37
7448
Janáček Sinfonietta,
Taras Bulba • Vienna PO/Sir Charles Mackerras • Decca 4101382
Peter
Lieberson Neruda Songs • Lorraine Hunt
Lieberson, Boston SO/James Levine • Nonesuch
7 5597 99542
MacMillan Seven
Last Words from the Cross
• Polyphony/Stephen Layton • Hyperion CDA67460
Mahler Symphony
2 • CBSO/Simon Rattle • EMI
CDS 7479628
Mahler Symphony
3 • New York PO/Leonard Bernstein • Sony
SM2K 61831
Mahler Symphony
5 • New Philharmonia/Sir John Barbirolli • EMI
5669102
Mahler Symphony
8 • Chicago SO/Sir Georg Solti • Decca
414 493 2
Mahler Symphony 9 • Berlin PO/Sir John Barbirolli • EMI
CDM 7631152
Mahler Symphony 9 • Berlin
PO/Sir Simon Rattle • EMI 512282
Mahler Das Lied
von der Erde • BBC
Northern SO/Jascha Horenstein • BBC
Legends BBCL40422
Messiaen Turangalîla
Symphony • Toronto SO/Seiji Ozawa • RCA 82876 594182
Prokofiev Scenes from
Romeo and Juliet
• Czech PO/Karel Ančerl • Supraphon SU 3676-2 011
Rachmaninov Symphony 2 • London
SO/André Previn • EMI
CDC 7471592
Ravel Daphnis
et Chloé • London SO/Pierre Monteux • Decca 425 9562
Schubert Hyperion Song
Edition • Soloists, Graham Johnson
Shostakovich Symphony 8 • Leningrad
PO/Yevgeny Mravinsky • BBC Legends BBCL40022
Shostakovich Symphony
10 • Czech PO/Karel Ančerl. • DG 4636662
Stenhammar Symphony 2 • Stockholm
PO/Stig Westerberg • Caprice CAP21151
R Strauss Ein Heldenleben • Staatskapelle
Dresden/Rudolf Kempe • EMI
CDM 7691712
R Strauss Vier
letzte Lieder • Soile Isokoski/Berlin RSO/Marek Janowski • Ondine
ODE9822
R Strauss Der
Rosenkavalier • Philharmonia O/Herbert
von Karajan • EMI 7493542
Tchaikovsky Symphonies
4-6 • Leningrad
PO/Yevgeny Mravinsky • DG 4197452
Tchaikovsky Francesca
da Rimini, Hamlet • Stadium SO of New York/Leopold Stokowski • dell’Arte
CDDA 9006
Vaughan Williams Symphonies 1-9 • Sir
Adrian Boult • EMI
5739242
Vaughan Williams Job • London PO/Vernon Handley • EMI Eminence CD-EMX
9506
Vaughan Williams London
Symphony, Symphony
8 • Hallé O/Sir John Barbirolli • EMI CDM 7641972
Vaughan Williams Symphonies
4 & 5 • BBC SO/composer,
Hallé O/John Barbirolli • Dutton CDAX8011
Vaughan Williams The Pilgrim’s
Progress
• John Noble, London PO/Sir Adrian Boult • EMI CMS 7642122
Verdi Requiem, Quattro
Pezzi Sacri • Philharmonia O/Carlo Maria Giulini • EMI CDS 7472578
Walton Symphony 1 • London
SO/Andre Previn • BMG
74321 925752
Walton Belshazzar’s Feast • London SO/Andre
Previn • EMI 7647232
