Classical Best Versions
What Is The Very Best Version?
In a catalogue that lists over 200 recordings of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons", and even 60 versions of Orff's "Carmina Burana", which is the very best?
With the help of Gramophone, Penguin Stereo Guide, BBC Music, and our own ears, we have put together the definitive guide to the popular classics.
Here are a selection of recommended recordings that should find a place in everyone's collection.
Displaying items 1 to 20 of 198
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Capriccio Italien (with Beethoven-Wellington's Victory) Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra / London Symphony Orchestra / Antal Dorati [ Mercury Originals / CD - released 14/Jun/2007 ] "This most famous of all Mercury records was one of the most successful classical LPs of all time, selling some two million copies in the analogue era. Remastered for CD, it sounds even more spectacular than it ever did in its vinyl format, vividly... |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: 3 Violin Sonatas Krysia Osostowicz (violin) Susan Tomes (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 26/May/2008 ] 'Subtle enough to suggest that for both artists these performances were a revelatory voyage of discovery' (Gramophone) |
W. A. MOZART
4 Horn Concertos / Piano and Wind Quintet (rec 1953, 1955) Dennis Brain (horn) / Walter Gieseking (piano) / Philharmonia Wind Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra / Herbert von Karajan [ Naxos Historical / CD - released 6/Feb/2007 ] "This disc is pure joy. At the price, it is almost a crime not to snap it up." Bargain of the Month MusicWeb May 2007 |
HILDEGARD von BINGEN
A Feather on the Breath of God Emma Kirkby (soprano) / Gothic Voices [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Sep/2010 ] "These hymns and sequences, most expertly performed and recorded, have excited much acclaim - and rightly so. A lovely CD" Penguin Guide |
J. S. BACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bach, (J.S.): Alio Modo (keyboard works transcribed for viols) Fretwork [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 25/Dec/2005 ] "Fretwork play with a gorgeous simplicity of expression and deep musicality." - The Independent, UK |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn BWV1127 Elin Manahan Thomas / English Baroque Soloists / John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / CD - released 10/Oct/2005 ] Premiere recording of a newly discovered aria by Bach, unearthed in a library in June 2005 |
![Strauss, (R.): Also Sprach Zarathustra / Tod und Verklarung [Death & Transfiguration] cover](https://images.marbecks.co.nz/_thumbnails/10109/10109893.jpg)
RICHARD STRAUSS
Strauss, (R.): Also Sprach Zarathustra / Tod und Verklarung [Death & Transfiguration] Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Andre Previn [ Telarc Classics / CD - released 16/Apr/2002 ] "Previn draws magnificent playing fromthe Vienna Philharmonic in powerful, red-blooded readings of the symphonic poems, and the recording is among Telarc's finest. Strongly recommended for anyone wanting this particular coupling, and enjoying... |
ANTONIO VIVALDI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Amor Sacro - Vivaldi Sacred Motets Simone Kermes (soprano) / Venice Baroque Orchestra / Andrea Marcon [ Archiv / CD - released 20/Feb/2007 ] "Simone Kermes is an agile singer with a wide vocal range who is comfortably able to negotiate Vivaldi's virtuoso writing with technical panache and warmth. Highly rewarding." (Five Stars BBC Music |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Christmas Oratorio Mary Bevan (sop) Joanne Lunn (sop) Clare Wilkinson (mezzo) Nicholas Mulro (ten), etc / Dunedin Consort and Players, John Butt [ Linn / 2 CD - released 14/Oct/2016 ] "Way-too-early seasonal content (sorry), but this latest release from the Dunedin Consort is too good to wait. It's surely one of the finest accounts now available of Bach's Christmas Oratorio." Guardian Five Stars |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Goldberg Variations Beatrice Rana (piano) [ Warner Classics / CD - released 1/Mar/2017 ] "Her detailing is one of the aspects that makes this performance so compelling, be it the bringing out of a new line in the repeat, subtle changes in phrasing, a touch of pedal - examples are to be found in every single variation." Gramophone |
J. S. BACH
Bach Transcriptions (arrangements by great composers) BBC Philharmonic / Leonard Slatkin [ Chandos Classics / CD - released 5/Jul/2000 ] Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Oct 2000) - Five Stars (*****) Classic CD (Oct 2000) |
BELA BARTOK
Bartók: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 Christian Tetzlaff (violin) / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu [ Ondine / CD - released 1/Jun/2018 ] "Ondine's new Bartók CD is an out-and-out winner...Tetzlaff's account of the First Concerto elevates this work to a whole new level of musical excellence..It's that good!" Gramophone Award WINNER 2018 - Concerto |
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Beethoven: Early Cantatas Judith Howarth, Janice Watson (soprano), Jean Rigby (mezzo soprano), John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Jose Van Dam (bass) / Corydon Singers & Orchestra [ Hyperion Helios / CD - released 28/Aug/1997 ] 'Arguably Beethoven's first major masterpiece … superb performance, at once fresh and incisive and deeply moving' - PENGUIN GUIDE ROSETTE |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Fidelio (compete opera recorded in 1962) Gottlob Frick, Christa Ludwig, Walter Berry, Ingeborg Hallstein / Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus, Otto Klemperer [ Warner Classics the Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 1/Feb/2016 ] "Christa Ludwig, a mezzo rather than true soprano, brings dark colours to the role of Leonore, while tenor Jon Vickers is a superb Florestan." BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 |
![Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas (rec 1964-65) [CD set plus Blu-ray audio] cover](https://images.marbecks.co.nz/_thumbnails/10114/10114200.jpg)
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas (rec 1964-65) [CD set plus Blu-ray audio] Wilhelm Kempff (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon CD + Blu-ray audio / 9 CD Box Set - released 10/Sep/2019 ] "These are all great perfornmances, and the remastered recordings have all been enhanced to an extraordinary degree to give an uncannily realistic piano-image, helped by the immediacy of Kempff's communication." Rosette Recording Penguin Stereo Guide |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: String Quartets Nos 7-10 (The Middle Quartets) Takacs Quartet [ Decca Records / 2 CD Box Set - released 25/Aug/2002 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2002: Chamber - "The bold‚ disciplined and spirit-seeking Takács have the edge over the imaginative and warm-hearted Lindsays." |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Bolero / La Valse / Rapsodie Espagnole / Ma Mere l'Oye / Daphnis et Chloe Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 12/Jul/2000 ] "Anyone beginning a Ravel collection, or coming fresh to most of this repertoire and willing to duplicate, will find this Double Decca unbeatable value" A Rosette recording - Penguin Stereo Guide |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: The Final Piano Pieces Stephen Hough (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 31/Jan/2020 ] "'One of the finest accounts of Brahms's late piano works on record, one that stands head and shoulders above most contenders in an ever-growing catalogue." Gramophone Awards 2020 Short List - Instrumental |
J.S. BACH
Bach: Cantatas for solo bass (BWV 56, 82, 158) Peter Kooy (bass) La Chapelle Royale, Philippe Herreweghe [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 18/Nov/2022 ] These three cantatas for bass solo are based on episodes from the life of Christ (the healing of the lame man, the presentation in the temple, scenes from the Passion) with implications of the benevolence and consolation of death. |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Cantatas Vol 1: BWV7, 30, 167; BWV20, 39, 75 Joanne Lunn, Gillian Keith, Wilke te Brummelstroete, Paul Agnew. Monteverdi Choir. English Baroque Soloists. John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / 2 CD - released 10/Feb/2005 ] Cantatas For the Feast of St John the Baptist and the First Sunday after Trinity. "The first steps on this Bach pilgrimage lift the heart for the journey to come." Recording of the Month Gramophone Magazine (March 2005) WINNER BEST BAROQUE VOCAL... |
