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 21 to 40 of 231
ANTONIN DVORAK
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, From the New World / Symphonic Variations Op. 78 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra / Marin Alsop [ Naxos / CD - released 1/Jul/2008 ] "The Largo is given one of the most perfectly shaped and unaffectedly styraightforward performances I have heard, led by a magnificently vocal cor anglais solo." Disc of the Month (BBC Music Magazine July 2008) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Requiem KV 626 Barbara Bonney, Anne Sofie Von Otter, Willard White / Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque / Sir John Eliot Gardiner [ Philips / CD - released 12/Dec/2005 ] "John Elliot Gardiner with characteristic panache gives one of the most powerful performances on record" *** Three Stars. Penguin Stereo Guide. |
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) |
GUSTAV HOLST
Holst: The Planets / Egdon Heath BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Andrew Davis [ Warner Classics Apex / CD - released 1/Apr/2016 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) "An unmissable opportunity to test fresh musical waters....price, presentation and repertory selections, all are bang on target." Gramophone Magazine |
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 |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos 1 - 9 Anne Sofie von Otter, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Gilles Cachemaill / The Monteverdi Choir & Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner [ Deutsche Grammophone Archiv Collectors Edition / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/Jul/2010 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1801-1850) - "John Elliot Gardiner's Beethoven symphony cycle creates perhaps the most satisfying Beethoven style for our time: sleek but powerful, played and recorded with great polish, performed on... |
EDWARD GRIEG
Grieg: Holberg Suite / Two Elegiac Melodies / Two Lyric Pieces / etc Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Ole Kristian Ruud (conductor) [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Nov/2005 ] "This is simply the most beautiful record of Grieg's string music in the catalogue, and one of the most beautiful and realistic recordings of strings we have ever heard. Try and hear the disc on SACD equipment with four speakers, and you will be... |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake / Nutcracker / Sleeping Beauty (Ballet Suites) Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich. [ Deutsche Grammophon The Originals / CD - released 5/May/2001 ] 'Rostropovich's trypich of Tchaikovsky ballets is very special. The remastering, always outstanding. Now approaches demonstration standard. 69 minutes of sheer joy.' - Rosette (highest rating) Penguin Guide |
NINO ROTA
Rota: The Fellini Album Filarmonica della Scala, Riccardo Chailly [ Decca Records / CD - released 2/Aug/2019 ] Together with the Filarmonica della Scala, Riccardo Chailly explores the iconic film scores of Nino Rota in a new collection, The Fellini Album, on Decca. Released to mark 40 years since Rota's death in April 1979, the album contains music from... |
W.A. MOZART
Cosi fan tutte (Complete opera) Bernarda Fink (soprano) Veronique Gens (soprano) Werner Gura (tenor) Marcel Boone (baritone) / Concerto Koln / Rene Jacobs [ Harmonia Mundi Mozart Edition / 3 CD - released 1/Oct/2005 ] "The bite and clarity of the orchestral playing are revelatory...Once again, this greatest of operas amazes and beguiles. We scarcely need another recording...but this is one I would not willingly be without, especially because of the singers'... |
RICHARD WAGNER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (complete opera with libretto) Birgit Nilsson, Martti Talvela, Christa Ludwig, Wolfgang Windgassen / Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele 1966, Karl Bohm [ Dutsche Grammophon The Originals / 3 CD - released 28/Nov/2005 ] "Birgit Nilsson sings the Liebestod at the end of the long evening as though she was starting out afresh, radiant and with not a hint of tiredness, rising to an orgasmic climax and bringing a heavenly pianissimo on the final rising octave" Penguin |
RICHARD WAGNER
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen (complete operas) Birgit Nilsson, Regine Crespin, Kirsten Flagstad, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, George London / Vienna Philharmonic, Sir Georg Solti [ Decca Records / 17 CD Box Set - released 5/Aug/2015 ] Decca's landmark recording of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Sir Georg Solti is the most celebrated classical recording in history. |
BELA BARTOK
Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin (The) (Complete Ballet) / Hungarian Pictures / Dance Suite Bournemouth Symphony Chorus / Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra / Marin Alsop, conductor [ Naxos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 17/Apr/2005 ] "There's really no reason not to acquire this CD" International record review (June 2005) |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Horn Concertos Nos. 1 - 4 / Quintet for piano & winds Dennis Brain (horn) / Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble / Philharmonia Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan [ Warner Classics Masters / CD - released 13/Feb/2012 ] 'Truly an all-time classic. Timelessly neat and elegant orchestral playing under Karajan accompanies Dennis Brain's flawless and characterful horn playing.' ('The Gramophone' Good CD Guide, 2005) |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Missae Breves (Lutheran Masses) - BWV233, BWV234, BWV235 and BWV236 Cantus Colln / Konrad Junghanel [ Harmonia Mundi Gold / 2 CD - released 1/Mar/2018 ] "Konrad Junghänel brings finesse and clarity to the music, but there is also plenty of excitement… Cantus Cölln's unity of approach between voices and instruments is outstanding." BBC Music Magazine, October 2008 |
MOZART / ROSSINI / DONIZETTI
Cecilia & Bryn: Duets Cecilia Bartoli (soprano) Bryn Terfel (bass) / Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa [ Decca Records / CD - released 2/May/2001 ] The world's leading mezzo-soprano and the world's greatest baritone combine! |
HANDEL / ALLEGRI / RACHMANINOV / VIVALDI / BACH / etc
Choir of King's College Cambridge - 5 Classic Albums Choir of King's College, Cambridge / Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Cleobury, with Susan Gritton, Robin Blaze & Jonathan Lemalu [ Warner Classics 5 Classic Albums / 5 CD Box Set - released 1/May/2014 ] "King's College Choir sing with great style and virtuosity, and bridge the gap between authenticity and excitement in a way that makes this a fine recommendation for these imaginative works." Gramophone Magazine (Awards Issue 2001 Coronation Anthems |
VICTORIA
O magnum mysterium Choir of Westminster Cathedral / David Hill (conductor) [ Hyperion / CD - released 25/May/2005 ] GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE 'Superb music, and the listener is thrillingly involved when the sound so successfully combines immediacy and body, yet remains admirably coloured by the Westminster resonance' (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs) |
DURUFLE
Requiem / Quatre Motets / Messe cum Jubilo / etc Choir of Westminster Cathedral / James O'Donnell (conductor) with Aaron Webber (treble) and Simon Keenlyside (baritone) [ Hyperion / CD - released 25/May/2005 ] 'The Westminster Cathedral boys and men carry the lyricism and harmonic luxuriance to an ethereal plane. The choral singing is superb ... helping one to bathe in Duruflé's sumptuous ideas' (The Daily Telegraph) |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde Christa Ludwig, Fritz Wunderlich / Philharmonia & New Philharmonia, Otto Klemperer [ Warner Classics Original Jacket Reissues / CD - released 22/Aug/2015 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - "....not likely to be outshone for a long time" (Gramophone) |
