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 41 to 60 of 198
GABRIEL FAURE
Faure: The Piano Quintets Domus [ Hyperion / CD - released 19/Sep/2003 ] PENGUIN GUIDE ROSETTE GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER |
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: 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 |
BIZET / FALLA / BERNSTEIN / RAVEL / LEHAR / etc
Elina Garanca: Habanera Elina Garanca (mezzo) with Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Coro Filarmonico del Regio di Torino, Karel Mark Chichon [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 30/Aug/2010 ] "Garanča's voice has been described as "creamy", "silken" and "lustrous" but it also has a surprisingly rounded maturity. What sets her apart, however, is the unteachable ability to send shivers down the spine." Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine,... |
HEUBERGER / LEHAR / MILLOCKER / SIECZYNSKI / SUPPE / etc
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Operetta Arias Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano) / Philharmonia Orchestra / Otto Ackermann [ EMI Great Recordings of the Century / CD - released 24/Jun/1999 ] Rosette (Highest Rating) - Penguin Stereo Guide |
LAWES / BLOW / WILSON / CAMPION / ECCLES / etc
Classical Kirkby - Orpheus and Corinna Emma Kirkby (soprano) Anthony Rooley (theorbo-lute) [ BIS / CD - released 1/Sep/2002 ] "These are delightful songs, superbly sung with delicate, tactful accompaniments played on the theorbo-lute by Anthony Rooley" Rod Bliss (Sunday Times) |
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 |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Sacred Cantatas Emma Kirkby (soprano) / London Baroque. Medlam [ BIS / CD - released 1/Oct/2013 ] Rosette (highest rating) Penguin Stereo Guide |
ALFRED SCHNITTKE / ARVO PART
Schnittke / Pärt: Choral Works Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Kaspars Putniņš [ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 15/Dec/2017 ] "This work has been waiting for choirs able to do this, because the technical challenges are not the most important thing about this music" Gramophone Award WINNER 2018 - Choral |
FRANZ SCHMIDT
Schmidt - Complete Symphonies Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Järvi [ Deutsche Grammophon / 3 CD - released 5/Feb/2021 ] GRAMOPHONE Award WINNER 2021 - Orchestral BBC Music Magazine Award Finalist 2021 - Orchestral |
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 |
BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Britten: War Requiem (plus Rehearsal sequences bonus) (Rec 1963) Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano) Peter Pears (tenor) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) / London Symphony & chorus, Benjamin Britten, with Simon Preston [ Decca Originals / 2 CD - released 12/Mar/2006 ] 1001 Classical Recordings you must hear before you die (1951 - present). "This superb recording, definitive in so many ways, speaks to us as powerfully today as it ever did" (MusicWeb Bargain of the Month Sept 2006) |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: Symphonies (complete) / Overtures / Hungarian Dances / etc Gewandhausorchester, Riccardo Chailly [ Decca / 3 CD Box Set - released 1/Nov/2013 ] BBC Music Magazine Awards 2014 Orchestral WINNER / GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD WINNER 2014 - Orchestral |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin BWV1001-1006 Gidon Kremer (violin) [ ECM Records / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2009 ] Gidon Kremer's second complete recording (made in 2001 and 2002) of the six sonatas and partitas for solo violin is a radically new interpretation of them, not only at the level of technical and musical detail but in terms of the expressive qualities... |
BARTOK / BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS / BUSONI / JANACEK / MESSIAEN / PROKOFIEV / etc
Violin Sonatas Gidon Kremer (violin) with Martha Argerich, Valery Afanassiev and Oleg Maisenberg [ DG Collector's Edition / 8 CD - released 9/Oct/2003 ] The present set includes the complete Beethoven and Brahms Sonatas, as well as the two well-known Schumann Sonatas, plus Sonatas by Richard Strauss, Busoni, Bartok, Janacek, Prokofiev, and Messiaen's Theme and Variations - restoring many recordings... |
CARL ORFF
Orff: Carmina Burana Gundula Janowitz, Gerhard Stolze, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Berlin Opera, Eugen Jochum [ Deutsche Grammophon Originals / CD - released 1/Jan/2001 ] "Jochum's 1968 recording of Carmina Burana has never sounded better than it does in this reissue in DG's 'Originals' series. The recording has a wide dynamic range and when the music blazes it has real spedour and excitement." (Penguin Stereo Guide) |
W. A. MOZART
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527 (Complete opera) Hakan Hagegard, Gilles Cachemaille, Arleen Auger, Della Jones / Drottningholm Court Theatre, Arnold Ostman [ Double Decca / 2 CD - released 1/Aug/2007 ] "Even those who have never been to Drottningholm and experienced Arnold Ostman's Mozart in the flesh will know exactly what it is that makes his recorded performances live." (Gramophone) |
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 1 'A Sea Symphony' Katherine Broderick (soprano) Roderick Williams (baritone) / Halle Choir, Youth Choir & Orchestra, Sir Mark Elder [ Halle / CD - released 6/Nov/2015 ] "The superbly honed choral and orchestral contribution surely testifies to many hours of painstaking preparation." (Gramophone Award Nomination 2016 - Orchestral) |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Mass in B minor Hannah Morrison (sop) Meg Bragle (alto) Esther Brazil (mezzo) Peter Davoren (ten) Alex Ashworth (bass) / English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner [ Soli Deo Gloria / 2 CD - released 22/Dec/2015 ] "Thirty years since his pioneering first version, Gardiner returns to re-record the mighty Mass in B minor; the impressive result draws on all his great knowledge and experience of Bach's music." Gramophone Award Nomination 2016 - Baroque Vocal |
RAVEL
Miroirs (with Schumann-Kreisleriana) Herbert Schuch (piano) [ Oehms / CD - released 1/Jun/2006 ] "Herbert Schuch is a 27 year old Romanian whose recording debut is of an intimidating mastery and stylistic assurance." Editor's Choice Gramophone June 2006 |
