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 61 to 80 of 174
GUSTAV MAHLER
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mahler: Kindertotenlieder / Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen / etc Janet Baker (mezzo) / Halle & New Philharmonia Orchestras / Sir John Barbirolli [ EMI Great Recordings of the Century / CD - released 27/Aug/1999 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - "The spontaneous feeling of soloist and conductor of this music comes over as in a live performance and brings out the tenderness to a unique degree. An indispensable CD." Penguin |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: Jeux de Miroirs Javier Perianes (piano) / Orchestre de Paris, Josep Pons [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 29/Nov/2019 ] "I loved this disc. The music is wonderful; within this programme we experience Ravel as poet, sophisticate, wit and, always, as the master craftsman." MusicWeb Recommended Feb 2020 |
OLIVER MESSIAEN
Messiaen: Turangalila-symphonie Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano) / Takashi Harada (ondes martenot) / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly [ Decca 20C / CD - released 20/Mar/2013 ] "Chailly gets jiggy with it, in a performance that's interested in the carnal desire underpinning Messiaen's piece. It may be over the top for some tastes, but the orchestral playing is unbelievably powerful and hardcore. Vividly recorded, too."... |
GUSTAV MAHLER
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E flat major 'Symphony of the Thousand' (recorded live in 1991) Júlia Várady, Jane Eaglen, Trudeliese Schmidt, Jadwiga Rappé, Kenneth Riegel, Hans Sotin / London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt [ LPO Live / 2 CD - released 22/Jun/2011 ] "...Tennstedt is overwhelming. Try topping the orchestral peroration, offstage trumpets stretching the "Veni, Creator Spiritus" motif from the interval of a fifth beyond the octave to a heaven-storming ninth." Gramophone Top Ten Mahler Symphonies |
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... |
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS / HERBERT HOWELLS / FREDERICK DELIUS / SIR EDWARD ELGAR
Music for Strings John Wilson, Sinfonia Of London [ Chandos SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 3/Feb/2023 ] "I expect it has been said before, but the Sinfonia of London belongs in the Formula 1 class of orchestras, and in this repertoire sits in pole position." Gramophone Award Finalist 2023 - Orchestral |
GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL
Handel: Agrippina (complete opera) Joyce DiDonato, Elsa Benoit, Biagio Pizzuti, Franco Fagioli, Andrea Mastroni, Jakub Józef Orliński / l Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev [ Erato Classics / 3 CD - released 31/Jan/2020 ] "With DiDonato nonpareil in the title-role and a uniformly strong cast, this now becomes a first choice for Handel's Venetian masterpiece." Gramophone Awards 2020 WINNER - Opera |
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 |
SAMUEL BARBER
Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op 24 / Toccata Festiva, Op 24 Karina Gauvin (soprano) Thomas Trotter (organ) / Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Marin Alsop [ Naxos American Classics / CD - released 20/May/2004 ] "A Knoxville performance to treasure as this essential Barber series reaches a new high point" Gramophone Magazine Recording of the Month (June 2004) |
BEETHOVEN
Piano Trios Op.1 No.3 & B flat major 'Archduke' Kempf Trio [ BIS / SACD - released 1/Jul/2004 ] "...make room for pianist Freddy Kempf and his cohorts, whose individual and collective agility dazzles the ear and serves the composer well...Certainly this release bodes well for a complete Beethoven cycle from the Kempf trio, and represents its... |
PYOTR Il'yich TCHAIKOVSKY
Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Complete ballet on one CD) The Kirov Orchestra, Valery Gergiev [ Philips / CD - released 15/Apr/2003 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1851-1900) - "Philips has somehow crammed more than 81 minutes of superb sound onto this disc, making it a remarkable bargain. Very highly recommended!" |
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) |
FRANZ LISZT
Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2 / Totentanz Krystian Zimerman (piano) / Boston Symphony Orchestra / Seiji Ozawa [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 2/Jan/2002 ] Rosette (Highest Rating) Penguin Stereo Guide |
MAURICE RAVEL
Ravel: The Piano Concertos / Valses nobles et sentimentales (orchestral version) Krystian Zimerman (piano) Cleveland Orchestra / London Symphony / Pierre Boulez [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 20/Jul/2001 ] 1999 Gramophone Award Winner: Concerto - A Penguin Stereo Guide Rosette recording |
MAX BRUCH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bruch: Violin Concerto / Scottish Fantasy Kyung-Wha Chung (violin) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe [ Decca Virtuoso / CD - released 27/Oct/2011 ] "Kyung-Wha Chung has a bold attack which springs from absolute security of intonation...the sound of the lyrical passages especially is consistently bright and rich, tonally integrated from top to bottom and of a really big expressive range" Gramopho |
JEAN SIBELIUS
Sibelius: Rondo of the Waves (Incls 'The Oceanides, Op.73') Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vanska [ BIS / CD - released 1/Mar/2003 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2003 - Orchestral |
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica' / Coriolan Overture, Op. 62 Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall [ Alia Vox SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 25/May/2016 ] "the end-result has been amongst the most impressive demonstrations of believable surround-sound I have heard." Recording of the Month MusicWeb (May 2016) |
EDWARD GRIEG
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Grieg: Lyric Pieces Leif Ove Andsnes (piano) [ EMI / Warner Classics / CD - released 3/Mar/2002 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2002 - Instrumental |
SIBELIUS
Kullervo Symphony Op 7 Lilli Paasikivi (mezzo-soprano) Raimo Laukka (baritone) / Lahti Symphony / Osmo Vanska. [ BIS / CD - released 1/Feb/2001 ] 2001 GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST - Choral |
PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOSVKY / JEAN SIBELIUS
Tchaikovsky & Sibelius: Violin Concertos Lisa Batiashvili (violin) / Staatskapelle Dresden, Daniel Barenboim [ Deutsche Grammophon / CD - released 15/Aug/2017 ] "Every familiar phrase somehow manages to sound both authoritative and newly discovered...a delight from start to finish." Gramophone Magazine Disc of the Month - January 2017 |
