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 121 to 140 of 186

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Gloria and other sacred music cover
add to cart $30.00 Out of Stock
6+ weeks
JOHN RUTTER
Gloria and other sacred music
Polyphony / City of London Sinfonia / Stephen Layton
[ Hyperion / CD - released 10/Jun/2001 ]
Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Aug 2001)- 'Delicious performances of Rutter's wonderfully approachable and finely crafted vocal writing. The sound, too, is outstanding.
Violin Sonatas (Complete) cover
add to cart $37.00 Out of Stock
6+ weeks
J.S. BACH
Violin Sonatas (Complete)
Rachel Podger (violin) Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord)
[ Channel Classics / 2 CD - released 15/Jun/2001 ]
2001 GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST - Baroque Instrumental
Brahms: String Sextets Nos 1 & 2 cover
add to cart $30.00 Out of Stock
6+ weeks
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Brahms: String Sextets Nos 1 & 2
The Raphael Ensemble
[ Hyperion / CD - released 11/Nov/2000 ]
GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE - 'Their performances can take their place beside any of the great chamber music recordings of the past, and will continue to set standards for years to come' (Gramophone)
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Complete Opera recorded in 1967) cover
add to cart $20.00 Special Order
3 - 6 weeks
GIACOMO PUCCINI
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Complete Opera recorded in 1967)
Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Anna di Stasio, Rolando Panerai / Rome Opera, Sir John Barbirolli
[ Warner Classics The Home of Opera / 2 CD - released 25/Apr/2018 ]
'a performance that will remind you of the first time you fell in love with this opera' (Good CD Guide)
Strauss Heroines (Capriccio, Arabella, Der Rosenkavalier) cover
add to cart $27.00 Low Stock
Ravel: Sheherazade / Berlioz: Les Nuits d'ete / with a recital of French songs (rec 1963) cover
add to cart $25.00 Low Stock
MAURICE RAVEL / HECTOR BERLIOZ
Ravel: Sheherazade / Berlioz: Les Nuits d'ete / with a recital of French songs (rec 1963)
Regine Crespin (soprano) / Suisse Romande Orchestra / Ernest Ansermet
[ Decca Originals / CD - released 20/Aug/2006 ]
"Crespin is right inside these songs and ravel's magically sensuous music emerges with striking spontaneity. She is superbly supported by Ansermet who, aided by the Decca engineers, weaves a fine tonal web round the voice." (Penguin Guide Rosette)
Debussy: Pelleas and Melisande (Complete Opera recorded in 1978) cover
add to cart $35.00 Special Order
3 - 6 weeks
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Debussy: Pelleas and Melisande (Complete Opera recorded in 1978)
Richard Stilwell, Frederica von Stade, Josa van Dam. Berlin Philharmonic / Herbert von Karajan
[ Warner Classics Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Jan/2017 ]
1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) - "a very characteristically Karajan performance, deeply committed and full of beautiful things. The casting is excellent." (Gramophone)
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Complete Opera) cover
add to cart $30.00 Low Stock
GILBERT and SULLIVAN
Gilbert & Sullivan: The Mikado (Complete Opera)
Richard Suart, Donald Adams, Marie Mclaughlin, Anthony Rolfe Johnson / Welsh National Opera, Charles Mackerras
[ Telarc Records / CD - released 7/Jul/2000 ]
1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1851-1900) Rosette (highest rating) Penguin Stereo Guide
Piano Works Vol. 1 (Includes the Pathatique Sonata) cover
add to cart $35.00 Out of Stock
2-6 weeks
BEETHOVEN
Piano Works Vol. 1 (Includes the Pathatique Sonata)
Ronald Brautigam (fortepiano)
[ BIS / SACD - released 1/Sep/2004 ]
"The playing is riveting. Brautigam draws out the "Pathetique" sonata's first-movement introduction with plenty of rhetorical emphasis yet keeps the dotted rhythms in sharp focus...Whether in SACD surround-sound or conventional two-channel stereo...
Grieg: Peer Gynt / Symphonic Dance No.2 / In Autumn / etc. cover
add to cart $15.00 Special Order
3 - 6 weeks
EDVARD GREIG
Grieg: Peer Gynt / Symphonic Dance No.2 / In Autumn / etc.
Ilse Hollweg (soprano) / Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham
[ Warner Classics / CD - released 13/Feb/2012 ]
"Beecham showed a very special feeling for this score and to hear (these excerpts) under his baton is a uniquely rewarding experience. Ilse Hollweg makes an excellent soloist." Rosette - Penguin Stereo Guide
Korngold: Violin Concerto / String Sextet cover
add to cart $35.00 Low Stock
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD
Korngold: Violin Concerto / String Sextet
Andrew Haverson (violin) / RTE Concert Orchestra, John Wilson (conductor)
[ Chandos / CD - released 3/Apr/2020 ]
"[The Sextet] gets an absolutely cracking performance here from key members of Wilson's newly reformed Sinfonia of London led by Haveron" Gramophone Editor's Choice May 2020
Chanson d'Amour cover
add to cart $35.00 Low Stock
FAURÉ / POULENC / RAVEL / DEBUSSY
Chanson d'Amour
Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Alexandre Tharaud (piano)
[ Erato Classics / CD - released 11/Sep/2020 ]
GRAMOPHONE Award Nomination 2021 - Song BBC Music Award Nomination 2021 - Vocal
Beethoven: Fidelio (compete opera recorded in 1962) cover
add to cart $25.00 Special Order
3 - 6 weeks
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
Flute Concertos cover
add to cart $35.00 Out of Stock
6+ weeks
W.A. MOZART
Flute Concertos
Sharon Bezaly (flute) / Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas
[ BIS SACD / SACD - released 1/Feb/2008 ]
"I was immediately struck by the dynamic shading the conductor was extracting from the orchestra, each phrase sharply chiselled. A remarkable and fascinating achievement." (MusicWeb Oct 2005)
Masterworks for Flute and Piano cover
add to cart $35.00 Out of Stock
2-6 weeks
PROKOFIEV / SCHUBERT / DUTILLEUX / JOLIVET
Masterworks for Flute and Piano
Sharon Bezaly (flute) / Ronald Brautigam (piano)
[ BIS SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 1/Jan/2006 ]
"On the evidence of this sensational disc, it seems clear that Sharon Bezaly is a flutist virtually without peer in the world today. Here we have four genuine masterpieces that make a lovely program together, all really written for flute and piano,...
La Maga Abbandonata cover
add to cart $27.00 Out of Stock
HANDEL
La Maga Abbandonata
Simone Kermes / Maite Beaumont / Il Complesso Barocco / Alan Curtis
[ Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / Hybrid SACD - released 2/May/2007 ]
The two singers on this disc are outstanding. Simone Kermes, familiar to Handel lovers from Peter Neumann's impressive German recordings of Saul and Belshazzar, and who has recorded the title-role in Curtis's Deidamia, is a clean and focussed soprano...
La Diva: Arias for Cuzzoni cover
add to cart $32.00 Out of Stock
6+ weeks
HANDEL
La Diva: Arias for Cuzzoni
Simone Kermes (soprano) / Lautten Compagney / Wolfgang Katschner (conductor)
[ Berlin Classics / CD - released 1/Apr/2009 ]
This recording presents opera arias written for the brightest star soprano in Handel's London opera company, the Italian soprano Francesca Cuzzoni. These arias demonstrate the emotional and vocal range demanded by Handel's female characters,...
A la Gloire de Dieu cover
add to cart $32.00 Out of Stock
6+ weeks
IVES / TIPPETT / POULENC / BARBER / STRAVINSKY
A la Gloire de Dieu
The Sixteen / BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Harry Christophers
[ Coro / CD - released 14/Jul/2003 ]
BEST VERSION EVER OF THE "SYMPHONY OF PSALMS" "The Sixteen give a deeply committed and technically brilliant reading of this extremely difficult repertoire." - Gramophone.
Lutheran Masses Volume 1 cover
add to cart $32.00 Out of Stock
6+ weeks
J. S. BACH
Lutheran Masses Volume 1
The Sixteen Harry Christophers
[ Coro / CD - released 1/Nov/2013 ]
Following a series of concerts at London's newest music venue, Kings Place, Harry Christophers and The Sixteen recorded two new CDs of the Masses. Each volume also features a Cantata. The fact that The Sixteen has not performed or recorded such a...
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri cover
add to cart $35.00 Low Stock