Marbecks » 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 161 to 180 of 198

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add to cart $55.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks MESSIAEN Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus Steven Osborne (piano) [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 5/Oct/2002 ] 'Steven Osborn's performance is one of towering authority and technical achievement' - Editor's Choice (Gramophone Magazine) October 2002 'a performance of commanding virtuosity, deep poetry and ravishing colour' (Gramophone)
add to cart $110.00 Special Order 3 - 6 weeks STEVE REICH Phases - A Nonesuch Retrospective Steve Reich and Musicians / Kronos Quartet / Theatre of Voices / Pat Metheny [ Nonesuch / 5 CD Box Set - released 31/Oct/2006 ] Pioneer of US minimalism Steve Reich is 70 this year and to celebrate Nonesuch has released a bargain-priced 5 CD set of his greatest works including definitive recordings of "Music for 18 Musicians", "Different Trains" and "Drumming".
add to cart $30.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition (piano version) [with piano pieces by Prokofiev] Steven Osborne (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 1/Feb/2013 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER 2013: Instrumental
add to cart $30.00 Low Stock SERGEI RACHMANINOV Rachmaninov: Preludes Steven Osborne (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 20/May/2009 ] Gramophone Award Finalist 2009: Instrumental - 'Outstanding Rachmaninov playing of acute perception, discretion and poetic sensibility, limpid, powerful and luminous in equal measure' (BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Choice)
add to cart $30.00 In Stock GUSTAV MAHLER MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Mahler: Symphony No.8 Symphony of a Thousand / Adagio from Symphony No.10 Studer-Blasi-Jo-Meier-Nagai-Lewis-Allen-Sotin / The Southend Boys' Choir. Philharmonia Chorus. Philharmonia Orchestra. Giuseppe Sinopoli [ Double Deutsche Grammophon / 2 CD - released 28/Nov/2004 ] "Sinopoli conveys a warmth of expression that brings joyful exuberance to the great outburst of the opening. It builds into one of the most thrilling accounts ever, helped by a superb team of soloists and incandescent choral singing." Rosette Penguin
add to cart $37.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks Cesar FRANCK / Ernest CHAUSSON Franck/Chausson: Symphonies Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Marek Janowski [ Pentatone SACD / Hybrid SACD - released 13/Nov/2006 ] "Best of all is the way Janowski responds to the variety of harmonic tension in both works: the more chromatic a chord, the more space he tends to give it without ever obstructing the flow." (BBC Music Orchestral Choice Jan 2007)
add to cart $27.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks JOSEPH HAYDN Haydn: Die Schopfung (The Creation) Sunhae Im (soprano) Jan Kobow (tenor) Hanno Muller-Brachmann (bass-baritone) Christine Wehler (alto) / Cologne Vocal Ensemble / Spering [ Naxos / 2 CD - released 25/May/2005 ] "A brisk, well-sung performance of Haydn's late choral masterpiece" Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine (June 2005)
add to cart $32.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks GIUSEPPE VERDI Verdi: Requiem Mass / Operatic Choruses Susan Dunn, Diane Curry, Jerry Hadley, Paul Plishka / Robert Shaw Chorale. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra / Robert Shaw [ Telarc Classics / 2 CD Box Set - released 7/Mar/2004 ] "...the many felicities of the performance, not least the electricity of the choral singing and the consistency of the solo singing, add up to an exceptionally satisfying reading." Three Stars Penguin Stereo Guide
add to cart $35.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks HUMMEL Hummel: Mass, Op 111 in D / Mass Op 77 in B flat major Susan Gritton (soprano) / Collegium Musicum 90 / Richard Hickox [ Chandos / CD - released 1/Nov/2002 ] 2003 Gramophone Magazine Award Finalist - Recording of the month - Gramophone (Dec 2002)
add to cart $30.00 In Stock FRANCIS POULENC Poulenc: Gloria / Quatre motets / et Susan Gritton (soprano) / Polyphony / Britten Sinfonia / Stephen Layton [ Hyperion / CD - released 25/Mar/2008 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE AWARD FINALIST 2008 - Choral -
add to cart $90.00 Special Order 3 - 6 weeks GEORG FRIDERIC HANDEL Handel: Theodora (Complete Oratorio) Susan Gritton, Susan Bickley, Robin Blaze, Paul Agnew / Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh [ Archiv / 3 CD Box Set - released 14/Aug/2000 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1700-1760) - 2001 GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST - Baroque Vocal
add to cart $35.00 Out of Stock 2-6 weeks J.S. BACH Cantatas, Vol.27 (Nos 5, 80, 115) Susanne Ryden (soprano) Pascal Bertin (counter-tenor) Gerd Tark (tenor) Peter Kooij (bass) / Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki, director [ BIS / CD - released 1/Mar/2005 ] "If you've yet to sample the series, or are just collecting the highlights, this is definitely one to consider...this disc deserves to be the best selling of the cycle." (International Record Review June 2005)
add to cart $45.00 In Stock LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Beethoven: Early Quartets, Op.18 Takacs Quartet [ Decca Records / 2 CD - released 9/Mar/2004 ] 1001 Classical recordings to hear before you die (1761-1800) - "The Takács meet Beethoven the young Turk, bursting with ideas, and we are the better informed for listening in" - Editor's Choice Gramophone Magazine (April 2004)
add to cart $75.00 Low Stock LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Beethoven: Late Quartets Opus 95, 127, 130-133, 135 Takacs Quartet [ Decca Records / 3 CD Box Set - released 12/Dec/2004 ] "Excellent recordings too: sonorous, and with well-judged sense of four-voices-in-one. It doesn't feel all risky to say that this is probably the finest modern set of these great quartets." (BBC)
add to cart $30.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks FRANZ SCHUBERT Schubert: String Quartets Nos 13 'Rosamunde' & 14 "Death And The Maiden" Takacs Quartet [ Hyperion / CD - released 2/Oct/2006 ] "a sense of drama and tensile strength underlines everything, even a movement as luscious as the Andante of the Rosamunde Quartet..." Gramophone Editor's Choce Awards issue 2006
add to cart $45.00 Out of Stock 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."
add to cart $30.00 Low Stock DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Shostakovich: Piano Quintet / String Quartet No. 2 Takács Quartet, with Marc-André Hamelin (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 25/Apr/2015 ] "Right from the very first bar I felt that these were going to be fine performances of these two Shostakovich works. The first movement of Quartet No.2 is played with vigour and forward thrust." (Recording of the Month MusicWeb April 2015)
add to cart $30.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks JOHANNES BRAHMS Brahms: String Quartet / Piano Quintet Takacs Quartet with Stephen Hough (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 30/Nov/2007 ] 'The Takács Quartet bring a huge sense of enjoyment to both the Piano Quintet and the String Quartet Op 51 No 2, and it's clear that this chamber music is being revelled in by its players as much as its listeners. Stephen Hough's playing -...
add to cart $17.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks JOHN TAVENER Ikon of Light / Funeral Ikos / The Lamb / etc Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips, director [ Gimell / CD - released 10/May/2014 ] "Enjoying a close working relationship with Tavener at the time, The Tallis Scholars imbued these performances with a real sense of ownership and an innate feel for the graceful shaping of his chant-inspired lines" Gramophone Magazine Re-issue of the
add to cart $35.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks WILLIAM CORNYSH Stabat Mater / Salve Regina and other works Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips, director [ Gimell / CD - released 25/Apr/2002 ] Penguin Guide - Rosette Recording