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 1 to 20 of 192
ERIK SATIE
Satie: Gymnopedies and other piano works Aldo Ciccolini (piano) [ Warner Classics Original Jacket Reissues / EMI / CD - released 20/Apr/2015 ] "No more committed or convincing champion of this music could be found than Ciccolini, who equally well conveys, for example, the tenderness of the fifth Gnossienne, the pre-Poulenc pert humour and charm of the Morceaux en forme de poire and the... |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Piano Concertos nos.1 & 2 / Sonata for violin and piano op.134 Alexander Melnikov (piano) / Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Teodor Currentzis, with Isabelle Faust (violin) [ Harmonia Mundi / CD - released 20/Feb/2012 ] "He makes his case well. The First Concerto is all rampaging dissonances and erotic regret; the Second (1957) masks nerve-racking syncopations beneath its surface brilliance...[the sonata] a compelling performance in which logic and rhetoric combine... |
W. A. MOZART
Mozart: Violin Sonatas Vol 1 Alina Ibragimova (violin), Cédric Tiberghien (piano) [ Hyperion / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2016 ] "It is difficult to imagine [these sonatas] better played" (Five Stars BBC Music) |
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
Shostakovich: Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Alina Ibragimova (violin), State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia 'Evgeny Svetlanov', Vladimir Jurowski (conductor) [ Hyperion / CD - released 5/Jun/2020 ] GRAMOPHONE Award WINNER 2021 - Concerto BBC Music Award Nomination 2021 - Concerto |
JOHANNES BRAHMS / ANTONIN DVORAK / JOSEPH HAYDN
String Quartets: Brahms Nos.1-3 / Dvořák No.12 'American' / Haydn Op.76/3 'Emperor' Amadeus Quartet [ Alto / CD - released 17/Feb/2023 ] "I'm struck afresh by the power, precision and sheer puissance of their music-making … The Brahms quartet recordings remain 'outstanding'; affectionate but free of affection, considered yet vitally spontaneous" [Penguin Guide] |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Partitas BWV825-BWV830 Andras Schiff (piano) [ ECM Records / 2 CD - released 1/Apr/2009 ] MARBECKS STAFF PICK: CD OF THE YEAR 2009 MUSICWEB UK RECORDING OF THE MONTH "Schiff's…unashamedly and masterfully pianistic, contrasting sustained tone and light staccato teasing out fragmentary motifs." BBC Music |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 & 2 Andras Schiff (piano) [ ECM New Series / 4 CD Box Set - released 20/Sep/2012 ] GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST 2013: Instrumental |
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Pergolesi: Stabat Mater / Salve Regina in F Minor / Salve Regina in A Minor Andreas Scholl (counter-tenor) / Barbara Bonney (soprano) / Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset [ Decca Records / CD - released 8/Dec/2003 ] Here are two of the world's finest singers performing one of the most exquisite vocal duets ever written. |
J.S. BACH
Goldberg Variations Andras Schiff (piano) [ ECM Records / CD - released 5/Oct/2003 ] ""Great" is not a word to be used casually when it comes to CDs, but no other term does justice. Lucidity, elegance and strength are all here and exquisitely balanced. The definitive Goldberg? As far as I'm concerned, yes." Ann Picard, Independent... |
J. S. BACH
Bach, (J.S.): Italian Concerto, French Overture, etc Angela Hewitt (piano) [ Hyperion / CD - released 5/Feb/2001 ] 2001 GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST - Instrumental 'This enticing collection once again confirms Angela Hewitt's reputation for playing Bach on the piano' (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs) |
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Verdi: Aida (complete opera recorded in 2015) Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tézier, Erwin Schrott / Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano [ Warner Classics / 2 CD - released 2/Oct/2015 ] BBC Music Magazine Awards 2016 WINNER - RECORDING OF THE YEAR |
C.P.E. BACH
MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Bach (C.P.E.): Cello Concertos, Symphonies Anner Bylsma (cello) / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / Gustav Leonhardt [ Erato Veritas / 2 CD - released 5/Jul/2000 ] [Cello Concertos Wq.170-2] 'It is difficult to imagine a better partnership to provide authentic versions of these three fine works.' Penguin Guide |
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Volodos plays Brahms Arcadi Volodos (piano) [ Sony Classical / CD - released 20/May/2017 ] "Comparisons become irrelevant in interpretations of such mesmerising honesty. An award-winner if ever I heard one." Gramophone Award WINNER 2018 - Instrumental |
SERGEI RACHMANINOV
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 4 (with Ravel - Piano Concerto in G) Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (Piano) / Philharmonia Orchestra, Ettore Gracis [ Warner Classics Original Jacket Reissues / CD - released 20/Apr/2015 ] 1001 Classical recordings you must hear before you die (1901-1950) 50 GREATEST RECORDINGS OF ALL TIME (No 18) - BBC MUSIC |
J. S. BACH
Bach: Overtures (Four Orchestral Suites) Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki [ BIS SACD / 2 Hybrid SACD - released 1/Aug/2005 ] "These performances are magnificent, and offering two SACDs for the price of one makes them a good deal too. Suzuki does more than just play the music very well: he evokes its purpose, social milieu, and lavishness of content in such a way that... |
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 |
