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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 221 to 225 of 225

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add to cart $115.00 Out of Stock LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas (rec 1964-65) [CD set plus Blu-ray audio] Wilhelm Kempff (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon CD + Blu-ray audio / 9 CD Box Set - released 10/Sep/2019 ] "These are all great perfornmances, and the remastered recordings have all been enhanced to an extraordinary degree to give an uncannily realistic piano-image, helped by the immediacy of Kempff's communication." Rosette Recording Penguin Stereo Guide
add to cart $25.00 Low Stock LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos 8 'Pathetique' No14 'Moonlight' No 21 'Waldstein' No 23 'Appassionata' Wilhelm Kempff (piano) [ Deutsche Grammophon The Originals / CD - released 5/Sep/2003 ] "Everything Kempff does has his individual stamp; above all, he never fails to convey the deep intensity of a matter in communication with Beethoven, as in teh magic of his measured reading of the finale of the Waldstein. The Appasoniata is...
add to cart $25.00 Out of Stock LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos 4 in G & 5 in E flat 'Emperor' Wilhelm Kempff (piano) Berliner Philharmoniker / Ferdinand Leitner [ Deutsche Grammophone The Originals / CD - released 5/Sep/2003 ] "The Kempff/Leitner performances bring another outstanding mid-priced recommendation. In the Forth Concerto Kempff's delicacy of fingerwork and his shading of tone-colour are unsurpassed." * * * Three Stars (Penguin Stereo Guide)
add to cart $35.00 Out of Stock 6+ weeks GEORGE GERSHWIN Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (Complete Opera) Willard White, Cynthia Haymon, Cynthia Clarey / Glyndebourne Chorus & London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle [ Warner Classics Home of Opera / 3 CD Box Set - released 20/Jan/2017 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE 100 GREATEST RECORDINGS OF ALL TIME "A performance that entranced audiences at Glyndebourne and which crosses over to CD virtually intact, revealing what a great dramatic world Gershwin conjured up." (Gramophone)
add to cart $40.00 Out of Stock 2-4 weeks ROBERT SCHUMANN Schumann: String Quartet No. 1 in a minor op. 41 No1 / String Quartet No. 3 in A Major op. 41 No3 Zehetmair Quartett [ ECM Records / CD - released 26/May/2003 ] GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE RECORDING OF THE YEAR 2003 - "Revelatory performances that plumb the soul of Schumann's wild and searching muse" (Gramophone Recording of the Month June 2003)