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Your Desert Island Discs

482K views 275 replies 147 participants last post by  Neo Romanza 
#1 · (Edited)
When you saw the title of this thread, the first thing you probably thought was... are you serious? What are you smoking?

Well, nothing really. The superlatives have been worn out: the best, definitive, beautiful, legendary and most of all... the term 'desert island'.

What I have in mind is something a little different. This is not a subjective, "my desert island discs are better than yours" kind of thread. This is merely the thread to share some of your favorite recordings in order to help others expand their collections. They could be rare, they could be cheap, they could be out of print. They could even be Kleiber's Beethoven 5th. It could be anything, as you feel that it is worthy of sharing. If you feel that it is not, then please refrain. If you are just making a list of well-reputed recordings that really mean nothing to you personally, please refrain as well.

So... there's the common argument that we should never take other people's opinions seriously. Really? One of the main reasons I visit music forums is to help guide what I collect. More than half of the CDs I buy are forum-inspired and the majority of the rest is forum-confirmed. The bottom line is, you don't have to take any other opinions besides your own with more than a grain of salt, but you can, and this thread at least makes this resource available to you.

One person may like something that someone else may despise. We've covered this many times. And as far as this thread is concerned, criticizing the tastes of others is not appreciated. However, feel free to commend others for their choices.

A couple guidelines:

1) Don't think of it as a 'Top 10 of all time' thing.
2) Any recording, CD, box set, DVD, SACD, LP, etc. will work.
3) Try to limit your number of choices per post. It is hard to take someone's list seriously if they put down every mildly good recording they've ever heard.

It's your opinion, so enlighten us with your choices!
 
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#62 ·
When you saw the title of this thread, the first thing you probably thought was... are you serious? What are you smoking?

Well, nothing really. The superlatives have been worn out: the best, definitive, beautiful, legendary and most of all... the term 'desert island'.

What I have in mind is something a little different. This is not a subjective, my desert island discs are better than yours kind of thread. This is merely the thread to share some of your favorite recordings in order to help others expand their collections. They could be rare, they could be cheap, they could be out of print. They could even be Kleiber's Beethoven 5th. It could be anything, as long as this is a recording that you feel is worthy of sharing. If you feel it is not, then please refrain. If you are just making a list of well-reputed recordings that really mean nothing to you personally, please refrain as well.

So... there's the common argument that we should never take other people's opinions seriously. Really? One of the main reasons I visit music forums is to help guide what I collect. More than half of the CDs I buy are forum-inspired and the majority of the rest is forum-confirmed. The bottom line is, you don't have to take any other opinions besides your own with more than a grain of salt, but you can, and this thread at least makes this resource available to you.

One person may like something that someone else may despise. We've covered this many times. And as far as this thread is concerned, criticizing the tastes of others is not appreciated. However, feel free to commend others for their choices.

A couple guidelines:

1) Don't think of it as a 'Top 10 of all time' thing.
2) Any recording, CD, box set, DVD, SACD, LP, etc. will work.
3) Try to limit your number of choices per post. It is hard to take someone's list seriously if they put down every mildly good recording they've ever heard.

4) It's your opinion, so enlighten us with your choices!

[I will be back later with recordings.]





(notwithstanding its faults)




This contains my favourite piece of orchestral vocal music: The Origin of Fire (Tulen synty). The other selections on this disc are very enjoyable as well. If the budget and desire permits, I'd recommend getting BIS' box set of Sibelius' vocal music which contains the same recordings and more. Yet that might be excessive for the purposes of sharing with someone who would be new to Sibelius)


Stolz's recordings of the Strauss family are something else - even finer than Boskovsky's to my ears.
 
#66 ·


I really cannot find a bigger image of that: Mirabile Mysterium: Sacred Music of Rudolfine Prague

Duodena Cantitans, Capella Rudolphina, Petr Danek

Supraphon 1996

If anyone here has any sway at Suprphon, get them to re-release this ASAP!
 
#69 ·
I was listening to Chopin's Nocturnes last night and had a book out reading about them at the same time. I did not know that Chopin got his idea for calling them "nocturnes' from an Irish piano composer, John Field, who used the title to describe his dreamy and romantic compositions. Now Chopin is well-known. How many knew about John Field?
 
#74 ·
I haven't heard as many of Mitropoulos' records, but I can't imagine him not being on my desert island list at some point. He blows most other conductors I've ever heard out of the water.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has within a few days become pretty much my favorite pianist, and I haven't heard many of his records yet either, but he'll certainly be on my desert island list also... I'll have a better idea of my list toward the end of this semester.
 
#77 ·
The desert isle is equipped with the finest audio and visual technology.

The only unfortunate thing is the lack of storage space.

Funny thing - the next generation will never understand this stuff. They'll have it all on their I-thing and to them the desert island will just be a beach.
 
#80 ·
I have it! It took me a long time to think what I want on my desert isle. Then, I heard it again this morning. This isn't a CD but one particular piece. I want a recording of Annette Bryn Parri playing Richard S. Hughes's "Y Dymestl". I have it with Bryn Terfel singing it but it is that piano that I want to hear.

Annette Bryn Parri rates among the best of piano players in my opinion. She makes that piano come alive and the storm rage. I know nothing more about her other than her total success with "Y Dymestl". Maybe she wasn't a professional player. I do not know. But, she could have been. If she has ever recorded anything else, I have not been able to find it - and I have tried. She deserves more renown than she gets.

Some of you know. "Y Dymestl" is Welsh for "The Tempest" or "The Storm". Richard Samuel Hughes, the composer was considered one of the greatest composers in Wales. Truthfully, I do not know how many classical composers have been Welsh but I can promise that "Y Dymestl" is well worth hearing.

So, there is my choice. I'll not be greedy and ask for a full library. Just Annette playing "Y Dymestl". :tiphat:
 
#81 ·
Well, living actually on an island ;) ... I'm wondering how much music could be stowed away on an Ipod (lossless quality of course). In my car I have all Prokofiev operas under Valery Gergiev on one CD: 'Semyon Kotko' is my favourite. And Prokofiev's 'Betrothal in a monastery' with Alexander Lazarev as conductor a close 2nd. Such music full of :D :( :eek: :eek: makes one feel reconciled & :cool: with waiting in any queue.
 
#83 ·
I would like to list one recording each from each of my favorite composers:

Monteverdi - L'orfeo (Concerto Italiano - Rinaldo Alessandrini)

Haydn - Symphony No. 96 (Szell - Cleveland Orchestra)

Schumann - Overture to "Genoveva" (Kubelik - Berlin Philharmonic)
(might swap this with Overture to "Manfred" - Munch BSO
or Piano Sonata #2 - Claudio Arrau)

Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 (Curzon/Szell)

Elgar - Enigma Variations (Barbirolli - Philharmonia Orchestra)

Vaughan Williams - Symphony No.2 (Barbarolli - Halle Orchestra)

Nielsen - Symphony No. 3 (Bernstein - NYP)

Barber - First Essay for Orchestra (Measham - LSO)


and three works from other composers:

Mozart - Symphony No. 39 (Szell/Cleveland Orchestra)

Novak - Lady Godiva (Pesek/BBC Philharmonic)

Harbison - Symphony No 1 (Ozawa/BSO)

I can't believe how many of these selections are my old vinyl records. Seems the past dies harder for me than I would have thought.
 
#84 ·
I would like to list one recording each from each of my favorite composers:

Monteverdi - L'orfeo (Concerto Italiano - Rinaldo Alessandrini)

Haydn - Symphony No. 96 (Szell - Cleveland Orchestra)

Schumann - Overture to "Genoveva" (Kubelik - Berlin Philharmonic)
(might swap this with Overture to "Manfred" - Munch BSO
or Piano Sonata #2 - Claudio Arrau)

Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 1 (Curzon/Szell)

Elgar - Enigma Variations (Barbirolli - Philharmonia Orchestra)

Vaughan Williams - Symphony No.2 (Barbarolli - Halle Orchestra)

Nielsen - Symphony No. 3 (Bernstein - NYP)

Barber - First Essay for Orchestra (Measham - LSO)

and three works from other composers:

Mozart - Symphony No. 39 (Szell/Cleveland Orchestra)

Novak - Lady Godiva (Pesek/BBC Philharmonic)

Harbison - Symphony No 1 (Ozawa/BSO)

I can't believe how many of these selections are my old vinyl records. Seems the past dies harder for me than I would have thought.
Hold on to those vinyls! I am so glad I did. I've given away a few but all my favourites are still being enjoyed.

Yesterday, after reading an tidbit in BBC Music, I was thinking of this thread and wondering what a thread about music that one would not take with him to a desert isle would look like. That would get a whole different crop.

I hope you all are keeping as cool as possible in this blast furnace of summer.
 
#88 ·
I would nominate:

Bruckner 9 by Bruno Walter - never fails to move me and is 1 of two recordings I put on when I come home fried
Bach - Solo Cello Suites - my current favorite is Bailey on Telarc, but Isserlis and Truls Mork are never really out of the mix either.
Then Bach Organ to cleanse my soul - current favorite is a 4 disk set by Antony Newman (24 Preludes & Fugues) - after about an hour under the headphones with any of these I'm fit company again.
 
#90 · (Edited)
Isabelle Faust playing Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo Violin
Celibidache conducting Brahms' German Requiem
Quatuor Ebene playing Faure, Debussy and Ravel's String Quartets
Zubin Mehta conducting Turandot with Sutherland and Pavarotti
Chet Baker's "Something I'm Singing"
Boulez conducting Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe
Rattle conducting Stravinsky's Rite of Spring
Celibidache conducting Beethoven's Eroica
and Jascha Horenstein conducting Mahler's 4th
 
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