Books suggesting best recordings

[JasonPalmer]

I remember reading this some time ago

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/matthew-rye/1001-classical-recordings-you-must-hear-before-you-die/9781844035793

Before I gave up and just decided to listen to radio 3 ....

[silvestrione]

I remember reading this some time ago

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/matthew-rye/1001-classical-recordings-you-must-hear-before-you-die/9781844035793

Before I gave up and just decided to listen to radio 3 ....

Yes I owned one for a while...
Much better, and useful as a reference, is Rob Cowan's Guinness Classical 1000. He's amazingly knowledgeable and has reliably good judgement, though one won't always agree, of course. Needs updating now though! No date on it, but must be 1990s, I suspect.

[Pulcinella]

If you're looking for 'best recordings' you could probably just as helpfully use the 'awards' filter option on the Presto site, see which award the recording was given, and read the review excerpts they have.
Even later editions of the stalwart Penguin Guide lost the plot, as it couldn't keep up with reissues let alone new ones.

[smittims]

I've always been careful to make up my own mind, which isn't much help to you, I'm afraid.

I've had experience of loving recordings hated by the critics: Rostropovitch 'Eugene Onegin', Stokowski's Khatchaturian 3rd, and, a special favourite of mine, the Amadeus with William Pleeth in the Schubert quintet. The Penguin Guide called it 'perfumed, mannered and superficial' Ha!

[Barbirollians]

I've always been careful to make up my own mind, which isn't much help to you, I'm afraid.

I've had experience of loving recordings hated by the critics: Rostropovitch 'Eugene Onegin', Stokowski's Khatchaturian 3rd, and, a special favourite of mine, the Amadeus with William Pleeth in the Schubert quintet. The Penguin Guide called it 'perfumed, mannered and superficial' Ha!

I don’t know the Rostropovich but the Khachaturian I cannot stick the organ solo terrible .

As for the Schubert quintet I did not know it until I went to university and borrowed a housemate’s recording on Classics for Pleasure with the Chilingirian and Jennifer Ward Clarke .

To stop me wearing it out she bought me a cassette for my birthday but couldn’t get the CFP so gave me the Amadeus / Pleeth instead …

I hated it ! I am with the Penguin Guide though I would add unsubtle and overwrought … how different ears can be !

So I went and found a copy of the Chilingirian and recently discovered a deleted CD of it and I still love its simplicity .

[smittims]

Chacun a son gout...

[jayne lee wilson]

We're long past the point where a single guide can do very much, though the Cowan is a decent recommend. As the little puppet implieded, Presto have weekly New Releases with critical comment...

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/5096--new-release-round-up-new-release-round-up-27th-january-2023

(The latest Haydn 2032 looks good...what a triumvirate - 31, 48, 59...doesn't get much better...)

Check out the Awards lists from round-the-world here...

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/awards/browse

....and Gramophone highlight their best-of recordings each month, though you may need a subscription to view that...
Both are pretty reliable sources.

[Pulcinella]

We're long past the point where a single guide can do very much, though the Cowan is a decent recommend. As the little puppet implieded, Presto have weekly New Releases with critical comment...

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/5096--new-release-round-up-new-release-round-up-27th-january-2023

(The latest Haydn 2032 looks good...what a triumvirate - 31, 48, 59...doesn't get much better...)

Check out the Awards lists from round-the-world here...

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/awards/browse

....and Gramophone highlight their best-of recordings each month, though you may need a subscription to view that...
Both are pretty reliable sources.

Jayne: Isn't Petrushka, also of this parish, really the little puppet, not Pulcinella?

[jayne lee wilson]

Jayne: Isn't Petrushka, also of this parish, really the little puppet, not Pulcinella?

Well, both, really...."a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry" is standard-descript for Pulcinella. The only staged performance I ever saw of such Commedia dell'arte things was a puppet show, too, so I tend to think of him that way....

But while on here, I may get them mixed up sometimes...

[Pulcinella]

Well, both, really...."a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry" is standard-descript for Pulcinella. The only staged performance I ever saw of such Commedia dell'arte things was a puppet show, too, so I tend to think of him that way....

But while on here, I may get them mixed up sometimes...

You're forgiven!
That sounds an interesting show.

Just trying to avoid the possibility of a comment being misattributed, with us both being fairly frequent posters, not that this one was remotely controversial, so I'm sure that Pet wouldn't mind were he to stumble on it and then wonder what on earth he was supposed to have said!

[Retune]

I think the Penguin Guides are still valuable. Yes, they are more than a decade out of date and the authors were struggling to keep up at the end. Yes, they are the personal opinions of reviewers you may not agree with (as is always the case). And yes, the final '1000 finest' volume is an unsatisfactory coda to the series (a pity it's the only one that made it to ebook format), while the previous couple of editions now sell for inflated prices. But you can pick up the 2008 Guide and earlier for the price of a secondhand CD, and you get the benefit of the collective experience of three very perceptive listeners with many decades of experience who have guided me to some wonderful recordings I might otherwise have missed. The Penguin Guide was never the sole authority on which records were worth listening to, but even today it can be a useful starting point.

[mikealdren]

I think the Penguin Guides are still valuable. Yes, they are more than a decade out of date and the authors were struggling to keep up at the end. Yes, they are the personal opinions of reviewers you may not agree with (as is always the case). And yes, the final '1000 finest' volume is an unsatisfactory coda to the series (a pity it's the only one that made it to ebook format), while the previous couple of editions now sell for inflated prices. But you can pick up the 2008 Guide and earlier for the price of a secondhand CD, and you get the benefit of the collective experience of three very perceptive listeners with many decades of experience who have guided me to some wonderful recordings I might otherwise have missed. The Penguin Guide was never the sole authority on which records were worth listening to, but even today it can be a useful starting point.

I have a complete set including yearbooks and supplements. Anyone interested?

[Petrushka]

You're forgiven!
That sounds an interesting show.

Just trying to avoid the possibility of a comment being misattributed, with us both being fairly frequent posters, not that this one was remotely controversial, so I'm sure that Pet wouldn't mind were he to stumble on it and then wonder what on earth he was supposed to have said!

I did, for half a second, realised who was meant, then went back to sleep again!

[hmvman]

The Penguin Guide was my bible for many, many years, although I realise it got overwhelmed with the number of releases. I was always satisfied with a Penguin recommendation whereas I found Gramophone and Building a Library ones less reliable. All personal taste of course!