Your top ten Decca CDs for your personal Decca box

[Dave2002]

I played one of the handbells when I was little, and much more recently played the organ part (as you say, those scrunchy chords are a great moment).

And no, I can't think offhand of a major living composer who is writing works on that scale (let alone on that level of inspiration) specifically intended to involve children. But I hope someone will prove me wrong on that.

I enjoyed a production of Noyes Fludde given in Härnösand about a decade ago. It was good to see/hear it done outside the UK. I can't for the life of me remember whether it was in English or Swedish. How often is it performed - anywhere?

[VodkaDilc]

Singing the part of Ham in our 1963 school performances remains one of the most precious moments of my life. It took us over a year to prepare for the 4 performances, but it was worth every second.

As a mere squirrel, I am very impressed! My performance must have been in July 1961.

[Richard Tarleton]

Has anyone mentioned Joan Sutherland yet? Her entire discography on Decca - for starters
Art of the Prima Donna (2 discs)
Age of Bel Canto
Lucia di Lammermoor (x 2!)
Norma (with Horne)
I Puritani
La Fille du Regiment.....

Andrew played a selection from a new Sutherland collection the other day some of which one could do without but some pretty important stuff here. My top 10 would also include Solti Figaro (see OP), Solti Ring, several Janacek/Mackerras, Britten various (the Serenade - Pears/Tuckwell version - for starters), Violin concerto/Lubotsky, Folk Songs/Pears.......

Difficult to narrow it down to 10.

[Mahlerei]

1. Stravinsky: Firebird (Dutoit/OSM)
2. Messiaen: La Nativité/Transfiguration (Preston/Dorati etc)
3. Mahler 2 (Mehta WP)
4. Britten: War Requiem (Britten)
5. Shostakovich 5 (Ashkenazy/RPO)
6. Donizetti: Lucia (Sutherland/Bonynge)
7. Hindemith: Mathis etc (Blomstedt/SFSO)
8. Liszt: Piano Works (Bolet)
9. Janáček: Taras Bulba etc (Mackerras/WP)
10. Chabrier: Ansermet/OSR. A reminder of a fine conductor and of Decca's technical achievements in the 1950s/60s

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There's quite a bit of ad libitum interpretation of the rubric here, surely? The whole Ring Cycle, plus the Janacek and Mozart operas? On10 CDs ...

Too many good recordings to narrow down to 10 discs, so, following the splendid example set by Richard Tarleton (#18) I'd choose all the Kathleen Ferrier recordings (the 7 disc compilation plus Das Lied, the Resurrection with Klemperer and the "Live" Kindertotenlieder.

Mind you, if the "Headline" recording of Transit ever got onto a CD release, I'd have to lie to the Customs Officer!

[rauschwerk]

10? Impossible. Here's the list (which I reckon would fit on 10 CDs) I made from my own collection without pausing to think:-

Bach: Goldbergs (Schiff)
Barabara Bonney: Fairest Isle (Dowland, Campion, Morley, Byrd, Purcell) - she makes It was a lover and his lass sound sexy, not just jaunty;
Brahms: Choral Works (Blomstedt): wonderful performances of some neglected masterpieces;
Britten: Ceremony, Rejoice in the Lamb, Missa Brevis (St John's/Guest) - have loved this since I first heard it on LP;
Britten: Spring Symphony (composer conducting);
Falla ballets (Dutoit);
Gerhard astrological pieces (never going to appear on CD it would seem);
Holst: Planets (Dutoit) - as soon as I heard it I knew I should never buy another version;
Mozart: Piano Quartets (Previn/Musikverein Quartet) - as nearly definitive as Mozart performances could ever be;
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances/Isle of the Dead (Ashkenazy) - what a conductor!
John Ward: Madrigals and Fantasias (Consort of Musicke/Rooley) - probably the only recording of this masterly collection that will ever be made.

[Barbirollians]

Beethoven : Eroica - VPO/Kleiber
Berlioz/Ravel Les Nuits D'Ete and Sheherazade - Regine Crespin
Britten: Cello Symphony- Rostropovich /Britten
Elgar : Enigma Variations - Monteux
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde - Ferrier/Patzak/VPO /Walter
Mozart: Piano Quartets - Curzon/Amadeus- sorry these are the definitive performances !
Puccini: La Boheme- Freni/Pavarotti/Karajan
Strauss : Four Last Songs - della Casa/Bohm
Strauss : Der Rosenkavalier - Solti
Walton/Stravinsky Violin Concertos - Chung/LSO /Previn

[remdataram]

Holst: The Planets - Montreal, Dutoit
Dvorak: Symphony No.9 - VPO Kondrashin
An Italian Songbook - Cecilia Bartoli
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos - Ashkenazy, LSO, Previn
Sibelius/Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos - Chung, LSO, Previn
Mahler: Symphony No.1 - LSO, Solti
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas - Perlman, Ashkenazy
Liszt: Piano Works - Bolet
Puccini: La Boheme - Freni, Pavarotti, Karajan
Donizetti: Lucia - Sutherland, Pavarotti, Bonynge

another 10 would be easy!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Wasn't Decca a great company?

[Colonel Danby]

Yes! I certainly think Williamson's badly under-rated and I wish it weren't so. Talking about MW's operas with children gets us neatly back on topic too - you'll remember the excellent Argo/Decca releases of Julius Ceasar Jones and The Happy Prince (I saw a beautiful production of that at City of London Girls' School in about 1980). I don't think either of them has ever made it to CD and it would be great if they did.

I've got 'The Happy Prince' which I snapped up second hand, but I'm sure it has never made it on to CD, which is a shame as it is lovely stuff. There are reissues of Williamson's orchestral and piano music now available on Lyrita CDs, but I've yet to get around to purchasing them. I do have the choral music on Naxos which is wonderful, and oh yes, I was at the Proms for a world premier of a setting of Iris Murdoch's poem, with Alison Hagley: the composer and novelist turned up on the platform, but it was so sad, Iris didn't have a clue where she was, as she was well in the way to dementia.

[Dave2002]

There's quite a bit of ad libitum interpretation of the rubric here, surely? The whole Ring Cycle, plus the Janacek and Mozart operas? On10 CDs ...

Too many good recordings to narrow down to 10 discs, so, following the splendid example set by Richard Tarleton (#18) I'd choose all the Kathleen Ferrier recordings (the 7 disc compilation plus Das Lied, the Resurrection with Klemperer and the "Live" Kindertotenlieder.

Mind you, if the "Headline" recording of Transit ever got onto a CD release, I'd have to lie to the Customs Officer!

FHG
At first I wondered if I'd got this wrong - the Klemperer Mahler 2 I know is on EMI (now Decca of course ...) - but then I found this one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mahler-Symph...1390474&sr=1-1

Is this the same as the recording which can be downloaded from CMM for 1 Euro? Maybe not - as perhaps the dates don't quite match - http://www.classicalmusicmobile.com/...klemperer.html - from 1951.

[Barbirollians]

FHG
At first I wondered if I'd got this wrong - the Klemperer Mahler 2 I know is on EMI (now Decca of course ...) - but then I found this one - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mahler-Symph...1390474&sr=1-1

Is this the same as the recording which can be downloaded from CMM for 1 Euro? Maybe not - as perhaps the dates don't quite match - http://www.classicalmusicmobile.com/...klemperer.html - from 1951.

Yes the Hollan Festival performance . I don't think she performed it twice but she might have done . Ferrier was not too fond of Klemperer but her singing in the Urlicht is marvellous .

[mathias broucek]

1. Mahler 8th, Solti
2. Wagner, Walkure, Solti
3. Mozart Piano Concertos 23 & 27, Curzon/VPO/Szell
4. Beethoven, 3rd Symphony - E Klieber/VPO
5. Schubert, 9th Symphony - E Klieber/Cologne RSO (was Amadeo)
6. Ravel, Daphnis and Chloe, Dutoit
7. Beethoven, String Quartet Op 74, Takacs Quartet
8. Brahms, Piano Concerto 1, Curzon, Szell
9. Haydn Late Masses, Willcocks, Guest
10. Brahms Solo Piano Works, Lupu

Of course these days Decca (sadly) includes Brendel, Haitink, Davis and other Philips greats

I LOVE Noy'es Fludde, so many lovely moments. However the Decca version is terrible - standards have improved. Wilks on Somm (featuring Mrs Broucek) is far better

[aeolium]

1. Haydn Quartets op 77 (Takacs)
2. Mozart Cosí fan Tutte (Böhm/VPO)
3. Mozart Piano Concertos 23 & 24 (Curzon/Kertesz/LSO)
4. Beethoven Eroica (E Kleiber/VPO)
5. Schubert Piano Sonatas D845 & D894 (Lupu)
6. Schubert Arpeggione Sonata (Rostropovitch/Britten)
7. Schumann Humoreske/Kinderszenen/Kreisleriana (Lupu)
8. Dvorak Piano Quintet in A (Curzon/Vienna Philharmonic Quartet)
9. Bartok Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Kertesz/LSO)

And lastly, as there must be some Handel, a strange but wonderful compilation of Handel arias and choruses called Handel:Gold with all sorts of singers from Ferrier, Wunderlich, Sutherland and Pavarotti to Scholl, DiDonato, Gritton.

Yes, there are some real gems in the Decca archive - very hard to come up with just 10.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Dave2002: Barbi has replied exactly as I would've done. One Euro? The best bargain I've heard all week. (The sounds a bit crackly - taken from illicit Radio recordings IIRC - but the performance ... )


Trying to avoid the Ferrier generalization I made earlier (and equivalent groups for Britten or the Headline series) I've tried to assemble 10 recordings that I think are "the best" of the works concerned ever submitted to disc. So:

Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde Ferrier/Patzak/VPO/Walter [Mono]
RVW: Symphonies 3 & 5, LPO/Boult [Mono]
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe, LSO/Monteux
Britten: Serenade, Les Illuminations, Nocturne Pears/Britten (can I cheat and have the earlier Serenade with Denis Brain - it's still Decca!)
Holst: The Planets VPO/Karajan
Elgar: 1st Symphony, LPO/Solti
Elgar: 2nd Symphony, LPO/Solti
Mahler: 8th Symphony, Everyone and the in-laws/Solti*
Shostakovich: 4th Symphony, LPO/Haitink
Beethoven: String Quartet Op 132, Takacs 4tet.

(* = should EMI release the jaw-dropping sensation that was Rattle's Live performance of this work, I'll put this flawed but much-loved recording regretfully to oneside and take Haitink's Shostakovich #15, instead, please).

Best Wishes.