On 2007-02-21, Serge Auckland wrote:
As things are quiet, I was musing on what my Desert Island Disks would
be, and also, what are my best recordings that I use for equipment
evaluation.
....
Here are mine in no particular order, what are yours:-
...

Desert Island disks (in alphabetical order):

1. Bach, Goldberg Variations - Pierre Hantai 2003 (Mirare) but I might
still hanker after Gould's 1981 performance (or Hewitt's, or Perahia's,
or Hantai's 1992 which is superbly recorded and could go into the next
list, or ...).

2. Bach, Mass in B-minor - John Eliot Gardiner (cond.) 1985, D-G Archiv.

3. Bach, Toccatas - Angela Hewitt, Hyperion 2002. A gem.

4. Beethoven, Symphonies 5 and 7 - Carlos Kleiber 1974-1976, D-G.
The energy and the drive ...

5. Britten, Midsummer Night's Dream - Britten (cond.) 1966, Alfred
Deller et al. Great performance from Deller as countertenor Oberon.
Wonderful Decca soundstaging (artificially wide actually but so good
nevertheless).

6. Chopin, Nocturnes - Maria João Pires, DG 1996.

7. Mozart, Magic Flute - Georg Solti (cond.), Decca 1990. Great
performance (inc. Sumi Jo as the Queen of the Night) and great dynamic
range at times (e.g. on Papageno's first entrance which is actually
sufficiently quiet that I strain to hear it at a volume where the rest
is comfortably quiet).

8. Richard Strauss, der Rosenkavalier - Herbert von Karajan (cond.),
Schwarzkopf et. al. ~1958. If ever there is a perfect opera recording
this is it. Right down to the sublime conclusion.

Oops, that's 8 already. Do I really have to stop? I haven't even got
to Messiaen's piano works (Aimard's Vingt Regards) and the Ligeti Etudes
(also Aimard) ...

Exemplary recordigs for equipment selection:

1. Led Zeppelin, How the West was Won.

2. Ligeti's collected works on Warner Classics' Ligeti Project
series (particularly Atmospheres, but many other compositions too, all
superbly recorded).

3. Messiaen's complete organ works - Jennifer Bate on Regis.

4. Thelonious Monk, Live at the IT club (early 1960s) - absolutely
natural.

5. Wagner, The Ring of the Nibelung - Karl Boehm (cond.) et.al, Bayreuth
live 1967 (with stage noises, prompter, and some audience). Despised as
too light and too fast by some but such sustained energy and musicality.
And such a "genuinely live" recording.

This CD set is what sold me on my current 'speakers. (Specifically
Siegfried Act 1.) The recording sounds just so genuinely live to me
(it's also another desert island disk too, sneaked in).

6. Wagner, Tannhauser - Barenboim (cond,) on Teldec. Truly superb
recording.

7. Weber, der Freischutz - Carlos Kleiber (cond.) 1973. The most
wonderful soundstaging.

--
John Phillips