1.Tchaikovsky - Manfred. I love it. The Markevitch recording is the best.
2. Rachmaninov Symphony 1. Glazounov must have been very drunk when he fiascoed the first performance. This music has everything. Great performances: I saw Svetlanov and his Russki band perform it in Melbourne in the late 1980s. On CD, there's Ashkenazy, a Russian Sanderling recording, and Svetlanov.
3. Kalinnikov Symphony 1. This is just gorgeous and the second movement is about as bitter-sweet as it gets. The Kuchar Naxos recording is great.
4. Prokofiev Symphony 6. This is such a TRAGIC work. I taped a late '90s concert performance with Kurt Sanderling and the Rotterdam Phil. Nothing comes near it. Jarvi, Ashkenazy, Rostropovich, Alsopp, etc don't seem to 'get it'. Then, I stumbled - via Spotify - on a stunning Challenge Classics performance by a conductor I'd not heard of before - James Gaffigan. This is almost as good as the Sanderling!
5.Shostakovich Symphony 4. It's now my favourite Shostakovich symphony. It takes off into realms he only strived for once. Five sounds tame and almost 'sweet' afterwards. I love the Boreyko recording on Hannsler SWR>
6. Schubert Sonata D845. I got to know this via the Kempff recording. In the hierarchy of Schubert Sonatas, the last three and the G Major receive all the accolades. This sonata has a heart-breaking ending to the 2nd movement, it's Schubert at his most poignant. I still love the Kempff recording.
7. Britten Violin Concerto. What a great work. It took a while to permeate my thick skull and when it did, oh boy. I'd rather hear this than Mendelssohn and Bruch any day. I love the Ida Haendel and Lubotsky recordings, the latter conducted by Beniamino himself, the former by Berglund.
8. Bach Mass BWV 233. The first of the 4 so-called Lutheran masses. This music is so full of joy and love of life. There is no better recording than the Martin Flamig on Berlin Classics. Those German boys know how to express joy, and they know what they're singing about.
9. Beethoven Symphony 2. Yes, it's not the Eroica, not the 5th, 7th or the Choral. It is, however, the first utterly 'unique' Beethoven orchestral piece, with a slow movement to die for. My favourite recording is on DG: Kurt Sanderling and the Leningrad Phil, in mono. Sanderling conducted this symphony regularly.
10: Haydn 7 Last Words. There are three versions: Choral, purely Orchestral and String Quartet. I have them all. Harnoncourt for the choral, a Supraphon recording with the Prague Chamber Orchestra under the superb Milan Munclinger. And, I've now discovered there is also a Piano version which I haven't heard. Ah, great to have something new to discover at my ripe old age. This is such intense, heartfelt, passionate music.
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