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Top 5 AAA classical reissues

Saxondale

pfm Member
I was in a local hifi shop and he said he never demos kit with classical as he wouldn’t know where to start. He just uses the usual rock classics. So I was wondering, where would this guy start? What are the top 5 available champions out there?
 
I’m sure you will get many varied responses, but I would suggest these five for starters;

Symphonic
Mahler – Symphony 5, first movement – New Philharmonic / Barbirolli on EMI – heroic, exciting, and wonderfully played and recorded

Opera
Wagner – Siegfried, Act 3, scene 3 – the ecstatic extended duet between Siegfried and Brünnhilde – why not try Solti’s famous recording?
Philip Glass – Akhnaten – beautiful & shimmering waves of music; alternatively, Boulez's pli selon pli

String Quartet
Any of the Emerson Quartet’s recordings of Beethoven’s late string quartets; alternatively, the Smetana Quartet’s recording of Janacek’s second quartet

Piano
Whatever you like, but why not Tatiana Nikolayeva’s recording of Shostakovich’s 24 preludes and fugues, on Hyperion?
 
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Few thoughts:
Du Pre Elgar cello concerto - everyone should know it and it still sounds very good considering it is closer to wax cylinders than the current day in timescales
Bach B Minor Mass done by Herreweghe, specifically the Gloria. Utterly joyous on a good system.
Sibelius orchestral songs done by Isokoski and Segerstam - wonderful music and wonderful clarity on SACD.
Strauss Alpine Symphony conducted by Wit (on Naxos) - as monumental as it should be.
Rite of Spring done by Muti - yep, violent.
And for a bonus, the Perfect Fool ballet music conducted by Boult where I have had more than one person jump at the end.
 


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