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Which albums to you go back to most often?

Breaking Silence, Janis Ian
Mellissa Etheridge, Mellissa Etheridge
Fink Live, Fink
The Well, Jennifer Warnes
Anything by Tom Russell and Sean Rowe.
 
In the recent music review thread one post referred to a crate of music he went back to regularly.
I have albums that I revisit regularly.

These include:

Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 - Previn- Unbridled romanticism with peerless conducting and the LPO on their toes,
Barber Violin Concerto- Stern/ Bernstein- There is a magical human quality to this performance, Bernstein matching Stern in a performance of the music in its sincerest form.
Late Beethoven String Quartet-Italian Qt.- What can you really say about these classic rosin soaked performances
Verdi Otello- Toscanini- Beautifully performed, especially by Nelli but most loved for its dark, sinewy and articulate conducting by arguably the greatest maestro of them all.
Chopin Nocturnes- Claudio Arrau- I love these pieces and I frequently return to the performance of the elderly Arrau. Something about them.

Honorary mention for David Sylvian’s Secrets of the beehive and Nick Caves whole discography.


What are your top 5? And why?

I like your list, and would enjoy listening to those performances regularly, although I'd definitely prefer the Vegh Quartet to the Italians! It's really difficult to get down to five recordings, but having given this some thought, I'd probably go with something like this;

String Quartet
Brahms second string quartet, op. 51, no. 2 - I like the Gringolts Quartet's recording of this extraordinary quartet that walks the tightrope between melancholy and resolve. Is it greater than Beethoven's late quartets? No, but it is comparable.

Symphony
Schumann's second symphony in C major, op. 61 - so easy to get this wrong. Right from the opening horn phrases, the recording that stays with me is by John Eliot Gardiner with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - not an obvious combination, but it works!

Piano
Messiaen - Catalogue d'Oiseaux - I've spent many years listening to these pieces, and visiting the landscapes that Messiaen used as his inspiration. Of all the recordings, I still think Peter Hill's is outstanding, allowing both the literal and metaphorical aspects of this music to become apparent. (An honourable mention also for Brahms' three intermezzi, op. 117 - Marc André Hamelin's recording on Hyperion is excellent).

Jazz
Miles Davis Quintet - E.S.P. - this is probably the Miles album I return to most often, in that great 1965 - 68 period.

Free improvisation
Quintet Moderne - Wellsprings Suite - sheer telepathy between musicians. (An honourable mention for SME's Karyobin).

Gosh - no lied, or opera - I'd have to revise this list regularly to include some of these, and to replace some of the above.
 


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