As I've mentioned before several times on these boards and will continue to do so since I love these CDs so much, here are my two favorites:
1. Bartok --
6 String Quartets, performed by the Emerson String Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon)
This is a 2-CD set filled with the most amazing music I have ever heard in my life. I also have the Juilliard Quartet's rendition of the 6 string quartets, but they are so lifeless and bland in comparison.
I think my father put it best when he said this:
"After listening to the Juilliard Quartet's performance, I couldn't understand why Bartok's string quartets were called 'the best thing to happen to music since Beethoven's string quartets.' After listening to the Emerson Quartet's performance, it all became clear."
Bartok's music is very complex and is difficult to appreciate if you're not already a hard-core classical music fan. If your favorite music is by Vivaldi or Johann Strauss, Bartok probably isn't for you (and neither is Schoenberg, for that matter
). But I'd suggest giving it a listen anyway.
2. Beethoven --
Complete String Quartets, performed by the Alban Berg Quartett (EMI Classics).
This is a 7-CD set with all the string quartets written by Beethoven. This is my second-favorite music and comes quite close to the Bartok quartets. While not every single quartet on these CDs is amazing (some of the Razumovsky ones can get a bit dull, I think), the music and performance is still phenomenal. This is strongly recommended for
anyone who likes any type of classical music (except Johann Struass
).
Another recommendation I'll make is for the 8-10 CDs containing all of the piano music Arthur Rubinstein (considered by most to have been the greatest pianist who ever recorded music) played. While some pieces
were recorded in mono, the music is just so amazing that it would be foolish to pass it by because of audiophilic snobbism.
Now, I've mentioned before the Chesky Gold CD of Reiner conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing Brahms No. 4. While I'm sure this is a finely-recorded piece of music, the performance is nothing special (at least I don't think so). Maybe it's a bit too quick to pass judgement on all of Chesky records because of this one CD, but I'd hesitate to recommend Chesky discs over others just because they're supposed to have higher-quality recording. Before buying
any of their CDs, be sure to read reviews not only on their CDs, but also the specific performances.
I hope this helped!
Dan