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In honor of Neal Kozodoy

In 1969, at the age of thirteen, I bought my first classical album, a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. That purchase was the start of a lifelong obsession.

Forty years later, I own 2,000 classical compact discs—a fraction of the many LP’s, cassettes, CD’s and digital sound files that have passed through my hands since then. The rigors of apartment living have forced me to be choosy, so it is unusual for me to retain more than two performances of the same piece, usually a 78-era version and a more modern one. But I have also become acutely aware of the relative merits of the records I continue to own, and when I bought my first iPod in 2005 in order to listen to music while traveling, I loaded it with the ones that I liked best. Now, after much winnowing, I have come up with a list of 25 classical records that for me are indispensable, the ones to which I return most often, both on the road and at home.

To draw up a list like this is an occasion for nostalgia—and regret. My generation of music lovers (I was born in 1956) had access to records made by celebrated conductors, singers and instrumentalists who had been born as early as the 1830’s. But since I started writing about music for Commentary a decade-and-a-half ago, I have witnessed and chronicled the decline of the once-mighty classical-recording industry that preserved these performances for posterity. It may well be that performances of comparable quality and individuality continue to be given today, but if so, they will go unheard by the music lovers of tomorrow, for with rare exceptions they are not being recorded. On the other hand, digital technology has made it easier than ever to hear the great recordings of the 20th century, many of which can now be downloaded from the Internet, thus ensuring their permanent accessibility.*

None of the records on this list is new. I have been listening to most of them for a quarter-century or more, and to some since I was a boy. They have withstood the test of time and hard usage. Beyond choosing only performances that are currently in print, I have made no effort to balance the list in any way, and for that reason some of the composers, performers, and pieces that I love best are not represented on it. It is nothing more—or less—than a roll of personal favorites, the 25 classical recordings that have given me special pleasure throughout a lifetime of listening. Perhaps some of them will do the same for you.

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1.
Jacques Thibaud, violin; Pablo Casals, cello; Alfred Cortot, piano.
Schubert Trio No. 1 in B Flat, D. 898
(EMI Classics 6700, recorded 1926)

This chamber-music performance, among the first to be recorded electrically, documents the ensemble playing of three virtuosos with utterly dissimilar styles who nonetheless contrived to make music that was both coherent and full of character. While today’s groups play the standard repertoire with greater polish, it is hard to imagine a more vivid interpretation than this one.

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2.
Fritz Kreisler, violin; Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano.
Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 8 in G Major, Op. 30/3
(Naxos Historical 8.110968, recorded 1928, available only on CD at amazon.co.uk)

Another of the all-time great chamber-music recordings, this one was made by two old friends whose styles, like those of Thibaud, Casals, and Cortot, had little in common. Yet Kreisler’s Viennese charm and Rachmaninoff’s no-nonsense forthrightness somehow add up to an interpretation that is believably Beethovenian. The imported CD also contains their equally fine performances of sonatas by Grieg and Schubert. Would that they had made a dozen such recordings!

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3.
Vladimir Horowitz, piano.
Haydn Piano Sonata in E-Flat Major, Hob. XVI:52
(Appian APR 6004, two discs, recorded 1932, available only on CD)

More than any other classical pianist, Horowitz captured the imagination of my generation. It is impossible to choose a single recording that sums up his febrile style, but this performance is universally regarded by connoisseurs as one of his finest. Like many Russians, Horowitz found it hard to play Austro-German music idiomatically, but the brio of this recording suggests that he responded to Haydn’s wit with a sympathy that was not often evident in his performances of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.

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4.
Jascha Heifetz, violin; John Barbirolli conducting the London Philharmonic.
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 (“Turkish”)
(EMI Classics 53214, recorded 1934)

This was the first Heifetz recording that I ever heard. Warm and unfussy in a way not always typical of the most famous violinist of the 20th century, it is accompanied with crisp vigor by John Barbirolli and the then-new London Philharmonic, which Thomas Beecham had already taught to play Mozart with elegance and grace.

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5.
Artur and Karl Ulrich Schnabel, piano duet.
Schubert Rondo in A Major, D. 951
(Music & Arts CD-1173, five discs, recorded 1937, available only on CD)

Schnabel is best known for his Beethoven recordings, but he was no less closely identified in his lifetime with the music of Schubert. This piece, whose simple theme is developed with unhurried grace, ends with an exquisitely well-played coda that dissolves into a fleeting vision of transcendence. Schnabel is joined here by his son Karl Ulrich, a fine pianist who was better known as a teacher.

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6.
Lawrence Tibbett, baritone; Wilfred Pelletier conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

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