The New York Times Essential Library: Classical Music: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Recordings

by Allan Kozinn

Overview

A dazzling appraisal of the definitive classical music performances available today

For classical music lovers, there is nothing more beguiling and exciting than the range of technique and emotion that can capture or transform the great works in the hands of a conductor and musicians. But with hundreds of recordings released every year, discovering the jewels is a challenge, for newcomers as well as for connoisseurs.
New York Times classical music critic Allan Kozinn offers the ultimate collector's guide, packed with a rich history of the composers and performers who stir our souls. From Bach's eloquent Goldberg Variations performed by master pianist Glenn Gould at the beginning and end of his career in startlingly different interpretations, to a lyrical performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade conducted by Kiril Kondrashin shortly after his defection from the Soviet Union, Kozinn places each work in the greater context of musical development and stretches the listener's understanding of each pivotal composition. These original essays on the one hundred greatest recorded classical works provide both practical guidance for building a library and deep insight into the transcendent power of music itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805070705
Publisher:	Holt, Henry & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	08/02/2004
Series:	The New York Times Essential Library
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Allan Kozinn is a classical music critic for The New York Times. Before joining the staff of the Times in 1991, he was a contributing editor for the classical music magazines High Fidelity, Opus, and Keynote, and he was the music critic for The New York Observer. He lives in New York City.

Read an Excerpt

The New York Times Essential Library: Classical Music

1. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN
O Jerusalem
SEQUENTIA (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 05472-77353-2)

Includes the title work as well as Quia felix puerita--Magnificat, O felix apparitio, O beatissime Ruperte, O tu illustrata, Cum erubuerint, O frondens virga--Gloria patri--Ave generosa, O quam preciosa, O ignee spiritus, O quam magnum miraculum est, and instrumental works.
Recorded 1995
It took until the second half of the twentieth century for women to come into their own as composers, that is, for more than one or two to be recognized as important voices in the global musical dialogue. But women have always composed, and the earliest known female composer, Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), was also one of the great intellects of her era. Having experienced religious visions from the age of five, Hildegard took up studies at the monastery at Disibodenberg when she was fourteen. Eventually a convent was established there, and Hildegard succeeded her teacher, Jutta von Spanheim, as its prioress, in 1136. In around 1150, Hildegard established her own convent at Rupertsberg, near Bingen; and when that house became too crowded, in 1165, she established another at Eibingen.
Hildegard's writings include Scivias, a collection of fourteen extended poems in which she describes twenty-six revelations that came to her in her visions, as well as works on science and medicine, a trilogy of allegorical religious works, and the lives of Saint Disibod and Saint Rupert. Having achieved a reputation for prophecy and working miracles, Hildegard maintained correspondence with popes, emperors, and other leaders, and when challenged on matters of religious doctrine or practice, she held her ground.
As a Benedictine abbess, Hildegard naturally devoted her musical energies entirely to sacred works, most of which are settings ofecstatic texts drawn from her own poetry. There are a few basic hallmarks in her musical language. She wrote long before the invention of the modern scale and the system of keys that we now take for granted. For Hildegard, music was rooted in the church modes, which you can think of as (roughly speaking) a series of scales based on the white keys of the piano keyboard, with no sharps or flats. Each of these modes had a distinct character, and was used to stir a particular kind of feeling: works in the mode beginning on G, for example, were joyous; those on D evoked purity.
Also, Hildegard's music is monophonic: her compositions are single melodies, with no harmony or counterpoint (polyphony), whether performed by one singer or many. Yet a single line is hardly a limitation: sometimes Hildegard sets her texts simply and syllabically, but often a word is painted with expansive, soaring melismas that, in extreme cases, reached more than seventy notes.
Among Hildegard's musical works is a morality play, Ordo Virtutum, in which the soul is tempted by the Devil, but is persuaded back to the right path by the Virtues. Sequentia recorded this extraordinary work twice (in 1982 and 1997, both for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi). But the group's vividly sung O Jerusalem collection seems a better and more varied introduction to her music. It proposes an imaginative (if also imaginary, or at least fanciful) reconstruction of the dedicatory ceremony at Rupertsberg. Several of the pieces, including the title work, include paeans to Saint Rupert; indeed, considered in the context of a dedication ceremony, there is a suggestion that the convent represents an earthly analog to the vision of a spiritual Jerusalem that Hildegard's text describes.
Several early-music ensembles have recorded these works, and typically they have given the pieces straightforward, devotional performances that bring out their beauty but, compared with Sequentia's reading, sound a bit staid. Sequentia gives its performance of the title work a context: the first sounds one hears are the bells and ambience of the Bamberg Cathedral. Like other ensembles, Sequentia gives most of the work to its female singers, although one--"O ignee spiritus"--is performed by men. (Men's and women's voices would, of course, not have been heard together in the church music of Hildegard's time.)
But here, too, Sequentia takes a different path than most groups. Although in works performed by compact vocal forces (two or three voices) they sing with polish and precision, those qualities are not presented as an ideal. Rather, in works for the massed ensemble, Sequentia's singers give the pieces the slightly rough-hewn, earthy, real-life sound that one might actually have heard in a convent or monastery. The vibrant acoustical ambience of St. Pantaleon, Cologne, abets this feeling.
I question the group's inclusion of three brief instrumental works based on themes from Hildegard's vocal pieces, but if they seem out of place in the context of this reconstruction, they offer an opportunity to hear Sequentia's players, and to hear Hildegard's music from a different perspective. Certainly less harm is done here than in, say, Illumination (Sony Classical, 1997), a poorly conceived melding of Hildegard's music and new age electronic instrumentation.
The notes booklet for O Jerusalem includes superb annotations by Barbara Thornton, who founded Sequentia with Benjamin Bagby in 1977. Included are quotations from Hildegard's mystical writings and correspondence, all of which bring her to life nearly as vividly as the music. Thornton, who died of a brain tumor in 1998 at age forty-eight, was the driving force behind Sequentia's Hildegard project, which yielded several other highly recommendable recordings, including Ordo Virtutum (I prefer the 1997 version), Canticles of Ecstasy (1994), Voice of the Blood (1995), and Saints (1998), all on the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label.
There are two non-Sequentia Hildegard recordings worth special mention as well: A Feather on the Breath of God (Hyperion, 1984), a varied overview, beautifully rendered by Gothic Voices; and 11,000 Virgins (Harmonia Mundi USA, 1997), Anonymous 4's exquisite collection of chants for the feast of Saint Ursula, mostly by Hildegard but also including works from as late as the fifteenth century.
Copyright © 2004 by The New York Times Company

Table of Contents

	Preface	xxiii
1.	Hildegard of Bingen, O Jerusalem (Sequentia)	1
2.	Guillaume de Machaut, Messe de Notre Dame (Ensemble Organum, Marcel Peres, conducting)	4
3.	Josquin Desprez, Missa Fortuna Desperata, "La Plus des Plus," "Bergerette Savoysienne," "Adieu Mes Amours," "Consideres Mes Incessantes/Fortuna" (The Clerks' Group, Edward Wickham, conducting)	7
4.	Carlo Gesualdo, Madrigals, from Books III, IV, V, VI (Les Arts Florissants, William Christie, conducting)	9
5.	John Dowland, First Booke of Songes (The Consort of Musicke, Anthony Rooley, lutenist and director)	12
6.	Shakespeare Songs and Consort Music (Alfred Deller, countertenor; Desmond Dupre, lutenist; the Deller Consort)	15
7.	Claudio Monteverdi, Vespro della Beata Virgine (1610) (The Monteverdi Choir; the London Oratory Junior Choir; His Majesties Sagbutts & Cornetts; the English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conducting)	19
8.	Claudio Monteverdi, Madrigali Guerrieri ed Amorosi (Madrigals, Book VIII) (Concerto Vocale, Rene Jacobs, conducting)	23
9.	Henry Purcell, Odes for St. Cecilia's Day and Music for Queen Mary (Taverner Consort, Choir and Players, Andrew Parrott, conducting)	26
10.	Johann Sebastian Bach, Brandenburg Concertos (Il Giardino Armonico)	29
11.	Johann Sebastian Bach, Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin (BWV 1001-1006) (Christian Tetzlaff, violinist)	32
12.	Johann Sebastian Bach, Mass in B minor (BWV 232) (The Bach Ensemble, Joshua Rifkin, conducting)	35
13.	Johann Sebastian Bach, Glenn Gould--A State of Wonder: Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould, pianist)	38
14.	George Frideric Handel, Water Music (English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conducting)	43
15.	George Frideric Handel, Israel in Egypt (The Choir of King's College, Cambridge; The Brandenburg Consort, Stephen Cleobury, conducting)	45
16.	George Frideric Handel, Messiah (Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, Simon Preston, director; Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood, conducting)	48
17.	Domenico Scarlatti, Sonatas (Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist)	53
18.	Antonio Vivaldi, Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione (Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi, solo violinist and conductor)	58
19.	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concertos, no. 20 in D minor (K. 466); no. 27 in B-flat (K. 595); no. 26 in D major (K. 537); no. 23 in A major (K. 488); no. 24 in C minor (K. 491); (Sir Clifford Curzon, pianist; English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten, conducting; London Symphony Orchestra, Istvan Kertesz, conducting)	61
20.	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony no. 41 in C, Jupiter (K. 551), Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A (K. 622), and Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra in B-flat (K. 191) (Jack Brymer, clarinetist; Gwydion Brooke, bassoonist; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham, conducting)	64
21.	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Divertimento in E-flat (K. 563) (Gidon Kremer, violinist; Kim Kashkashian, violist; Yo-Yo Ma, cellist)	67
22.	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Requiem (K. 626, completion by Franz Xaver Sussmayr) (John Alldis Choir, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis, conducting)	70
23.	Franz Joseph Haydn, String Quartets (The Emerson String Quartet)	74
24.	Franz Joseph Haydn, The London Symphonies, Vol. I (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Sir Colin Davis, conducting)	77
25.	Franz Joseph Haydn, Die Schopfung (The Creation) (Stockholm Radio Chorus, Stockholm Chamber Choir, and Berlin Philharmonic, James Levine, conducting)	81
26.	Juan Crisostomo Arriaga, Symphonie a Grande Orchestre, Los Esclavos Felices Overture, and Overture for Nonet (Le Concert des Nations, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Jordi Savall, conducting)	84
27.	Ludwig van Beethoven, The Nine Symphonies, Overtures (Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Choir, George Szell, conducting)	86
28.	Ludwig van Beethoven, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (Jascha Heifetz, violinist; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, conducting); Johannes Brahms, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major (Jascha Heifetz, violinist; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, conducting)	93
29.	Ludwig van Beethoven, The Late Piano Sonatas (Richard Goode, pianist)	96
30.	Franz Schubert, Lieder (Ian Bostridge, tenor; Julius Drake, pianist)	99
31.	Franz Schubert, Winterreise (D. 911) (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Alfred Brendel, pianist)	103
32.	Franz Schubert, Quintet in C for Two Violins, Viola, and Two Cellos (D. 956) (The Alban Berg Quartet, with Heinrich Schiff, cellist)	105
33.	Franz Schubert, Sonata for Piano no. 21 in B-flat (D. 960), and Three Klavierstucke (D. 946) (Mitsuko Uchida, pianist)	108
34.	Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Sir Colin Davis, conducting)	111
35.	Felix Mendelssohn, Symphony no. 4 in A major, Italian (op. 90); and overture and excerpts from the Incidental Music for Midsummer Night's Dream (Orchestra of the Age of Englightenment, Sir Charles Mackerras, conducting)	115
36.	Frederic Chopin, Twenty-four Preludes (op. 28), Berceuse (op. 57), Barcarolle (op. 60), Piano Sonata no. 2, "Funeral March" (op. 35), and the Impromptu in G-flat (op. 51) (Arthur Rubinstein, pianist)	117
37.	Robert Schumann, Carnaval (op. 9), Novellette (op. 21, no. 1), Nachtstuck (op. 23, no. 4), Romance (op. 28, no. 2), and Fantasiestucke (op. 12) (Arthur Rubinstein, pianist)	120
38.	Franz Liszt, Sonata in B minor, Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude, Waldesrauschen, Gnomenreigen, and Vallee d'Obermann (Claudio Arrau, pianist)	124
39.	Johannes Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) (op. 45) (Arleen Auger, soprano; Richard Stillwell, baritone; Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Robert Shaw, conducting)	127
40.	Johannes Brahms, Symphony no. 1 in C minor (op. 68), Symphony no. 2 in D (op. 73), Symphony no. 3 in F (op. 90), Symphony no. 4 in E minor (op. 98), Tragic Overture, and Academic Festival Overture (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, conducting)	130
41.	Johannes Brahms, String Sextet in B-flat (op. 18), String Sextet in G (op. 36), Quintet for Piano and Strings in F minor (op. 34), Quintet for Strings in F (op. 88), Quintet for Strings in G (op. 111), and Quintet for Clarinet and Strings (op. 115) (Cecil Aronowitz, violist; William Pleeth, cellist; Christoph Eschenbach, pianist; Karl Leister, clarinetist; The Amadeus Quartet)	134
42.	Bedrich Smetana, Ma Vlast (My Country) (Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Rafael Kubelik, conducting)	138
43.	Modest Mussorgsky, Songs (Sergei Leiferkus, baritone; Semion Skigin, pianist)	143
44.	Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition (Ravel orchestration), Khovanshchina Prelude (Shostakovich orchestration), Night on the Bare Mountain (Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration), and Sorochintsky Fair Gopak (Liadov orchestration) (Vienna Philharmonic, Valery Gergiev, conducting)	145
45.	Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 4 in F minor (op. 36), Symphony no. 5 in E minor (op. 64), and Symphony no. 6 in B minor, Pathetique (op. 74) (Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Evgeny Mravinsky, conducting)	147
46.	Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade; Alexander Borodin, Symphony no. 2 in B minor (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Kiril Kondrashin, conducting)	150
47.	Edvard Grieg, Holberg Suite (op. 40), Two Elegiac Melodies (op. 34), Peer Gynt Suite no. 1 (op. 46) and Suite no. 2 (op. 55), and "Evening in the Mountains" and "At the Cradle" from Lyric Pieces (op. 68, nos. 4 and 5) (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, conducting)	153
48.	Music from Saratoga: Ludwig van Beethoven, Kreutzer Sonata for Piano and Violin no. 9 in A (op. 47); Cesar Franck, Violin Sonata in A (Itzhak Perlman, violinist; Martha Argerich, pianist)	156
49.	Antonin Dvorak, Symphony no. 9 in E minor (op. 95), Carnival Overture (op. 92), and Slavonic Dances, nos. 1 and 3 (op. 46) (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conducting)	158
50.	Camille Saint-Saens, Symphony no. 3 (op. 78); Paul Dukas, The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Simon Preston, organist; Berlin Philharmonic, James Levine, conducting)	162
51.	Giuseppe Verdi, Requiem and Four Sacred Pieces (Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano; Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano; Nicolai Gedda, tenor; Nicolai Ghiaurov, bass; Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano [in the Four Sacred Pieces]; Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Carlo Maria Giulini, conducting)	165
52.	Gabriel Faure, Requiem (1893 version, op. 48); Cantique de Jean Racine (op. 11); Messe Basse; Tantum Ergo (op. 65, no. 2); and Ave Verum Corpus (op. 65, no. 1) (Mary Seers and Isabelle Poulenard, sopranos; Michael George, baritone; Corydon Singers; John Scott, organist; English Chamber Orchestra, Matthew Best, conducting)	168
53.	Gustav Mahler, Symphony no. 4 in G (Judith Raskin, soprano); Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) (Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell, conducting; Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Davis, conducting)	170
54.	Gustav Mahler, Symphony no. 9 (Berlin Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conducting)	175
55.	Jean Sibelius, Symphony no. 2 (op. 43) (Royal Philharmonic, Sir John Barbirolli, conducting)	178
56.	Leos Janacek, String Quartet no. 1, The Kreutzer Sonata; and String Quartet no. 2, Intimate Letters; Alban Berg, Lyric Suite (Juilliard String Quartet)	181
57.	Claude Debussy, La Mer, Jeux, Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien (orchestral fragments), Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, Images, Nocturnes, and Printemps (Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit, conducting)	185
58.	Claude Debussy, Preludes, Books I and II (Paul Jacobs, pianist)	188
59.	Maurice Ravel, The Orchestral Works (Philippe Entrement, pianist; Camerata Singers; New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, conducting)	190
60.	Erik Satie, L'Oeuvre pour Piano (The Piano Works) (Aldo Ciccolini, pianist)	193
61.	Manuel de Falla, El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Interludio y Danza from La Vida Breve, and El Amor Brujo (L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, conducting)	196
62.	Richard Strauss, Tone Poems (Staatskapelle Dresden, Berlin Philharmonic, Karl Bohm, conducting)	200
63.	Arnold Schoenberg, Suite (op. 29), Verklarte Nacht (op. 4), and Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra (Members of the Ensemble InterContemporain, Pierre Boulez, conducting)	203
64.	Igor Stravinsky, Petrushka and Le Sacre du Printemps (Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conducting); or Le Sacre du Printemps and L'Oiseau de Feu Suite (Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conducting)	207
65.	Igor Stravinsky, The Mono Years (The Cleveland Orchestra and a chamber ensemble, Igor Stravinsky, conducting)	212
66.	Reynaldo Hahn, La Belle Epoque: The Songs of Reynaldo Hahn (Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano; Roger Vignoles, pianist)	215
67.	Agustin Barrios, From the Jungles of Paraguay: John Williams Plays Barrios (John Williams, guitarist)	217
68.	Sir Edward Elgar, English String Music; Introduction and Allegro (op. 47), Serenade in E minor (op. 20), Elegy (op. 58), and Sospiri (op. 70); Ralph Vaughan Williams, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Fantasia on Greensleeves (Sinfonia of London; Allegri String Quartet; New Philharmonia Orchestra, Sir John Barbirolli, conducting)	222
69.	Sergei Rachmaninoff, Concerto no. 3 in D minor for Piano and Orchestra (op. 30); Sergei Prokofiev, Concerto no. 3 in C major for Piano and Orchestra (op. 26) (Van Cliburn, pianist; Symphony of the Air, Kiril Kondrashin, conducting; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Walter Hendl, conducting)	224
70.	Edgard Varese, Ionisation, Ameriques, and Arcana (New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez, conducting); Offrandes, Octandre, Integrales, and Density 21.5 (Ensemble InterContemporain, Pierre Boulez, conducting)	228
71.	Charles Ives, Three Places in New England (Orchestral Set no. 1) and Orchestral Set no. 2; Carl Ruggles, Sun-Treader and Men and Mountains; Ruth Crawford Seeger, Andante for Strings (Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, Christoph von Dohnanyi, conducting)	231
72.	George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris; Ferde Grofe, Grand Canyon Suite (Columbia Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conducting, and pianist in the Rhapsody)	235
73.	Aaron Copland, The Copland Collection--Orchestral and Ballet Works, 1936-1948 (Henry Fonda, narrator; Benny Goodman, clarinetist; New Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory Chorus, Columbia Symphony Strings, Aaron Copland, conducting)	238
74.	Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings (op. 11), Overture to The School for Scandal (op. 5), Second Essay for Orchestra (op. 17), Medea's Dance of Vengeance (op. 23a), Andromache's Farewell (op. 39), and Intermezzo from Vanessa (op. 32) (Martina Arroyo, soprano; New York Philharmonic and Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Schippers, conducting)	241
75.	Kurt Weill, Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, Mahagonny Songspiel, Happy End, Berliner Requiem, Pantomime I (from Der Protagonist), Vom Tod im Wald, and Violin Concerto (Mary Thomas and Meriel Dickinson, mezzosopranos; Philip Langridge and Ian Partridge, tenors; Benjamin Luxon, baritone; Michael Rippon, bass; Nona Liddell, violinist; London Sinfonietta, David Atherton, conducting)	244
76.	Alban Berg, Violin Concerto; Wolfgang Rihm, Time Chant (Anne-Sophie Mutter, violinist; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Levine, conducting)	247
77.	Dmitri Shostakovich, Symphony no. 5 in D minor (op. 47) and Symphony no. 9 in E-flat major (op. 70) (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conducting)	250
78.	Dmitri Shostakovich, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra no. 1 in A minor (op. 77), Concerto for Cello and Orchestra no. 1 in E-flat (op. 107) (David Oistrakh, violinist, New York Philharmonic, Dimitri Mitropoulos, conducting; Mstislav Rostropovich, cellist, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, conducting)	253
79.	Bela Bartok, The Six String Quartets (Emerson String Quartet)	256
80.	Bela Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta; and Hungarian Sketches (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, conducting)	259
81.	Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Concerto Funebre; Symphony no. 4; and Chamber Concerto (Isabelle Faust, violinist; Paul Meyer, clarinetist; Petersen Quartet; Munich Chamber Orchestra, Christoph Poppen, conducting)	262
82.	Olivier Messiaen, Quatuor pour le Fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time) (Tashi)	264
83.	Heitor Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras, nos. 1, 2, 5, and 9 (Victoria de los Angeles, soprano [in no. 5]; Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise, Heitor Villa-Lobos, conducting)	267
84.	Benjamin Britten, War Requiem (op. 66) (Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano; Peter Pears, tenor; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone; Simon Preston, organist; Melos Ensemble; Highgate School Choir; Bach Choir; London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Benjamin Britten, conducting)	271
85.	Benjamin Britten, The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (op. 34), Simple Symphony (op. 4), and Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (op. 10) (London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin Britten, conducting)	274
86.	Witold Lutoslawski, Symphonic Variations, Symphony no. 1, Musique Funebre, Symphony no. 2, Concerto for Orchestra, Jeux Venitiens, Livre pour Orchestre, and Mi-Parti (Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Witold Lutoslawski, conducting)	276
87.	Leonard Bernstein, Candide Overture, Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, and Fancy Free (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conducting)	279
88.	Bernard Herrmann, The Film Scores (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conducting)	282
89.	Milton Babbitt, Three Compositions, Duet, Semi-Simple Variations, Partitions, Post-Partitions, Tableaux, Reflections for Piano and Synthesized Tape, Canonical Form, and Lagniappe (Robert Taub, pianist)	286
90.	John Corigliano, Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra; Aaron Copland, Concerto for Clarinet, Strings, Harp, and Piano; Igor Stravinsky, Ebony Concerto; Leonard Bernstein, Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, on Richard Stoltzman: The Essential Clarinet (Richard Stoltzman, clarinetist; London Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Leighton-Smith and Richard Stoltzman, conducting)	289
91.	Steve Reich, Early Works (Steve Reich and Russell Hartenberger, clapping; Nurit Tilles and Edmund Niemann, pianists)	292
92.	Steve Reich, Tehillim and Three Movements (Schonberg Ensemble with Percussion Group The Hague, Reinbert de Leeuw, conducting; London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, conducting)	294
93.	Philip Glass, Music in Twelve Parts (Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman, conducting)	296
94.	Philip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi (Albert de Ruiter, bass; Philip Glass Ensemble, Western Wind Vocal Ensemble)	299
95.	John Adams, Shaker Loops (1978, revised 1983) and Violin Concerto (1993) (Orchestra of St. Luke's, John Adams, conducting; Gidon Kremer, violinist, London Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano, conducting)	302
96.	Gregorio Paniagua, La Folia (Atrium Musicae de Madrid)	305
97.	Arvo Part, Tabula Rasa, Fratres (Violin and Piano version), Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Fratres (Cello Ensemble version) (Gidon Kremer and Tatiana Grindenko, violinists; Keith Jarrett and Alfred Schnittke, pianists; the Twelve Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic; Stuttgart State Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies, conducting; Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Saulus Sondeckis, conducting)	307
98.	Henryk Gorecki, Symphony no. 3 (op. 36) (Dawn Upshaw, soprano; London Sinfonietta, David Zinman, conducting)	310
99.	Einojuhani Rautavaara, Symphony no. 7, Angel of Light; and Annunciations (Concerto for Organ Brass Group and Symphonic Wind Orchestra) (Kari Jussila, organist; Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam, conducting)	312
100.	Bright Sheng, H'un: In Memoriam 1966-1976, The Stream Flows, Three Chinese Love Songs, and My Song (New York Chamber Symphony, Gerard Schwarz, conducting; Lucia Lin, violinist; Lisa Saffer, soprano; Paul Neubauer, violist; Bright Sheng, pianist; Peter Serkin, pianist)	316
	Another 100: More Albums You Should Own, or at Least Know About	321
	Illustration Credits	337
	Index	339

Editorial Reviews

It's always a tricky task to pick a list with as sweeping a title as this, but Kozinn, a music critic for the New York Times, has done a sterling job. Not only does he write concisely and informatively about the works in hand, offering an excellent potted history of the composer and his composition, but Kozinn also sets forth sound reasons why he has chosen the recording he has-and in most cases he offers recommended alternatives, too. His list contains most of the expected big guns in classical masterpieces, but with an unusually extended list of contemporary works as well-25% of the pieces he cites were written in the 20th century: Britten and Glass and Reich, of course, but also such lesser-known figures as Milton Babbitt and Gregorio Paniagua. In performance, he has soft spots for the work of Leonard Bernstein and George Szell, but also for Pierre Boulez as a conductor, and is a great admirer of Columbia's composer-as-conductor series featuring Stravinsky and Copland. Best of all-and to keep the arguments flowing-he offers at the end a list of another 100 discs almost as essential-and hints at many more. It's a treasure trove for record collectors-though they should be aware that Kozinn's choices do not include opera. (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Kozinn, a classical music critic for the New York Times, presents his c hoices for the 100 most important classical recordings in roughly chronological order by composer/disc. Beginning with Hildegard of Bingen and ending with Bright Sheng, the entries include a two- to seven-page original essay on each CD, which offers information about the composer, the historical context, and the music. Some major composers garner more than one entry, but lesser-known composers like Agstin Mangore Barrios and Juan Crisostomo Arriaga are also listed. While most surveys of classical music recommend recordings, the work most similar to Kozinn's is Ted Libbey's The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection: The 350 Essential Works. Both books feature many of the same recordings, but Libbey's edges out Kozinn's in number of recordings, background information, organization, and layout. However, Kozinn has the advantage of five additional years of recording history from which to choose; he includes a further 100 selections in list form as well, bringing the total up to 200. Ultimately, libraries that own Libbey's book can hold off on Kozinn's, but those with comprehensive classical music collections may want to consider.-Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal