Ellopos Blog

Reading various lists of top classical recordings for 2008 I realized that things in this field are so poor, very few new recordings, the interesting are even fewer, there is nothing attractive in writing such a list. Therefore I thought to do something different. Here follow the top 17 recordings I happened to enjoy most in 2008, whether I discovered them for the first time, or I re-discovered them. You may know some of them, but some you now have the chance to discover yourself! - Enjoy! (Cf. Ellopos’ list of top rock albums for 2008)

1. Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Previn with London Symphony Orchestra

2. Wiener Saengerknaben, Amazing Grace

3. Wiener Saengerknaben, Volks und Kinderlieder

4. Bizet, Carmen Suite for Guitar - Trio de Guitarras de Buenos Aires (The disc contains also works by Boccherini, Albeniz and Mozart)

5. Glazunov, Complete Piano Music with Stephen Coombs (Piano)

6. Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker - Ashkenazy with Royal Phil. Orch. (It contains also Glazunov’s The Seasons)

7. Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake - Svetlanov with State Symph. Orch.

8. Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty - Pletnev with Russian National Orch. (Many parts are better with Dorati and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra)

9. Messiaen, Turangalila Symphony - Chailly with the Royal Concertgebouw Orch.

10. Schubert, Masses - Weil with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

11. Schumann, Symph. No 1 - Bernstein with the Vienna Philharmonic

12. John Field, Piano Concertos with Miceal O’Rourke

13. Korsakov, Scheherazade (arr. for Piano Duo by Korsakov) - with Pizarro and Panomariovaite (Pianos)

14. Haydn, Symphonies - Dorati with Philharmonia Hungarica

15. Bizet Songs, with Ann Murray (Mezzo Soprano) and Graham Johnson (Piano)

16. Dvorak, Symphony No 9 - Guitar Arrangement - Kazuhito Yamashita Guitar

17. Mozart, The Magical Flute - Arranged for Piano 4 hands by A. Zemlinsky - with Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa (Pianos)

-

Cf. Ellopos’ list of top Rock albums for 2008

Related (automatic selection):

• Glazunov’s Preludes, Fugues and Mazurkas
• Who is afraid of J. S. Bach?
• The Excellence of Daniel Barenboim
• Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty
• Starting with a Quartet by Glazunov
• A union of Orthodoxy with the papal clergy will destroy Christianity permanently