Saturday 30 June 2012

Encore...

Having recently heard Sir Colin Davis conducted the Berlioz Grande messe des morts made me recall his astounding Missa solemnis at the Proms last year, and think what I should give to experience something similar again. That set me thinking about works I should like to hear living (and still performing) musicians perform again, at least once more. Here are today's top dozen, in no particular order. (The list would doubtless change tomorrow.) I decided to exclude those who are no longer with us, let alone those I never heard. A choice between Furtwängler in the Ninth Synphony or Tristan, anyone? As it is, the task was well-nigh impossible: how to choose between Sir Colin in Beethoven's mass, Figaro, or Les Troyens...?

Sir Colin Davis - Missa solemnis
Bernard Haitink -  Der Ring des Nibelungen
Pierre Boulez - Mahler, Symphony no.6
Maurizio Pollini - Hammerklavier sonata
Christian Thielemann - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Daniel Barenboim - Schoenberg, Variations for Orchestra
Claudio Abbado - Il canto sospeso
Raymond Leppard - L'incoronazione di Poppea
Michael Gielen - Moses und Aron
Jonas Kaufmann - Fidelio
Riccardo Muti - Iphigénie en Tauride
Matthias Goerne - Winterreise