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
