Best Recording of Music

"Ultimate in playback and listening" ? Well, I'll offer these on vinyl... Next week, I might offer a different list.

Stravinsky - Firebird, Dorati/LSO, Mercury/Classic Records 45 rpm reissue (with the Speakers Corner reissue different but still very good)

Stravinsky - Petrouchka, Danon/RPO, Chesky CR42, reissue from the Readers Digest box set, recorded by Kenneth Wilkinson

Kodaly - Hary Janos Suite, Kertesz/LSO, King SuperAnalogue reissue of Decca SXL 6136, another Kenneth Wilkinson/Kingsway Hall recording

Malcolm Arnold - Eight English Dances, Arnold/LPO, Lyrita SRCS 109, yet another remarkable Wilkinson recording

Music for Baroque Cornette, Klimo OW 004

Music for Baroque Violin, Banchini -vn, Klimo OW 002

La Spagna (Music of Spain in the XV-XVI-XVII Centuries), Gregorio Paniagua/Paniagua/AtrmMMadrid, BIS LP 163/164

Villancicos (Spanish Songs of the 15th-16th Centuries), Gregorio Paniagua/Paniagua/AtrmMMadrid, Harmonia Mundi HM 1025

Rossini - Overtures, Gamba/LSO, Decca SXL 2266 Speakers Corner reissue

Rossini - Sonate a Quattro, Salvatore Accardo, et al, Philips 4759648 (2LPs) - reissue

Miklos Rozsa - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Hendl/DallasSO, Heifetz -vn, RCA LSC 2767 45rpm Classic Records reissue

Royal Ballet Gala Performances, Ansermet/RoyalOperaH Covent Garden, RCA LDS 6065 45rpm Classic Records reissue box set

Joni Mitchell - Blue, the Rhino reissue mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray

Neil Young - Greatest Hits, Reprise 48935 Classic Records reissue

Ossian - Seal Song, Iona IR 002

Tannahill Weavers - Cullen Bay, Green Linnett SIF 1108

June Tabor and Martin Simpson - A Cut Above, Topic 12TS410

The Who - Who's Next, Classic Records reissue

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Absolute Originals, 45 rpm box set, mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray

Lightin' Hopkins - Last Night Blues, with Sonny Terry, Prestige Bluesville, 45rpm Analogue Productions reissue

Kenny Drew - Undercurrent, with Freddie Hubbard and Hank Mobley, Blue Note ST 84059 - 45rpm Music Matters reissue (get any of the Music Matters 45rpm reissues)

Hank Mobley - Soul Station, Blue Note ST 84031 - 45rpm Music Matters reissue)
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Among the very best I've heard is an LP played for me today by a friend. It is a hard to find LP on the Sound Storage Recording Company label with music by Bondon and Debussy performed by the Carter Chamber Ensemble, SSR 2020. This is one of the most realistic, immediate and natural sounding recordings I've ever heard.

The goal of the Sound Storage Recording Company was the "electro-mechanical DUPLICATION of a musical event; i.e., reproduction which would be indistinguishable from the original event in all respects."  Whew! What an aspiration!! 

They only made a limited number of LPs around 1980. I've heard two of them and have been successful in tracking down and buying one of those two for my own shelves. The results they accomplish through incredible attention to detail in every step of the recording process and LP manufacturing process is amazing.