Best CLASSICAL Compact Discs?

A few of my favorite: On the Decca label, their Legends Series, Vivaldi le quattro stagioni - The Four Seasons - Neville Marriner, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, this CD is 96kHz 24-bit Super Digital Transfer. This version of the Four Seasons is more "alive and vibrant" than any other version that I've heard. Also on the Decca Label-Beethoven:The Symphonies-Christopher Hogwood, The Academy of Ancient Music, this is an excellent 5 CD set with the best version (IMHO) of #5 in C minor and a warm wonderful version of #9. An excellent 5 CD collection of Mozart is on the Philips Label-The Mozart Experience-Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Every cd in this collection is a "gem." Next!

If you're interested in any contemporary music, I would suggest any of the available EMI recordings of Thomas Ades's music. This young man is really remarkable, and all four of the disks (as well as the new recording of him playing other people's works) are very well recorded. I would also suggest the Argo recordings of Mark-Anthony Turnage's work. One of my favorite cds has always been the Telarc recording of Andreas Schmidt with Lopez Cobos doing Mahler songs. I'm not especially fond of some Telarc disks, but this one has always had a special place in my collection. I often take this with me to demo new equipment. I think that this disk also demonstrates that Schmidt is one of the most underrated baritones around today.

Thanks folks, this is exactly what I was looking for. Here are a few I have found so far: Schubert, 8th and 9th Symphonies, Karajan, EMI Classics 66105; Haydn, Cello Concertos 1&2, Rostropovich, EMI Classics 67263; Liszt, Sacred Music Transcriptions, Thompson, Naxos 8.553659. These are not sonic masterpieces, just good recordings of great music and excellent performances. Regards...Dan