John Roos’ Blog

With great interest, I awaited the June 2010 issue of Gramaphone magazine. The advertized feature was the “250 Greatest Recordings of All Time.” The promotion clearly peaked my interest. But the actual feature proved to be a real head-scratcher.

It hardly needs to be said, but such lists cannot be authorative, but merely reflect personal responses, interests, and histories. (This particular list dealt only with classical recordings, a fact which must be kept in mind.) Having said that, this particular list seems particularly flawed, with the inclusion of a high number of questionable, particularly subjective choices.

Let’s start with Mozart piano concertos, of which there are many outstanding recordings that must qualify among the best ever. I’d start with Murray Perahia and Clifford Curzon but we could include Annie Fischer, Mitsoku Uchida, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Serkin, etc. But the only recording on Gramaphon’s list was by Friedrich Guilda! His recordings certainly are good and idiosyncratic but hardly among the greatest of all time.

Many of the recordings of the Chicago Symphony under Georg Solti are classic. Certainly among the best ever. For example, I would rank their Mahler’s 8th Symphony. Their Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. Their Bartok. Even their Brahms symphonies. But none of these was on the list. I was pleased to see their recording of Liszt’s Faust Symphony included, but was shocked by the inclusion of their Beethoven symphony recordings. These are fine performances but not among the greatest of all time.

There should be little doubt that Glenn Gould’s two recordings of the Bach Goldberg Variations, as different as they were, are great recordings. But this list includes both, completely ignoring the other glorious recordings of that great work, by Murray Perahia and Andras Shiff just to name a two. This was very strange.

There are so many great recordings of music by Handel, with a dozen more more great recordings of the Messiah alone. My list always has started with Colin Davis’ first recording. But Gramaphone’s lsit of the greatest recordings did not include a single Messiah. In fact, only one Handel recording!

There was only one recording listed of works by Haydn. But this included none of the classic recordings of his “London” symphonies by Colin Davis, George Szell, and others. Not the staggering important complete set of Haydn symphonies led by Antal Dorati. Just a recording of the Paris symphonies directed by Kristjan Jarvi.

One could write a book about their choices for Mahler symphonies. I certainly agreed with their choice of Bernstein’s New York Philharmonic recordings of the first four, and his classic recording of Mahler 5 with the Vienna Philharmonic. I certainly would agree that Simon Rattle’s recording of Mahler’s 9th is great. But what about what Herbert Von Karajan’s Berlin Philharmonic recordings of this symphony? Claudio Abbado’s Vienna recording? Or my favorite, Giulini leading the Chicago Symphony? I would even include the more recent recording under Roger Norrington.

I thought it was strange that they included Rattle’s earlier Birmingham recording of Mahler’s 10th, instead of what seems to be a clearly superior performance that he recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic. And how about the pioneering recording Eugene Ormandy made of this symphony, that convinced many people (including me) that this was a serious work, not just a sketch?

Completely absent from this list were the really classic recording of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony. Of the Strauss tone poems. Of the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. Strange.

Then, there was their inclusion of Temirkanov’s recording of the Shostakovich Symphony 7. This is a fine recording but I can think of at least seven I would rate ahead of it, not the least of which is the Bernstein/Chicago recording, which certainly ranks among the greatest of all time.

Every time I look through the list, I find myself nodding at times in agreement, such as the inclusion of Robert Shaw’s recording of the Rachmaninov Vespers and Charles Dutoit’s recording of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe. But more often I find myself shaking my head: None of the great recordings of music by Philip Glass, John Adams or John Tavener, but two recordings of Steven Reich’s Different Trains! Only one recording of music by Sibelius.

I started to put together my own list of the “greatest” recordings of all time. Here are a few that, in my judgment, belong on this list:

Tubin Symphony 4 - Neeme Jarvi, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, BIS CDE-227
Shostakovich Symphony 7 - Leonard Bernsten, Chicago Symphony
Mahler Symphony 9 - Giulini, Chicago Symphony
Mahler Symphony 9 - Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic (2nd recording)
Haydn Complete Symphonies - Dorati, Philharmonica Hungarica
Bruckner Symphony 5 - Franz Welser-Most, London Philharmonic
Mozart Piano Concertos - Murray Perahia, English Chamber Orchestra
Mozart Piano Concerts - Clifford Curzon/Benjamin Britten, English Chamber Orchestra
Mahler Symphony 8 - Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony
Robert Schuman Symphonies - Leonard Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic
Shostakovich Symphony 4 - Bernard Haitink, Chicago Symphony
Mahler Symphony 3 - Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic
Shostakovich Symphony 11 - Rostropovich, London Symphony
Mozart Piano Sonatas - Mitsuko Uchida
Shostakovich Symphony 13 - Georg Solti, Chicago Symphony
Tavener Eternity’s Sunrise - Paul Goodwin; Academy Of Ancient Music
Arvo Part Frartres - Rudolf Werthen, I Fiamminghi
Arvo Part Tabla Rasa, Symphony 3, Fratres - Neeme Jarvi, Gothenberg
Bartok Piano Concertos 1 & 2 - Pollini/Abbado, Chicago Symphony
Bartok Concerto for Orchestra - Reiner, Chicago Symphony
Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra - Reiner, Chicago Symphony
Handel Messiah - Colin Davis, London Symphony (first recording)
Beethoven Symphonies 5 & 7 - Carlos Kleiber, Vienna Philharmonic
Berlioz Te Deum - Colis Davis, London Symphony
Vaughan Williams Sancta Civitas - David Willcocks, Choir Of King’s College Cambridge
Mahler Das Lied Von Der Erde - Leonard Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic

The more I think about it, the more I want to add. I suppose the purpose of the Gramaphone list is to spark opinions, to get people thinking. They certainly accomplished that for me.

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