Most achingly-beautiful music

Hello Frap. It is indeed good to to see this place alive an kicking again. I wholeheartedly agree with you about the early von Karajan renderings of LvB. I could never really warm to the Kleiber, whereas I loved Reiner's Eroica and the Pastorale, which he did with the CSO. You make me curious about the Horenstein Maler, which I never had the chance to hear. I'll go hunting for Unicorns though I suppose, as in the fairytales, they are rare beasts indeed!

PIA' s Benediction Moon record. It's an spiritual experience and she has such a beautiful voice. If you like Enya go for this one.

Bach's Mass in B Minor does it for me. How can I ever forget seeing/hearing it performed in the church Handel attended in London. Check out #7, "Gratias agimus tibi"...it starts simply with the chorus and builds from there, adding tympani and trumpets by the closing forte. You would swear the angels had graced you with a brief appearance in your listening room.

Not so well known is Scriabin's Piano Concerto in F Sharp Minor. If you're partial to piano concerti and haven't heard this yet, I can't recommend it too strongly...as beautiful as anything by Rachmaninoff. I have it with Vladimir Ashkenazy, London 414 252-2 (CD).

Anything by Puccini works for me. I wish everyone could hear Jose Cura sing "Ch'ella mi Creda" from La Fanciulla del West, an extraordinarily powerful aria.

re, Mahler: Hello Frap & Detlof, my personal conclusions:

1st-- Walter/ N.Y.Phil. (Sony)
2nd-- Klemperer/ Philharmonia (EMI-Great Recordings...etc NOT the Concertgebouw-Decca)
3rd-- Adler/ Vienna S O (ORF)
4th-- Walter/ Vienna Philharmonic (Urania - must exist on other labels too)
5th+6th-- Barbirolli/ Philharmonia (EMI, etc)
7th-- Barbirolli/ Halle Prch (BBC Legends)
8th-- Horenstein/LSO (BBC Legends)
9th-- Bernstein/Berliner (Deutsche G)
10th--Bernstein/Vienna Phil. (Deutsche G)

6th-- Horenstein & Kubelik (with the Bavarian S O) also offer (to me) interesting versions.

Cheers!

Eva Cassidy "SongBird". Thought I'd never compare a female voice to Ella and get confused as to who I preferred.., well it has happened. She died in a car accident in 1996, but her music lives on. Please try it, then drop me an email and tell me thanks :)

Mike