For your specific purpose (chilling out after work), I second the Rubenstein Chopin Nocturnes with (almost) a money-back guarantee.
Debussy is another excellent place to go. Anything by Arrau on Phillips (fine recordings), Paul Jacobs on Nonesuch, Michelini on DG.
A lessor known treat is Reinbert de Leeuw doing Satie on Phillips. Superb sound. Some people don't like de Leeuw's Satie because he plays very slowly (and this is also only early Satie, though it's some of the best Satie). I find it hypnotic. Available on 3 individual Lps or in a box.
Charles Koechlin's Les Heures Persanes (The Persian Hours) is one of the great lesser-known piano masterworks, in an hypnotic, almost hallucinatory vein, brilliantly played by Herbert Henck and stunning recorded by Wergo. For me, this was a "must-have" when I got back into vinyl a year or so ago.
I love this kind of stuff, and the list goes on. I found all of these, sooner or later, on Ebay or via Irvmusic.com.
Good luck, and enjoy. Should lead to many hours of listening pleasure.
Debussy is another excellent place to go. Anything by Arrau on Phillips (fine recordings), Paul Jacobs on Nonesuch, Michelini on DG.
A lessor known treat is Reinbert de Leeuw doing Satie on Phillips. Superb sound. Some people don't like de Leeuw's Satie because he plays very slowly (and this is also only early Satie, though it's some of the best Satie). I find it hypnotic. Available on 3 individual Lps or in a box.
Charles Koechlin's Les Heures Persanes (The Persian Hours) is one of the great lesser-known piano masterworks, in an hypnotic, almost hallucinatory vein, brilliantly played by Herbert Henck and stunning recorded by Wergo. For me, this was a "must-have" when I got back into vinyl a year or so ago.
I love this kind of stuff, and the list goes on. I found all of these, sooner or later, on Ebay or via Irvmusic.com.
Good luck, and enjoy. Should lead to many hours of listening pleasure.