My favorite classical recordings

Mahler 9th Symphony. Kirill Kondrashin, conductor

Elgar Violin Concerto (Hilary Hahn)

Shostakovich - String Quartets  (Fitzwilliam Quartet)

Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 (Mstislav Rostropovich, London Symphony)

Mahler - Symphony No. 5 (Bruno Walter)

Too many to list…

Been listening and collecting for decades, so this is an impossible task.  I just retired and having a lot of fun pullinhi lot of fun pulling CDs of the shelves that haven’t been played for years.

  I’ll suggest a current favorite: Aldo Ciccolini 5 disc set of Debussy Piano music

One thing that interests me is how my tastes have changed.  For example my first exposure to the Mozart Symphonies were the recordings of Klemperer and Walter.  Having revisited this recently, having primarily listed to HIPP versions for the last few decades, while I felt a nostalgic appreciation, I don’t think that I will return to these very often.

  Many violin concertos from the golden age of recording, such as Heifetz/Reiner collaborations, the soloist is miked so loud relative to the orchestra that it always disappoints when Igo to a concert and the balance is natural 

I concur. Now when I listen to Haydn, Mozart, Schubert or even Beethoven sometimes, I’m turned off by the older, heavier less HIP conceptions.  
And of course the Baroque has seen an enlightenment for some time now.