20 Best Naxos Releases

I will third Rich's recommendation of the RCA Living Stereos and raise the possibility of the recent remastered Mercury Living Presence CD/SACD's. My opinion is also that these will be better performances--more musically satisfying--than the Naxo's.

Thanks for the tips Guys!!!

Off I go.... It's fun to buy music for others!!!

Robert Craft conducting Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" (on Naxos) is outstanding!

I'm not a fan of Naxos, myself - and I agree with the others recommending fewer of a better quality.

However, there are bargains - even better than Naxos - so here's a webpage you may be interested in:

http://www.classicalnotes.net/columns/cheapweb.html

Also - before making any purchases try to ascertain whether your father in law is more interested in large scale orchestral (which is what most of the RCA's are) or smaller scale chamber music like quartets, sonatas, and solo performances. Some people really prefer one over the other.

About four years ago, I posted a list of Naxos "Top 47" recordings, as determined by reviews and ratings in various classical music magazines and articles. Here is the link to that post in the A-gon archives:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rmusi&1012420599&openusid&zzSdcampbell&4&5#Sdcampbell

Hope you find the list useful.

Best regards to all,

Scott C-