Classical Companion

Essential Recordings

Columbia SO, etc/Igor Stravinsky
Sony 88875026162 (56 CDs)
The Alpha, but not the Omega: mono and stereo recordings including several subtly different second thoughts.

Le Sacre du printemps
Decca 4783729 (20 CDs)
Enthusiast magnet: the ballet that changed music for ever, in no fewer than 40 different recordings made over more than 60 years.

SWR SO/Michael Gielen
Hänssler SWR19023CD (six CDs)
An essential primer to late Stravinsky: Agon, Threni, the Huxley Variations and more, elucidated by a modern composer-conductor.

Philharmonia etc/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Sony 88985369592 (six CDs)
Thudding impact in The Rite Of Spring, Oedipus rex and Symphony In Three Movements; distilled clarity for the cool beauties of Orpheus and the Cantata.

CBSO, BPO etc/Simon Rattle
Warner Classics 2427542 (four CDs)
Maestro and musicians don’t miss a trick in the Diaghilev ballets, jazz pieces and an immaculate Symphonies Of Wind from Berlin.

LSO/Sir Colin Davis
Philips 4647442 (download only)
Davis’s Orpheus was my teenage Road to Damascus: it’s still an ideal introduction.