recommended redbook classics

Newbee - great question. Ideally I would like to do both. I am very open to exploring new pieces - a real treasure hunt!
I play classical on a 6'8" Kawai Grand but not as skillfully as I would like, and therefore love piano music. I, of course, have many pieces I love that havent been mentioned but am always looking to broaden, particlularly into fairly accessible music that inspires or opens the heart, or transfixes with its beauty of form expression such as in the Bach fugues. Must confess that most 20th century and atonal do not do it for me at this time, but would like to appreciate Mahler better.

I am addicted to ArkivMusic,they have fantastic collection of hard to find classical cd.I have discovered some gems such as Mela Tennenbaum violonist playing beethoven ,mozart,vivaldi,locatteli etc on ESSay.Another great label of outstanding recording quality and great performers is Danacord,especialy marzak playing Rachmaninov concertos,and shostakowitch piano concertos.
For Russian composers,berlioz try Gergiev an outstanding conductor. Caetani another great conductor for shostakowitch on Art&music an excellent label for Italian composers.For classical sonatas,beethoven,shubert,mozart I particularly like wilhelm Kempf another great if eccentric pianist is fredric Gulda he has some great dvd videos as well as outstanding interpretations of bach's well tempered klavier.An outstanding conductor is Celibadacie although most of the recording are not of the highest audio quality,try his bruckners.sibelius and richard strauss.For sibelius try Osmo Vanska on BIS label.The list goes on forever.Enjoy

For an instant classical redbook collection why not just order all of the recently remastered/reissued 20 "RCA Living Stereo" and 5 "Mercury Living Presence" SACD/CD hybrids? There are all great.

Go to the link

http://www.elusivedisc.com/

and search on the phrases in quotes above. Order 'em al. They are a bargain at $10 to $12 each.

Newbee. I took you up on your recommendation exploring Schumann's solo piano works and obtained a CD of Schumann Fantasy Op17 played by Evgeny Kissin RCA and absolutely loved it.
Tonight I owe you another thank you. I listened to the Ohlosson Chopin Krakowiak on Arabesque you recommended and was totally transfixed with the performance and sound quality. He reveals the treasure
in each note and then creates magic in the sum of the parts. I will not be surprised if this recording remains my lifetime favorite of the piece. It is a CD that I would be confident my LP friends would enjoy.

From Newbee" "Now if you want outstanding performances which I always prefer over any sonic issues I would be happy to share. ... for example, Beethoven Sym #5 - Carlos Kleiber on DG is intensely exciting - it just doesn't get any better than this!"
To Newbee - I listened to Kleiber last night - I totally agrree, what a great 5th! Energy, heart and loveliness, really captuired the joy and power of the peice. Also the sonic were fine.