music you cant live without

Shubertmaniac makes a good point. I've always liked Murray Perihia's CBS recording of the Schubert Impromptus, not for sonic reasons or necessarily for performance reasons, but because it is well-played and the first recording I ever heard of the piece, and I liked the music and kept listening to it. When I think of it, many of the performances of classical pieces I like best are the first ones I heard of them (for example, the Richter Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto, which is quite different than any other I've heard, and Rubenstein's performance of the Rhapsodies on a Theme of Paganini). Hasn't stopped me from listening to or enjoying other interpretations, fortunately, but the first ones are the ones I wind up comparing all others to.

Rcprince-I had Grant Johanssen playing the Rachmaninoff with a lot of fire in my late, lamented vinyl days but haven't found the CD; best keypounder I do have is Emil Gilels playing all 5 Beethoven with the Cleveland, Szell, fabulous performances, Gilels never let technique get in the way of emotion and the 70's Cleveland was easily the "best band in the land" as the New York Times put it. That has to be the classical I couldn't live without.

I knew johanssen didn't sound right, just got back from amazon, it's Byron Janis playing concertos 2&3 on mercury 32759

Kitch29, I've got the original Merc with Janis playing the 3rd, it is excellent, also very good on the CD transfer. I have always liked Gilels, I'm hoping that Classic reissues his Brahms 2, which was a Mohr/Layton production released by RCA as a Victrola. My favorite performance of that piece.

Lyle Lovett. Moody Blues. Mozart. The rest is icing on the cake, (and I do like icing so give me the corner slice, if you please.)