Mark Seeley writes:

>Also try Levine with Chicago and the Prokofiev Symphonies Nr.  1
>"Classical" and no. 5 in Bb major....

This is a very fine CD but shows up (again?) Levine's inability to phrase
memorably.  It's perfectly executed, of course, but the Classical esp.
lacks nuance, wit and subtlety, the smile that Koussevitsky and a few
others were able to bring to this piece.

My votes for Perfect CDs would go for:

Kubelik: Mussorgsky/Pictures/Bartok: Music for Percussion, etc.
(Mercury)
Kleiber: Beethoven Symphonies 5 & 7 (DG)
Beecham: Handel/Messiah (BMG) [Alas, poor Soria series, I knew it
well...]
Koroliev: Schubert/Sonata D960 (Tacet)
Kapell: The complete Kapell edition (BMG)
Moravec: Beethoven/sonatas (VAI)

There are more, but this should pique some interest.

Eric Kisch