Welcome Barrett Reynolds, who enthused about CM and asked about...

>...what pieces comprise your absolute musical zenith?

A recent MCML exchange considered how remarkable it is that -- a bonus
for musical joys -- tastes change with stunning regularity.  Just stand
still and wait, and even stuff you once couldn't hack is likely to reveal
its charms.

Normally, I'm 95% stuck on 20th century, non-vocal fare, so would be
liable to suggest:

Bela Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.  (Am partial to
Bernstein/NYPhil, on Sony; also the Mravinsky/Leningrad PO, a live version
on Praga with a rather fresh ending).

But it's recently been wall-to-wall choral music for me.  These four
pieces in particular:

J Haydn: Missa in angustiis, aka Nelson Mass (Pinnock, on Archiv)

Bartok: Cantata Profana (Boulez/Chicago SO on DG; also Robert Shaw/Atlantans,
on Telarc)

Vivaldi: Gloria in D Major, and JS Bach's Magnificat, also in D Maj
(Shaw/A..s again, Telarc)

Bert Bailey