Donald Scarinci:

>I am relatively new to classical music.  I am looking for very high
>quality recordings of some of my favorite material.  Particularly, I am
>looking for "The Planets," the Beethoven Symphonies, and Handel's "Water
>Music." I am open to any other recommendations that bring out the sound
>of a good stereo.  I've been told that Telarc recordings are best.  Any
>thoughts by anyone out there?

Telarc make technically great recordings but the question you should ask
yourself is whether the quality of the recording is more important than
the performance.  You could buy a collection of great recordings and often
mediocre performances, or some performances which in some cases might not
be such great recordings.  I'd advise doing a lot of listening, reading CM
magazines and asking the good people on this List, *then* decide what you
want to buy.  I always envy someone like Donald who is "relatively new"
to CM.  It'd be wonderful to hear all that stuff again for the very first
time!

Richard Pennycuick
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