John Smyth asks for perfect cd's and says after listing many:

>Well, these are the recordings that keep me rapt from beginning to end--the
>suspension of disbelief is never interrupted.

I just looked at my collection, and there are four which I would consider
"perfect." Oddly, I think, most of them are perfect for me because of the
time in my life I first heard them, or what they do for me when I listen
to them at various times.  In anycase, here they are:

1. Bach, Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould's 1981 recording. On Sony
2. Allegri Miserere, Tallis Scholars with Peter Philips conducting; on Gimell
3. Brahms, Variaions and Fugue on a Theme of Handel, Opus 118 piano set
and the Rhapsodies, Opus 79; Emaunel Ax, on Sony
4. Chopin, various works, including the Ballade in A-flat and Fantasie in
F minor; Claudio Arrau; on Philips

I think these four discs would be my desert island discs, if we were having
a discussion about that.  And I think it's all a combination of being
struck by some aspect of the playing.  INteresting too, that save for one,
they're all piano works...

-Lindsey Orcutt
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