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 [log in to unmask]