Goldberg Variations
Gustav Leonhardt
Teldec

I never cease learning when I listen to this interpretation. Do the performer’s two hands belong to the same heart and brain?

BRAHMS

Symphony No 1
Columbia Symphony Orchestra
Bruno Walter
Sony

With the passage of time, I have come to a stable friendship with Brahms. His classicism lies beneath changing emotions, at the basis of which is a serene beauty.

MACHAUT

Messe de Nostre Dame
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Dominique Vellard
Harmonic Classics

What I revere here is Machaut’s work. There is something more than what can be heard. This is the key to appreciating the rest of the music of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This version is warm and profound.

BRUCKNER

Symphony No 7
Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer
EMI

Listening to the beginning of the Adagio, my arms fall and I can’t continue with what I was doing. I can only listen aghast. The same occurs with some movements from the fourth, fifth and ninth symphonies. Bruckner brings back fond memories of my father.

HINDEMITH

Symphony ‘Mathis der Maler’
Berliner Philarmoniker
Claudio Abbado
DG

A good technique when choosing your favourite recordings is to recall the works that made an impact on you during your adolescence. This is one of them.