Franz Schubert: Winterreise (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Gerald Moore; not sure which version we had at home)
Again, a staple recording from my childhood; I would listen to the entire cycle at thirteen every weekend to inspire myself to practise all day. I still find it as emotionally draining as I did then.

Franz Schubert: Sonata in A minor D 845, Klavierstücke D 946 (Andreas Staier; Teldec 0630-11084-2)
The first two movements of this sonata are among my favourite in the piano repertoire. Few artists are as profoundly moving as Schubert (the extraordinary desperation of the end of the first movement or the deceptive simplicity of the second); Andreas Staier on a wonderful 1825 Viennese instrument couldn’t be bettered.

Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder (Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Rudolf Kempe/Berlin Philharmonic; EMI CDC 7 47657 2)
Probably my favourite work by Mahler: the almost baroque conciseness combined with the intensity of emotion makes it, to me, one of the most perfect song cycles. Especially now that I have a three-year old daughter, I find it almost impossible to listen to it — Fischer-Dieskau’s interpretation is too real to bear.