Classical Music: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Recordings

I garnered some great information from this 2004 book. I listen to classical music at a minimum of 8 hours per day (mostly CDs), every day and I have a nice collection of about 500 recordings. I was pleased that many of the CDs recommended in here were already to be found in my stash. I thought that Kozinn was a little heavy on Leonard Bernstein performances but, other than that I have few criticisms of his recommendations. Given that this is a New York Times book, I cannot say that I'm terribly surprised to the numerous allusions to Bernstein. But the chief point here is that nothing less than top-notch performances are recommended. The reader intially gets 100 detailed recommendations and then Kozinn gives us a second 100 preferred CDs which were initially shaved from the top contenders. There's some terrific information about the composers in those first 100 essays and that is the strength of the book, given that it otherwise deteriorates as time goes on and as aggressive recording companies like Naxos continue to turn out numerous updated classical recordings. What does this book do for you? Chiefly, it gets the newer listeners to classical music buying some historic and quality performances rather than wasting money on marginal ones. Secondarily, one garners some useful biographical information about the composers and the respective conductors. This book is definitely worthwhile reading for the classical music lover and it's a good value.

This book tries to cover too much. The author, who I must admit recommends recordings that I totally agree with, tries to cover both symphonic and chamber music in a single volume. Some essential music that I would have included, e.g. Beethoven Piano Concerti, are not reviewed. What is reviewed must be taken seriously by any classical music record collector. The author definitely looked at the recorded history of each selection he investigates and informs his readers of alternative recordings. This book will be great fun for lovers of classical music in general and record collectors in particular. I compliment the author for his inclusion on older records that have been beautifully remastered for CD. This is especially useful for collectors that are of younger generation, i.e., under 40. Ross Scimeca

I had been wanting to expand my classical music knowledge away from those little snippets of classical favourites so favoured by the commercial classical radio stations. I first borrowed this book from the library and enjoyed it so well that I bought it. It's an excellent book to help you get started and exploring. I like the varied choices, from over so many different time periods, and the personal and detailed commentary. Yes, other books like Penguin give you everything, but you have no clue where to start. This is a great beginning.

I used to know a lot about classical music when I was younger, but I'd drifted into other kinds of music over the years. Now that I'm interested in getting reacquainted with the classics, I'm finding this book extremely useful and well-written. The author highlights 100 CDs he recommends and then in individual essays (each around 3-4 pages) talks about the pieces he chose, with background on the composer, the composition, and why he chose that particular recording. Often, he'll mention other excellent performances worth checking out. As an appendix, Mr. Kozinn included a supplemental list of the next 100 recordings he'd recommend, which he says are all worthy of inclusion in the main list. What impressed me most about the book is the overall balance of choices. First, between canonical choices and his more personal preferences--that's very appealing to me, because lots of people could throw together a list of the 100 most famous classical works, but it takes someone with real knowledge to dig deeper. Secondly, he chooses a nice range of music. Early music fans should be pleased, as well as fans of contemporary classics (like me), work by the minimalists like Adams, Glass and Reich, as well as new spiritual composers like Part, plus many I hadn't heard of before. But he also gives a lot of attention to the likes of Bach/Brahms/Beethoven/Mozart. I found this really useful as a companion to the NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.