I am pretty ignorant when it comes to classical music. I listen to a lot of jazz and a bit if post-rock and indie-tronic mostly. These are all pretty different from one another. However, they are all available from yourmusic.com so the price is right. Which would you choose?


Sir Colin Davis - Sibelius: Kullervo (SACD Hybrid)
Janos Starker - Schumann/ Lalo: Cello Concertos (SACD Hybrid)
Valery Gergiev - Mahler: Symphony No. 6 [SACD] MCH Hybrid SACD
Valery Gergiev - Mahler: Symphony No. 1 [SACD]
Sir Colin Davis - Elgar: The Dream Of Gerontius (SACD)
Marcus Creed - Bruckner - Mass In E Minor; Motets (SACD)
Helmuth Rilling - Britten: War Requiem (2 SACD) (2x as much cuz it is 2 SACDs
Seiji Ozawa - Bartok: Concerto For Orchestra (SACD Hybrid)

All of 'em. :D

I'm partial to Sibelius, Elgar, Britten and Bartok on that list but they should all be fine. Of course, I'm not a seasoned classical buyer--I know enough to know what I like in terms of compositions, but I've not mastered the ability to differentiate between any but the most obviously different approaches on various recordings. I don't think you can go terribly wrong with any of the choices in the list in terms of performance, particularly if you're just starting to get into it.

Sir Colin Davis - Sibelius: Kullervo (SACD Hybrid)I prefer the Spano/Telarc and the Segerstam/Ondine although the Davis is fine.

Valery Gergiev - Mahler: Symphony No. 6 [SACD] MCH Hybrid SACD
Valery Gergiev - Mahler: Symphony No. 1 [SACD]Eh. I have not yet heard a Gergiev/Mahler that I prefer to other performances. Sound is OK.

Sir Colin Davis - Elgar: The Dream Of Gerontius (SACD)I found this thoroughly enjoyable although the sound was not the best of SACD.

Seiji Ozawa - Bartok: Concerto For Orchestra (SACD Hybrid)Not bad at all (and that comes from someone who has never been a fan of Ozawa) but I prefer Reiner/RCA, Boulez/Sony and Kocsis/Hungaroton. The sound on the Eschenbach/Ondine is spectacular but the performance is unusual.