Starting a Collection

[BrokenFingers]

So I decided that this year I'd start a classical music collection, CDs, Records, Dvds etc. And I decided that I'd organize all of the pieces I want to have in my collection into a list and go about buying every single one of them as time goes by. I'd like it if some of the forum members (You guys are still alive right?) would chime in with some of the pieces they think should be in my collection and what pianist/conductor etc. and why.

I.E. Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto - 1930/Horowitz: Not only is it the first recording of the Rach 3, but it is also what many consider to be the greatest. Horowitz is at his best.

or Chopin Etudes - 2000s/Lugansky: Technically one of the greatest pianists alive today Lugansky shines with Chopin's Etudes with several noteworthy performances.

I'm interested to see what you guys think would make a good collection =) (This isn't piano exclusive, you can put in a Mahler symphony or a recorder concerto, as long as you think it deserves to be in a collection) After I flesh out my list a little bit more I'll post it on here.

[PianistSk8er]

Haha, I'm still alive. Just terribly busy with school. My apologies!

Well, that is quite a huge task. It really depends on your tastes!

As far as piano music goes, I would obviously recommend most Horowitz, Stephen Hough, Glenn Gould, Cziffra, etc.

For orchestral music, Berlin Phil under Karajan is hard to beat. (Brahms and Beethoven symphonies are a must-have.)

Cello, you can't beat Yo-Yo Ma or Rostropovich.

Violin, I love Heifetz, Perlman, Kogan.

Maybe let me know which composers/artists you're looking for, and I can recommend some specific recordings. lol I have over 4500 recordings on my computer alone!

PS

[BrokenFingers]

Well for piano my favorite composers are Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff. I like a little bit of Beethoven and Mozart but I haven't really made an effort to listen to their best works yet.

For Violin... I know who Paganini and Sibelius are haha.

For Orchestra, all i've really heard is some Bolero, Beethoven, and Brahms 1st Symphony.

Pieces i've been considering so far -

Rach - All Concerti, 2nd sonata, musical moments, vocalise (orchestra or piano solo), preludes, and Elegi
Chopin - Every single work (I have Chopin on the back burner for right now though because I already have a complete works on my computer I acquired through questionable methods)
Liszt - Un Sospiro, Liebestraum, La Campbanella, Sonatas, Concertos, Mephisto Waltz, Hungarian Rhapsodies 2, 6
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto 1, Some excerpts from The Nutcracker
Debussy - Arabesques No. 1 and 2, Childrens Corner, Clair De Lune, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Preludes

For Pianists, I love Horowitz and Richter, hate Lang Lang, like Hoffman, Ashenkazy (?), Lugansky, Berman, Watts, Gould, etc

Feel free to suggest pieces from any composers. (Especially Liszt, Rach, and Paganini, I haven't been able to sift my way through the huge mass of Liszt's works yet and I haven't touched Paganini past caprices and a concerto)