Records worth the trouble

This semester is uncommonly busy, and I feel like I am neglecting my blog. That won't do, will it? I'm now making a concerted effort to do something about that, and part of it is going to be making lists of records worth the trouble of finding and giving a spin, so to speak. If everything goes to plan, this will lead to posts on various issues and problems posed by the records. This is not a playlist either: if I recommend a record, I recommend the whole record. Don't get me wrong, I like playlists as much as the next twenty-something sitting safe and secure in my liberal arts college. I just like the more visceral and rewarding idea of records more. I won't comment much, if at all on the records here. I'd rather you seek them out or give them another spin without my nattering on about them. For now. With that out of the way, here we go:

1. Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Daniel Barenboim, cond. (Bayreuth; Teldec 1999)

2. Wagner: Tannhäuser. Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. (Philharmonia; DGG 1989)

3. Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 5 and Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 26. Sir Clifford Curzon, piano. Pierre Boulez, cond. (BBCSO; BBC Legends 1999: rec. 1971/1974)

4. Beethoven: Selected piano sonatas. Artur Schnabel, piano. (EMI 2005)

5. Mahler. Das Lied von der Erde and Mozart: Symphony no. 40. Araiza/Fassbaender, soloists in Mahler. Carlo Maria Giulini, cond. (WP/Salzburger Festspiele; Orfeo 2005: rec. 1987)
Note: I have commented here on this recording before, but I have been listening to it at length lately, especially "Der Abschied."