What are, for you, the five best works of your five favorite 20th-century composers -- and if possible, your favorite performances of those five works? Here's mine:
Bela Bartok
1. Music for Strings, Percusson & Celesta - Fritz Reiner / Chicago (RCA)
2. Concerto for Orchestra - Fritz Reiner / Chicago (RCA)
3. String Quartet #5 - Takacs Quartet (Decca)
4. String Quartet #4 - Takacs Quartet (Decca)
5. Violin Concerto #2 - James Ehnes / Gianandrea Noseda / BBC (Chandos)
Igor Stravinsky
1. Rite of Spring - Valery Gergiev & Kirov (Phillips)
2. Symphony in Three Movements - Pierre Boulez / Cleveland (DG)
3. Symphony of Psalms - Simon Rattle / Berliner Philharmoniker (EMI)
4. Agon - Michael Gielen / SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden (Hänssler)
5. Histoire du soldat - Igor Stravinsky / Columbia (Columbia / Sony)
Claude Debussy
1. La Mer - Bernard Haitink / Concertgebouw (Philips)
2. Preludes - Paul Jacobs (Nonesuch)
3. String Quartet - Quatuor Ebene (Virgin Classical)
4. Sonate pour flute, alto & harpe - Montreal Chamber Players (Autour de la harpe)
5. Prelude à l'après-midi d'une faune - Pierre Boulez / Cleveland (DG)
Gyorgy Ligeti
1. Atmospheres - Claudio Abbado / Berliner Philharmoniker (Clear & Cloudy)
2. Lux Aeterna - Terry Edward / London Sinfonietta (GL Edition, vol. 2)
3. Preludes - Pierre-Laurent Aimard (GL Edition, vol. 3)
4. Lontano - Jonathan Nett / Berliner Philharmoniker (GL Project, vol. 2)
5. Melodien - Reinhert de Leeuw / Schönberg Ensemble (GL Project, vol. 1)
Sergei Prokofiev
1. Piano Concerto #2 - Vladimir Ashkenazy / Andre Previn (Decca)
2. Violin Concerto #1 - Maxim Vengerov / Mstislav Rostropovich (Teldec)
3. Piano Concerto #3 - Martha Argerich / Claudio Abbado (DG)
4. Piano Sonata #2 - Freddy Kempf (BIS)
5. Symphony #5 - Valery Gergiev / London Symphony (Philips)