Here are the top 10 discs in my collection. My criteria are excellent music and performance captured in a superb recording.
Handel: Messiah (Dublin version, 1742)
Dunedin Consort, John Butt
A Linn SACD. Magnificent music, playing, singing and recording. Check out track #12 on disc 2, How beautiful are the feet.
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor
Wiener Philharmoniker, Carlo Maria Giulini
A redbook disc from Deutsche Grammophon recorded in 1988. I love this piece and this interpretation is perfect for this cathedral of symphonies. The dynamic range is huge and comfortably captured here. Watch out for those brass climaxes. Look for Japanese SHMCD remaster if you can (UCCG-4869).
Handel: Concerti grossi Op. 6 Nos. 1-12 HWV319-330
Avison Ensemble, Pavlo Beznosiuk (director)
Another Linn SACD (yes, they are good). I love this 3-disc set and keep coming back to it for sheer musical and audiophile pleasure.
Rameau: Pièces de Clavecin en concerts
Ensemble Baroque Nouveau
If you think chamber music is boring, check out this Reference Recording disc and you'll change your mind in a hurry. There are only four performers playing these pieces but they sound like a small orchestra. The sound of the harpsichord captured here is delicious.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 'Eroica'
Le Concert des Nations, Jordi Savall
In my opinion, the best recording of the best symphony. Listen to the intensity of the Marcia Funebre and you'll see what I mean. The fugue is amazing and the trumpet thereafter sounds like a call for final judgement. This Auvidis Fontalis redbook recording from 1997 is the best I've heard an orchestra in my listening room. This is probably my #1 disc overall.
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake, Op. 20
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Charles Dutoit
Every time I play the finale of this ballet (Act IV By the Lake: No. 28. Scene: Allegro agitato, Act IV By the Lake: No. 29. Finale) I get goose bumps. The way the recording, made at the St. Eustache church in Montreal, captures the brass and the harp during the last few bars is breathtaking.
Bach, C P E:
Symphony in E minor, Wq. 178 (H653)
Oboe Concerto in E flat major, Wq. 165 (H468)
Keyboard Concerto in D minor, Wq. 17 (H420)
Symphony in D major, Wq. 183/1 (H663)
Barokkanerne, Alfredo Bernardini
This SACD from the Norwegian LAWO label is outstanding and the music on this disc is pure Baroque delight.
Bach, C P E:
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Wq. 170 (H432)
Cello Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Wq. 171 (H436)
Cello Concerto No. 3 in A major, Wq. 172 (H439)
Hidemi Suzuki (cello)
Bach Collegium Japan
Another CPE Bach disc from another Scandinavian label, BIS. I've never heard a cello sound as good as it sounds here.
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm
This is an Esoteric SACD remaster of a 1959 DG recording. The Brahms C minor symphony is one of my favorite pieces of music. Böhm takes a perfect tempo and the playing is superb. It's hard to believe, but the 50+ year-old recording sounds immediate, transparent and lush. There must be something to the expensive Esoteric SACD remasters.
Heinichen: Dresden Concerti
Musica Antiqua Köln, Reinhard Goebel
Never heard of Heinichen? Neither had I, but when I purchased this 2-disc set in the early 1990s I was in for a very pleasant surprise. Your attention will be held from start to finish when you hear these baroque concerti expertly played by Musica Antiqua Köln and glowingly recorded by Archiv.
My second top 10 list (discs 11-20) will be posted here shortly.