You knew I’d weigh in.

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The full list of my picks for best classical CDs and downloads of 2011 is below the break.

 

Glazunov: Complete Concertos

Violin Concerto in a minor, Op. 82 / Chant du Ménestrel for cello, Op. 71 / Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Major Op. 100 / Saxophone Concerto in E-flat Major, Op. 109 / Piano Concerto No. 1 in f minor, Op. 92 / Reverie for French horn, Op. 24 / Concerto ballata in C Major for cello and orchestra, Op. 108 / Meditation, Op. 32
Rachel Barton Pine, violin / Wen-Sinn Yang, cello / Alexander Romanovsky, piano / Marc Chisson, saxophone / Alexey Serov, horn
Russian National Orchestra
José Serebrier
Warner Classics 2564 679 465 (2 CDs)

 

Mahler: Symphony No. 10 (first Cooke edition)

1960 lecture-performance / 1964 Proms première
Deryck Cooke / Philharmonia Orchestra / London Symphony Orchestra
Berthold Goldschmidt
Testament SBT 31457 (3 CDs)

 

Mendelssohn: Octet (original 1825 edition)

Eroica Quartet and Friends
Resonus Classics RES10101 (download only; FLAC, AAC, and mp3 formats)

 

Scelsi Edition Volume 8: Piano Works 4

Hispania ‘Triptyque pour piano’ / Suite No. 5 ‘Il Circo’ / Suite No. 6 ‘I Capricci di Ty’
Stephen Clarke, piano
mode records 227 (CD)

 

Mass in 40 Parts

Striggio: Missa “Ecco si Beato Giorno” in 40 Parts / Ecce beatam lucem
Galilei: Contrapunto Secondo di BM
Tallis: Spem in Alium
I Fagiolini
Robert Hollingworth
Decca 4782734 (CD plus DVD)

 

Vivaldi | Prima Donna

Nathalie Stutzmann / Orfeo 55
Deutsche Grammophon 476 439-0

 

Albert Coates Conducts

London Symphony Orchestra / orchestra
Albert Coates
Pristine Audio
PASC296 – COATES conducts Beethoven and Bach
PASC297 – COATES conducts Russian Music
PASC298 – COATES conducts Mozart and Beethoven
PASC301 – COATES conducts Tchaikovsky and Glinka
PASC303 – COATES conducts Russian and French music
PASC304 – COATES conducts Russian Electric Recordings

 

Heifetz: The Complete Album Collection

Jascha Heifetz
Sony/BMG Classics 886977005022 (103 CDs + 1 DVD)<

 

Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 6: 1990-2000

Conductors include John Adams, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, Bernard Haitink, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Sir Georg Solti, and Klaus Tennstedt
RCO Live 11004

 

Vaclav Talich Live 1939

Dvorak: Slavonic Dances Nos. 9-16, Op. 72 Nos. 1-8
Smetana: Má Vlast
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Radiojournal Orchestra Prague
Vaclav Talich
Supraphon SU40652 (2 CDs)