Which artists do I like?

Shostakovich (the Fifth Symphony and the Eighth Quartet), Rachmaninov (the Third Piano Concerto, especially Yunchan Lim), and Mahler (the Second, Fifth, and Ninth symphonies; I am easing my way into the Tenth, and Abbado and Bernstein remain exceptional guides). Brahms, too: nearly every symphony under the sun, and the late piano works, especially the various intermezzi. Bach is more difficult to summarize, because he is too large and multi-faceted, but the choral and organ works, especially the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, are among my favorites. Then there are the many composers who arranged his works, Bach-Busoni on the piano, Bach-Rachmaninov, and an endless list of surprises. There is even a contrabass transcription of the Chaconne out there.

Schmidt's Fourth Symphony, composed after the death of his daughter in childbirth, is heartbreaking. Chopin's Fourth Ballade, then the First, and I do think his piano concertos are among his weaker works. Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, with Argerich exceptional here as always, and the Liszt-WagnerLiebestod transcription, one of my favorites; I heard Kantorow play it, exceptionally, as an encore after a recital. Schumann; Schubert's Ständchen and many of his other lieder; Tchaikovsky's Sixth, which I heard Nézet-Séguin conduct live and which moved me to tears; Sibelius, especially Hilary Hahn's interpretation of the violin concerto; and Edward Elgar, above all Jacqueline du Pré's interpretation of the Cello Concerto and the variations.