Hidden Gem

Webern / Haubenstock-Ramati / Urbanner: String Quartets

Alban Berg Quartett

Best pressing: Original Telefunken pressing

An early Alban Berg Quartett record of Viennese modern music, rarely seen today.

Hidden Gem

Growing Up in Hollywood Town

Amanda McBroom

Best pressing: Original Sheffield Lab direct-to-disc LP

Key track: Amanda

Cut direct to disc on Stage One at MGM in Culver City; a Stereophile Recording of the Month.

Hidden Gem

The Astounding Eyes of Rita

Anouar Brahem

Key track: The Astounding Eyes of Rita

Oud, bass clarinet, bass and hand drums recorded at Artesuono, Udine (Stefano Amerio, engineer). Songlines gave it five stars, calling the sound "perfectly transparent and gloriously lush."

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Mozart: String Quartets K. 465 "Dissonance" & K. 458 "The Hunt"

Auryn Quartet

Key track: String Quartet No. 19 in C, K. 465 "Dissonance": I. Adagio – Allegro

From the German audiophile label Tacet, recorded with tube equipment; reviewers praise an extremely natural, spatial sound, "silk and gold."

Hidden Gem

For Duke

Bill Berry and His Ellington All-Stars

Best pressing: Original M&K RealTime direct-to-disc LP

A direct-to-disc session with Ray Brown, Scott Hamilton and Marshal Royal; Stereophile praised its open, natural highs and realistic cymbals.

Hidden Gem

Morimur

Christoph Poppen, The Hilliard Ensemble

Key track: Ciaccona

Bach's D-minor Partita interleaved with chorales, ending with the Chaconne as violin and voices together. Recorded in the chapel of St. Gerold monastery, Austria (Peter Laenger, engineer); Stereophile's Recording of the Month, with five stars for sound.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Shostakovich: Cello Sonata / Schubert: "Arpeggione" Sonata

Daniil Shafran, Lydia Pecherskaya

Best pressing: Original "Shaded Dog" pressing

Key track: Shostakovich: Cello Sonata: II. Allegro

Full-bodied, resinous cello with real bow friction and weight, without bloat.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Busoni: Elegies / Villa-Lobos: Rudepoêma

David Bean

Best pressing: RCA Victrola LP

One of RCA's finest solo piano recordings: lifelike weight, clarity and speed.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Poulenc: La Voix humaine

Denise Duval, Georges Prêtre, Orchestre de l'Opéra-Comique

Best pressing: Original "Shaded Dog" pressing

Cocteau's one-woman opera with startling vocal realism: Duval sounds present, clear and dynamic.

Hidden Gem

On Every Street

Dire Straits

Best pressing: Mobile Fidelity 45 RPM 2LP

Key track: Heavy Fuel

The often-overlooked final Dire Straits album; Positive Feedback called the MoFi 45 "a sonic superstar."

Hidden Gem

Old and New Dreams

Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell

Best pressing: ECM Luminessence 180g LP (2023, cut directly from the analog master)

Key track: Lonely Woman

Ornette Coleman's former bandmates on their ECM studio debut; AnalogPlanet rated the Luminessence reissue 9 for sound, with dead-quiet, well-centered vinyl.

Hidden Gem

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances

Donald Johanos, Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Best pressing: Analogue Productions 45 RPM 2LP

Key track: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45: III. Lento assai – Allegro vivace

A legendary sleeper recorded at 30 ips in McFarlin Auditorium, Dallas, long cited on Harry Pearson's best-sound lists.

Hidden Gem

Just Like Love

Eric Bibb

Best pressing: Opus 3 LP

Key track: Just Like Love

An all-analog recording from the Swedish audiophile label Opus 3: intimate acoustic blues and folk.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Saint-Saëns: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso

Erick Friedman, Walter Hendl, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Best pressing: Original "Shaded Dog" pressing

Key track: Saint-Saëns: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso

The violin sits realistically inside the orchestra instead of being blown up, so the tuttis really leap.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Live ad Alcatraz

Fausto Mesolella

Best pressing: Fonè 180g transparent LP (2021, Japan pressing)

Italian guitarist Fausto Mesolella live, on Giulio Cesare Ricci's audiophile label Fonè.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 2

Festival Quartet

Best pressing: Original RCA pressing

Key track: II. Allegro molto (Scherzo)

One of the most realistic chamber recordings anywhere: bow friction, rosin bite and deep piano decay.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3

Festival Quartet

Best pressing: Original "Shaded Dog" pressing

Key track: III. Andante

One of RCA's most lifelike chamber recordings, with remarkable inner detail and a perfectly blended piano.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben

Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Best pressing: RCA Victrola LP

Key track: The Hero's Battlefield

Recorded in early stereo the same week as Reiner's famous Zarathustra; transparent and uncompressed.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Strauss: Le Bourgeois gentilhomme / Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Best pressing: RCA Victrola LP

The Bourgeois gentilhomme suite is stunningly transparent: a must-own Victrola.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Beethoven: Violin Sonatas No. 9 "Kreutzer" & No. 10

Gidon Kremer, Martha Argerich

Best pressing: DG 180g 2LP (2022)

Key track: Sonata No. 9 "Kreutzer": I. Adagio sostenuto – Presto

Two fiery musicians in Beethoven's most dramatic sonata.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Hilary Hahn Plays Bach: Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2, Partita No. 1

Hilary Hahn

Best pressing: Decca 2LP

Key track: Sonata No. 1 in G minor: II. Fuga

Hahn returns to the Bach that launched her career, with crystal clarity and long, singing lines.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Ysaÿe: Six Sonatas for Solo Violin

Hilary Hahn

Key track: Sonata No. 2 "Obsession": I. Prelude

Gramophone's Recording of the Year 2024: Hahn's sovereign technique and luminous tone in Ysaÿe's fiendish solo sonatas.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Prokofiev: Cinderella (suites)

Hugo Rignold, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Best pressing: RCA Victrola LP

Key track: Midnight

Sweet, dense strings and deep Kingsway Hall bass.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

String Band featuring Isao Suzuki

Isao Suzuki, Hank Jones, Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, string quartet

Best pressing: Original Flying Disk direct-to-disc LP

A Japanese direct-to-disc session pairing Suzuki's piccolo bass with Ron Carter's acoustic bass, Hank Jones, Roy Haynes and strings arranged by Masahiko Satoh.

Hidden Gem

Haydn: Quartets Op. 33 No. 2 "Joke", Op. 3 No. 5 "Serenade", Op. 76 No. 2 "Fifths"

Janáček Quartet

Best pressing: London "ffrr" original

Key track: Op. 3 No. 5 "Serenade": II. Andante cantabile

Decca-engineered Haydn from the Czech Janáček Quartet: bright, characterful and natural.

Hidden Gem

What a Wonderful World

Jay McShann

Best pressing: Groove Note LP with bonus 45 RPM disc

Key track: Piney Brown Blues

A Kansas City blues-piano legend in his late 80s, recorded with "statement-level" sound; Enjoy the Music gave it a perfect sound score.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake (highlights)

Jean Morel, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Best pressing: RCA Victrola LP

Key track: Scene (Act II)

A budget Victrola with deep 3-D staging, wide dynamics and rich bass.

Hidden Gem

Fauré: Requiem (original version)

John Rutter, Cambridge Singers, City of London Sinfonia

Key track: Libera me

The intimate original version of the Requiem; a Gramophone Award winner.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Bach: Sonatas & Partitas, BWV 1001–1006

Julia Fischer

Best pressing: PentaTone 3LP

Key track: Partita No. 2: V. Chaconne

Julia Fischer's Bach on the Dutch audiophile label PentaTone: flawless technique, a pure singing tone and complete command of the architecture.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Paganini: 24 Caprices

María Dueñas

Best pressing: DG 2LP + CD

Key track: Caprice No. 24 in A minor

The young Spanish star's complete Caprices: dazzling technique that never loses its warmth, paired with caprices by later composers.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Sibelius: String Quartet "Voces intimae"

Meta4

Best pressing: Original numbered 180g direct-to-disc LP

Cut direct to disc in the Meistersaal at Berlin's Emil Berliner Studios: no tape, no edits, just four players live to the lacquer.

Hidden Gem

Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Wieniawski: Violin Concerto No. 2

Michael Rabin, Sir Eugene Goossens, Philharmonia Orchestra

Best pressing: Original Capitol stereo LP

Key track: Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1: III. Rondo

The prodigy Michael Rabin at his dazzling best, in an early Capitol stereo recording made in London.

Hidden Gem

Milstein Encores

Nathan Milstein, Leon Pommers

Best pressing: Original Capitol "Full Dimensional Stereo" LP

Key track: Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro

Milstein's elegant violin in short showpieces by Kreisler, Szymanowski and others, from Capitol's stereo series.

Hidden Gem

Night Song

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook

Best pressing: Real World LP

Key track: Night Song

Qawwali devotional singing woven with Michael Brook's ambient "infinite guitar."

Hidden Gem

Us

Peter Gabriel

Best pressing: 2016 half-speed remastered 2LP (Tony Cousins at Metropolis; cut by Matt Colton)

Key track: Come Talk to Me

The less-celebrated follow-up to So, with deep low end and rich world-music textures.

Hidden Gem

Webern: Complete Works for String Quartet

Quartetto Italiano

Best pressing: Original Dutch Philips pressing

Webern's miniatures played with the Quartetto Italiano's famous warmth, which makes them sing.

Hidden Gem

Mozart: String Quartets K. 499 & K. 575

Quartetto Italiano

Best pressing: Original Dutch Philips pressing

From the Quartetto Italiano's Mozart cycle, in warm Philips analog sound.

Hidden Gem

A Meeting by the River

Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt

Best pressing: Analogue Productions 45 RPM 2LP (QRP)

Key track: Ganges Delta Blues

Recorded in a Santa Barbara chapel with a single tube-powered Blumlein pair; Stereophile called it the best-sounding acoustic guitar recording its reviewer had heard. Grammy, Best World Music Album.

Hidden Gem

Rossini: Sonate a quattro

Salvatore Accardo, Sylvie Gazeau, Alain Meunier, Franco Petracchi

Best pressing: Philips 180g 2LP reissue (2006)

Rossini's sunny string sonatas, written at age 12, played with Accardo's sparkle and a double bass in place of the viola.

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Sonny Stitt Blows the Blues

Sonny Stitt

Best pressing: Verve 180g gatefold reissue (2024)

Stitt's alto in a straight-ahead blues set from Verve's golden era.

Hidden Gem

Haydn: String Quartets Op. 17

Tátrai Quartet

Best pressing: Original Qualiton 3LP box

The Hungarian Tátrai Quartet's celebrated Haydn: warm, unhurried playing that few collectors outside Hungary know.

Hidden Gem

Haydn: String Quartets Op. 20

Tátrai Quartet

Best pressing: Original Qualiton 3LP box

The "Sun" quartets from the Tátrai's Haydn cycle, an overlooked treasure of Hungarian recording.

Hidden Gem

Yellow Moon

The Neville Brothers

Key track: With God on Our Side

Daniel Lanois's atmospheric New Orleans production; Stereophile called the sound "rich, full, sumptuous."

Highly RecommendedHidden Gem

Schubert: "Trout" Quintet

Victor Babin, Festival Quartet

Best pressing: Original "Shaded Dog" pressing

Key track: IV. Andantino – Allegretto (Theme and Variations)

A dry, intimate studio recording with real tactile bite; collectors rank it beside the famous Curzon/Vienna Octet "Trout."

Hidden Gem

Schumann: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 3

Zehetmair Quartett

Key track: String Quartet No. 3 in A major, Op. 41 No. 3: II. Assai agitato

Gramophone's Recording of the Year 2003, praised as "realistically recorded"; made at Radio Studio DRS, Zürich. Fiery, playing-from-memory intensity, caught close and clean.