Yeah, the Glenn Gould Goldberg Variations is great. It's best to hear them all the way through. The 1981 version is the best too.
Others:
Richter Late Beethoven Piano Sonatas (in a collection of CDs where he also plays Schubert sonatas)
Ashkenazi Rachmaninoff Concertos 2,3 (1960s version)
Glenn Gould 'Live in Leningrad' (Beethoven Concerto #2, Bach D- Concerto).
Gould Beethoven Concertos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Horowitz Chopin Ballades
Schubert's Wanderer's Fantasy. (Not sure who to recommend for this. Anton Querti plays them reasonably well).
Horowitz Liszt Sonata
Rubenstein Chopin Nocturnes (the earlier recording is better, but the later recording has better sound quality)
For myself, I love almost all of Glenn Gould's recordings of Bach's keyboard music. But I don't know if it would be to your taste. In my opinion, the best classical piano performance (ever), is the live concert Gould did for the Moscow Conservatory, where he played Art of the Fugue, some Goldberg Variations, and some modern music. But you'd have to find it on ebay.. it's a pretty rare CD. (
http://avaxhome.ws/music/classical/wmsnemo_8_49.html)
So, for the 'advanced listener', I'd suggest, in addition to the above:
- Gould: Bach's Art of the Fugue
- Gould: Bach Concertos
- Gould: Bach's Well Tempered Clavier
- Gould: Bach's French Suites
- Gould: Bach's English Suites
- Gould: Bach's Partitas (Especially partita 6)
Violin:
Sibelius Concerto (Oistrakh 1966).
I also like the Tchaikovsky and Beethoven violin concertos, as played by Oistrakh.
And Heifetz: paganini variations.
Milstein: Bach Partitas
Random:
- Schubert's Unfinished Symphony
- Beethoven Symphonies
