Specialist Classical Chart:

I presume this list represents the bestselling CDs of Classical music in the UK for the week. Does it really represent what genuine lovers of Classical music are buying: "old hat" type performances of Bach; same goes for the Mozart symphonies? Well, they are to me! My tastes in performance styles have changed a lot since the days of LPs. A glance through my LP collection shows they were changing long before CDs were a rumour, never mind a reality. The latest similar list for Classical recordings in New Zealand is as follows. Of this list I might consider buying numbers 2, 4 and 6, except I can think of too many other CDs I'd rather have (like the set of Haydn quartets Op. 64, 76 and 77 from Quatuor Mosaïques that I have just purchased): :-)

1.  Father & Son - WAGNER Scenes & Arias - Simon O’Neill, New Zealand SO/Pietari Inkinen (EMI 4 57817)
2.  Voices of BACH - Oboe Concertos & Chorales - Albrecht Mayer, English Concert (Decca 478 1517)
3.  BACH: Partitas for solo violin - Isabelle Faust (Harmonia Mundi HMC 90 2059)
4.  Sacred Music: From the Middle Ages to the 20th Century - Hilliard Ensemble, William Christie, René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Stile Antico (Harmonia Mundi HMX 290 8304/33)
5.  England My England - Choir of King's College Cambridge (EMI 2 28944)
6.  The Best of TALLIS - Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly (Naxos 8.556842)
7.  Sacrificium - Cecilia Bartoli, Il Giardino Armonico/Giovanni Antonini (Decca 478 1521)
8.  40 Most Beautiful Arias - Maria Callas, Placido Domingo, Jennifer Larmore, Kiri Te Kanawa, Jose Carreras, Cecilia Bartoli, Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu (Warner 2564 696896)
9. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Piano Concerto; The Wasps; English Folk Song Suite - Ashley Wass (pno), Royal Liverpool Phil/James Judd (Naxos 8.572304)
10. Complete Recordings Vol 2 Richard Farrell (Atoll ACD 909)