Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition & Night on Bald Mountain

This was one of the recordings that put Telarc on the musical map, and first revealed the potential of digital recording technology to millions of music lovers and stereo buffs. It's still one of the very finest recordings of "Pictures" around, both as sound and performance. Lorin Maazel maintained the high standards of execution that George Szell inculcated during his quarter century in Cleveland, and for sheer hair-trigger precision, the playing is simply unbeatable. In addition, Telarc captured the performance in what was then and remains demonstration-quality sound, with the famous bass drum thwacks putting a practically subsonic foundation on the whole enterprise. Still a classic. --David Hurwitz