The best resource for penniless dunces, then, is probably http://www.lala.com. The catch there is that you can listen to each album only once for free, but there is so much music there, that should last you a while.

If you are not utterly penniless, I would recommend eMusic.com as a good way to build up a music collection. If you’re interested in that at all, let me know; I’ll send you an invite to the service.

Simply Baroque 2 – Yo Yo Ma
Voices of Angels – N. Harnoncourt/Leonhardt
Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium – Chamber Choir of Europe, Matt/Halubek/Lauridsen
The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace – Jenkins/Merryweather
Bach – Magnificat – The Choir of Kings College Cambridge/Cleobury

Not pleasant, but simple.

Bach Cantatas – John Eliot Gardiner
Bach Solo Sonatas for violin – Nathan Milstein
Bach Well-Tempered Klavier – András Schiff
Bach Cello Suites – Mstislav Rostropovich
Beethoven Late Quartets – Guarneri Quartet

The first choice has to be J.S. Bach, not out of reflex or habit or stupid loyalty but because of sheer heft. No one had the gravitas, scope or inventiveness of Bach. No one even came close. If one must whittle all the music he loves down to such a pittance, Bach is the only rational, defensible choice. When Bach was not praying he was dancing, and when he was not dancing he was praying. Occasionally he did both.

The cornerstone of all his life’s work is the cantatas. I will take any album at random, but preferably directed by JEG.

The next three choices are solo works which have the—great, in my opinion—benefit of being not only great compositions but great compositions executed by masters performing on solo instruments: one artist playing what Bach wrote but executing it with the focus of a single mind and unconstrained artistry.

Man is never nobler.

Finally, the special virtues of chamber music. What better than the string quartet and who better than the Guarneri? Few things squeeze my heart like the late quartets.

So the fact that the Beethoven disc has nos. 5 and 7 on it trumps the recordings of Vänskä (in which 5 and 7 are on different discs)?

The B minor Mass was another that should have made my list; again, on that, I do like the Andrew Parrott recording, although I certainly get the appeal of the bigger choir.

1. Best Loved Hymns, Stephen Cleobury. I love this recording.
2. Bach: Complete Cantatas, vol 1, Ton Koopman My favorite cantata conductor is Suzuki, but this disc, conducted by Suzuki’s own mentor, simply has many of the cantatas I love (okay, it’s three discs). :)
3. Bach: Mass in B Minor, Suzuki I love Suzuki, and the Mass in B Minor.
4. Handel: Messiah, by Sir J. E. Gardiner Sublime. I need Gardiner with me somehow.
5. Beethoven: Symphonies 5 & 7, Kleiber You have to have Beethoven’s 5th and 7th.