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Leonard Bernstein does full justice to the still racy and spontaneous score of Rhapsody In Blue in this 1959 recording. As both conductor and pianist, he brings a smoky, sultry jazziness to the piece.

Mozart's The Magic Flute, written in the last year of his life, was a forerunner of German Romantic opera. Critic Ted Libbey recommends a specific performance by a fabulous all-star cast.

Bach's Goldberg Variations function not only as a brilliant investigation of a sublime theme, but also as a masterly compendium of style and a study in how to write idiomatically for the keyboard. Murray Perahia's recording combines energetic rhythms with seasoned musicality.

Amid all the tributes to the great composer surrounding the 250th anniversary of his death, critic Ted Libbey introduces a recording of Handel's Water Music that flows with force and finesse.

Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 works brilliantly as pure music and achieves a "victorious" closer that ends with the triumph of evil over good. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic made their historic recording of Symphony No. 5 exactly 50 years ago Tuesday in Boston's Symphony Hall.

Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 works brilliantly as pure music and achieves a "victorious" closer that ends with the triumph of evil over good. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic made their historic recording of Symphony No. 5 exactly 50 years ago Tuesday in Boston's Symphony Hall.

Finnish composer Jean Sibelius introduces some of his most memorable ideas in his fifth symphony. Inspired by swans in flight, the symphony ends in a magnificent blaze of glory.

The Venice Baroque Orchestra, with violin soloist Guiliano Carmignola, brings a dramatic approach to Vivaldi's well-known Four Seasons. The concertos' angular, energetic rhythms celebrate the sound of birdsong and thunderstorms.

Hear the lanky Texan's iconic 1958 recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, made on the heels of his historic victory at the very first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

After all these years, conductor Fritz Reiner's 1955 recording of Bartok's music remains the best. He understood the poignant, brooding, mysterious and exuberant moods it explores, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays as if it has been set on fire.