7. Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto In E Minor, Op. 85/Sea Pictures, Op. 37

Written shortly after the end of WWI, Elgar’s cello concerto is reported to express his disillusionment with the world and his reflection upon death. One can certainly hear the despair in the work, but there is still a tinge of beauty and hope there as well. This recording of it by Jacqueline du Pré is widely considered the gold standar.

8. John Tavener – Diódia

While “Diódia” is the featured piece on the label, it’s really “Akhmatova Songs” and “The World” that keep me coming back to this disc. English composer Tavener (who is still alive) is greatly interested in eastern spirituality (be it Russian Orthodoxy, Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.) and he incorporates a lot of that into his compositions. He frequently writes works for the Bombay born soprano Patricia Rosario who he says is his primary choice of female voice because she understands microtonal music (which is mostly alien to the west.) The “Akhmatova Songs” are poems and fragments of poems by the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova set to music. Great stuff.