Author: Don

Ten and five

Here’s the challenge:

You all know the premise: you’re stuck on a deserted island somewhere, and all you have for entertainment is a wind-up (or solar-powered) record- or CD player and a few records. Which records would you choose to have?

… Here, then, are the parameters:

Ten composers, singers or groups. Examples: Beethoven, Elvis Presley, Rolling Stones. It can be any mix of the above — all bands, all singers, whatever. But only ten.

Specify up to five albums for each selection. Assume 45-50 minutes of music per album.

So you’ll have a maximum of fifty albums allowed. (For the pedantic, we can allow CDs to ensure that they’ll last however long you’re marooned.) But no carrying over: if you can’t think of five but only three, that’s what you get. I will allow only ONE compilation album, in total.

Here are my picks:

Bach — As much of the Well-Tempered Clavier as you can fit on five CDs.

Beethoven — The last four piano sonatas, plus the Waldstein and Pathetique; the Diabelli Variations; the seventh symphony.

Chopin — The Ballades, Etudes, Waltzes, Polonaises, and as many mazurkas as you can fit on one disc along with the Berceuse and Barcarolle.

Fauré — The complete piano music.

Ravel — Complete solo piano music and concertos; as much of the orchestral music as will fit on two discs (you can skip Bolero).

(Yeah, I like the piano.)

Fairport Convention — the first five albums.

Gentle Giant — Acquiring the Taste, Three Friends, Octopus, In a Glass House, The Power and the Glory, Free Hand. (That’s six, but they’re all essential. If you’re going to be picky, roll a die to select the one to skip.)

Steve Morse/Dixie Dregs — What If, Night of the Living Dregs, Unsung Heroes, The Introduction…. Actually, you can just pick any five from all his recordings; they’re all good.

Allan Holdsworth — i.o.u., Metal Fatigue, Atavachron, Secrets, Wardenclyffe Tower.

Compilation album — Japanese favorites, e.g. Yuki Kajiura, Yoko Kanno, Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura, etc.

Ask me again tomorrow, and you’ll get a different list.