The website Classical CD Guide offers this list of the top 10 CDs for those starting a classical music collection. These include Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" by Carlos Kleiber; Mozart's "Piano Concerts 20, 21" by Vladimir Ashkenazy; "Beethoven's Pathetique and Moonlight Piano Sonatas" by Alfred Brendel; and Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos" by Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Other entries include: Brahms' "Piano Trio No. 1" by Eroica Trio; Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" performed by Igor Stravinsky; Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" by Amadeus String Quartet; Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" by Mariss Jansons; Haydn's "Lord Nelson Mass" by David Willcocks; and Bizet's "Carmen" performed by Terea Berganza, Placido Domingo and Claudio Abbado.
On the website The Classical Review, writer Michael Quinn lists the 10 best classical recordings of 2010 as follows: "La Pasion segun San Marcos" by Osvaldo Golijov; "Passing By" by Jake Heggie; "The Sacrifice" by James MacMillan; Strauss's "Ein Heldenleben/Webern's Im Sommerwind" by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" by the Berliner Philharmoniker. Others include: Wagner's "Lohengrin" by Seymon Bychkov; "Volupte" by Roger Benedict and Timothy Young; Alfred Brendel's "The Farewell Concerts"; Bejun Mehta's "Ombra Cara"; and "Via Crucis" by L'Arpeggiata.
On its website, the National Public Radio show "Deceptive Cadence" listed its top 10 classical albums of 2010. They are: "The Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87" by Alexander Melnikov; "Verdi Arias" by Sondra Radvanovsky; "Tevot Violin Concerto" by the Berlin Philharmonic; "The Italian Tenor" by Vittorio Grigolo; "Baltic Runes" by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir; "Cathedral City" by Victoire; "Colbran, The Muse" by Joyce DiDonato; "C.P.E. Bach: Keyboard Sonatas" by Danny Driver; "Sacred Works" by Valentin Silvestrov; and "Double Sextet, 2x5" by Steve Reich.
Classical music is popular worldwide, as evidenced by list of 2010's 10 best classical albums by Turkish newspaper "Today's Zaman." The top 10 are: "Jeremy Denk Plays Ives" by Jeremy Denk; "Die Zauberflote" by the Akademie fuer Alte Musik Berlin; Benjamin Britten's "Songs & Proverbs of William Blake" performed by Gerald Finley and Julius Drake; "Hilary Hahn Plays Higdon and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos" by Hilary Hahn; and Tchaikovsky's "The Three Piano Concertos: by Stephen Hough, Osmo Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra. Others include: "Katrina Ballads" by Ted Hearn; "Mahler's Symphony No. 2, 'Resurrection' "by Klaus Tennstedt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; "Dominant Curve" by Brooklyn Rider; "Ravel, Debussy, Massenet" by Jan-Efflam Bavouzet; and "Celebrating 40 Years at the Met" a 32-CD boxset.