The best Classical recordings of 2008

1. William Kapell, Kapell Rediscovered: The Australian Broadcasts (RCA)
If you can get past the crackly 1953 production values, you’ll find nirvana in these recently uncovered tracks from the brilliant pianist taken from the world much too soon.

2. Olivier Messiaen [box set] (Naïve)
Director Pierre Boulez steers the wheel in these pristinely recorded, tastefully selected works of the prolific Frenchman. And for six discs, it’s a bargain, too.

3. Jirí Belohlávek, Isabelle Faust, Prague Philharmonia, Martinu: Violin Concerto No. 2; Toccata & due Canzoni (Harmonia Mundi)
The overlooked Bohemian composer is a helluva lotta fun, but it takes Faust and friends to show you why.

4. Ursula Oppens, Oppens Plays Carter: Elliott Carter at 100, The Complete Piano Music (Cedille)
The 100-year-old Carter has written just 70 minutes of piano music—most of it highly offensive to those wanting Mozart rondos. Oppens loans the maestro superlative hands to play it.

5. Igor Lovchinsky, Debut Recording: Chopin, Scriabin, Gershwin/Wild (Ivory Classics)
That it’s a debut recording from an obscure pianist on a small label should be no deterrent. This masterful, compelling disc is the one the bigger names just didn’t quite live up to this year.

6. Bernard Haitink, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 (CSO Resound)
Considering the powerful, magnificently shapely playing and the added bonus of a behind-the-music DVD, you can’t accuse us of making a homer call here.

7. Jerusalem Quartet, Schubert: Der Tod und Das Madchen (Harmonia Mundi)
The JQ goes zombie and reanimates one of the most “alive” performances of a piece with “death” in the title.

8. Gerald Finley, Robert Schumann and Julius Drake, Schumann: Dichterliebe and other Heine Settings (Hyperion)
Best known for his role as Oppenheimer in Doctor Atomic, the Canadian baritone Finley is just as gratifying here on a considerably smaller scale.

9. Hesperion XXI, Jordi Savall, Invocation à la Nuit: Musica Notturna (AliaVox)
Most of this music was recorded between 1am and 4am, but all is not sleepy in Savall-ville. It’s one of the viola de gambist’s most comprehensive discs to date.

10. Kronos Quartet, Kronos Plays Holmgreen (Da Capo)
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard deliver some of the most unique and hilariously raucous new music we heard all year.

For more of the best of 2008, visit timeoutchicago.com/2008lists.