“PARTIAL and personal” was how Barry Conaway introduced his selection of music at the last meeting of the Recorded Music Society.

Barry had selected an eclectic mix of what he considered to be 'only the best' recordings of some great works.

A great recording consists of three things, he said: a brilliant composition, a great performance and, finally, a technically excellent recording. After the familiar Wagner prelude to die Meistersinger von Nurnberg, and the less familiar Hungarian Rhapsody No 10 by Liszt, he played the third movement of Shostakovich's first violin concerto in A, which has two opus numbers: 77 and 99.

This, Barry explained, was due to the attentions of Joseph Stalin, which obliged Shostakovich to put the work to one side until after Stalin died whereupon he finished it, giving it a second opus number.

Barry chose the outstanding LSO recording under the baton of Rostropovich with Maxim Vengerov as soloist.

Another great recording, made in 1965, was by the legendary Quartetto Italiano of Debussy's ground breaking String Quartet in G minor. This was one of the works by Debussy which changed the course of music but received mixed reviews when it was first performed.

The finale from Mozart's 25th piano concerto K. 503 was also selected and was performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Society conducted by the late Claudio Abbado with Friedrich Gulda as soloist.

Barry selected other recordings of works by Hummel, Berlioz, Haydn and Schumann.

The next meeting is on May 19. Details can be found at the Tourism Office, Oxfam