Domenico Scarlatti and Wanda Landowska

Wanda Landowska's wild performances of a number of Domenico Scarlatti's (1685-1787) 555 Sonatas for harpsichord, recorded in Paris in 1934, 1939, and 1940 [click here to download]. On track 22 (recorded 3/8-9/40) at 2'00" and 2'41" one can hear the ineffective rumble of artillery in an attempt to halt the Nazi invasion of France. The Germans would enter Paris on June, 14 1940, forcing Landowska to flee to the greener pastures of Lakeville, Connecticut. Here is a clip of Landowska and admirers, including a testimony from the late Bill Buckley.

Robert Schumann and Pablo Casals

Pablo Casals playing Robert Schumann's (1810-1856) Cello Concerto in A minor, Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, and my favorite Fünf Stücke in Volkston (five pieces in a folk style) [click here to download]. With Eugene Ormandy conducting the Prades Festival Orchestra, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano, Alexander Schneider, violin, and Leopold Mannes, piano, respectively. If you listen closely to the Fünf Stücke you can hear Casals grunting on several occasions, particularly just before the start of a phrase, or as a guttural accent at the end of one. Casals's vocal accompaniment is most audible in the third and fourth movements.

Frédéric Chopin and William Kapell

Twenty-nine of Chopin's (1810-49) mazurkas recorded by William Kapell in the early '50s [click here to download].

Mozart and Ferenc Fricsay

Mozart's Mass in C minor, K427, first performed in 1783. Ferenc Fricsay conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra [click here to download]. Here is the text and translation.
Although I agree with the assessment of Ernest Boehm of Des Plaines, Illinois, I take issue with some of his spelling and grammar. Please enjoy his review of Fricsay's recording courtesy of amazon.com:

I am a fan of Mozart Masses, even though I am an athiest they are so beautiful in sound and construction. Mozart's use of soloist and choir are stunning. My favorite piece of music ever, the one which still send shivers down my spine every time I hear it, is the Kyrie. It starts with the choir singing kyrie elleison and then is followed by mezzo-saprano then the tenor then the base resounds Christi followed by this high pitched saprano answering Christi Elleison. I have yet hear one phrase in music that shares this purity of genius. The whole mass is beatiful.

Charles-Valentin Alkan

Several absurd piano works from Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888)[click here to download], played by another hyphenated three-namer, the great Marc-André Hamelin. Extraordinary, sometimes horrible music. As the story goes, the erudite Alkan was crushed to death by an overflowing bookcase. Surely a noble way to go.

1-4. Grande Sonate 'Les Quatre Ages.' 5-8. Sonatine. 9. Barcarolle. 10. Le Festin D'Esope.

Franz Schubert and the Busch Quartet

Franz Schubert's Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, the "Death and the Maiden," and Piano Trio in E Flat [click here to download], played by the Busch Quartet and a trio of the Busch brothers with Rudolf Serkin recorded in Oct. 1936 and Oct. 1935 respectively. In Oct. 1935 Mussolini's Italy invaded Ethiopia using mustard gas on both military and civilian targets in flagrant violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol on chemical warfare.

Arvo Pärt

This record was once a guilty pleasure, but as I've entered my third fucking decade the guilt has subsided. Arvo Pärt's Fratres, Tabula Rasa, and Symphony No. 3, played by Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, with Neeme Järvi leading the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra [click here to download].