I support John's list, and yes, the multichannel Telarc is a spectacular improvement over sterero. (As an aside, the Gerhardt compilation also has some "definitive" performances, as far as I'm concerned. Track 9, the love theme from Lost Weekend, is one of those less-than-three-minute musical masterpieces that manages to convey the very essence of Rozsa's greatness.) And of course the three Polydors are indispendable.

A recording seldom mentioned hereabouts is the Denon Europe Goes To Hollywood compilation, in which John Scott conducts the BH Prelude and Parade Of The Charioteers. From a purely sonic perspective, this happens to be my favorite Prelude. The mass of orchestral sound in this music can sometimes become so dense that individual voices get lost. In this recording, the overall balances are so near-perfect that every voice comes through distinctly.

This, incidentally, is why (unlike many who frequent these pages) I always welcome new recordings of music I love. This John Scott recording lets me hear subtleties that I didn't even know were there, and when I return to one of the more familiar versions, I can now either actually hear, or at least "imagine," the inner voicings that up until then were absent in my appreciation. Each separate performance, (even a "poor" one,) has the ability to enhance overall understanding and appreciation of a given piece of music.