Waters started out playing acoustic guitar in Mississippi, but when he moved to Chicago in 1943, he needed an electric instrument to be heard over the tumult of South Side clubs. The sound he developed was the foundation of Chicago blues, and rock & roll. The thick, bleeding tones of his slide work anticipated rock-guitar distortion by nearly two decades. Jimi Hendrix adapted Waters' "Rollin' Stone" for "Voodoo Chile," Bob Dylan found inspiration in it for "Like a Rolling Stone," and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards took their band's name from it. The fifty essential cuts on these two CDs run from guitar-and-standup-bass duets to full-band romps — and they still just manage to scratch the surface of Waters' legacy.

"You want to know how good the blues can get?" Keith Richards asked. "Well, this is it." The bluesman in question was Robert Johnson, who lived from 1911 to 1938 in the Mississippi Delta, and whose guitar prowess was so great, it inspired stories that, in exchange for his amazing gift, he had sold his soul to the devil. Johnson recorded only twenty-nine songs, but their evanescent passion has resonated through the decades.

"I came from a family where my people didn't like rhythm and blues," Little Richard told Rolling Stone in 1970. "Bing Crosby, 'Pennies From Heaven,' Ella Fitzgerald was all I heard. And I knew there was something that could be louder than that, but I didn't know where to find it. And I found it was me." Richard's raucous debut collected singles such as "Good Golly, Miss Molly," in which his boogie-woogie piano and falsetto scream ignited the unfettered possibilities of rock & roll. "Tutti Frutti" still has the most inspired rock lyric on record: "A wop bop alu bop, a wop bam boom!"

“Many believe Rock & Roll was born on July 5th, 1954, at Sun Studios in Memphis. (…) Bridging black and white, country and blues, his sound was playful and revolutionary. As Presley biographer Peter Guralnick observed, ‘This is the most improbable story of all: In a tiny Memphis studio, in 1954 and 1955, Sam Phillips and Elvis Presley created rock & roll.’ (…) It took more than twenty years for Presley's Sun output to be properly collected on this '76 LP (…)”

"[Cavalleria Rusticana:] Bergonzi is a stylish, ardent Turiddu whose virile charms glitter in his every phrase and Fiorenza Cossotto makes a thrilling Santuzza motivated and driven by a palpable conviction; (...) But the real hero of the opera is Karajan, whose direction of this powerful work is magnificent. (…) [Pagliacci:] As the rivals, Carlo Bergonzi and Giuseppe Taddei are superb. Taddei’s sinister, hunch-backed clown, gently forcing the play-within-the-play closer to reality until it finally bursts out violently is a masterly assumption, and Karajan controls the slow build-up of tension with a grasp that few conductors could equal. (…) The third disc is filled by a selection of very rich, very soft-centred opera intermezzos."

"In the Russian violinist Mark Lubotsky he [Benjamin Britten] found a willing and able ally, technically adroit and expressive without heaviness. With the coupling of the Piano Concerto, recorded the same year with Lubotsky's great compatriot Sviatoslav Richter as soloist, this is and essential Britten recording."

"111 Classic Tracks is the ultimate compilation of artists and recordings from Deutsche Grammophon's huge catalogue, ranging from an aria sung by Enrico Caruso in 1907 to a Richard Strauss song recorded by Measha Brueggergosman in 2009 (and not previously released). It features 111 artists, from Claudio Abbado to Krystian Zimerman, who have contributed to the label's glorious history."

"111 Classic Tracks is the ultimate compilation of artists and recordings from Deutsche Grammophon's huge catalogue, ranging from an aria sung by Enrico Caruso in 1907 to a Richard Strauss song recorded by Measha Brueggergosman in 2009 (and not previously released). It features 111 artists, from Claudio Abbado to Krystian Zimerman, who have contributed to the label's glorious history."

"111 Classic Tracks is the ultimate compilation of artists and recordings from Deutsche Grammophon's huge catalogue, ranging from an aria sung by Enrico Caruso in 1907 to a Richard Strauss song recorded by Measha Brueggergosman in 2009 (and not previously released). It features 111 artists, from Claudio Abbado to Krystian Zimerman, who have contributed to the label's glorious history."

"111 Classic Tracks is the ultimate compilation of artists and recordings from Deutsche Grammophon's huge catalogue, ranging from an aria sung by Enrico Caruso in 1907 to a Richard Strauss song recorded by Measha Brueggergosman in 2009 (and not previously released). It features 111 artists, from Claudio Abbado to Krystian Zimerman, who have contributed to the label's glorious history."

"111 Classic Tracks is the ultimate compilation of artists and recordings from Deutsche Grammophon's huge catalogue, ranging from an aria sung by Enrico Caruso in 1907 to a Richard Strauss song recorded by Measha Brueggergosman in 2009 (and not previously released). It features 111 artists, from Claudio Abbado to Krystian Zimerman, who have contributed to the label's glorious history."

"111 Classic Tracks is the ultimate compilation of artists and recordings from Deutsche Grammophon's huge catalogue, ranging from an aria sung by Enrico Caruso in 1907 to a Richard Strauss song recorded by Measha Brueggergosman in 2009 (and not previously released). It features 111 artists, from Claudio Abbado to Krystian Zimerman, who have contributed to the label's glorious history."

"The Three Tenors were Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and José Carreras, arguably the three most popular male vocalists in contemporary opera. With each the subject of considerable success and acclaim as a solo performer, their occasional collaborations as the Three Tenors were guaranteed media events, selling out stadiums and even reaching the upper rungs of the pop charts with their albums and live concert videos."

"As always, Hickox takes his time over the score, but there is less sense of self indulgence than in some of his earlier Britten recordings. He raws playing of high quality and generosity of feeling from the City of London Sinfonia. Add an exemplary choral contribution from the BBC Singers and a typically atmospheric Chandos recording, and there is no reason to resist."

"In the Russian violinist Mark Lubotsky he [Benjamin Britten] found a willing and able ally, technically adroit and expressive without heaviness. With the coupling of the Piano Concerto, recorded the same year with Lubotsky's great compatriot Sviatoslav Richter as soloist, this is and essential Britten recording."