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Handel's deeply felt musical setting of the life of Christ conveys the emotional tide of its story with almost miraculous insight. In the process, it's acquired a universality that is unique in the history of music.

Monteverdi stood on the divide between two great musical periods, the Renaissance and the Baroque. His Vespers illustrates a mastery at blending the new with the old in a way that's coherent, expressive and moving, especially in John Eliot Gardiner's atmospheric recording made in Venice.

After all these years, conductor Fritz Reiner's 1955 recording of Bartok's music remains the best. He understood the poignant, brooding, mysterious and exuberant moods it explores, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays as if it has been set on fire.

The Bohemian composer claimed that "everyone who has a nose must smell America" in his Symphony No. 9. But rather than serve as a musical postcard from abroad, Dvorak's Symphony From the New World ultimately serves as more of a fond look back toward home.

The song cycle Winterreise stands among the masterpieces in the art of song. Schubert conjures up harmonic twists and melodic turns, conveying emotions with remarkable simplicity and force.

The German composer utilizes powerful orchestral sounds, as well as silence, to elicit a psychological and emotional response from the listener. Who better than conductor Daniel Barenboim, a veteran of the opera pit, to pull it all off?

The concerto was the English composer's last major work for orchestra, as well as his most confessional. In this recording, cellist Jacqueline Du Pre gives one of her finest performances, exposing both gentleness in the pain and an edge to the tenderness.

Our panelists predict what'll be the next big viral fundraiser after the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Bill reads three news-related limericks: A Furry Free Gift, Sleeping In and Slow Food.

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