All just my personal opinion
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas — summary for comparisons of recordings, involving the following artists: Wilhelm Backhaus, Paul Badura-Skoda, Daniel Barenboim, Ronald Brautigam, Edwin Fischer, Emil Gilels, Friedrich Gulda, Clara Haskil, Jos van Immerseel, Julius Katchen, Wilhelm Kempff, Igor Levit, Mikhail Pletnev, Maurizio Pollini, Svjatoslav Richter, Arthur Rubinstein, András Schiff, Artur Schnabel, Mélodie Zhao
Schubert, Works for Violin and Piano — Ibragimova, Tiberghien / Shiokawa, Schiff (and for comparison: Fischer-Dieskau, Moore)
Beethoven, Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, op.13, “Pathétique” — Backhaus (1958), Barenboim (1984), Badura-Skoda (1969), Schnabel (1935), Fischer (1952), Gulda (1967), Immerseel (1983), fortepiano), Gilels (1980), Brautigam (2003, fortepiano); Piano Sonata No.14 in C♯ minor, op.27/2 — Badura-Skoda (1969), Barenboim (1984), Backhaus (1958), Gulda (1967), Schnabel (1935), Pletnev (1988), Gilels (1980), Immerseel (1983), fortepiano), Brautigam (2003, fortepiano)
(…) in the mid-90’s I could not resist following a colleague’s recommendation to visit Tower Records in Mountain View (a shop that has since gone out of business) when I was on a business trip to the Silicon Valley, and so I started purchasing CDs. Of course, unlike when I started collecting LPs, I now had a better idea what to look for…