2008 Gramophone Award winners

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HERBERT VON KARAJAN - MAHLER'S NINTH SYMPHONY

RICHARD HICKOX, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - "LONDON" SYMPHONY

STEPHEN HOUGH - SAINT-SAENS COMPLETE WORKS FOR PIANO

NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT - BEETHOVEN SYMPHONIES

BEAUX ARTS TRIO - HAYDN: THE COMPLETE PIANO TRIOS

The desire to concoct cultural league tables seems almost as deep-seated as the desire to make the culture in the first place. But classical music has, until now, largely been excluded from these ranking games. True, it has its annual awards. But rarely are superb recordings from different eras and of different repertoire measured against each other.

That's a pity. Some recordings acquire such legendary status that they deserve to be more widely trumpeted. So we invite Times readers to take part in a little game of CD ranking.

For the past 30 years Gramophone magazine has anointed one superlative recording each year as its Gold Disc. Naturally that award is ferociously debated. But imagine the delicious controversy if a panel of experts were rash enough to whittle those 30 discs down to just five recordings that changed the musical world. And imagine the fun and furore if a newspaper then asked its readers to choose the best of these.

That's what we want you to do. Vote for the recording that you think should win the All-Time Gold Disc at the Gramophone Awards this autumn. The five contenders will be introduced individually on these pages this week. But in brief they are: Nikolaus Harnoncourt's gloriously iconoclastic version of Beethoven's symphonies; Herbert von Karajan's magisterial account of Mahler's Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic; the original version of Vaughan Williams's London Symphony, stunningly recorded by Richard Hickox and the LSO on Chandos; the Haydn Piano Trios recorded by the peerless Beaux Arts Trio; and Stephen Hough's revelatory set of Saint-Saëns' piano concertos. One of these will soon be acclaimed as the finest recording that the CD era has yet produced. Make sure you have a say in the decision. Voting closes on September 14.

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