No one can claim to have heard more than a fraction of the new releases in the classical music field, so no one really has any business saying what the best of them are. What this listener can say is that he has particularly enjoyed the following:
1. Opera
Rossini, ''Il Turco in Italia,'' with Cecilia Bartoli, La Scala Chorus and Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly, conductor (London/Decca).
2. Orchestra
Elgar/Payne Symphony No. 3, Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (NMC); ''Edgard Varese: Complete Music,'' Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly, conductor (London/Decca); Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 5-8, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Saarbruecken Radio Orchestra (Arte Nova).
3. Piano
Beethoven Sonatas (complete), Annie Fischer, piano (Hungaroton); Beethoven Sonatas, Vol. 3, Russell Sherman, piano (GM recordings); Chopin: Etudes, Garrick Ohlsson (Arabesque).
4. Choral and oratorio
Liszt, ''Christus,'' Gaechinger Kantorei, Helmuth Rilling, conductor (Haennsler).
5. New music
''The Harry Partch Collection'' (CRI); Jean Barraque, ''Complete Works'' (cpo); Elliott Carter, ''Recent Works,'' Arditti Quartet, Ursula Oppens, et al. (Auvidis Montaigne); Gunther Schuller, ''Orchestral Works,'' Hannover Radio Symphony, Schuller, conductor (GM Recordings).
6. Diva recital
''I Want Magic,'' Renee Fleming, soprano (London).
7. Early music
''Lost Music of Early America: Music of the American Moravians,'' Boston Baroque and Martin Pearlman (Telarc); Monteverdi, Madrigals, Book 4, Roberto Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano (Op. 111).
8. Chamber music
Beethoven Quartets, Alexander String Quartet (Arte Nova); Dvorak Piano Quintet, Borodin Quartet with Sviatoslav Richter (Russia Revelation).
9. Historical release
Mahler: Complete Symphonies and ''Das Lied von der Erde,'' the New York Philharmonic Broadcasts 1948-1982, conductors Barbirolli, Boulez, Kubelik, Mehta, Mitropoulos, Solti, Steinberg, Stokowski, Tennstedt, Walter (New York Philharmonic); Beethoven and Liszt Piano Music, Ernst Levy (Marston); The William Kapell Edition (RCA/BMG); Bach: Keyboard Music, Miescyslaw Horszowski, piano (Arbiter).
10. Light music
Sousa: ''El Capitan,'' Sinfonia da Camera, Ian Hobson, conductor (Zephyr).
