50 favorite classical works
Submitted by wshogren on Sun, 04/16/2006 - 10:39
Tags:
- Johann Sebastian Bach: St Matthew Passion (1729)
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no. 7 in A minor (1812)
- Igor Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps (1913)
- Olivier Messiaen: Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps (1940)
- Franz Schubert: Quintet in C major (1828)
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 5 in E-flat major ("Emperor") (1809)
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony no. 9 in D major (1910)
- Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (1859)
- Charles Ives: Symphony no. 4 (1916)
- Johannes Brahms: Symphony no. 4 in E minor (1885)
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (1713)
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony 9 in D minor ("Choral") (1824)
- Claude Debussy: Preludes (1910)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto no. 21 in C major (1785)
- Arvo Part: Tabula Rasa (1977)
- Johann Sebastian Bach: The Musical Offering (1748)
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no. 5 in C minor (1808)
- Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor (1891)
- Bela Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1936)
- Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet no. 8 in C minor (1960)
- The Next 30, in Chronological Order:
- Perotin: Viderunt Omnes & Sederant Prinicipes (11??)
- Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (1689)
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concertos (1721)
- Antonio Vivaldi: Lute Concerto in D major (1725)
- Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Partita no. 2 in D minor (1723)
- Johan Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor (1749)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony no. 41 in C major ("Jupiter") (1788)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem in D minor (1791)
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no. 3 in E flat major ("Eroica") (1804)
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata no. 29 in B flat major ("Hammerklavier") (1818)
- Franz Schubert: Symphony no. 8 in B minor ("The Unfinished") (1822)
- Franz Schubert: String Quartet in D minor ("Death and the Maiden") (1824)
- Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet no. 13 in B flat major/Grosse Fuge (1825)
- Ludwig Van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1826)
- Franz Schubert: Piano Sonata in B-flat major (1828)
- Richard Wagner: Die Walkure (1870)
- Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) {original piano version}
- Johannes Brahms: Symphony no. 3 in F major (1883)
- Gustav Mahler: Symphony no. 1 in D major (1888)
- Gabriel Faure: Requiem in D minor (1890)
- Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Symphony no. 6 in B minor ("Pathetique") (1893)
- Antonin Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B minor (1895)
- Arnold Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (1912)
- Anton Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra (1913)
- Leo Janacek: Glagolitic Mass (1926)
- Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms (1930)
- Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G (1931)
- Bela Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra (1943)
- Eduard Tubin: Symphony no. 8 (1966)
- Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet no. 15 in E flat minor (1974)
Author Comments:
Still under construction...
High five re: Mahler #1
Yep, not as "heavy" as some of his later stuff, but it's my favorite.
Some composers are 'one hit wonders', for examples Holst (Planets) and Orff (Carmina Burana). But with the true greats it becomes absurd to limit them to one hit - IF you are going to title your list as it is titled. I suggest, as a more accurate title, '25 Great Pieces of Classical Music' - and perhaps add 'by 25 Composers'. Your present title implies that, say, Holst's 'Planets' is a greater work than, say, Bach's 'Goldberg Variations' or 'St. Matthew Passion' - with which not many lovers of classical music would agree.
As for the list itself, it's terrific, and I hope you will lengthen it eventually.
You bring up a valid point, I should probably change the title. I made it one per composer since otherwise it would be full of Beethoven and Bach pieces. Eventually I'll take the effort to lengthen it.
While the entirety of the work may or may not be his greatest, Bach's Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor deserves serious consideration, primarily because:
It contains the single greatest track of music ever made. Track #5.
For Bach though, if you have to pick a whole work and not a single movement/track, I'd go with either the Mass in B Minor or St. Matthew Passion. As great as the Brandenburg Concertos, in my opinion are these two works tower over all of them combined.
Hmm, gotta check this Violin Partita out. As for Bach's Mass and St. Matthew Passion, I'm not a huge fan of choral music. I should probably give them more attention though. Man, more music to put on my to-listen list.
If you get the Violin Partitas, I highly recommend the Itzhak Perlman version recorded in 1988 on EMI.
The performance is incredible. And, for the purposes of adding more info, the track I'm speaking of is more specifically the "Ciaconna", track #5 of Partita No. 2, BMV 1004, running around 16 minutes long.
Nothing, and I really mean nothing, not Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Miles Davis, Mingus--noone can truly compare to this, the most supreme work of art ever written in the entire history of music. I swear by it.
I haven't ever heard anything so incredibly miraculous, so nakedly beautiful, so tremendously moving, so indescribable, as this Bach movement.
Let me know if you get it. It may take more than one listen to produce my description. It depends on how you favor the violin and Bach's compositional nature (though this has more humanity and is more vitally emotional than the great Beethoven could ever hope to produce in entire symphonies).
Anyway, writing or talking about this work gives me goosebumps and I can just go on and on. Hopefully, you too, get the same rewards I have.
I can easily see why you're big on Beethoven's 7th. I especially love the momentous and intense 2nd movement. Still, I'd probably go with the 3rd. Maybe even his Concerto for Violin in D or the Kreutzer Violin Sonata.
For Mozart I'd probably go with his Jupiter Symphony, though the 21st is right there. It is so irresistable I have a difficult time disagreeing with that pick.
Brahms: I'm bigger on his 3rd, though his 4th is right there. Brahms' 3rd may be the greatest symphony ever. Yea, you read that right.
On Tchaikovsky I'd go with his Piano Concerto #1.
Overall, great list, great picks! I really like your taste in music (rock & classical)!
Thanks! Yep, the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th is probably my favorite piece of music ever, along with Wagner's Leibestod. The Jupiter Symphony would probably be in my 25 too, if I allowed one than one work per composer. Tchaikovsky's first Piano Concerto is also very good.
Awesome list! Any chance of extending this so I could use it as a basic guide to some of the best works? Of all the ones I currently have, they're all absolute amazing so I eagerly anticipate the others.
Thanks! I've been planning on adding to this list for a while, and right now I'm listening/re-listening to a bunch of pieces to see where they'd fit. It'll probably be up pretty soon.
I really like your list, some works that I didn't know, I will check out and add the ones I like to my list:
My 1000 favorite classical works:
The first part is here (look the author notes for my top 10).
The second part is here.
I'm now in the baroque era with Marin Marais' Semele (I should definitely buy the one play at Montreal, the one I've heard on radio, it's the only version I really like, slower). In the last days, I listen too Francis Poulenc's Sonata for Flute and Piano.
I like your list a lot too. I really appreciate the links provided for all the songs. That's something I should do for my list.
There's a lot of baroque, and earlier, music I need to catch up on, including Marin Marais. I'll add him to my to-listen list. Same with the Poulenc piece too, actually. There's too much music out there! Thanks for the suggestions.