Classical Enthusiasts / Experts ::Build Your Top Fifty Definitive Picks::

Why not select the works we think are most significant in terms of 'absolute' quality, i.e: the best of each time period irrespective of whether or not this or that piece is the best of a composer that HAS to be included because he was significant (say, Mendelssohn) but that I wouldn't have wanted to include because I don't think was quite up there with the best. It just seems like following the first guideline will result in the stock "most significant works in terms of historical importance" whether or not you think they're Top 50. Do I make sense?

here's a list of 50 solid works.

1. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
2. Bach: Goldberg Variations
3. Bach: 6 Cello Suites
4. Bach: St. Matthew Passion
5. Beethoven: Violin Concerto
6. Beethoven: Piano Concerto 5 (Emperor)
7. Beethoven: Symphony 9 (Choral)
8. Beethoven: Piano Sonata 29 (Hammerklavier)
9. Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
10. Brahms: Piano Concerto 1
11. Brahms: Violin Concerto
12. Bruch: Violin Concerto
13. Bruckner: Symphony 5
14. Chopin: The Preludes
15. Copland: Appalachian Spring
16. Dvorak: Symphony 9 (New World)
17. Dvorak: Cello Concerto
18. Elgar: Cello Concerto
19. Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
20. Gorecki: Third Symphony
21. Grieg: Peer Gynt
22. Handel: Messiah
23. Liszt: Sonata in B minor
24. Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
25. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
26. Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
27. Mozart: Piano Concerto 23
28. Mozart: Requiem
29. Mozart: Symphony 41 (Jupiter)
30. Mozart: Don Giovanni
31. Orff: Carmina Burana
32. Puccini: La Boheme
33. Rimsky-Korsakov: Schéhérazade
34. Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 3 (Organ)
35. Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
36. Schubert: Die Winterreise
37. Schubert: String Quintet in C
38. Schubert: Symphony 8 (Unfinished)
39. Schubert: Piano Sonata D960
40. Schumann: Kinderszenen
41. Shostakovich: Symphony 7 (Leningrad)
42. Strauss R.: Four Last Songs
43. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
44. Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
45. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
46. Tchaikovsky: Symphony 6 (Pathétique)
47. Vaughan Williams: Lark Ascending
48. Verdi: La Traviata
49. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
50. Wagner: Tristan und Isolde

Here goes, though I admit my exposure to pre-baroque and post-20th century is almost nonexistent, so I'll limit my choices to stuff in between those two.

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto #2 (or all 6, if it's allowed). OAE
Bach: Well-Tempered Klavier Book I. Pollini
Bach: Violin Sonatas & Partitas. Tetzlaff
Bach: Mass Bm. Gardiner
Handel: Messiah. Christie
Handel: Concerti Grossi Op. 6
Mozart: Symphony #39. Menuhin/S. Varsovia
Mozart: Symphony # 41. Menuhin/S. Varsovia
Mozart: Requiem. Christie/Les Arts Florissants
Mozart: Don Giovanni. Harnoncourt/RCO
Beethoven: Symphony #3. Furtwangler/VPO ('44)
Beethoven: Symphony #9. Bernstein/VPO
Beethoven: Piano Concerto #4. Kempff/Leitner
Beethoven: Violin Concerto. Perlman/Barenboim
Beethoven: Piano Sonata #32. Annie Fischer
Beethoven: String Quartet #13 (w/Grosse Fuge). Rasumovsky Q
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis. Bernstein/RCO
Schubert: his best songs (similar to the Chopin entry). Baker
Schubert: String Quintet D.956. Juilliard Q
Brahms: Double concerto
Brahms: Piano Concerto #2. Brendel/Abbado
Brahms: Symphony #4. Karajan/BPO (70s)
Brahms: Violin Concerto. Milstein
Chopin: Misc. Piano Music (let's say 10 short pieces count as ONE major). Perahia
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto. Chung/Dutoit
Liszt: Bm Sonata. Argerich
Wagner: The Ring
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto. Milstein
Tchaikovsky: Symphony #6. Bernstein/NYPO
Dvorak: Symphony #8. Giulini
Puccini: La Boheme. Pavarotti, Freni/Karajan
Mahler: Symphony #5. Bernstein/VPO
Mahler: Symphony #9. Bernstein/RCO
Sibelius: Violin Concerto. Heifetz
Elgar: Enigma Variations. Boult/LPO
Debussy: La Mer. Boulez
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe. Boulez/BPO
Stravinsky: Le sacre du Printemps. Salonen/LAPO
Bartok: String Quartet #6. Emerson Q
Bartok: Violin Concerto #2. Shaham/Boulez
Gershwin: Porgy & Bess
Piston: Symphony #4. Schwarz/Seattle SO
Shostakovich: Preludes & Fugues. Scherbakov
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto. Ma/Ormandy
Vaughan Williams: String Quartet #2. Maggini Q
Barber: Piano Concerto. Browning/Szell
Bernstein: Candide. Bernstein
Bernstein: Arias & Barcarolles. Kaye, Sharp
Malcolm Arnold: Symphony #7. Penny
Piazzolla: Tango Zero Hour. Piazzolla

the hard part of the list for me was not including more bach, beethoven, brahms, mozart, schubert, tchaikovsky and operas. and really i think you need a separate list for opera, which i see as being quite different from pure classical.

for opera, i would list these works (say 25) as being essential, one per composer or the whole list would be verdi, wagner and mozart.

Beethoven: Fidelio
Bellini: Norma
Berg: Wozzeck
Bizet: Carmen
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
Gluck: Orfeo et Euridice
Gounod: Faust
Handel: Julius Caeser
Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel
Janacek: Jenufa
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana
Massenet: Werther
Monteverdi: L'Orfeo
Mozart: Don Giovanni
Mussorsky: Boris Godunov
Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Puccini: La Boheme
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Verdi: La Traviata
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Weber: Der Freischutz

Here's a 50.

A few explanations:

-I've taken the opposite solution to the opera problem from vcohedra; I've included quite a few, since I get more music per 'work'.

- No recommendation for Don Giovanni, because I don't know it well enough; for the others, the version I mention is one I think is good, not a claim to definiteveness.

- Like radiohlite, my knowledge of early music is sketchy.

- The number of works per composer is intended to reflect my estimation of their worth.

Hildegard of Bingen; Ordo Virtutum; Cologne Sequentia Ensemble.
Palestrina; Missa Papae Marcelli; Willcocks.
Monteverdi; L'Orfeo; Gardiner.
Monteverdi; Eighth Book of Madrigals; Concerto Italiano.
Bach; St Matthew Passion; Willcocks.
Bach; Violin Partita in D minor; Grumiaux.
Bach; Cantata 82 Ich habe genug; Quasthoff.
Bach; Concerto for 2 Violins BWV 1043; Concentus Musicus Wien.
Handel; Giulio Cesare; Christie.
Haydn; Symphony 104; Harnoncourt.
Mozart; Don Giovanni; ?
Beethoven; String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, opus 131; Takacs Quartet.
Beethoven; Symphony 3; Mackerras.
Beethoven; Piano Sonata Op. 106 Hammerklavier; Kempff.
Schubert; Die Winterreise; Fischer-Dieskau and Demus, 1962.
Schubert; Symphony 8; Kleiber.
Schubert; Piano Sonata in C minor, D. 958; Uchida.
Chopin; Piano Concerto 2; Rubinstein.
Verdi; La Traviata; Kleiber.
Liszt; Piano Sonata in B minor; Richter.
Mussorgsky; Boris Godunov; Gergiev.
Brahms; Symphony 4; Kleiber.
Grieg; Piano Concerto; Andsnes.
Dvorak; Cello Concerto; Rostropovich.
Wagner; Goetterdaemmerung; Solti.
Bruckner; Symphony 9; Barenboim.
Debussy; Pelléas et Mélisande; Karajan.
Debussy; Prelude A L'apre-Midi D'un Faune; Rattle.
Tchaikovsky; Violin Concerto; Mullova.
Mahler; Das Lied von der Erde; Boulez.
Sibelius; Symphony 4; Rattle.
Sibelius; Violin Concerto; Oistrakh.
Bartok; String Quartet 6; Takacs Quartet.
Bartok; Concerto for Orchestra; Solti.
Puccini; La Boheme; Beecham.
Strauss; Elektra; Solti.
Schoenberg; Pierrot Lunaire; Craft.
Stravinsky; Rite of Spring; Stravinsky.
Janacek; Jenufa; Mackerras.
Berg; Violin Concerto; Perlman.
Berg; Wozzeck; Abbado.
Copland; Symphony 3; Bernstein.
Rodrigo; Concierto de Aranjuez; Bonell.
Britten; Peter Grimes; Britten.
Shostakovich; Symphony No. 10; Kondrashin.
Shostakovich; Quartet 8; Borodin Quartet.
Messiaen; Quartet for the End of Time; Bell etc.
Birtwistle; Earth Dances; Dohnanyi.
Ligeti; Cello Concerto; Queyras.
Gubaidulina; Violin Concerto Offertorium; Kremer.

I want to contribute to this thread, yes I do. Uugh, but it is the holiday season and I have got to work over time. So real quick, did someone mention the Palestrina Masses, Gregorian chant, Haydn's Last Words, and Beethoven's late string quartets (they sound like Anton Webern!), and Corigliano's 2nd symphony (OK, OK, maybe not in the top 50, but a work of genius nontheless.).

P.S.
I wish I could pull Chet Baker's, "Chet", out of the world of jazz and into the world of classical music. Ahh, this would be the perfect finish for the top 50; just like finishing off a meal with a nice glass of cognac.

I am foolish enough to try this! The more important people get more works, even then there are many missing I would like to have in there, but I have moved a few out to make room for more early music. So Schumann, Scarlatti, Vivaldi should all be there, but theres no more space.


1.Perotin Magister - Sedurunt principes (Perotin - Hilliard Ensemble)
2.Guillaume de Machaut - Messe de Notre Dame (Hilliard Ensemble)
3.Guillaume Dufay - Missa Se la face ay pale (Diabilus in Musica)
4.Johannes Ockeghem - Requiem (The Clerks' Group)
5.Josquin Des Préz - Missa Pange Lingua (Tallis Scholars)
6.Giovanni Perluigi Palestrina - Missa Papa Marcelli (Tallis Scholoars)
7.William Byrd - Mass for 5 voices (Choir of WInchester Cathedral, Hill)
8.Tomás Luis de Victoria - Officium defunctorum (1605) (McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort)
9.Claudio Monteverdi - L'Orfeo (La Venexiana),
10.Claudio Monteverdi - Vespers (McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort)
11.Heinrich Schütz - Musikalische Exequien (Monteverdi Choir, Gardiner)
12.Dietrich Buxtehude - Membra Jesu Nostri (Cantus Collln, Junghanel)
13.George Frideric Handel - 12 Grand Concertos Op.6 (English Concert, Pinnock),
14.George Frideric Handel - Messiah (Dunedin Consort, Butt)
15.Johann Sebastian Bach - St Matthew Passion (Concentus Musicus Wien, Harnoncourt),
16.Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concertos (European Brandenburg Ensemble, Pinnock),
17.Johann Sebastian Bach - Das Wohltempierte Klavier Book 1 (Gilbert)
18.Joseph Haydn - Symphony 102 (Bruggen, Orchestra of the 18th Century),
19.Joseph Haydn - String Quartets Op.76 (Quatuor Mosaiques),
20.Franz Joseph Haydn - Nelson Mass (Pinnock, English Concert)
21.Wolfgang Mozart - Don Giovanni (Jacobs),
22.Wolfgang Mozart - Piano Concerto 23 (Bilson, Gardiner),
23.Wolfgang Mozart - Symphony 41 (Mackerras, Scottish Chamber Orchestra)
24.Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Sonata 32 Op.111 (Pollini)
25.Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet Op.130 (Takacs Qt)
26.Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No.9 (Vänskä, Minnesota Orchestra)
27.Franz Schubert - Die Winterreise (Padmore, Lewis)
28.Franz Schubert - Symphony 8 (Unfinished) (Harnoncourt, RCO)
29.Frederic Chopin – Polonaises (Pollini)
30.Richard Wagner – Gotterdammerung (Barenboim)
31.Giuseppi Verdi – La Traviata (Solti, Gheorghiu, Lopardo, Nucci. Covent Garden)
32.Johannes Brahms - Symphony 4 (Kleiber, VPO)
33.Gustav Mahler - Symphony 6 (Boulez, VPO)
34.Gustav Mahler - Das Lied von der Erde (Boulez, VPO)
35.Claude Debussy - La Mer (Boulez, Cleveland Orchestra)
36.Claude Debussy - Preludes Bk 1 (Zimmerman)
37.Arnold Schoenberg - String Quartet 3 (Schoenberg Qt)
38.Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot lunaire (Boulez, Schaffer, Ensemble InterContemporain)
39.Anton Webern - Symphony Op.21 (Boulez, BPO)
40.Alban Berg – Wozzeck (Abbado, VPO)
41.Béla Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste (Salonen, LAPO)
42.Igor Stravinsky - Rite of Spring (Tilson Thomas, Boston SO)
43.Igor Stravinsky – Symphony of Psalms (Rattle BPO)
44.György Ligeti - Lux Aeterna (Cappella Amsterdam)
45.Witold Lutoslavski - Symphony 3 (Salonon – LAPO)
46.Eliott Carter - Concerto for Orchestra (Gielen, SWF SO)
47.Thomas Adès – Powder Her Face
48.Harrison Birtwistle - Theseus Game (Boulez, Ensemble Modern)
49.Pierre Boulez - Le marteau sans maître (Boulez)
50.Sofia Gubaidulina - In Tempus Praesens (Mutter)

Rather mainstream I am afraid, and I can never play the best version game, so its just whatever I think is good, but it is my attempt to put together 50 representative works spanning the centuries.

Yes, count me in for this thread as well, even though I will probably never supply a 50. Partly that's because mulling 50 works is a big time investment, and partly it's because I don't feel qualified in some periods to do anything but parrot other people's opinions, For example, if I simply have to have something by Mozart it's going to be the Requiem, which I know and like, or The Magic Flute, which I know somewhat and have no real affection for. I think part of the reason why lists become so dull is that individuals or groups compiling them tend to lean on received wisdom when they reach the limits of their own confidence.

Anyway, here's some, in no particular order. Very modern-leaning I'm afraid.

Wagner, Tristan and Isolde (the respectable choice, probably the most innately "Wagnerian" as well)
Britten, Peter Grimes
Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring
Glass, Einstein on the Beach
Mahler, Symphony No. 2
Beethoven, Symphony No. 9
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier (yes, so many choices for Bach)
Messiaen, Catalogue des Oiseaux (Should be Turangalila I guess ...)
Verdi, Requiem Mass
Bartok, Duke Bluebeard's Castle
Arvo Part, Tabula Rasa (St. John Passion is the critic's choice I think)
Vivaldi, Il Cimento ... (including The Four Seasons of course)
Orff, Carmina Burana (Low-brow choice maybe, but it's not going anywhere anytime soon)
Steve Reich, Different Trains
Bernstein, West Side Story (So what it's not a "classical" piece ...)
Ligeti, Lux Aeterna
Sorabji, Opus Clavicembalisticum
Richard Strauss, Four Last Songs
Handel, The Messiah
Berg, Wozzeck
Janacek, Katya Kabanova
Robert Simpson, String Quartet No. 9
Prokofiev, Piano Sonata No. 6
Rzewski, The People United Will Never Be Defeated
Thomas Ades, The Tempest
Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 3 (The 8th is more famous, but the third shows his strengths as a symphonist as well)
John Zorn, Cat O'Nine Tails for String Quartet (For those who like their postmodernism a bit more astringent)