Simply your favourite 30 works

[Brian]

Time to revive this old thread by updating my 2014 list (which was an update of a 2011 list so I'm doing this every three years)...

Barber | Violin Concerto (new)
Beethoven | Piano Sonata No 30
Beethoven | Piano Sonata No 31
Beethoven | String Quartet Op 59 No 3
Beethoven | Symphony No 7
Brahms | Symphony No 4
Bruckner | Symphony No 7 (back on the list)
Dvořák | String Quintet Op 97 (replacing Cello Concerto)
Dvořák | String Quartet No 13
Dvořák | Symphony No 8
Dvořák | Te Deum
Haydn | Symphony No 80 (new)
Haydn | Symphony No 92, "Oxford"
Janáček | Glagolitic Mass
Janáček | Sinfonietta
Janáček | Sonata 1.X.1905 (new)
Martinů | Symphony No 2 (new)
Martinů | Symphony No 4
Ravel | Miroirs
Ravel | Piano Concerto in G
Ravel | Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Roussel | Bacchus et Ariane
Schubert | Klavierstücke D946 (new)
Schubert | String Quintet D956
Schumann | Fantasie, Op 17
Shaw | Partita for Eight Voices (new) (also literally new[ish])
Sibelius | Symphony No 5
Tchaikovsky | Sleeping Beauty (new)
Vaughan Williams | Symphony No 3 (new)
Verdi | Falstaff (new)

Removed from the 2014 list:
Atterberg | Symphony No 8
Bach | Concerto for two violins in D minor
Chopin | Fantaisie in F minor
Fauré | Piano Quartet No 1
Ravel | La valse
Schumann | Fantasiestucke, Op 12
Smetana | Ma Vlast
Weinberg | Cello Concerto

EDIT: Already made an edit to the list. Hope I can leave it be for three years, now 

[Contemporaryclassical]

Bach - Mass in B Minor
Bach - Motets
Monteverdi - Vespers
Ockeghem - L'homme Arme
Beethoven - Piano sonata 7
Beethoven - Piano sonata 29
Beethoven - String Quartet 14
Brahms - Piano sonatas
Wagner - The ring
Mahler - Symphony no 6
Mahler - Symphony no 8
Tchaikovsky - Symphony no 6
Webern - Six bagatelles
Webern - Five pieces
Webern - String trio
Webern - Symphony
Webern - Quartet
Webern - Concerto for nine instruments
Webern - Das Augenlicht
Webern - Variations for piano
Webern - variations for orchestra
Webern - Cantata no 2
Stravinsky - Petrushka
Stravinsky - Movements
Stravinsky - Requiem Canticles
Stravinsky - Threni
Schoenberg - Variations for orchestra
Schoenberg - Erwartung
Varese - Arcana
Feldman - Piano and string Quartet
Feldman - Rothko Chapel
Feldman - For Phillip Guston
Stockhausen - Kontra-punkte (I only heard this recently but I have been greatly impressed)

[Mirror Image]

I'll have to revise my list but with no kind of limitations whatsoever (in no particular order):

Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 4-7, The Oceanides, Pohjola's Daughter
Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 3, 5, & 6, Flute Concerto, Clarinet Concerto, Saga-Drøm
Bartók: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3, Violin Concerto No. 2, Bluebeard's Castle, The Miraculous Mandarin
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies 3, 5, & 6, Job, Five Mystical Songs, Flos Campi
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, 8, & 10, Violin Concerto No. 1, Piano Quintet, Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok

Well, there's 30 works from my 'Top 5' favorite composers. I wish I could have gone on to include my 'Top 10' composers, but oh well...I'm quite satisfied with these choices I must say.

[amw]

uh ok

Not in order.


Bach - Clavierübung Part I (Six Partitas)
Bach - St Matthew Passion
Bartók - String Quartet No. 3
Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Beethoven - Sonata No. 32 Op. 111
Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14 Op. 131
Beethoven - Missa solemnis Op. 123
Brahms - String Sextet No. 2 Op. 36
Brahms - Violin Sonata No. 1 Op. 78
Brahms - Symphony No. 3 Op. 90
Cage - String Quartet in Four Parts
Chopin - Piano Sonata No. 3 Op. 58
Chopin - Ballade No. 4 Op. 52
Dvořák - String Quartet No. 10 Op. 51
Dvořák - Symphony No. 7 Op. whatever
Debussy - Etudes
Feldman - Neither
Ligeti - String Quartet No. 2
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 27 K. 595
Mozart - String Quintet No. 4 K. 516
Ravel - Le tombeau de Couperin
Ravel - Piano Trio
Schubert - String Quintet D. 956
Schubert - Piano Sonata D. 959
Schumann - Kreisleriana Op. 16
Schumann - Fantasie Op. 17
Schumann - Davidsbündlertänze Op. 6
Schumann - Liederkreis Op. 39
Sciarrino - Quaderno di strada
Stravinsky - Requiem Canticles

[bwv 1080]

Chantilly Codex (counts as one, right?)
Tallis - Spem in Alium
Gesualdo - Tenebrae
Bach - BWV 1080 (of course)
Scarlatti - see this most unjustly neglected thread:  http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,26936.msg1056973.html#msg1056973
Mozart - 2 piano quartets
Beethoven - middle period piano sonatas & late SQs
Schumann - Humoreske, C major Fantasie, Am String Quartet
Chopin - Polonaise Fantasy, 4th Ballade
Liszt - 1st PC, Bm Sonata
Brahms - op 79, 119
Mahler -  Symph [2,4,5,6,7,9,10], Ruckert Leider
Webern - Five pieces for Orchestra
Stravinsky - RofS, Agon
Bartok - SQ no.4, Music for Strings, Percussion & Celeste
Messiaen - Couleurs de la Cité céleste
Wolpe - Piece in two parts for six players
Boulez - Derive 2
Carter - Concerto for Orchestra, 3rd SQ
Dutilleux - Metaboles
Ligeti - Clocks & Clouds, Lontano
Ferneyhough - Les Froissements des Ailes de Gabriel, Terrain, La Chute d'Icare

[North Star]

Feldman - Neither
Sciarrino - Quaderno di strada

Hm, considering how much of the rest of your list I could just copy, I think I need to hear these soon.

[Trout]

My idiosyncratic list, with up to 1 per composer:

Abrahamsen: Schnee
Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur
Alwyn: Lyra Angelica
Bach: Cello Suites
Bartók: Music for Piano, Strings, and Celesta

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral"
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Fauré: Requiem

Finzi: Five Bagatelles
Glass: Einstein on the Beach
Grisey: Les espaces acoustiques
Hahn: À Chloris
Ives: Symphony No. 4

Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua
Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
Ligeti: Études
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie

Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Nyman: MGV
Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
Romitelli: Dead City Radio (Audiodrome)
Saariaho: L'Amour de loin

Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"
Vasks: Violin Concerto "Distant Light"

[Todd]

Albeniz - Iberia
Bartok - String Quartet No 4
Bartok - Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
Beethoven - Symphony No 3
Beethoven - String Quartet Op 132
Beethoven - Piano Sonata Op 31/3
Beethoven - Piano Sonata Op 111
Berg - Wozzeck
Berg - Lulu
Biber - Mystery Sonatas
Brahms - Symphony No 2
Bruckner - Symphony No 9
Debussy - Preludes, Book I
Debussy - Estampes
Debussy - Nocturnes
Liszt - Annees de Pelerinage, Suisse
Liszt - Annees de Pelerinage, Italie
Liszt - Annees de Pelerinage, Troisième année
Liszt - Harmonies poétiques et religieuses
Mahler - Symphony No 1
Mahler - Symphony No 9
Morales - Officium defunctorum
Mozart - Piano Concerto No 20
Mozart - Piano Sonata K331
Mussorgsky - Boris Godunov
Schumann - Carnaval
Schumann - Symphonic Etudes
Szymanowski - Stabat Mater
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde
Wagner - Parsifal

[SymphonicAddict]

Hard work, as always with these entertaining lists  . I'm crazy about orchestral music (especially symphonies) so the majority are them:

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 3
Mozart: Symphony Nr. 39
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Schubert: String quintet
Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts
Liszt: Fantasy for organ on 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam', S.259
Franck: Violin sonata
Bruckner: Symphony Nr. 4
Brahms: Symphony Nr. 4
Tchaikovsky: Symphony Nr. 5
Dvorák: Symphony Nr. 8
Janácek: Glagolitic Mass
Mahler: Symphony Nr. 6
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Eine Alpensinfonie
Nielsen: Symphony Nr. 5
Sibelius: Symphony Nr. 2
Bantock: A Celtic Symphony
Vaughan Williams: Symphony Nr. 2 (revised version)
Rachmaninov: The Bells
Holst: The Planets
Glière: Symphony Nr. 3
Ravel: Piano concerto for the left hand
Respighi: Vetrate di Chiesa
Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps
Atterberg: Symphony Nr. 3
Prokofiev: Symphony Nr. 5
Finzi: Cello concerto
Shostakovich: Symphony Nr. 5
Pettersson: Symphony Nr. 6

[SymphonicAddict]

I decided to make a list with only chamber works:

Beethoven: Violin sonata 'Kreutzer', String quartet op. 132
Schubert: String quintet, Piano trio Nr. 2
Mendelssohn: Octet
Schumann: Romances for oboe and piano, op. 94
Franck: Violin sonata
Brahms: Piano quintet, Cello sonata Nr. 1, Piano quartet Nr. 3, String quintet Nr. 1, Clarinet quintet
Tchaikovsky: Piano trio
Dvorák: Piano quintet op. 81, String quintet op. 97
Grieg: String quartet in G minor
Janácek: String quartets 1 and 2
Chausson: Concert for violin, piano and string quartet
Debussy: String quartet in G minor; Sonata for flute, viola and harp
Magnard: Cello sonata
Ravel: Piano trio
Bartók: Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion
Poulenc: Flute sonata
Shostakovich: Piano quintet, Piano trio op. 67, Violin sonata, Viola sonata
Britten: String quartet Nr. 2

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Not necessarily in order:

Wagner: Ring (you can count it as one work, right?)
Wagner: Tristan
Wagner: Parsifal
Debussy: La cathédrale engloutie
Debussy: Pelléas
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Verdi: Falstaff
Verdi: Don Carlos
Puccini: La fanciulla del West
Puccini: Tosca
Puccini: Turandot
Rachmaninoff: The Rock
Sibelius: Pohjola's daughter
Sibelius: Luonnotar
Sibelius: Symphony no. 6
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
Berlioz: La damnation de Faust
Richard Strauss: Salome
Richard Strauss: Elektra
Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung
Stravinsky: The Firebird
Liszt: Faust Symphony
Beethoven: String quartet 14 op.131
Beethoven: Fidelio
Beethoven: Pastoral symphony
Robert Schumann: Scenes from Goethe's Faust
Johannes Brahms: Symphony no. 2
Johannes Brahms: Violin concerto
Johannes Brahms: Violin sonata no. 3
Dvorak: The Golden Spinning Wheel

If you can't count Ring as one work, I would probably delete Brahms's Violin sonata no. 3, Beethoven's String quartet op. 131 and Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust. Yes, I know what you're thinking, in doing so I would delete the only chamber music works I had in my list but I can't help it: I happen to like orchestral music (and program music) nowadays much more than chamber music or absolute music.

[North Star]

Something like this.

1.   Albeniz – Iberia
2.   Bach – Die Kunst der Fuge
3.   Bartók - String Quartet No. 4
4.   Beethoven – String Quartet No. 14 in c# minor, Op. 131
5.   Berg – Violin Concerto
6.   Biber – Mystery Sonatas
7.   Chopin – Ballade No. 4
8.   Debussy – Preludes, Book I
9.   Enescu – Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor 'dans le caractère populaire roumain'
10.   Janáček – String Quartet No. 2
11.   Josquin – Miserere
12.   Kodály – Sonata for Solo Cello
13.   Liszt – Années de pèlerinage
14.   Mahler – Symphony No. 9
15.   Martinů – Nonet
16.   Mompou – Musica callada
17.   Morales – Officium defunctorum
18.   Mozart – Piano Concerto No 20
19.   Nielsen – Wind Quintet
20.   Prokofiev – Violin Sonata no. 1 in f minor
21.   Pärt – Tabula Rasa
22.   Rakhmaninov – All-Night Vigil
23.   Ravel – Piano Trio
24.   Schubert – String Quartet in G major, D. 887
25.   Schumann – Fantasie, Op 17
26.   Schönberg – 5 Pieces for Orchestra
27.   Sibelius – Symphony No. 6
28.   Stravinsky – Rite of Spring
29.   Stravinsky – Symphony of Psalms
30.   Varèse – Amériques

[Mandryka]

[SymphonicAddict]

Something like this.

1.   Albeniz – Iberia
2.   Bach – Die Kunst der Fuge
3.   Bartók - String Quartet No. 4
4.   Beethoven – String Quartet No. 14 in c# minor, Op. 131
5.   Berg – Violin Concerto
6.   Biber – Mystery Sonatas
7.   Chopin – Ballade No. 4
8.   Debussy – Preludes, Book I
9.   Enescu – Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor 'dans le caractère populaire roumain'
10.   Janáček – String Quartet No. 2
11.   Josquin – Miserere
12.   Kodály – Sonata for Solo Cello
13.   Liszt – Années de pèlerinage
14.   Mahler – Symphony No. 9
15.   Martinů – Nonet
16.   Mompou – Musica callada
17.   Morales – Officium defunctorum
18.   Mozart – Piano Concerto No 20
19.   Nielsen – Wind Quintet
20.   Prokofiev – Violin Sonata no. 1 in f minor
21.   Pärt – Tabula Rasa
22.   Rakhmaninov – All-Night Vigil
23.   Ravel – Piano Trio
24.   Schubert – String Quartet in G major, D. 887
25.   Schumann – Fantasie, Op 17
26.   Schönberg – 5 Pieces for Orchestra
27.   Sibelius – Symphony No. 6
28.   Stravinsky – Rite of Spring
29.   Stravinsky – Symphony of Psalms
30.   Varèse – Amériques

I may easily consider those ones (bold text) as my favorites, too.

[musicrom]

Unranked, off the top of my head (EDIT - sorted by composer):

Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 30
Beethoven - Symphony No. 1
Brahms - 6 Klavierstucke
Chopin - Nocturnes, Op. 55
Elgar - Cello Concerto
Gubaidulina - Viola Concerto
Lindberg, M. - Clarinet Concerto
Mahler - Symphony No. 5
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto
Mozart - Sinfonia concertante
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 20
Rimsky-Korsakov - Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh Suite
Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade
Rimsky-Korsakov - Symphony No. 2
Saint-Saens - Piano Concerto No. 2
Schnittke - Symphony No. 1
Schubert - String Quartet No. 14
Schumann, R. - Symphonic Etudes
Scriabin - Symphony No. 2
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 10
Sibelius - Symphony No. 1
Sibelius - Symphony No. 2
Sibelius - Violin Concerto
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring
Stravinsky - The Firebird
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker
Walton - Viola Concerto

[Wanderer]

A list of 32 favourite works, unranked, one per composer:

Bach: Mass in B minor
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Haydn: Die Schöpfung
Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem
Berlioz: Grande messe des morts
Bruckner: Symphony No.9 (with the final movement)
Schubert: Sonata D.960
Ravel: Piano Concerto in D (for the left hand)
Debussy: La mer
Medtner: Violin Sonata No.2
Alkan: 12 Études dans tous les tons mineurs, op.39
Liszt: Sonata
Janáček: Jenůfa
Schumann: Fantasie
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Mahler: Symphony No.8
Vaughan Williams: The Pilgrim's Progress
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2
Weber: Konzertstück
Dvořák: Piano Concerto
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Britten: Peter Grimes
Nielsen: Symphony No.4
Scriabin: Prométhée, le poème du feu
Schreker: Die Gezeichneten
R.Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder
Zemlinsky: Eine florentinische Tragödie
Skalkottas: 32 Pieces for piano
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Stravinsky: Les noces

[Ghost Sonata]

My precious thirty, not in any particular order of preciousness, and with only minimal cheating :

Bax Symphony 5 and Tale the Pine Trees Knew
Berg VC
Berlioz Les Nuits d'été
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
Bizet Carmen
Bizet L'Arlésienne Suites
Brahms Ballades
Brahms VC
Brahms PC1 and PC 2
Brahms Symphonies 1 and 3
Debussy La Mer
Duparc  Mélodies
Fauré Masques et Bergamasques
Fauré Nocturnes
Hahn Ciboulette
Liszt Années de pèlerinage
Malipiero Symphonies 3 and 4
Martinů Memorial to Lidice and Symphony 6
Milhaud La cheminée du roi René
Mozart Symphony 40 in G minor
Myaskovsky Symphonies 6 and 13
Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1
Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit
Schubert Winterreise
Scriabin 12 Piano Sonatas
Stravinsky Le Sacre
Stravinsky VC
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings
VW Symphony 5 and Serenade to Music
Wagner Parsival and Wesendonck Lieder

[nodogen]

^^^^

Scriabin wrote 12 piano sonatas? 😮

[Karl Henning]

Something like this.

1.   Albeniz – Iberia
2.   Bach – Die Kunst der Fuge
3.   Bartók - String Quartet No. 4
4.   Beethoven – String Quartet No. 14 in c# minor, Op. 131
5.   Berg – Violin Concerto
6.   Biber – Mystery Sonatas
7.   Chopin – Ballade No. 4
8.   Debussy – Preludes, Book I
9.   Enescu – Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor 'dans le caractère populaire roumain'
10.   Janáček – String Quartet No. 2
11.   Josquin – Miserere
12.   Kodály – Sonata for Solo Cello
13.   Liszt – Années de pèlerinage
14.   Mahler – Symphony No. 9
15.   Martinů – Nonet
16.   Mompou – Musica callada
17.   Morales – Officium defunctorum
18.   Mozart – Piano Concerto No 20
19.   Nielsen – Wind Quintet
20.   Prokofiev – Violin Sonata no. 1 in f minor
21.   Pärt – Tabula Rasa
22.   Rakhmaninov – All-Night Vigil
23.   Ravel – Piano Trio
24.   Schubert – String Quartet in G major, D. 887
25.   Schumann – Fantasie, Op 17
26.   Schönberg – 5 Pieces for Orchestra
27.   Sibelius – Symphony No. 6
28.   Stravinsky – Rite of Spring
29.   Stravinsky – Symphony of Psalms
30.   Varèse – Amériques

A magnificent list.

[Karl Henning]

Depth, but no breadth  0:)

I'll join in the fun.

There can be no question of completeness in such a small list, so the first 30 favorite works which came to mind:

1   Shostakovich, Fourth Symphony
2   Shostakovich, Tenth Symphony
3   Shostakovich, Fourteenth Symphony
4   Shostakovich, Four Pushkin Romances
5   Shostakovich, 24 Preludes & Fugues
6   Shostakovich, Seventh String Quartet
7   Shostakovich, Second Trio for Violin, Cello & Piano
8   Shostakovich, Sonata for Viola & Piano
9   Stravinsky, Le sacre du printemps
10   Stravinsky, Symphonies of wind instruments
11   Stravinsky, Concerto for two pianos
12   Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms
13   Stravinsky, Orpheus
14   Stravinsky, Agon
15   Prokofiev, Second Symphony
16   Prokofiev, Le pas d'acier
17   Prokofiev, L'enfant prodigue
18   Prokofiev, Second Sonata for Violin and Piano
19   Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet
20   Prokofiev, Seventh Piano Sonata
21   Bartók, Second Piano Concerto
22   Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra
23   Bartók, Third String Quartet
24   Bartók, Fourth String Quartet
25   Bartók, Fifth String Quartet
26   Bartók, Sixth String Quartet
27   Bartók, Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta
28   Ravel, Sonata for Violin & Cello
29   Debussy, Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp
30   Copland, Sextet