Simply your favourite 30 works

[johnshade]

Bach: Goldberg Variations
Mozart: Idomeneo
Mozart: Marriage of Figero
Mozart: Don Giovanni
Mozart: Cosi Fan Tutte
Mozart: Magic Flute
Beethoven: p Sonata, Opus 109
Beethoven: p Sonata, Opus 13
Beethoven: Archduke Piano Trio
Beethoven: Symphony #3
Beethoven: Symphony #5
Beethoven: Symphony #9
Beethoven: p Concerto #3
Beethoven: p Concerto #5
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Brahms: Symphony #1
Strauss: Heldenleben
Strauss: Zarathustra
Strauss: Salome
Strauss: Elektra
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten
Strauss: Four Last Songs
Elgar: Cello Concerto
Delius: Florida Suite
Rachmaninoff: p Concerto #2
Rachmaninoff: p Concerto #3
Bartok: Music for strings, percussion and celesta
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Bartok: Sonata for 2 pianos & percussion
Bartok: String Quartet #5

[beclemund]

This is much harder than I first thought it would be... and I even squeezed in an extra one. 

Bach:            Mass in B minor
Bach:            St. Matthew Passion
Beethoven:    Fidelio
Beethoven:    Mass in C major
Beethoven:    Missa Solemnis
Beethoven:    Symphony 3
Beethoven:    Symphony 9
Bruckner:       Symphony 3
Bruckner:       Symphony 8
Bruckner:       Symphony 9
Bruckner:       Te Deum
Dvořák:          Stabat Mater
Dvořák:          Symphony 9
Mahler:          Das Lied von der Erde
Mahler:          Symphony 6
Mahler:          Symphony 8
Massenet:      Manon
Mozart:          Don Giovanni
Mozart:          Le Nozze di Figaro
Mozart:          Requiem
Pärt:              Fratres
Pärt:              Berliner Messe
Prokofiev:       Symphony 6
Puccini:          La Bohème
Rossini:          Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Rossini:          Stabat Mater
Shostakovich: Symphony 10
Strauss:        Also Sprach Zarathustra
Verdi:            La Traviata
Wagner:        Der Ring des Nibelungen
Wagner:        Tristan und Isolde

[greg]

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

hey, i thought you said you liked the Shostakovich 14th more than the 15th? either you changed your mind yourself or you've joined the Greg side 

[karlhenning]

hey, i thought you said you liked the Shostakovich 14th more than the 15th?

Well, isn't that reflected in the inclusion of the Fourteenth and the (regrettable) omission of the Fifteenth from that list of thirty?

[greg]

Well, isn't that reflected in the inclusion of the Fourteenth and the (regrettable) omission of the Fifteenth from that list of thirty?

i meant 15 over 14, just worded it wrong

blather lather's got my tongue

[karlhenning]

Some days, I do like the Fifteenth better than the Fourteenth 

[Danny]

I take it were excluding opera:

Bach Goldberg Variations
Bach Mass in B Minor
Beethoven Symphony No 9,
Beethoven Symphony 6
Beethoven Missa Solemnis
Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 2
Prokofiev Symphony No. 5
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
Shostakovich Piano Concerti
Shostakovich Symphony No. 10
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No 1
Bartok Concerto for Orchestra
Stravinsky Rite of Spring
Stravinky Symphony in Three Movements
Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms
Stravinsky Symphony in C
Brahms Symphony No. 4
Brahms Piano Quintet
Brahms PC No 1
Berg Violin Concerto
Mahler Symphony No 5
Mahler Symphony No 1
Bruckner Symphony 6
Bruckner Symphony 4
Mozart Symphony No 41
Mozart Requiem Mass
Verdi Requiem Mass
Debussy and Ravel String Quartets

[karlhenning]

I take it were excluding opera:

Not necessarily! 

[Danny]

Not necessarily! 

Oh, man.............................oh, man!

[beclemund]

I take it were excluding opera

No, that's what made it so hard... I tried to squeeze in at least opera for around a third of my list--fortunately, I included Wagner's ring cycle as a whole work, so it gave me a little more freedom.

[karlhenning]

--fortunately, I included Wagner's ring cycle as a whole work, so it gave me a little more freedom.

That was definitely a cheat.

Though in a sense, it still excluded opera 

[Danny]

That was definitely a cheat.

Though in a sense, it still excluded opera 

Pete Best forever, Ringo never!   

[oyasumi]

1. Charles Koechlin - Les Hueres Persanes. It's a strange, alluring, polytonal masterpiece for the piano, and is truly unique in its method, and the moods it brings.

2. Alfred Schnittke - Gogol Suite. I only heard it once, but it made an impression. The multiple styles, and the huge orchestra used are incredible.

[lukeottevanger]

I'm not going to do that coy 'these are my 30 favourites today' thing, but I will say that I fully expect that if I were to look back at this thread in 10 years time, many of my choices would be different. With that proviso, here's the first list that came to mind:

JANACEK - String Quartet No 2
JANACEK - From the Diary of One Who Disappeared
JANACEK - Violin Concerto
JANACEK - From the House of the Dead
JANACEK - The Cunning Little Vixen
JANACEK - Katya Kabanova
BACH - Musical Offering
SCHUBERT - Die Schone Mullerin
SCHUBERT - String Quartet in G major
SCHUMANN - Eichendorff Liederkreis
SCHOECK - Elegie
IVES - Concord Sonata
CAGE - Sonatas and Interludes
BEETHOVEN - Quartet op 130/op 133
BEETHOVEN - Quartet op 131
BEETHOVEN - Quartet op 132
BRAHMS - Nanie
BRAHMS - Clarinet Trio
BRAHMS - Clarinet Quintet
BRAHMS - Horn Trio
BRAHMS - Piano pieces op 116-119 (counts as one choice)
BRAHMS - String Quartets op 51
BRAHMS - Piano Trio no 1
RAVEL - Piano Trio
RAVEL - Piano Concerto for the left hand
DEBUSSY - Cello Sonata
MOZART - Sinfonia Concertante (Violin/Viola)
MOZART - Piano Concerto K488
CHOPIN - Mazurkas (complete, if you please)
CHOPIN - Nocturnes op 27

I'm already wanting to add to the list, however...

Edit - yes, indeed, I'm now yearning for a place for Tapiola, for Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette, and for Part's Stabat Mater (first among a list of five or six of his pieces which seem particularly special)

Second Edit - Pli selon pli goes up here too. And, though I have enough Brahms, perhaps, his Schumann Variations (the op 9 ones) and his Geistliche Lied should also be up too. However, that gets me up to 36

Third Edit - and, for goodness sake, there are the three Brahms Violin Sonatas too. Can I just take all Brahms chamber music as one item? - it would make things so much easier!

[Novi]

Bach: Mass in B minor
Bach: St Matthew Passion
Bach: WTC
Beethoven: PS op. 57
Beethoven: PS op. 106
Beethoven: PS op. 111
Beethoven: SQ op. 131
Beethoven: SQ op. 132
Beethoven: Sym 7
Beethoven: Sym 3
Brahms: PC 1
Brahms: PC 2
Brahms: Horn trio
Brahms: Sym 4
Bruckner: Sym 8
Bruckner: Sym 9
Debussy: Preludes, Book I
Mahler: Sym 6
Mahler: Sym 9
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Mozart: Sym 40
Mozart: Sym 41
Prokofiev: PC 3
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
Schumann: Symphonic Etudes
Schumann: PC
Shostakovich: VC 1
Verdi: Requiem
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Wagner: Parsifal

This is fun .

But I see my list is really wanting in contemporary stuff though.

[Bonehelm]

here are a few of my all time favorites...

bach st. matthew's passion
bach mass in b min
bach well tempered clavier
bach goldberg varations
bach english suites
bach partitas
bach weimar organ preludes & fugues
bach 18 leipzig chorale preludes
bach clavieruberg III
bach brandenburg concertos
bach orchestral suites
bach violin concertos
bach harpsichord concertos
bach cello sonatas
bach the musical offering
bach art of fugue
bach sonatas and partitas for violin
bach flute sonatas

wow how can you stand that much Bach...

[not edward]

I tried to make a list.

I wasn't even close to finishing when I noticed it was over 60 works long and contained nothing that could be removed.

Maybe I'll try something easier like my 30 favourite Brahms pieces.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Bartok - Out Of Doors
Berg - Lyric Suite
Mozart - Adagio in B flat for solo piano
Bach - A minor Violin Concerto
Prokofiev - Romeo & Juliet
Lutoslawski - String Quartet
Chopin - Preludes
Handel - Saul
Beethoven - 4th Piano Concerto
Martinu - Julietta
Enescu - Impressions d'enfance
Ravel - Piano Trio
Schoenberg - String Trio
Mozart - Clarinet Quintet
Mahler - 6th Symphony
Strauss - Ariadne Auf Naxos
Webern - Anything
Shostakovich - 4th Symphony
Shostakovich - Op.67 Piano Trio
Brahms - 3rd Piano Sonata
Janacek - Cunning Little Vixen
Debussy - Faun
Wagner - Tristan
Berlioz - Les Troyens
Zemlinsky - The Mermaid
Sibelius - 4th Symphony
Schumann - Fantasy
Schubert - String Quintet
Gluck - Iphigénie en Tauride
Bruckner - 9th Symphony

[Maciek]

Webern - Anything

Yeah, that song is one of my favorite Webern pieces too.

[Maciek]

I have a suggestion to make this a little easier:

1. J.S. Bach - complete works
2. Brahms - complete works
3. Mozart - complete works
4. Beethoven - complete works,

etc. Until you reach 30.

If that doesn't work for you, you could also try:

1. Complete works by all of the baroque composers
2. Complete works by all of the contemporary composers
etc.

Here 30 might prove a bit too much...