Simply your favourite 30 works

[Sergeant Rock]

Hmm, so not a single piece by Bach, eh? 

Bach is definitely there; the first entry on my list, as a matter of fact    Other candidates would be the 1st Brandenburg; the Cantata 80 "Ein feste Burg"; the Weihnachtsoratorium; the whole of the WTC; the keyboard Partita No.2 in C minor; the D minor Keyboard Concerto; the A minor and D minor Violin Concertos.

Sarge

[Moonfish]

Bach is definitely there; the first entry on my list, as a matter of fact    Other candidates would be the 1st Brandenburg; the Cantata 80 "Ein feste Burg"; the Weihnachtsoratorium; the whole of the WTC; the keyboard Partita No.2 in C minor; the D minor Keyboard Concerto; the A minor and D minor Violin Concertos.

Sarge

Ooops, I am blind sometimes...   

[Madiel]

The listmaniac in me wanted to tackle this, and did last night. And then I realised I'd accidentally stuffed up and missed out Elgar's cello concerto after deciding it had to be included, and then I couldn't figure out what to cut in order to include the Elgar, and then I got stroppy and deleted the list about 5 minutes after I posted it.

And I'd been terribly good and restricted myself to 2 works per composer, otherwise you would have had ridiculous amounts of Faure chamber music and late Rachmaninov and...

Oh look, let's try again with some minor reshuffling. Somehow I ended up at 30 again.

1. Bach - Cello Suites
2. Barber - Adagio for Strings
3. Beethoven - String Quintet in C, op.29
4. Beethoven - 'Waldstein' piano sonata
5. Brahms - Piano Quartet No.1
6. Brahms - Clarinet Trio
7. Chopin - Ballade No.1
8. Chopin - Barcarolle
9. Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice
10. Elgar - Cello Concerto
11. Faure - Violin Sonata No.1
12. Faure - Piano Quintet No.1
13. Haydn - String Quartet op.76/5 (and heck, several other op.76 works aren't far behind)
14. Holmboe - Symphony No.10
15. Holmboe - String Quartet No.7
16. Kodaly - Sonata for solo cello
17. Thomas Linley the Younger - 'Arise, ye spirits of the storm' (from his music for Shakespeare's 'The Tempest')
18. Mozart - Piano Sonata in F, K.332
19. Poulenc - Sonata for 2 pianos
20. Rachmaninov - Etudes-Tableaux, op.39
21. Rachmaninov - Symphonic Dances (specifically the 2-piano version is what I first knew and fell in love with)
22. Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit
23. Ravel - Miroirs
24. Schubert - String Quartet No.15 in G
25. Schumann - Dichterliebe (I think this is my favourite of the song cycles, but one of them has to be in here)
26. Schumann - Piano Quartet
27. Shostakovich - String Quartet No.5
28. Shostakovich - String Quartet No.12
29. Sibelius - Symphony No.4
30. Strauss, Richard - Four Last Songs

[North Star]

I started to fill out a list, then stopped because it would be downright folly.

This

But... folly is good!
My list would most likely be different now compared to the list I compiled on Friday, and that's the beauty of these lists.

[Ken B]

I'm not getting suckered into this.
By composer, but therefore not actual favorites. Lots of Bach and Mozart ahead of any Shosty or Ravel for example. So just favorite for that composer.  I am trying to include those regularly discussed here.

Anyone Sibelius 7
Bach Goldbergs, Actus Tragicus
Mozart Sinfonia Concertante 364
Beethoven PC 4
Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks, Sym C
Shostakovich Cello Concerto 2
Nyman Facing Goya
Ravel PC G
Prokofiev Fugitive Visions
Debussy Images oubliees
Monteverdi Vespers
Schutz Christmas Story
Schubert Mullerin, Winterreise
Strauss 4 Last Songs
Barber Sym 1
Britten VC
Palestrina Oeuvres (will I get away with this?)
Orff Der Mond
Mahler DLVDE
Bruckner 9
Dvorak American Quartet
Webern Mute button
Berg VC

[Mr Bloom]

An attempt. One per composer.

Charles Ives : Holidays symphony
Bela Bartok : violin sonata 1
Karol Szymanowski : symphony n°4
Alfred Schnittke : cello concerto 1
Claude Debussy : Preludes book 2
Brett Dean : Bliss
Iannis Xenakis : Nekuïa
Krysztof Penderecki : Utrenja
Gavriil Popov : symphony 1
Edgar Varèse : Arcana
Mieczyslaw Weinberg : Passazhirka
Leonardo Balada : Maria Sabina
Benjamin Britten : The Five canticles
George Crumb : The river of life (American songbook I)
David Del Tredici : An Alice symphony
Karl Amadeus Hartmann : symphony n°6
Mauricio Kagel : Der mündliche Verrat
Nikolai Karetnikov : Till eulenspiegel
Charles Koechlin : Motets de style archaïque
Peter Maxwell Davies : Eight Songs for a Mad King
Franz Liszt : Christus
Alexander Mosolov : piano concerto 1
Florent Schmitt : Symphonie concertante pour orchestre et piano
Avet Terterian : symphony 5
Ralph Vaughan Williams : violin sonata
Bernd Alois Zimmermann : Requiem
Jean Sibelius : symphony 2
Nikolaï Roslavetz : violin sonata 4
Arnold Schoenberg : string quartet 2
Igor Stravinsky : Petrouchka

[springrite]

An attempt. One per composer.


David Del Tredici : An Alice symphony


Bernd Alois Zimmermann : Requiem

I applaud you for these two choices!!!

[Moonfish]

I refuse to do this list. It is evil!   

[NJ Joe]

16. Kodaly - Sonata for solo cello

Yes!

[amw]

Not my favourite 30 works, but a list of works that made a massive impression on me at a certain point—usually through live performances, though not always:

Beethoven Op. 59 no. 3 (age 7)
Bartók Concerto for Orchestra (age 8 or so)
Schubert D. 959 (age 10)
Bartók String Quartet No. 1 (age 11)
Stravinsky Rite of Spring (age 12)
Copland Piano Variations (age 14)
Brahms Op. 36 (age 15)
Carter Variations for Orchestra (age 17)
Feldman Neither (age 18)
Berio Laborintus 2 (age 19)
Stockhausen Mikrophonie I (age 19)
Schumann Davidsbündlertänze (age 19—I knew the work before, but it was never a favourite until I found myself watching Wilhelm Kempff play it on television while in the midst of an episode of depression)
Cage 103 (age 20)
Barrett Dark Matter (age 21)

I've only been 22 for a few months so it's hard to say how important the two most recent "discoveries", the tape music of Luc Ferrari and Dick Raaijmakers, will be by this time next year. Ferrari looks set to land pretty high in my favourites list though.

[springrite]

Maybe I should give one on behalf of Kimi:

Age 2:  Mahler Symphony #1
Age 3:  Beethoven Symphony #5
Age 4:  Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto
Age 5:  Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer
Now, almost 6: Strauss Salome

[Madiel]

Yes!

That one is arguably an outlier on the list. But it's there because, out of 20 CDs in a Tortelier box set (the only large 'miscellaneous composers' box set I've ever bought, actually), the Kodaly sonata for solo cello was the work that really jumped up and took me by surprise. It's the only work by Kodaly I know so far, but it's top-notch.

[Brian]

Revising my 2011 list...

Atterberg | Symphony No 8
Bach, J.S. | Concerto for two violins in D minor (new)
Beethoven | Piano Sonata No 30
Beethoven | Piano Sonata No 31
Beethoven | String Quartet Op 59 No 3 (new)
Beethoven | Symphony No 7
Brahms | Symphony No 4
Chopin | Fantaisie in F minor (new)
Dvořák | Cello Concerto
Dvořák | String Quartet No 13
Dvořák | Symphony No 8
Dvořák | Te Deum
Fauré | Piano Quartet No 1 (new)
Haydn | Symphony No 92, "Oxford" (new)
Janáček | Glagolitic Mass
Janáček | Sinfonietta
Martinů | Symphony No 4 (new)
Mozart | Symphony No 39
Ravel | Miroirs (new)
Ravel | La valse
Ravel | Piano Concerto in G
Ravel | Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (new)
Roussel | Bacchus et Ariane (new)
Roussel | Le marchand de sable qui passe
Schubert | String Quintet D956
Schumann | Fantasiestucke, Op 12 (new)
Schumann | Fantasie, Op 17 (new)
Sibelius | Symphony No 5
Smetana | Ma Vlast
Weinberg | Cello Concerto

Removed from the list:
Beethoven | String Quartets Opp. 95 and 127 - I've spent the interim exploring the piano sonatas far more
Bruckner | Symphony No 7 - Bruckner requires a certain mood
Haydn | String Quartet No 63, "Sunrise" - really there are about 5 Haydn pieces that could have gone here. The "Bear" symphony (82) deserves a place for sure.
A. Koppel | Saxophone Concerto No 2 - I guess I wanted to include a living composer and stretched to find something
Lutoslawski | Concerto for Orchestra; Shostakovich | Piano Concerto No 2; Shostakovich | Symphony No 10 - still love these, just listen to this style of music less nowadays. Generally now exploring more lyrical contemporaries, especially Prokofiev and Martinů.
Roussel | Suite in F - just changed it out for a different Roussel piece
Sibelius | Symphonies Nos 6 and 7 - I listen to Sibelius much, much, much less nowadays. #3 would come in ahead of these now, anyway.

In some of these cases (Beethoven, Haydn, Roussel), the composers didn't change, just the works chosen.

Almost made it, regret leaving them out:
Haydn Symphony No 82 "Bear", Szymanowski Symphony No 4, Schubert Impromptus D899, Schubert Symphony No 8 in C major, Schubert Fantaisie in F minor D940, Ravel Gaspard, Beethoven Piano Sonatas 11, 12, 16, 18, and 21

[Lisztianwagner]

Time to update the old list, in no particular order:

Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Beethoven: Symphony No.9
Beethoven: Symphnoy No.6
Liszt: Les Preludes
Liszt: Études d'exécution trascendante
Mahler: Symphony No.6
Mahler: Symphony No.7
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.3
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
R. Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie
R. Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6
Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien
Shostakovich: Symphony No.5
Brahms: Symphony No.3
Bartok: Music for strings, percussion and celesta
Sibelius: Symphony No.5
Nielsen: Symphony No.4
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé
Ravel: La Valse
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet
Dvorak: Symphony No.7
Respighi: Roman Trilogy
Holst: The Planets
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnol
Bantock: Celtic Symphony
Schnittke: Symphony No.3
Debussy: La Mer

I prefer to leave Johann Strauss and Chopin out.....too many great works to choose among!

[North Star]

I thought you would have put DSCH 10 on the list, Brian.

You may have picked the wrong Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Bartók, Mahler, Prokofiev, Debussy, Brahms, Sibelius and Shosty works, but these you did get right, Ilaria!

Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.6
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet

[Lisztianwagner]

You may have picked the wrong Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Bartók, Mahler, Prokofiev, Debussy, Brahms, Sibelius and Shosty works, but these you did get right, Ilaria!

Wrong?! How dare you!
Mahler No.9 and some Beethoven's Piano Sonatas were originally on my list, but I didn't want to fill it with only Mahler or Beethoven. It was also hard to decide between Shosty No.5 or No.10.

[NJ Joe]

That one is arguably an outlier on the list. But it's there because, out of 20 CDs in a Tortelier box set (the only large 'miscellaneous composers' box set I've ever bought, actually), the Kodaly sonata for solo cello was the work that really jumped up and took me by surprise. It's the only work by Kodaly I know so far, but it's top-notch.

A few years ago a friend e-mailed me an mp3 of the third movement, Starker performing.  Took me by surprise as well! It was love at first listen.  The next night he sent the first movement, and the third night the second.  By the third night I had already purchased the cd:



It's been a favorite ever since.

[Ken B]

A few years ago a friend e-mailed me an mp3 of the third movement, Starker performing.  Took me by surprise as well! It was love at first listen.  The next night he sent the first movement, and the third night the second.  By the third night I had already purchased the cd:



It's been a favorite ever since.

I saw him play it live.

[Brian]

Webern Mute button

Don't think I did not see this.

[Ken B]

Don't think I did not see this.

My boss once gave me a document to review. It was about 30 pages. In the middle was the phrase "and several butcher's aprons". I was apparently the only one who noticed.