#1 "Hits"

[Bogey]

Could be things like Beethoven's Op.18 (First String Quartet) or Dvorak's First Symphony.  Maybe you might even have a #1 from the composer where you think it is their best of the run, like Brahm's  First Symphony.  These are some of mine.  So, what are some "firsts" from composers you enjoy? 

[Sergeant Rock]

Havergal Brian Symphony #1 "Gothic"

Franz Schmidt Symphony #1

Alban Berg Piano Sonata op.1

Brahms Piano Sonata #1 op.1

Anton Webern Passacaglia for Orchestra op.1


Sarge

[Opus106]

I can easily see this getting unwieldy, even by GMG favourite things thread standards.

TD: Bach, Op. 1

[Brahmsian]

Brahms Piano Sonata #1 op.1

Anton Webern Passacaglia for Orchestra op.1
Sarge

Great ones there, Sarge.

I'd also nominate Beethoven's first set of 3 piano trios, Op. 1

And the delightful Variations on the name "ABEGG" for solo piano by Robert Schumann.

[North Star]

Agreed with Beethoven, Brahms, Berg, & Webern
Schubert - Erlkönig, Op. 1

[Sergeant Rock]

Schubert - Erlkönig, Op. 1

Excellent choice!

Sarge

[jochanaan]

Beethoven Piano Concerto #1.  Big and bold and prescient.

Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique.  While not a named "#1," it is his first of several symphonic works and, I feel, his greatest.

Mendelssohn Symphony #1.  Very exciting.

Tchaikovsky Symphony #1.  By far my favorite of his first three symphonies.

R. Strauss Don Juan.  The first of his many tone poems, and as good as any of them.

Sibelius Symphony #1.  There's magic here, as much as in any of his later symphonies.

Shostakovich Symphony #1.  While not perhaps his "greatest," whatever that might be, it is a very impressive symphonic debut.

Bartok Piano Concerto #1.  My favorite of his three, by a nose (but they're all great).

P.S.  For the sake of complete arbitrariness , we should probably specify that "the first of a series" is what we're after here.  That would eliminate "onlies" such as Franck's Symphony, although not, perhaps, the first of a non-numbered series such as Sibelius' first tone poem, En Saga.

[Brian]

Tchaikovsky Symphony #1.  By far my favorite of his first three symphonies.

Agree with every word of this.

Nielsen - Little suite for strings, Op. 1
Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 1
Schumann - Abegg Variations, Op. 1
Mahler - Symphony No. 1 (really, nobody's mentioned this?)
Roussel - Symphony No. 1 (the ideal French impressionist symphony?)
Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 1
Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1

[Brahmsian]

Agree with every word of this.

Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 1
Schumann - Abegg Variations, Op. 1
Mahler - Symphony No. 1 (really, nobody's mentioned this?)
Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 1
Prokofiev - Symphony No. 1

Great ones, Brian.  I had listed Schumann's ABEGG and glad someone else agreed with me! 

[Mirror Image]

A few works that have remained sentimental favorites:

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe
Debussy: La Mer
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps
Berg: Violin Concerto
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
Villa-Lobos: Genesis
Part: Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Sibelius: Pohjola's Daughter
Ginastera: Estancia
W. Schuman: Symphony No. 3
Barber: Violin Concerto
Elgar: Sea Pictures
Honegger: Symphony No. 3 'Liturgique'
Janacek: Sinfonietta
Martinu: Double Concerto
Tippett: A Child of Our Time
Lyadov: Village Scene by the Inn
Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3 'Song of the Night'
Alwyn: Lyra Angelica

[Brian]

A few works that have remained sentimental favorites:

It's a pun, bro, we're talking about our favorite works by composers that are No. 1 in a series or Op. 1.

[Mirror Image]

It's a pun, bro, we're talking about our favorite works by composers that are No. 1 in a series or Op. 1.

Oh, I misunderstood the premise of this thread. Oh dear...it's been a long day.

[dyn]

Beethoven - String Quartet No. 1 (although it's technically either the 2nd or the 6th by date of composition or revision respectively), Piano Concerto No. 1 (although it's technically the 3rd)
Schumann - Piano Sonata No. 1
Brahms - String Sextet No. 1, Violin Sonata No. 1 (especially the 1st movement)
Stockhausen - Mikrophonie I (probably kind of cheating though, since there are only two Mikrophonies)
Berio - Sequenza I
Bartók - String Quartet No. 1, Piano Concerto No. 1 (also my favourite of the three)
Penderecki - Symphony No. 1

[Bogey]

Oh, I misunderstood the premise of this thread. Oh dear...it's been a long day.

That's ok.  Posting music you truly enjoy here should never be a problem.

[Brahmsian]

Perhaps an exaggeration and an over-statement, but:

Beethoven's 3rd Symphony "Eroica".  1st Romantic Era composition? 

[North Star]

Perhaps an exaggeration and an over-statement, but:

Beethoven's 3rd Symphony "Eroica".  1st Romantic Era composition? 

Waldstein, Kreutzer before that.

[starrynight]

Elgar - Symphony 1
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto 1

[Rinaldo]

Bloch's 1st Piano quintet. And if you'd like an extra #1, the first movement itself.

Top of the world, ma.

[kyjo]

Bloch's 1st Piano quintet. And if you'd like an extra #1, the first movement itself.

Top of the world, ma.

.....and his equally magnificent SQ no. 1!

[kyjo]

Most accomplished/my favorite first symphonies by: Langgaard, Tubin, Glazunov, Elgar, Walton, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Mahler, Brahms, Brian, Barber, Vermeulen, Enescu, Hartmann, Harris, Bax, Rubbra and Simpson.