The "gateway" pieces that drew you into the major composers...

[12tone.]

This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because..This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because..This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because....This is the song that never ends.  It just goes on and on my friends.  Some people started singing, not knowing what it was.  And they'll continue singing it forever just because......

[71 dB]

ELGAR: Enigma Variations
BACH: Violin Concertos | Cantata No. 147
HÄNDEL: Susanna
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21
BUXTEHUDE: Cantata "führwahr, er trug unsere krankheit"
BRUHNS: Cantata "o werter heil'ger geist"
RAMEAU: Les indes galantes
HAYDN: Cello Concerto No. 1
VILLA-LOBOS: Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 | Missa Solemnis | Piano Concerto No. 4 | String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 74
NIELSEN: Symphony No. 4 | Helios Overture
FAURÉ: Violin Sonatas | Requiem
SAINT-SAËNS: Symphony No. 3
GRANADOS: 12 Danzas españolas
PROKOFIEV: Romeo & Juliet
TANEYEV: Oresteya Overture | Entr'acte
FINZI: Eclogue for piano and strings
BERLIOZ: Tristia | L'Enfante du Christ
MENDELSSOHN: Octet | String Symphonies
CLÉRAMBAULT: Cantata "le soleil, vanqueur des nuages"
PÄRT: Fratres
TORKE: Javelin

[BachQ]

ELGAR: Enigma Variations

Yeah, we know ........

[Marcel]

Tchaikovsky - 1812 overture. Grandiose "gateway"  . I was really amazed by this piece hearing it on the cd from the book => Waugh - Classical Music: A New Way of Listening http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Music-New-Way-Listening/dp/0028604466 and looking on the written text to this piece in the book (there was a graph of timings with decibel intensity and starting points of orchestral instruments, it was very interesting).

Sibelius - Violin concerto

Beethoven - Symphony no. 5 live on concert

Mozart - probably Symphony 40 or 39, Serenade "Little Night Music"

Shostakovich - Symphony no. 7 live on concert

Ravel - Concerto for piano in G

Kancheli - I think Symphony no. 3 live on concert, it was incredible experience
...

[Mark]

Sibelius - Violin concerto

I lied in my earlier post (my memory sucks) - it was the same Sibelius piece for me, no question.

[jochanaan]

Hmmm...Too many to mention, so I'll just include a few early milestones, in more or less chronological order for me:
Saint Saëns: Carnival of the Animals (the old Andre Kostelanetz recording with Noel Coward reciting Ogden Nash's verses)
Britten: Young Persons' Guide to the Orchestra
Dvorak: Carnival Overture, and Smetana: The Moldau (from a Leonard Bernstein LP that also included a couple of Slavonic Dances and the Overture and Three Dances from The Bartered Bride)
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos #3 and #4, from the Walter/Wendy Carlos recordings
Holst: The Planets
Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro
Beethoven: Symphony #3
Varèse: Ionisation, Density 21.5, and Poème Electronique (my band teacher played these in a music appreciation class)
Mahler: Symphony #8 (my sister got me the first Solti recording as an 18th birthday present)

[BachQ]

I lied in my earlier post - it was the same Sibelius piece for me, no question.

If we can't trust you for these minor factual statements, Mark, then how can we trust you for major, critical issues that often arise in discussion forums like GMG?

[Mark]

If we can't trust you for these minor factual statements, Mark, then how can we trust you for major, critical issues that often arise in discussion forums like GMG?

I think I ought to tender my resignation ...

[hornteacher]

Bach - Tocatta and Fugue in D minor
Mozart - Eine Kleine
Beethoven - Symphony 5
Dvorak - New World
Copland - Symphony 3
Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet
Haydn - Symphony 94
Brahms - Symphony 1
Schubert - Trout
Mendelssohn - Symphony 5