This is the list Debbie Sankey made when asked what classical music she think anyone would want to hear at least once. She noted that it was only a few pieces by the best known composers. She also left out operas, saying only that they should be seen before being listened to.
"Here is my labor of love," she wrote, "a subjective list of favorite masterpieces. Between me and you, it’s chacun a son gout."
_______________________________________________
Albeniz: “Iberia” (piano—performed by Alicia de Larrocha)
Bach: Six Brandenberg concertos; violin concerto #1 , Concerto for two violins; Glenn Gould playing Partitas (any or all); Suite #2 B Minor Flute and Strings and other suites (English and French)
Barber: Adagio for Strings; Essay for Orchestra
Bartok: Concerto for Orch; 6 String Quartets; Rumanian Folk Dances (piano)
Beethoven:
Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 (“Emperor”);
Violin Concerto;
String quartets: Op # 59 #1, 2 and 3 (“Razumovsky”)
Op. 74, op 95, op 130, op 131, 132, 135
Piano Sonatas: Op 57, “Appassionata,”
Op. 29 B flat,
Op 106 (“Hammerklavier”) Nos. 30, 31 and 32.
Violin and Piano Sonata #5 op. 24 (“Spring”), #9 in A, op 47 (“Kreutzer”)
Symphonies: All 9 are masterpieces, op. 3 through 8
Trio (violin, piano, cello) B flat, op 97 (“Archduke”)
Berlioz: Roman Carnival overture (orch); “Fantastic Symphony” (orch—read liner notes); “Harold in Italy” (Orch); “Corsair Overture” (orch); “Les Nuits d’Ete” (songs)
Bizet: L’Arlesienne Suite (orch)
Borodin: Polovetsian Dances (from Prince Igor opera) (orch); String Quartet #2; Symphony #2 (orch).
Brahms:
Symphonies: All 4
Piano Concertos #1 and 2
Violin Concerto
“Double concerto” violin and cello
Hungarian Dances for piano 4 hands
String quartets op. 51 Nos. 1 and 2; Op. 67;
Clarinet Quintet
String Quintets
Piano Quintet
For Solo Piano: Waltzes, Intermezzos, Ballades, Rhapsodies, Capriccios.
“Alto Rhapsody” with chorus and orch
Liebes lieder waltzes for Vocal quartet and Piano 4 hands.
Chabrier: Espana (orch); Bouree Fantasque (piano or orch. Arr); “Pieces Pittoresques” (piano) “Habanera” (piano or orch arr.)
Chausson: Poeme for Violin and Orch. Op 25
Chopin: Piano Concertos #1 and 2; All the piano pieces. My favorites: Mazurkas; Nocturnes; Preludes; Impromptus.
Copland: “Appalachian Spring” (from ballet—orch); “Billy the Kid” (orch, from ballet); “A Lincoln Portrait” (speaker with orch.)
Debussy: “Afternoon of a Faun” (Orch); “La Mer”; “Images”; Children’s Corner Suite; Preludes Books 1 and 2 (piano); String quartet G minor
Delius: “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring” (orch); “The Walk to the Paradise Garden” (orch)
Dukas: “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” (orch.—read story)
Dvorak – Cello concerto; Symphony (“New World”); Humoresque op 101 for Piano; Quartet Piano and Strings op 87; String quartet op 96 (“American”); other string quartets; Slavonic Dances op 72; Trio for Piano, Cello and Violin (“Dumky”); “Songs my Mother Taught Me” (Soprano)
Elgar: Cello concerto; Pomp and Circumstance Marches (orch); Enigma Variations (orch)
de Falla: La Vida Breve (orch)
Faure: Dolly Suite for Piano 4 hands op 56
Elegie for Cello and Piano op 24,
Pelleas et Melisande for orchestra
Quartet for Piano and Strings op 15
Cesar Franck: Symphony D minor (orch) ; Violin and Piano Sonata
Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue” (piano); “American in Paris” (orch); Songs from “Porgy and Bess.”
Gounod: Faust ballet music
Granados: Goyescas (piano- Alicia de Larrocha); Spanish Dances (piano- A. de Larrocha); Songs (by Montserrat Caballe or Victoria de Los Angeles, sopranos)
Grieg: Piano concerto; Peer Gynt (orch suite)
Handel: Hallelujah chorus from “Messiah”
Haydn: Last symphonies: op. 101, 102, 103, 104
Scott Joplin: Piano rags
Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole for Violin and orch
Liszt: Piano Concertos # 1 and 2; “Les Preludes” for orch; Etudes (piano—uincluding La Campanella); Hungarian Rhapsodies (piano); Liebestraum #3 (piano); Mephisto Waltz (piano); Les Preludes (orch).
Mahler: Symphonies #1, 2 (“Resurrection”), 3 and 4
“Des Knaben Wunderhorn”
Song Cycle
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto;
“Midsummer Night’s Dream”
String Quartet E flat op 20
Fingal’s cave Overture op 26 (The Hebrides)
Andante and Rondo
Cappricioso op. 14 (piano)
“Songs without Words” (Piano)
Symphonies: No. 3 (“Scotch”), No. 4 (“Italian”)
String Trio #1, D Minor
Mozart: Symphonies #40 (G minor K 550) and 41 (in C, K 551, “Jupiter”).
Piano Concertos: K 453 in G, K 459 in F, K 467 in C.
Violin Concerto: K 218 in D; K219 in A
Opera overture: Marriage of Figaro
String Quartets: B Flat, K 438, D Minor K 421, C K 465, D K 575
String Quintet G Minor K 516, and K581 (with Clarinet)
“Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” (Serenade in G for orch)
Symphonie Concertante – E flat K 364 (Violin, viola and orch)
Mussorgsky: “Pictures at an Exhibition” (orch, see Liner Notes); “Night on Bald Mountain” (orch)
Offenbach: “La Perichole” Overture; from “Tales of Hoffman” opera (orch)
Prokofieff: Symphony #1 (“Classical Symphony”); Alexander Nevsky (Cantata for solo, chorus and orch); “Lieutenant Kije” (orch—read notes); Peter and the Wolf (orch—read notes); Romeo and Juliet (suite from ballet, orch) “Love of Three Oranges” from opera (orch.); Symphony #5 (orch)
Purcell: Dido’s Lament (from Dido and Aneus opera) (song) (by Jessye Norman)
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos 1, 2, 3; Symphony #2; Piano Preludes (popular one is #2 in C# minor)
Ravel: “Daphnis and Chloe” Suite #2 (orch); Bolero (orch); Piano Concerto in G; “Gaspard de la Nuit” (orch); Afternoon of a Faun (orch); “Ma Mer l’Oye” (Mother Goose Suite—orch); “Pavane For a Dead Infanta” (orch); Rhapsodie Espagnole (orch); Tombeau de Couperin (orch); La Valse (orch); Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (orch)
Respighi: “Pines of Rome” (orch) “Fountains of Rome” (orch)
Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnole (orch); “Le Coque d’Or” suite from opera (orch); Scheherazade (orch)
Rossini: William Tell Overture (orch); Barber of Seville (overture)
Saint-Saens: Carnival of Animals (see notes) orch with 2 pianos; Dance Macabre, orch with 2 pianos; Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for Violin and Orch
Satie: Gymnopedies – 3 for piano
Scarlatti: Any of many piano sonatas
Schubert: Symphony #7 in C (“Great”) and #8 B Minor (“Unfinished”)
Impromptus (Piano) op 90 and op 142; octet, op 166;
Quartet #14 in D (“Death and the Maiden”); No. 15 in G
Quintet Op. 114 (piano and strings) The Trout (die Forelle)
String Quintet in C (2 cellos) op. 163
Piano Sonata A Min. op 42; Sonata A op 120; Sonata B flat op. posth.
Trio B flat op. 99.
Song Cycle: “Die Schone Mullerin.”
Op. 129 for Soprano, clarinet and piano “The Shepherd on the Rock”
Schumann: Piano Concerto
Cello Concerto
“Album for the Young”
“Carnaval” op. 9 for piano
“Kreisleriana” op. 16, piano
Papillons op 2 Piano
Fantasy op 17 piama
Quintet piano and strings op 44
Symphonic etudes op 13
All early Piano pieces up to about Op. 23
Songs: Myrthen op 25 (cycle); Liederkreis Song Cycle op 39
Scriabin: Etudes (piano--played by Horowitz for preference)
Sibelius: “Finlandia” (orch); ‘The Swan of Tuonela” (Orch); Valse Triste (orch); Symphonie #5 and 7; Violin Concerto
Smetana – Overture to “Bartered Bride” opera; My Country (Ma Vlast) symphonic cycle—includes “The Moldau”; themes from “Bartered Bride”; String quartet #1 (aus Meinem Leben)
Souza: Marches
Richard Strauss: Orchestral tone poems
Don Juan
Ein Heldenleben
Don Quixote
Der Rosenkavelier Waltz themes (from Opera)
Til Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks (orch)
Lots of Strauss songs, esp. “Four Last Songs” (Soprano Schwarzkopf if possible)
Stravinsky: Firebird (orch suit from ballet); Petrouchka and Sacre du Printemps (both suites from ballets, orch); Le Baiser de la Fee (orch, based on Tchaikovsky themes)
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4, 5, 6 (orch); Piano concertos 1 and 2; Violin Concerto;
Suites from ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker (orch)
Villa Lobos: Bachianos Brazilieros #5 with cellos
Vivaldi: “Four Seasons” –strings
Von Weber, Carl Maria- Overtures to Der Freischutz and Overture to Euryanthe
Wagner:
Overtures to Tannhauser and Lohengrin
“Ride of the Walkyries” from Walkure opera;
Liebestode from “Tristan and Isolde” opera
Vaughan Williams: “The Lark Ascending” (violin and orch)
Hugo Wolf – “Italian Serenade” for String quartet