Favourite 100 classics

from w
The ABC radio had a program over several days playing what people voted as their favourite 100 pieces of 'classical' music - Eurocentric of course - not really world music as they left out the wonderful sufi music, reggae and South Pacific Island music, but it's an interesting list. I don't know all the pieces but I've highlighted some that I do like. Perhaps it's partly because of bits and pieces of piano music I have played over the years or music that was played in our childhood home on the record-player. There's very little in the list that is 20th century even but of course Rhapsody in Blue must be in the list!

• Your favourite, No.1 Beethoven Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125, “Choral” – Philharmonia Orch/Sir Charles Mackerras
• No.2 Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 in E flat, Op 73, “Emperor” – Claudio Arrau, p; Staatskapelle Dresden/Sir Colin Davis
• No.3 Beethoven - Symphony No 6 in F, Op 68, “Pastoral” – London Classical Players/Sir Roger Norrington
• No.4 Mozart Concerto in A for Clarinet, K622 – Wolfgang Meyer, basset cl; Concentus Musicus Vienna/Nikolaus Harnoncourt
• No.5 Messiah - Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford; Academy of Ancient Music/Christopher Hogwood
• No.6 Dvorák - Symphony No 9 in E minor, Op 95, “From the New World” – Czech Phil Orch/Vladimir Ashkenazy
• No.7 Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor, Op 18 – Sviatoslav Richter, p; Warsaw Phil Orch/Stanislaw Wislocki
• No.8 Mozart - Requiem, K626 – La Chapelle Royale; Collegium Vocale; Orch des Champs-Élysées/Philippe Herreweghe
• No.9 Beethoven - Violin Concerto in D, Op 61 – Arthur Grumiaux, v; Royal Concertgebouw Orch, Amsterdam/Sir Colin Davis
• No.10 Elgar - Cello Concerto in E minor, Op 85 – Jacqueline du Pré, vc; London Sym Orch/Sir John Barbirolli
• No.11 Bruch - Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor, Op 26 – Robert McDuffie, v; Scottish Chamber Orch/Joseph Swensen
• No.12 Vivaldi - The Four Seasons, Op 8 – Nils-Erik Sparf, v; Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble
• No.13 Saint-Saëns - Symphony No 3 in C minor, Op 78, “Organ”: – Anita Priest, o; Los Angeles Phil Orch/Zubin Mehta
• No.14 Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending, Romance for Violin & Orch – Dimity Hall, v; Sinfonia Australis/Antony Walker
• No.15 Bach - St Matthew Passion: excerpts – Choir & Orch of Collegium Vocale Gent/Philippe Herreweghe
• No.16 Beethoven - Symphony No 7 in A, Op 92 – Berlin Phil Orch/Daniel Barenboim
• No.17 Schubert - Piano Quintet in A, D667, “The Trout” – András Schiff, p; members of the Hagen Quartet; Alois Posch, db;
• No.18 Beethoven - Sonata No 14 in C sharp, Op 27 No 2, “Moonlight” – Claudio Arrau, p;
• No.19 Holst - The Planets, Op 32 – Berlin Phil Orch/Sir Simon Rattle
• No.20 Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis – Vienna State Opera Orch/Sir Adrian Boult
• No.21 Beethoven - Symphony No 5 in C minor, Op 67 – Vienna Phil Orch/Carlos Kleiber
• No.22 Rodrigo - Concierto de Aranjuez – Slava Grigoryan, g; Queensland Orch/Brett Kelly
• No.23 Mozart - The Magic Flute, K620: Act 1 excerpts – Erika Miklósa, s; Mahler Chamber Orch/Claudio Abbado
• No.24 Elgar - Enigma Variations, Op 36 – London Sym Orch/Pierre Monteux
• No.25 Bizet - The Pearlfishers: “Au fond du temple saint”; – Jussi Björling, t; Robert Merrill, br;
• No.26 Fauré - Requiem, Op 48 – La Chapelle Royale; Collegium Vocale Gent; Orch des Champs-Élysées /Philippe Herreweghe
• No.27 Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro: excerpts – Vienna State Opera Chorus; Vienna Phil Orch/Nikolaus Harnoncourt
• No.28 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 6 in B minor, Op 74, “Pathétique” – Vienna Phil Orch/Valery Gergiev
• No.29 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto in B flat, Op 23 – Mikhail Pletnev, p; Philharmonia Orch/Vladimir Fedoseyev
• No.30 Pärt - Spiegel im Spiegel – Tasmin Little, v; Martin Roscoe, p;
• No.31 Beethoven - Symphony No 3 in E flat, Op 55, “Eroica” – London Sym Orch/Bernard Haitink
• No.32 Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto in E minor, Op 64 – Anne-Sophie Mutter, v; Berlin Phil Orch/Herbert von Karajan
• No.33 R.Strauss - Four Last Songs – Gundula Janowitz, s; Berlin Phil Orch/Herbert von Karajan
• No.34 Mozart - Piano Concerto No 21 in C, K467 – Mitsuko Uchida, p; English Chamber Orch/Jeffrey Tate
• No.35 Allegri - Miserere mei – Tallis Scholars
• No.36 Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue – Los Angeles Phil Orch/Leonard Bernstein, p;
• No.37 Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor, Op 30 – Martha Argerich, p; Berlin Radio Sym Orch/Riccardo Chailly
• No.38 Bach - Concerto in D minor for 2 Violins, BWV1043 – Richard Tognetti, v; Helena Rathbone, v; Australian Chamber Orch
• No.39 Sibelius - Symphony No 2 in D, Op 43 – Royal Phil Orch/Sir John Barbirolli
• No.40 Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake: Suite – Vienna Phil Orch/Herbert von Karajan
• No.41 Bizet - Carmen: excerpts – Marilyn Horne, ms; Manhattan Opera Chorus; Metropolitan Opera Orch/Leonard Bernstein
• No.42 Schubert - String Quintet in C – Isaac Stern, Cho-Liang Lin, v; Jaime Laredo, vla; Yo-Yo Ma, Sharon Robinson, vc;
• No.43 Mahler - Symphony No 2 in C minor, “Resurrection” – Melbourne Chorale; Melbourne Sym Orch/Markus Stenz
• No.44 Puccini - La bohème: excerpts – Victoria de los Angeles, s; RCA Victor Orch/Sir Thomas Beecham
• No.45 Bach - Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV565 – Helmut Walcha, org
• No.46 Bach - Mass in B minor, BWV232: Monteverdi Choir; The English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner
• No.47 Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet: Act 1 Scene 2 – Cleveland orch/Lorin Maazel
• No.48 Bach - Cantata BWV147: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben – Amsterdam Baroque Orch & Choir/Ton Koopman
• No.49 Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 4 in G, Op 58 – Emil Gilels, p; Philharmonia Orch/Leopold Ludwig
• No.50 Pachelbel - Canon & Gigue – The English Concert/Trevor Pinnock
• No.51 Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, Op 43 – Artur Rubinstein, p; Chicago Sym Orch/Fritz Reiner
• No.52 Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture, Op 49 – Minneapolis Sym Orch/Antal Dorati
• No.53 Bach - Goldberg Variations, BWV988: aria, variations 1-8 – Roslyn Tureck, p;
• No.54 Sibelius - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op 47 – Kyung Wha Chung, v; London Sym Orch/André Previn
• No.55 Debussy Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune – Claudio Arrau, p;
• No.56 Ravel - Bolero – Berlin Phil Orch/Herbert von Karajan
• No.57 Sibelius - Finlandia, Op 26 No 7 – Philharmonia Orch/Vladimir Ashkenazy
• No.58 Mahler - Symphony No 5 in C sharp minor – New Philharmonia Orch/Sir John Barbirolli
• No.59 Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto in D, Op 35 – Julia Fischer, v; Russian National Orch/Yakov Kreizberg
• No.60 Mozart - Ave verum corpus, K618 – Atlanta Sym Orch & Chorus/Robert Shaw
• No.61 Satie - 3 Gymnopédies – Reinbert de Leeuw, p
• No.62 Orff - Carmina Burana: excerpts – Berlin State Opera Chorus & Orch/Eugn
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• No.63 Barber - Adagio – Los Angeles Phil Orch/Leonard Bernsteistyle="font-weight:bold;">No.64 Grieg - Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16 – Stephen Kovacevich, p; BBC Sym Orch/Sir Colin Davis
• No.65 Schubert - String Quartet in D minor, D810, “Death and the Maiden” – Jerusalem String Quartet
• No.66 Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring – Israel Phil Orch/Leonard Bernstein
• No.67 Mahler - Symphony No 1 in D, “Titan” – Sydney Sym Orch/Vladimir Ashkenazy
• No.68 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 5 in E minor, Op 64 – Vienna Phil Orch/Valery Gergiev
• No.69 Mussorgsky orch Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition – USSR State Sym Orch/Yevgeny Svetlanov
• No.70 Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Overture Op 21; Incidental Music, Op 61 – Bavarian Radio Sym Orch/Kubelik
• No.71 Massenet Thaïs: Meditation – Itzhak Perlman, v; Abbey Road Ensemble
• No.72 Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade, Op 35 - Chicago Sym orch/Fritz Reiner
• No.73 Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker, Op 71: Suite – Chicago Sym Orch/Sir Georg Solti
• No.74 Bach - Suite No 1 in G for Solo Cello, BWV1007 – Pieter Wispelwey, vc;
• No.75 Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite No 1, Op 46 & Suite No 2 , Op 55 – Berlin Phil Orch/Herbert von Karajan
• No.76 Mozart - Don Giovanni , K527, Act I highlights – Philharmonia Orch & Chorus/Carlo Maria Giulini
• No.77 Beethoven - Triple Concerto in C – D Oistrakh, v; M Rostropovich, vc; S Richter, p; Berlin Phil Orch/Karajan
• No.78 Dvorák - Cello Concerto in B minor, Op 104 – Jacqueline du Pré, vc; Chicago Sym Orch/Daniel Baremboim
• No.79 Mendelssohn - The Hebrides Overture, Op 26, “Fingal’s Cave” – London Sym Orch/Peter Maag
• No.80 Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Op 14 – Royal Concertgebouw Orch/Sir Colin Davis
• No.81 Puccini - Madama Butterfly: Un bel di; Con onor muore – Cheryl Barker, s; Orch Victoria/Richard Bonynge
• No.82 Brahms - Violin Concerto in D, Op 77 – Itzhak Perlman, v; Chicago Sym Orch/Carlo Maria Giulini
• No.83 Rachmaninov - Symphony No 2 in E minor, Op 27 – London Sym Orch/André Previn
• No.84 Khachaturian - Spartacus: highlights – Vienna Phil Orch/Aram Khachaturian
• No.85 Schubert - Symphony No 9 in C, D944, “Great” – Vienna Phil Orch/Georg Solti
• No.86 Smetana - Ma vlast: Vltava – Boston Sym Orch/Rafael Kubelik
• No.87 Tallis - Spem in alium – The Tallis Scholars
• No.88 Mascagni - Cavalleria rusticana: excerpts – Maria Callas, s; Chor & Orch of Teatro alla Scala/Tullio Serafin
• No.89 Purcell - Dido and Aeneas – Clare College Chapel Choir; Orch of the Age of Enlightenment/René Jacobs
• No.90 Brahms Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat, Op 83 – Sviatoslav Richter, p; Chicago Sym Orch/Erich Leinsdorf
• No.91 Sibelius - Symphony No 5 in E flat, Op 82 – London Sym Orch/Alexander Gibson
• No.92 Handel- Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest – musicians drawn from all major London choirs and orchestras
• No.93 Mozart - Clarinet Quintet in A, K581 – Ensemble Villa Musica
• No.94 Chopin - Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, – Krystian Zimerman, p; Concertgebouw Orch, Amsterdam/Kyrill Kondrashin
• No.95 Albinoni arr Giazotto Adagio in G minor for strings and organ – I Solisti Veneti/Claudio Scimone
• No.96 Górecki - Symphony No 3 , “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs”: – Zofia Kilanowski, s; Polish State Phil Orch/Jerzy Swoboda
• No.97 Mozart Cosi fan tutte: excerpts – Chamber Orch of Europe/Sir Georg Solti
• No.98 Richard Strauss - Songs with Orchestra: – Jessye Norman, s; Gewandhaus Orch Leipzig/Kurt Masur
• No.99 Schubert - Adagio in E flat, D897, “Notturno” – Beaux Arts Trio
• No.100 Mozart- Symphony No 40 in G minor, K550 – Prague Chamber Orch/Sir Charles Mackerras