April 8th, 2021
Greatest Classical Music Pieces of All Time
For clarification:
The term “classical music” being used would refer to a more general sense of “Western musical traditions” which “encompasses the broad span of time from before the 6th Century AD to the present day, which includes the Classical period and various other periods”.
That's not to be mistaken with "Classical period" (~ 1750–1820), as Expressionism or Contemporary classical would also be categorized as classical music. Here are the greatest classical pieces on my list, not in any particular order.
_____________________________________________
➤ Bartók
Piano Concerto No. 3
➤ Bach
Mass in B minor, BWV 232
St John Passion, BWV 245
Piano Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830
Double Concerto, BWV 1043
➤ Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Grosse Fuge, Op. 133
➤ Berlioz
Les Troyens
➤ Brahms
Double Concerto in A minor
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major
➤ Bruckner
Symphony No. 8 in C minor
➤ Busoni
Berceuse élégiaque
➤ Chopin
Ballade No. 1 in G minor
Ballade No. 4 in F minor
➤ Debussy
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir
➤ Elgar
Cello Concerto in E minor
➤ Galuppi
Harpsichord Concerto in C major
➤ Hasse
Flute Sonata in A major
➤ Haydn
Hob. XXII:14 - Mass in B-flat Major (Harmoniemesse)
➤ Liszt
Orpheus, Symphonic Poem
Totentanz
Fantaisie on Ruinen von Athen
Funérailles
➤ Mahler
Symphony No. 1 in D major
Symphony No. 7 (Lied der Nacht)
➤ Martinů
Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani
Film en Miniature
➤ Mozart
Great Mass in C minor, K. 427
Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492
Requiem in D minor, K. 626
➤ Poulenc
Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings in G minor
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
➤ Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor [✓]
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major (or 2, or 6, ahhh all are great)
Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major [✓]
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major
➤ Rachmaninoff
Symphonic Dances
All-night Vigil (Vespers), Op. 37
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor [✓]
Cello Sonata in G minor
➤ Ravel
Gaspard de la nuit [✓]
Daphnis et Chloé
La Valse
Miroirs
➤ Respighi
Concerto gregoriano
➤ Rimsky-Korsakov
Symphonic Suite - Antar
➤ Schnittke
Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra
➤ Schubert
Winterreise
String Quintet in C major, D. 956
➤ Scriabin
Prometheus: The Poem of Fire
Vers la flamme, Op.72
Piano Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp major
Piano Sonata No. 8 in A major [✓]
➤ Shostakovich
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor
Symphony No. 8 in C minor
Symphony No. 11 in G minor
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor
➤ Sibelius
Violin Concerto in D minor
Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major
➤ Sorabji
Gulistān
Sequentia Cyclica (I get that it's ridiculous but Jonathan Powell's recording proved this is the shit)
➤ Stravinsky
Symphony of Psalms
The Rite of Spring
Oedipus Rex
Mass for Mixed Chorus and Double Wind Quintet
➤ Szymanowski
Król Roger
Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 2
➤ Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake
Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathétique)
➤ Vierne
Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 42
➤ Webern
Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6
_____________________________________________
NOTES:
• [✓] denotes the most special favorites (basically my top personal favorites).
• List will be updated frequently, because to make a list out of something so colossal and vast takes time and memory.
• Also in case you haven't noticed, I tried to keep each composer to only at most 4 pieces. This sort of forces me to truly evaluate which pieces are really worth being called "greatest", although this just seems like a stupid idea.
• The pieces’ titles are labeled by their popularized version (The Rite of Spring instead of Le Sacre du printemps; but, Fantaisie on Ruinen von Athen instead of Fantasy on Themes from the Ruins of Athens). This could get pretty vague though.
• Honorable mentions for composers: Lourié, Glière, Rameau, Pejačević, Dvořák, Purcell, Berwald, F. Ries, R. Strauss, Janáček, Spohr, Korngold, Myaskovsky, Meyerbeer, Medtner, Satie, Tubin. If I were to create a composer tier list, it would’ve looked very different, hence these mentions.
• Despite taking a liking for composers such as Schoenberg, Scriabin, and worse yet, Sorabji, I take a very clear conservative stance on music in general. If it sounds like some sketchy metal clanking avant-garde experimental exercise, I simply refuse to take it seriously. Some examples of what I consider to be absolute worst 'celebrated' composers of all time: Ornstein, Finnissy, Cage, Xenakis, Kurtag. What do these mf share in common? They're 24/7 on some asylum-level self-indulging avant-gardism (math may be applied, yes, legit fucking MATH). Like it all you want, I'll still deem you nuts for enjoying it. Here try this shit out and tell me it's good.
• Any discussion/taste-adjudicating/spam will be on my profile, not here. Discussions are more than welcome btw.
_____________________________________________
Wait I still have some bonus for you:
WHY DIDN'T THESE COMPOSERS MAKE IT TO THE LIST, LIST
-- Wagner: Not because Hitler likes him so much, and vice versa (honestly a plus actually), but because fucking Nietzsche likes the mf?? You know the rules here guys, no Nietzsche in da house.
-- Schumann: Known for his much celebrated masterpiece Happy Farmer. Honestly I forget this dude’s name like half the time and always mistake his name with Schubert.
-- Handel: enough jokes about the name already
-- Monteverdi: old ass music
-- Britten: I’ve run out of slots for British composers. I think Sorabji was enough.
-- Biber: seriously check him out, man's genuinely awesome
-- Gounod
-- Mussorgsky
-- Mendelssohn: good violin concerto mate
-- Hildegard of Bingen: a woman
-- Vivaldi: …
-- Paganini: ew young Liszt fap material
-- Corelli
-- Ligeti: not conservative enough (matter of fact I hate it, like it's not Xenakis level derangement or anything but I still hate it)
-- Boulez: not conservative enough (fuck Boulez and his total serialism though)
-- John Cage: this dingus shifted modern music's interest from something bad to something worse
-- Stockhausen: consequences of modern classical music (I guess context matters? If this is in some extra bizarre sequences in a 70s East European dystopian sci-fi, it could be pretty cool).
-- Lutosławski: Zimerman wtf you doing
-- Puccini
-- Franck
-- Grieg: simple and fun, not bad
-- Saint-Saëns: good actually, but not the best for me
-- J. Strauss: too many waltzes
-- Bizet
-- CPE Bach: the Bach no one cares about
-- Offenbach: ...
-- Holst: woah very vast very epic, dude gets his influences from the midwit that is Wagner
-- Verdi: kinda enjoyed his operas quite a bit
-- Alkan: has a lot of underrated works, highly recommended
The term “classical music” being used would refer to a more general sense of “Western musical traditions” which “encompasses the broad span of time from before the 6th Century AD to the present day, which includes the Classical period and various other periods”.
That's not to be mistaken with "Classical period" (~ 1750–1820), as Expressionism or Contemporary classical would also be categorized as classical music. Here are the greatest classical pieces on my list, not in any particular order.
_____________________________________________
➤ Bartók
Piano Concerto No. 3
➤ Bach
Mass in B minor, BWV 232
St John Passion, BWV 245
Piano Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830
Double Concerto, BWV 1043
➤ Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Grosse Fuge, Op. 133
➤ Berlioz
Les Troyens
➤ Brahms
Double Concerto in A minor
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major
➤ Bruckner
Symphony No. 8 in C minor
➤ Busoni
Berceuse élégiaque
➤ Chopin
Ballade No. 1 in G minor
Ballade No. 4 in F minor
➤ Debussy
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir
➤ Elgar
Cello Concerto in E minor
➤ Galuppi
Harpsichord Concerto in C major
➤ Hasse
Flute Sonata in A major
➤ Haydn
Hob. XXII:14 - Mass in B-flat Major (Harmoniemesse)
➤ Liszt
Orpheus, Symphonic Poem
Totentanz
Fantaisie on Ruinen von Athen
Funérailles
➤ Mahler
Symphony No. 1 in D major
Symphony No. 7 (Lied der Nacht)
➤ Martinů
Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani
Film en Miniature
➤ Mozart
Great Mass in C minor, K. 427
Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492
Requiem in D minor, K. 626
➤ Poulenc
Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings in G minor
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
➤ Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor [✓]
Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major (or 2, or 6, ahhh all are great)
Piano Sonata No. 8 in B-flat Major [✓]
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major
➤ Rachmaninoff
Symphonic Dances
All-night Vigil (Vespers), Op. 37
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor [✓]
Cello Sonata in G minor
➤ Ravel
Gaspard de la nuit [✓]
Daphnis et Chloé
La Valse
Miroirs
➤ Respighi
Concerto gregoriano
➤ Rimsky-Korsakov
Symphonic Suite - Antar
➤ Schnittke
Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra
➤ Schubert
Winterreise
String Quintet in C major, D. 956
➤ Scriabin
Prometheus: The Poem of Fire
Vers la flamme, Op.72
Piano Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp major
Piano Sonata No. 8 in A major [✓]
➤ Shostakovich
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor
Symphony No. 8 in C minor
Symphony No. 11 in G minor
String Quartet No. 8 in C minor
➤ Sibelius
Violin Concerto in D minor
Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major
➤ Sorabji
Gulistān
Sequentia Cyclica (I get that it's ridiculous but Jonathan Powell's recording proved this is the shit)
➤ Stravinsky
Symphony of Psalms
The Rite of Spring
Oedipus Rex
Mass for Mixed Chorus and Double Wind Quintet
➤ Szymanowski
Król Roger
Violin Concerto No. 1
Violin Concerto No. 2
➤ Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake
Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathétique)
➤ Vierne
Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 42
➤ Webern
Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6
_____________________________________________
NOTES:
• [✓] denotes the most special favorites (basically my top personal favorites).
• List will be updated frequently, because to make a list out of something so colossal and vast takes time and memory.
• Also in case you haven't noticed, I tried to keep each composer to only at most 4 pieces. This sort of forces me to truly evaluate which pieces are really worth being called "greatest", although this just seems like a stupid idea.
• The pieces’ titles are labeled by their popularized version (The Rite of Spring instead of Le Sacre du printemps; but, Fantaisie on Ruinen von Athen instead of Fantasy on Themes from the Ruins of Athens). This could get pretty vague though.
• Honorable mentions for composers: Lourié, Glière, Rameau, Pejačević, Dvořák, Purcell, Berwald, F. Ries, R. Strauss, Janáček, Spohr, Korngold, Myaskovsky, Meyerbeer, Medtner, Satie, Tubin. If I were to create a composer tier list, it would’ve looked very different, hence these mentions.
• Despite taking a liking for composers such as Schoenberg, Scriabin, and worse yet, Sorabji, I take a very clear conservative stance on music in general. If it sounds like some sketchy metal clanking avant-garde experimental exercise, I simply refuse to take it seriously. Some examples of what I consider to be absolute worst 'celebrated' composers of all time: Ornstein, Finnissy, Cage, Xenakis, Kurtag. What do these mf share in common? They're 24/7 on some asylum-level self-indulging avant-gardism (math may be applied, yes, legit fucking MATH). Like it all you want, I'll still deem you nuts for enjoying it. Here try this shit out and tell me it's good.
• Any discussion/taste-adjudicating/spam will be on my profile, not here. Discussions are more than welcome btw.
_____________________________________________
Wait I still have some bonus for you:
WHY DIDN'T THESE COMPOSERS MAKE IT TO THE LIST, LIST
-- Wagner: Not because Hitler likes him so much, and vice versa (honestly a plus actually), but because fucking Nietzsche likes the mf?? You know the rules here guys, no Nietzsche in da house.
-- Schumann: Known for his much celebrated masterpiece Happy Farmer. Honestly I forget this dude’s name like half the time and always mistake his name with Schubert.
-- Handel: enough jokes about the name already
-- Monteverdi: old ass music
-- Britten: I’ve run out of slots for British composers. I think Sorabji was enough.
-- Biber: seriously check him out, man's genuinely awesome
-- Gounod
-- Mussorgsky
-- Mendelssohn: good violin concerto mate
-- Hildegard of Bingen: a woman
-- Vivaldi: …
-- Paganini: ew young Liszt fap material
-- Corelli
-- Ligeti: not conservative enough (matter of fact I hate it, like it's not Xenakis level derangement or anything but I still hate it)
-- Boulez: not conservative enough (fuck Boulez and his total serialism though)
-- John Cage: this dingus shifted modern music's interest from something bad to something worse
-- Stockhausen: consequences of modern classical music (I guess context matters? If this is in some extra bizarre sequences in a 70s East European dystopian sci-fi, it could be pretty cool).
-- Lutosławski: Zimerman wtf you doing
-- Puccini
-- Franck
-- Grieg: simple and fun, not bad
-- Saint-Saëns: good actually, but not the best for me
-- J. Strauss: too many waltzes
-- Bizet
-- CPE Bach: the Bach no one cares about
-- Offenbach: ...
-- Holst: woah very vast very epic, dude gets his influences from the midwit that is Wagner
-- Verdi: kinda enjoyed his operas quite a bit
-- Alkan: has a lot of underrated works, highly recommended
Posted by Preachee | Apr 8, 2021 8:02 AM | 0 comments