The Top 20 Works By The Great Composers (If You Can Have Only One Apiece)

If everything else they wrote suddenly disappeared, we could at least console ourselves with these masterpieces:
1. Ravel: Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Ballet)
2. Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
3. Schubert: String Quintet in C major
4. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
5. Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”
6. Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
7. Debussy: Preludes for Piano (Books 1 & 2)
8: Handel: Saul
9. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
10. Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G major
11. Vaughan Williams: Job
12. Bach: Goldberg Variations
13. R. Strauss: Four Last Songs
14. Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
15. Haydn: “Paris” Symphonies (Nos. 82-87)
16. Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
17. Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor
18. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
19. Chopin: Preludes
20. Verdi: Rigoletto

[@maravirtanen2262]

I have been going throu these beginner lists from the start. Its been 6 months and ive found so much new music and composers I like. And watched documentaries of composers, been reading alot and its been a joy to learn and enjoy. Thanks Dave!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thanks for listening!

[@albastros8829]

Bravo! Go on with these lists.

[@albastros8829]

BBC radio show " Desert Island discs" is very similar to this video.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Except there's a reason they put theirs in a desert.

[@robj7386]

always liked classical music, getting into it lately and your youtube channel is exactly what i have been looking for. only have apple music which is good lossless format, been downloading alot based on your videos, etc. at this point digging into beethoven...

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Have fun!

[@timuroguz]

Teşekkürler.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness.

[@davidbo8400]

Koechlin: "Viola Sonata", because the "orcestrateur magicien" could be equally adept at chamber music; It's a long and moving work, and it encapsulates the deep, the dreamy, the atmospheric, the poetic, the starry wonder, and the charming lightness that defines most of Koechlin's music.

[@fyvewytches]

Jongen, the *Symphony Concertante* for its energy, exciting, contrasty composition. And what an ending! Its a great piece and while I admit not having heard all his output, it is IMO the best overall and worthy of a place with the god of music.

[@walterbenjamin1386]

I'm on board. New list!

[@rbmelk7083]

For Schumann it’s either going to be the Piano Quintet or the Piano Concerto. I love the Piano Concerto (though not as much as the six canonic etudes for pedal piano), but he invented the piano quintet where all of the instruments have equal roles where historically up to that point it was all about the piano.

[@AndyGrazianoNYC]

thank you for such a fun starting point!

[@ftumschk]

I don't know exactly what the Gomorrahns were up to, but I do know that it led to endemic gomorrhea.

[@GastonBulbous]

Of these 20, I could grab Markevitch’s recording of Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust and Bernstein’s set of Haydn’s Paris Symphonies and head for the hills away from the gaze of Cancrizans and those alone would make for a satisfying study for quite some time!

[@carlconnor5173]

Sibelius Symphony #5. I really can’t add to what you’ve said about it, David. It’s for the same reasons I think it’s his greatest work. Pohjola’s Daughter and the Violin Concerto are right up there too. But it’s gotta be #5.

[@GG-cu9pg]

Wholehearted agreement. I thought hard about all the symphonies. But it has the wow factor and two of the most show-stopping codas (movements 1&3) of all time in one symphony.

[@johnd1442]

Definitely the Sibelius 5th. A masterpiece.

[@nelsoncamargo5120]

Dave, what about of a list of only one recording of a great artist (conductor, pianist, singer, etc.)?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Hang in there! Composers first and then we'll see what happens.

[@francoisjoubert6867]

Yes! Oh, I cannot wait for the response from the Callas people and the Traviata people when they combine forces against Cancrizans! Poor Cancrizans!

[@bbailey7818]

Gosh! Let's do some easy composers for a change. I forget who it was, perhaps Dave himself, who dubbed the Italian verismo period, "Puccini and the Seven Dwarfs." Puccini himself is a little bit harder but I'd choose La Boheme, which is not only the most popular repertory opera but is an operatic symphony in four movements with the Scherzo second. Every note, every phrase is indispensable. And inspired. After Puccini, it's easy. Mascagni, Cavalleria. Leoncavallo, Pagliacci. Giordano, Chenier. Cilea, Adriana. Catalani, Wally. Franchetti, maybe nothing, though Germania is pretty interesting. Zandonai, Francesca da Rimini. Smareglia, Nozze Istriani. Leoni, L'Oracolo (which was once called 'Puccini and Water.' ) Earlier, Ponchielli, La Gioconda. There, that was easy, wasn't it?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

No, I didn't say that. I love verismo. Gorgeous orchestration, great tunes, lots of screaming, ridiculous plots...what's not to love?

[@magnuskrook39]

When Zelenka is coming up at some future point, I suggest that the Missa Votiva ZWV18 should be salvaged for posterity. A dramatic, colourful, and totally riveting setting.

[@fulltongrace7899]

I feel Prokofiev is coming up soon, and a tough choice it is. The 6th symphony comes to mind, but upon deeper reflection it is ballet once more, as I choose the music from Cinderella. I know R&J is more popular, but I feel in Cinderella there is a greater variety of Prokofiev’s style and not the repetition that is heard in Romeo and Juliet. Also great tunes. Your Cinderella video got me hooked on this over R & J.

[@GG-cu9pg]

Love Cinderella and R&J (but the 3 suites are best to avoid repetition) Have you gotten into the unforgettable Andre Nevsky yet? Symphony number 6 is a masterpiece but have to go with his piano concertos because I think it’s his best writing. A disk with 2&3 would be first choice.

[@stevemcclue5759]

Strikes me that Kankrizans is actually asking for something different that what we've been pondering over here. If his disgust is with the classical music *industry* and his hatred is for senseless duplication, mindless reissues, et al, then it's not music per se that he's pissed with, but the way business has corrupted it. In which case, shouldn't we be appeasing him with great *recorded performances* and saying "yes, there's alot of crud out there, destroy all of it but spare THIS recording"? Anyway, I think you should add a coda to this entertaining exercise by answering the question that came to me in a vision while I was dosing off to King Marke's endless miseries when the great, merciless God Unumsolum appeared and said he was so fed up of all this tripe that he was going to destroy the works of *all composers bar one*, whom I could name and save. Who would it be, and why?

[@christopherpickles7541]

Elgar. The Music Makers, magnificent in its own right, but it also samples many of Elgar's great works. Sullivan. Princess Ida, not so well known but has many of his loveliest melodies. Parry. Job... just kidding! Symphony no 4. Bax. Symphony no 5. Delius. Appalachia - BIG set of variations on a memorable theme. Holst. Suites 1&2 for Military Band Walton. Belshazzar's Feast. Britten. Serenade for tenor, horn and strings Lennon/McCartney. Sgt Pepper

[@johnd1442]

I adore The Music Makers and wish it could be performed more often.

[@rbmelk7083]

For Sibelius, I so want it to be the Third Symphony that we spare because it is such a masterpiece, and I have so much affection for it. However, I concede that it HAS to be the Violin Concerto. Sibelius was a violinist, his best writing is for strings, and his violin concerto is one of the best concerti ever written for the instrument.

[@GG-cu9pg]

The third is such an underrated masterpiece and a true favourite for me. No idea why it’s underrated. What’s your go to performance if I may ask?

[@rbmelk7083]

My favorite for years and I think still may be today is Gothenburg with Neeme Jarvi from his first cycle (on BIS). Dave recommends a bunch of them (not this one though) in his Best Sibelius Third, and I sought out and listened to all the ones I wasn’t familiar with, and frankly, they are all good and it’s difficult to imagine anyone being unhappy with any of the ten or so he mentions. There is another performance Dave mentions in a later video, however, which I hadn’t heard before and really knocked my socks off. It’s also Gothenburg but with Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducting. I think I may prefer it to the Jarvi, and I highly recommend that you listen to it. It may just be the color of Gothenburg for this music that wins me over so long it’s in the hands of a conductor who understands the music. Do you have a preference for the Third as well?

[@GG-cu9pg]

@@rbmelk7083 I first learned the piece as a teen with Simon Rattle and Birmingham (I still quite like the pacing of the central movement) but now my go-to records are Segerstam and Vanska/Lahti. Thank you, I’m really looking forward to these Gottenberg recordings!

[@GG-cu9pg]

@@rbmelk7083 Thanks for the Rouvali recommendation! It truly had a unique angle and the bass sound from the orchestra was wonderful.

[@rbmelk7083]

For Barber, it will be Knoxville: Summer of 1915. That work contains everything that makes Barber Barber, and it is Barber at his very best.

[@laszlostankovics7926]

Weinberg suggestion: Symphony No.7 in C major for Harpsichord and Strings It reminds me of Bartók’s Divertimento.

[@Mezzotenor]

May I put in my two cents? Here goes.... Dvorak: Piano Trio #4, Dumky Franck: Three Chorales for Organ Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil, the so-called Vespers Massenet: Cendrillon Faure: Piano Quintet #2 Prokofiev: Piano Concerto #2 Respighi: Ancient Airs & Dances Enescu: Symphony #3 Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos Poulenc: Le Bal Masqué Gershwin: Porgy and Bess Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane Berg: Wozzeck Honegger: Jeanne d'Arc au Bucher Bartok: Music for Percussion, Strings & Celesta Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis (or -ses?) Britten: War Requiem

[@GG-cu9pg]

Some nice choices here. Particularly like the Britten and Prokofiev selections.

[@GG-cu9pg]

Holst is a composer for whom I make the obvious choice. The Planets is so perfect, imaginative, unique and takes Holst’s spacey quality to…space. It’s the only well-known piece about space I can think of, excluding soundtracks. Let’s have it! PS. You could make a great case for Hymn of Jesus too though.

[@theosalvucci8683]

Not to nitpick your statement apart, but Holst's planets has to do with astrology, not astronomy.

[@ftumschk]

@@theosalvucci8683 Indeed. That's why it does so well in the charts ;)

[@GG-cu9pg]

@@theosalvucci8683 true enough but you have to admit, most of us associate it with space too. George Lucas certainly did.

[@GG-cu9pg]

@ftumschk: 👏 one for the pun-dits!

[@Kent-Owe]

A tough choice to make, almost as tough as that of Bizet.

[@markgibson6654]

Perhaps unintended but is there not a kinship between this project of yours and your reading of the 1953 essential recordings lists? Its almost as though you are making an updated list of your own.

[@user-uy9qs5sk4n]

Wonderful list - but i miss Schumann.

[@dmntuba]

I feel next he's going to ask you to pick the most important conductors from history before he erases all of them from the memory of mankind.

[@allieone8518]

Did you catch cold? If so, I wish you a speedy recovery! Stay warm.

[@demetrigiannakakis8199]

Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" for its uparalelled enchanting melodies. Holst's "Planets" (although too obvious). I would have picked it even if it consisted only of Mars and Neptune... Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" or if it's again too obvious, maybe "Firebird-the complete ballet". I don't much care for the Symphonies and the Chamber Music...

[@bibobabu8756]

What about Puccini?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

What about him?

[@bibobabu8756]

@@DavesClassicalGuide If you could choose only one work by him, which one would it be?

[@christopherpickles7541]

Tosca, has a massive impact and you can sympathise with the characters, unlike Turandot.

[@GG-cu9pg]

But what is more fake oriental fun than Turandot? Nothing for me. 😉

[@bibobabu8756]

@@christopherpickles7541 For me it would be La Boheme without a question but all of his operas are great!

[@dajepson]

Liszt Suggestion: Reminiscences de Don Juan. There is nothing else so perfectly emblematic of the paradox that Liszt's music is, as Dave puts it, trash....and that it is also some of the most enjoyable and effective music ever composed for piano. I know many of you will want to choose the B Minor Sonata, but as great as that piece is, it represents Liszt fully suppressing his trashy side (though it was a close call - he originally wrote out a horrible, bombastic conclusion to the piece before - thankfully! - thinking better of it).

[@tareldarion6791]

wait, where is CPE?!

[@fyvewytches]

Hauptkirche Sankt Michaelis, Hamburg… about six feet below ground level.

[@eduardoyoshikawa9767]

How on Earth Dvorak is not on the list?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

We haven't gotten there yet. Pay attention. I didn't say "the top 20 composers." This is an ongoing series.

[@rbmelk7083]

For Stravinsky it will be the Symphony of Psalms. The ballets from his primitivism period are all masterpieces, so how can you pick just one? The late period atonal stuff mostly sucks. However, his middle neoclassical period contains many masterpieces, and his Symphony of Psalms is the pinnacle.

[@bigg2988]

Buuut, while dealing with a GOD, you have no Masses! Not one! We collectively are really testing Father Crab's patience by not including any laudatory works... Verdi was the last obvious opportunity.. after Bach and Berlioz, and... Maybe at least for Gounod, if he is to be saved at all, we could include that St. Cecilia mass as done by Igor Markevitch??

[@maudia27]

Vivaldi Glória?

[@bigg2988]

@@maudia27 Yes, good one, and I am all for it! Just to point out that our pick for Vivaldi would face cruel competition within that master's oeuvre...

[@theosalvucci8683]

Speaking of God destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, how about a series consisting of one work from every country that might deter God from destroying that country if it ever did something evil, or, better put, did something totally evil again? I thought it might be fun.