What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Sat, Aug 21 2010, 4:15AM
I am new to classical music and bit younger than other users on here, but I have a great appreciation for music. I have respect for all forms of music, I don't care what genre it falls under as long as it is good. I have only just started getting into classical a few months ago. I came to this website to seek recomendations from a community of people who seem to boast a great deal of knowledge of classical music.
Here is a list of works I have found so far:
Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concertos
Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass In B Minor
Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
Osvaldas Balakauskas - Ostrobothnian Symphony
Béla Bartók - Concerto For Orchestra
Béla Bartók - Music For Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 29 In B-flat Major "Hammerklavier"
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 In C Minor
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphony No. 7 In A Major
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 In D Minor "Choral"
Hector Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique
Pierre Boulez - Répons
Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 3 In F Major
Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 4 In E Minor
Glenn Branca - The Ascension
Elliott Carter - A Symphony Of Three Orchestras
Claude Debussy - La Mer
Claude Debussy - Prélude À L'Après-Midi D'Un Faune
Claude Debussy - Préludes [Book 1]
Claude Debussy - Préludes [Book 2]
Antonín Dvořák - Symphony No. 9 In E Minor "From The New World"
Leoš Janáček - Glagolitic Mass
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 2 In C Minor "Resurrection"
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 8 In E-Flat Major "Symphony Of A Thousand"
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 9 In D Major
Olivier Messiaen - Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps
Wolfgang Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21 In C Major, K 467
Wolfgang Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 24 In C Minor, K 491
Wolfgang Mozart - Requiem
Modest Mussorgsky - Night On Bald Mountain
Modest Mussorgsky - Pictures At An Exhibition
Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa
Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima
Maurice Ravel - String Quartet In F Major
Arnold Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht
Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 8 In B Minor “Unfinished”
Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 9 In C Major "Great"
Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 7 In C Major “Leningrad”
Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 15 In A Major
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Gesang Der Jünglinge
Igor Stravinsky - The Rite Of Spring
Igor Stravinsky - Petrushka
Pyotr Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker
Pyotr Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake
Pyotr Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 In B Minor “Pathétique”
Giuseppe Verdi - Requiem
Antonio Vivaldi - Il Cimento Dell'armonia Op 8
Richard Wagner - Tristan Und Isolde
Sat, Aug 21 2010, 7:30PM
#2
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Hi FW,
Welcome to the G. You've got a good list there for starters. The other poster (sorry I can't remember your name or see your post) made(e.g. some good suggestions.
You could expand your repertoire by exploring more works by the composers you've already found. I'd suggest other symphonies by Schubert, Shostakovitch symphonies and concertos, try the late Mozart symphonies (35-41), Beethoven's 3rd & 4th symphonies.....
The great thing about Classical music is that it goes on for ever.
Best wishes,
P
Sat, Aug 21 2010, 8:44PM
#3
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Thanks superhorn for your help! I know it is rediculous to ask someone to make an objective list of all the greatest Classical works. The world of classical music is way too vast, to ask someone a task such as that is too overwhelming. I was merely looking for a good head-start, someone to point me in the right direction and list some of the milestones of classical music. Which is why I am here; to seek advice from a more sophisticated group of people. Your list has helped me tremendously. I look forward to listening to all of those works!
Sat, Aug 21 2010, 9:15PM
#4
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
I would certainly add Richard Strauss and also Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, Britten's Peter Grimes all of which had a very significant effect on the musical world.
Robert.
Sat, Aug 21 2010, 9:56PM
#5
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
You get fifty responses, you’ll have fifty very different lists. Classical music lovers are no different from any other music lover. We all have our own likes and dislikes. Perhaps it’s best to offer a few guidelines for your own explorations.
Find out what composers, period (20th century, Romantic, Classical, early music etc.) and genre (orchestral, choral, instrumental, chamber, opera etc.) you tend to prefer and focus on that for a while. Most of us end up exploring the whole lot, but we still have our particular passions be they organ music, solo piano works, big orchestral pieces or what have you. There is no law that says you have to like all classical music, or even all of a particular composer’s output.
Be aware of factors that can impact your initial reaction to a work. Firstly, there’s the performance. A great performance can turn almost any sow’s ear into a silk purse, a poor performance the opposite. Recording quality can also help or hinder a performance. Then there’s the early/middle/late period issue. Just because you fall in love with the Sibelius 1st Symphony there’s no guarantee you’ll like his 7th. Many composers’ works fall into distinct periods. A safe bet is to start somewhere around the middle to see if you like so-and-so’s ‘voice’, then work out to either end of his oeuvre.
Your tastes will change. What is dazzling and exciting at first hearing can wear thin after a while, while other works are very slow to yield their secrets but may become firm favourites over time. The conductor Bruno Walter said he only truly understood Mozart later in life. Of all the ‘greats’ Mozart is perhaps the slowest to reveal his secrets and arguably the most rewarding when he does so.
Don’t assume the most popular works are necessarily the best. ‘Pops’concerts turn more people off classical music than on it, IMHO. Similarly with what's 'significant'. That's more of a matter of opinion than you'd think. Within my lifetime the pecking order of composers and their works has altered hugely, none more than the relationship of Beethoven to Mozart who was considered a sort of watered-down version of the later composer when I was a lad. You're as entitled as anyone to form judgements.
Read up on composers and see if you can find (in book form or preferably on the radio) some plain-speaking analyses of their works. You don’t have to be a trained musician to follow a description of a work’s form and its composer’s technique, but your appreciation and understanding will be helped enormously.
Have fun. There’s an amazing world awaiting you.
Sun, Aug 22 2010, 8:20AM
#6
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Tagalie's point above about particular versions or recordings is highly pertinent here. Particular interpretations make a world of difference (and I look for commended sound quality too, although this is not my primary consideration.)
Some time ago I bought a version of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and it left me cold. I then read two reviews of the Florilegium/Channel Classics new recording (in Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine, listened to the sample on the former's cover disc, and bought it. I adore it now.
I try to buy on recommendation (one of the reasons why I joined this forum) and find Presto Classical's site so useful. It lists all available recordings, often with background notes, but, more to the point, includes recommendations from many sources, including, of course, Gramophone, and quotes from reviews.
I was convinced of this approach many years ago when I began listening to BBC Radio 3's "Building a Library". After each programme, not only do you feel you really know the work in question, but you can hear for yourself (and of course, judge for yourself) the importance of individual interpretation. And it builds knowledge of the world of classical music, useful for those, like Frostwalrus, the OP, new to the field.
This programme, Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Presto Classical have cost me a (well spent) fortune over the years!
Sun, Aug 22 2010, 5:12PM
#7
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Thanks for the help guys!
"You get fifty responses, you’ll have fifty very different lists." Not only do I agree with Tagalie, but I actually welcome that. I know "what is the most significant" is relavent to individual, everybody has their own view on what has been the most significant. Garbolinski threw in a few works he felt were quite important. I much rather look through individual's lists and see what has been the most important to them from their perspective, as apposed to everybody voting on which ones are the best - popular consesus has never interested me.
Performance is crucial when listening to classical. Everybody seems to be very picky when it comes to deciding which conducter did the best performance of a certain work. I am not used to this sort of thing. Choosing between hundreds of different performances of the same work can be very frustrating for a beginner and I think thats what kept me away from classical for so long. I guess I'll just have to get used to that.
Once again I agree with Tagalie that what is the most popular and recognizable is not always the best. Entry Of The Gladiators just sounds like silly circus music and does not live up to its title. However in classical music, alot of what is popular has been quite rewarding for me. For example: I really enjoyed Beethoven's 9th symphony, the second movement has a very unique, fast-paced descending/ascending style (difficult to describe). It truely lives up to its reputation IMO. This is partly because criticism in classical music is often quite respectable. However, in rock music, its whole nother ball game.
I come from a background of rock music. Most classical and jazz listeners do not have any respect for rock and for good reason. Its because rock music is usually regarded as a form of entertainment, used to appease the masses. Very little of what is made popular has any artistic value. Most rock journalists work for major labels - the best way of getting paid as a journalist is to help sell what ever music that Label is supporting regardless of how good the music is. Most rock critics are also quite ignorant of the history of rock music, they are ussually blinded by comercial success. To them, who sold the most (whether it be David Bowie or U2) must be the greatest, this obviously not true. They were great at crafting catchy 3 minute pop songs, but were not the least bit innovative. Its sad that 3 decades had to pass before the achievements of Velvet Undergound would finally become recognized. And it is only recently within the past few years are they discovering the importance of "Trout Mask Replica" by Captain Beefheart and "Rock Bottom" by Robert Wyatt. These artists are still not immencely popular among the masses. For now, rock music is often about whats fun and fasionable, and a tool for businesses to make money off of. Perhaps in a hundred years rock criticizm will finally be on par with that of classical music.
By the way, what does the word "lad" mean?
Sun, Aug 22 2010, 7:32PM
#8
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
By the way, what does the word "lad" mean?
In the context in which I used it, nothing more than boy or young man. Some time ago.
Like you I came into classical from a rock background and took great advantage of the university library to explore a new world about which I knew zero. I quickly found that 20th century music was my easiest entry point, closest related, to my taste anyway, to sounds of rock. I turned my back on rock music for years and that was a mistake. Sure, 95% of popular music is garbage, but the other 5% can be as intricate and rewarding as classical.
To help you find good recordings, get to know the professional reviewers. One or two of them will have tastes that match your own both in terms of the music itself and the performance. I'm eternally grateful to Robert Layton, who reviewed for Gramophone for years and hardly ever seemed to put a foot wrong. In particular his love of Scandinavian and Russian music struck a strong chord with me.
Reviewers regardless, you'll eventually identify conductors and performers who just seem to 'do it' for you and several that certainly don't, and that's a very personal thing.
Mon, Aug 23 2010, 6:15AM
#9
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Of Classical Music?
Thanks for the advice Tagalie. I think its very important to find critics that you can agree with. I have found 2 respectable rock critics so far, Lester Bangs and Piero Scaruffi. They have both been a great influence on me. However, the reason I follow them is not because of a certain genre or style of music they prefer, they are generally unbiased and approach all kinds of music, but for thier ideals in what is important in music. They both seem very rational and do not follow the hype that surrounds many famous bands.
Lester Bangs: Often refered to as the greatest American rock critic. He's excellent source if you are able to find some of his articles online. That guy can write his heart out. Each time I read his reviews I can't help but fall in love with the guy - he's honestly that good of a writer! Be sure to check out his review of Astral Weeks. Its the most respected review in rock journalism, it actually does the album justice.
Piero Scaruffi: As for this guy, he's quite different. His reviews are not as emotionaly touching as that of Bangs. Instead they are writen similar to that of a textbook - strictly informative. No meandering, no biased opinions, no feelings, just cold mathematical reasoning (this does NOT mean that the music he recomends doesn't exibit emotion). His reviews are brief and straight to the point. However, as different as his writing approach is, his ideals about what has been innovative and what has been cheap are quite similar to that of Bangs- great minds think alike. His ratings are based entirely on innovation, but what is the most innovative isn't allways pleasant to listen to, I'd stay away from Twin Infinitives for a while. His rock list does not match up to popular consensus. So you will not see any cheap, overrated albums such as Thriller, Ziggy Stardust, Joshua Tree, ect.. He has total disregard for how commercially successful the artist is. Who has sold the most is ussually not the best, which is common trait in rock music. Instead, he focusses on the artist's innovation and overall importance in the history of rock. His aim is to restore that lost respect for rock music.
Its good to know that I'm not the only rock listener on this site. If you ever venture back into rock music, check out these guys. They have some very good insight on rock. However, I'd avoid websites such as Rollingstone and Pitchfork, which tend to be very misleading IMO.
Tue, Sep 7 2010, 9:38AM
#10
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Performance is crucial when listening to classical. Everybody seems to be very picky when it comes to deciding which conducter did the best performance of a certain work. I am not used to this sort of thing. Choosing between hundreds of different performances of the same work can be very frustrating for a beginner and I think thats what kept me away from classical for so long. I guess I'll just have to get used to that.
You'll know you're really in the game when you can listen to a recording and distinguish the contributions of the musicians, the conductor (if any), the recording quality, and lucky last, the composer. Which if any of these you like or dislike is ultimately a matter of personal taste. Just to make it trickier, no two listeners have the exact same taste. So learn to listen, and trust your ears, not the critics. Just try not to spend too much money in the process of finding out what you like and dislike. Save that money for when you really know what you want!
Tue, Sep 7 2010, 1:17PM
#11
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
It´s probably true that most classical or jazz lovers don´t really respect rock or pop music, but certainly not all, and it´s also true that a huge amount of rock music, its journalism and its devotees is so insular, badly written, and short sighted that it is with good reason that a lot of people who are looking for a deep and rewarding musical experience completely ignore it. Having said that, this fact should never undermine your joy in whatever form of music you love. I think a lot of this depends on education and how and when you were exposed to music, and of which variety. I received absolutely no formal musical education, and came to classical music like yourself and Tagalie through rock, folk, reggae, soul, jazz etc.
For me esperiencing music has always been the same. It´s all about atmosphere for me, and in the really intense moments it´s like an electric shock. The quality of the experience was the same for me when I first heard Hot Rats; Made in Japan; Bert Jansch, Tighten Up by Archie Bell and the Drells, Veedon Fleece, Elvin Jones playing the drums behind John Coltrane, as it was when I first heard Sibelius´ 5th and 7th symphonies, the Rite of Spring, Bartok´s middle quartets, Scriabin´s piano music, everything by Beethoven(almost) etc.
I have never had a problem with this, and if others don´´t rate what I love, that´s their opinion to which they are fully entitled, it will never diminish my enjoyment of the music I love nor should it. While there was a period in my life when I listened to classical music almost exclusively, I never turned my back on my first loves.
Although I do feel that rock music gives up its pleasures more readily than classical music, this in no way for me undermines its ability to bring lasting joy. I would agree with Tagalie that the real joy of classical music comes with repeated listening, and educating yourself any way you can. The more you put in, the more you´ll get back from it. Most people don´t have the patience for this kind of listening, that´s why classical music isn´t popular, but classical music is endless in the secrets it slowly reveals. Your first list could easily keep you going happily for a lifetime, but you´ll find that the more music you know the more music you want to know, this is true of all genuine music lovers in whatever field I think.
Tagalie said that Mozart reveals his secrets slowly, I´d agree with that, and I´d add my own personal example of Faure.
So rock on or play on, it´s all the same.
Fri, Sep 17 2010, 11:39PM
#12
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
It's an impossible - and (thankfully) probably pointless - question :-)
You've already listed a large number of works. If you liked them all - great! If you didn't - also great! You now know what you did and didn't like - and that may well not conform to accepted critical opinion. And that's great, too ;-)
Music is more available now than it's ever been, and the opportunities for listening to an incredible range of composers and performers is mind-boggling.
Fact is, you'll never listen to the sum total of what everyone thinks are the "most significant" works - not least because there may be numerous different "best" performances of the "most significant" works. (Plus you need time to listen music other than "classical", of course - it's not the only music there is!).
So just listen to whatever you can, and enjoy it as much as you can at the time. Even if it's not the "best" there is, there'll probably be something you can take from it.
Mon, Sep 20 2010, 7:46AM
#13
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Depends what's significant to you. It's a bit of an academic question to list works that are significant to others. For instance, Falla's 3 Cornered Hat is more significant to me than Beethoven's 5th, his Nights in the Gardens of Spain more significant than Beethoven's Emperor. The 7 Sibelius symphonies are more significant than the whole of Haydn. It's also a "significant" fact that time moves on and listeners may prefer more contemporary sounds. Jenufa tells me more about contemporary life than Il Nozze di Figaro does.
Mon, Sep 20 2010, 10:46PM
#14
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
There's an excellent book by the noted American pianist David Dubal,who teaches at Juilliard,and it's called "The Essential Canon Of Classical Music", and it discusses just about all the most famous and significant works by the great composers,far more than piano repertoire, in a clear,vivid,yet non-technical manner.
Do try it, and it's easily available from amazon.com and other websites.
Tue, Sep 21 2010, 7:38PM
#15
RE: What Are The Most Significant Works Classical Music?
Depends what's significant to you. It's a bit of an academic question to list works that are significant to others. For instance, Falla's 3 Cornered Hat is more significant to me than Beethoven's 5th, his Nights in the Gardens of Spain more significant than Beethoven's Emperor. The 7 Sibelius symphonies are more significant than the whole of Haydn. It's also a "significant" fact that time moves on and listeners may prefer more contemporary sounds. Jenufa tells me more about contemporary life than Il Nozze di Figaro does.
It might be time to roll out that hoary old forum game that goes something like: "I'd give up all the Mozart symphonies for his K491," or "I'd sacrifice every opera Verdi wrote for Monteverdi's L'Orfeo."
Can lead to some spirited exchanges.
This is an almost impossible question to answer,because there are so many great works you and any one else who is new to classical music to hear.
For symphonies, just to start, there are a number by Haydn, such as nos88,92,94, on to the last,no 104, and nos 35-41 by Mozart, the nine of Beethoven, nos 5,8 and 9 of Schubert, the four of Schumann,nos 3 and 4 of Mendelssohn, the four of Brahms, 4,5 and 6 of Tchaikovsky, 7,8 and 9 of Dvorak, no 3 of Camille Saint-Saens, the one symphony of Cesar Franck, nos4, 7,8 and nine of Bruckner, the nine of Mahler, nos1 and 5 of Prokofiev, 1,5,7,9 and 10 of Shostakovich, 2 and 5 of Sibelius. And get around to the others by these composers when you get a chance by all means.And don't miss the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, a program symphony.
The piano concertos no 20-27 of Mozart,the five of Beethoven,the one of Schumann,both of Mendelssohn's, the two of Brahms, the first by Tchaikovsky,2 and 3 or Rachmaninov, the two of Chopin, and the two of Liszt.
For violin concertos there are 3,4 and 5 of Mozart,the one of Beethoven, the Mendelssohn, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, for cello those of Dvorak and Elgar, and for other instruments,the four horn concertos of Mozart,the two of Richard Strauss, the clarinet concerto of Mozart, etc.
Miscellaneous orchestral works include La Mer of Debussy, Afternoon of a Faun,Iberia, also by him, Ravel's Daphis and Chloe,suite or complete ballet score, La Valse, Rhapsodie Espagnole, The Moldau by Bedrich Smetana and then the complete Ma Vlast cycle, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade, by Richard Strauss Don Juan,Till Eulenspiegel, Death and Transfiguration,Don Quixote,Also Sprach Zarathustra and Ein Heldenleben, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition either for piano or in the Ravel orchestration .
This is just the tip of the iceberg ! Get recordings of these by such great conductors as Bernstein,Solti,Karajan, Stokowski, Boulez, Maazel, Abbado, Barenboim,Muti,Levine,Ormandy, Previn,Szell etc,and great instrumentalists such as Horowitz,Rubinstein,Heifetz, Perlman, Oistrakh, Arrau etc. Take your time and relax !