TCoD Top 50 Classical Pieces

So I thought if we compiled a list of our favourite classical pieces, it would help other people get into classical music or find a classical piece.

Nominate in your posts, and I'll add the first 10 to a poll. Nominations after will still count; I'll just add them. This will end on January 5th.

Bethoven - Fur Elise

Good topic, I could do with this.

Grieg - Hall of the Mountain King and Solveig's Song

in no particular order (besides Toccata and Fugue In D Minor imo being definitely #1)...

1 Johann Sebastian Bach - Toccata and Fugue In D Minor
2 Johann Sebastian Bach - Air
3 Johann Sebastian Bach - Orchestral Suite No.2
4 Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburg Concerto No.2
5 Johann Sebastian Bach - Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
6 Johann Sebastian Bach - Arioso for Brass
7 Johann Sebastian Bach - Ave Maria
8 Johann Pachelbel - Canon in D Major
9 Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt Suite I Op. 46 - In The Hall Of The Mountain King
10 Edvard Grieg - Piano Concerto in A Minor Op. 16 - Allegro Molto Moderato
11-14 Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter
15 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker (and from this, especially songs like Waltz Of The Flowers, Russian Dance, etc.)
16 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No.1 In B-Flat Minor
17 Carl Orff - Carmina Burana (especially O Fortuna)
18 Antonín Leopold Dvořák - Symphony No.9
19 Felix Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto In E Minor
20 Ludwig van Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata
21 Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No.9
22 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Horn Concerto No.2 in E-Flat Major (part III especially)
23 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Symphony No.40 in G Minor
24 Sergei Rachmaninoff - Prelude in C-Sharp Minor
25 Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.2
26 Franz Schubert - The Unfinished Symphony (Symphony No.8 in B Minor)
27 Frédéric Chopin - Piano Concerto No.2
28 Maurice Ravel - Bolero
39 Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto In G Major
30 Claude Debussy - Claire de Lune


this should cover it for the most part, although I must've missed out some obvious composers, or just couldn't be bothered to list stuff from them right now (Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Georg Friedrich Händel, Joseph Haydn, etc.)

and of course the ones I've listed stuff from, have a lot more excellent stuff, these are just my most favourite ones from them.

can't even be bothered to list 20 more.

holy goddamn christ squarewalker

A must, I say.

Rite of Spring, Firebird Suite - Igor Stravinsky
Waltz of the Flowers - Tchaikovsky
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
A Night on Bald Mountain - Modest Mussorgsky
Bacchanale - Camille Saint-Saëns

Def agreeing with Ave Maria.


Saint-Saëns Aquarium. Also the Swan, ugh I am predictable.

Tchaikovsky owns a part of me -- specifically June and uh the entire nutcracker I don't know.

Chopin's raindrop prelude, fantasie impromptu, durrr I'm predictable.

Gymnopédie 1, Satie.

dido's lament. Does that count?

Bach's Solfeggietto. Uh, CPE bach, not... yeah.

The Polovtsian Dances theme, Alexander Borodin.

I dunno why I like the waltz from coppelia but hey.

Handel's Sarabande... from suite xi apparently. I'm really actually flipping through my classical books.

Uh... other stuff. My eyes hurt.

In a more general sense:

Grieg - Peer Gynt, Suites Nos. 1 and 2
Holst - The Planets
Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake
Vivaldi - Four Seasons
Bach - Die Kunst der Fuge

Oh and: Howard Shore and John Williams for the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars soundtracks respectively.

I would be more specific but I can't really decide.

eta: man this list is missing Liszt and Debussy D:

Its quite generic but I think that Glenn Miller's In the Mood should make in there.

Just one piece.

Franz Shubert: Erlkönig

Stravinsky- Rite Of Spring, Firebird Suite
Gustav Holst- The Planets:
In order of best to worst (in my opinion):
#1: Saturn (arranging this piece for concert band)
#2: Uranus
#3: Neptune
#4: Jupiter
#5: Mercury
#6: Mars
#7: Venus
Tchaikovsky- Nutcracker Suite, Symphony no. 4 in F minor
#1: Arabian Dance
#2: Chinese Dance
#3: Russian Dance
#4: Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy
#5: March
#6: Waltz of the Flowers
#7: Miniature Overture

#1: Mvmt. I
#2: Mvmt. III
#3: Mvmt. IV
#4: Mvmt. II
Not really classical, but Lugia's Song. (want to learn to play this on Piccolo. That is a Piccolo playing the opening solo, Isn't it?)

Ah...My favorite songs:

1.A comme Amour- composer: Paul De Senneville
2.Mariage d'amour composer: Paul De Senneville
3.Concerto pour une jeune fille Nommée "Je t'aime" composer: Paul De Senneville
4:Fantasie Impromptu Op.66 Composer: Fédéric Chopin

Bulbasaur

#4: Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy

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It haunts me.

Tchaikovsky - Flight Of The Bumblebee

...that counts, right?

Verne said:

It haunts me.

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Why? The Celesta solo?

Citolim said:

Not really classical, but Lugia's Song. (want to learn to play this on Piccolo. That is a Piccolo playing the opening solo, Isn't it?)

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I think if you believe the movie, it's an ocarina(-ish thing)? *Shrug.* Either way, I do love The Legend Comes To Life. It is epic and full of hope.

I also approve of this thread. Classical music seems nice from what little I think I've heard, I just have no idea where to begin properly listening to it as a genre...

Cryssie said:

I think if you believe the movie, it's an ocarina(-ish thing)? *Shrug.* Either way, I do love The Legend Comes To Life. It is epic and full of hope.

I also approve of this thread. Classical music seems nice from what little I think I've heard, I just have no idea where to begin properly listening to it as a genre...

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The solo lies within the Piccolo's lower range (goes down to a low Db) and it's pretty hard to find professional ocarina players who can read music.
Oh, and beginning to listen to classical is very easy... I was bored one day and I suddenly remembered that we played Mars in beginning band, and I looked it up... and I loved it. Then I looked up the rest of the suite and loved that as well. Then I looked up what influenced the suite, and that's how I got into classical.

Full Metal Cookies said:

Tchaikovsky - Flight Of The Bumblebee

...that counts, right?

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Hey, it's Rimsky-Korsakov D:

Anyway, I'm compiling them all into a poll later. Oh, and did I tell you? When we have the top 50, I'm going to make a 'Top 50 Video' and pop it onto YouTube with all of the songs, so people know what the pieces sound like.

Cryssie said:

I just have no idea where to begin properly listening to it as a genre...

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This is true with me, too. It's so... what's the word... prolific? The only classical music I listen to is classical crossover - that is, Sarah Brightman, Bond, and the like. I doubt that counts here.

Oh, and I like The King's Singers (a capella), Miranda Sex Garden (Madrigal choral music), Mediaeval Baebes (medieval choral music), and Philip Glass (minimalist pianist). Boundaries in the classical genre are quite vague - would the stuff I just listed be acceptable here? Most people are just listing old composers.

Lorem Ipsum said:

Hey, it's Rimsky-Korsakov D:

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D: my mother lied to me then.

...It's still a good song.