Enduring music has much to teach us. We need to catch the passion of these composers and be inspired toward our own creative bent. As Dmitri Shostakovitch declared, “If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.” This is a starter list of wonderful classical music from one genre, the orchestral repertoire. Enjoy, and add to your own list! Here is the link if you’d like to print the document: Recommended Orchestral Classical Listening
Composer, Period, Music
Bach ~ Baroque, Brandenburg Concertos 1-6, Double Violin Concerto
Barber ~ Modern, Adagio for Strings
Bartok ~ Modern, Concerto for Orchestra
Beethoven ~ Classical, Symphonies 3, 5, 6, 7, 9
Berlioz ~ Romantic, Symphonie Fantastique
Bernstein ~ Modern, Overture to “Candide”
Brahms ~ Romantic, Symphonies 1-4
Britten ~ Modern, Young People’s Guide to the Orchestra
Chopin ~ Romantic, Piano Concertos
Copland ~ Modern, Appalachian Spring, Rodeo
Corelli ~ Baroque, Concerti Grossi
Debussy ~ Modern, La Mer
Dvorak ~ Romantic, Symphonies 8,9, Slavonic Dances, Cello Concerto
Elgar Romantic, Enigma Variations
Gershwin ~ Modern, Rhapsody in Blue
Grieg ~ Romantic, Piano Concerto, Peer Gynt Suite
Handel `Baroque, Messiah, Water Music, Fireworks Music
Haydn ~ Classical, Surprise Symphony, Trumpet Concerto
Holst ~ Modern, The Planets
Khachaturian ~ Modern, Gayane Suite
Liszt ~ Romantic, Hungarian Rhapsodies
Mahler ~ Modern, Symphony 2 “Resurrection”, 5
Mendelssohn ~ Romantic, Violin Concerto, Italian & Scottish Symphonies
Mozart ~ Classical, Symphonies 25,29,35,36,38,40,41
Mussorgsky ~ Romantic, Pictures at an Exhibition, Night on Bald Mountain
Orff ~ Modern, Carmina Burana
Prokofieff ~ Modern, Classical Symphony, Peter and the Wolf
Rachmaninoff ~ Romantic, Piano Concerto 2 (“Rocky 2”), Symphony 2
Ravel ~ Modern, Piano Concerto in G
Rimsky-Korsakov ~ Romantic, Scheherezade
Rodrigo ~ Modern, Guitar Concerto
Saint-Saens ~ Romantic, Carnival of the Animals, Piano Concerto 2
Schubert ~ Classical, Symphonies 2, 5, 8 (Unfinished), 9
Schumann ~ Romantic, Piano Concerto in Am, Symphony 3
Shostakovitch ~ Modern, Symphony 5, 10
Sibelius ~ late Romantic, Symphonies 2, 3, 6
Smetana ~ Romantic, The Moldau
Strauss, Richard ~ Modern, Also Sprach Zarathustra
Stravinsky ~ Modern, Rite of Spring, Firebird Suite
Tchaikovsky ~ Romantic, Symphony 5,6, Violin Concerto,Piano Concerto 1
Vaughan Williams ~ Modern, Symphony 8, The Lark Ascending
Vivaldi ~ Baroque, The Four Seasons
Deerland Flute & Piano 