Classically perfect.

Last week I wrote a blog post about what I thought were “perfect albums” from my music collection.  It did not cover the classical music I own since different orchestras perform different versions of symphonies, operas, etc. and are sometimes paired with shorter compositions from other composers.  So instead of listing “perfect classical albums,” today I’m going to list my favorite classical compositions.  I’m not going to even begin to attempt to determine which is the best recording of these songs, as tastes differ greatly on such things, but the compositions themselves stand on their own strength regardless of who’s playing them or conducting the players.

So here, from my personal collection, is a list of my favorite classical music compositions:

Johannes Brahms – German Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem), op. 45 Johannes Brahms – Symphony No.1, op. 68 Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 3, op. 90 Modest Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition Johann Sebastian Bach – Mass in B minor, BWV 232 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Requiem, KV 626 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Don Giovanni Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) Edvard Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, op. 46 / Suite No. 2, op. 55 Gustav Holst – The Planets Sergei Rachmaninov – All-Night Vigil (Vespers) Antonin Dvorak – Symphony No. 9, op. 95 (From the New World) Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 9, op. 125 Igor Stravinski – The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) Nikolai Rimsky-Koraskov – Symphonic Suite “Scheherazade,” op. 35 Carl Orff – Carmina Burana