Classical Music Starter Pack

A few people have asked about the classical music I plan on listening to this year.  Which composers?  What symphonies? 

I’ve put together this list of essential classical pieces after reading Discovering Classical Music by Ian Christians.  The book gives a concise introduction to classical music, and then takes ten of the greatest composers and gives a pen portrait of each, before examining their most accessible music. These are the pieces of music that stood out for me:

• Mozart
  1. Piano Concerto No. 22
  2. The Jupiter Symphony
  3. The Jupiter Symphony
  4. The Magic Flute
  5. The String Quintet in C
  6. Requiem
• Beethoven
  6. The Fifth Symphony
  7. The Fifth Piano Concerto (Emperor)
  8. The Violin Concerto
  9. The Moonlight Sonata
  10. The Archduke Trio
• Bach
  11. The Brandenburg Concertos
  12. The Concerto for Two Violins
  13. Toccata and Fugue in D minor
  14. Magnificat
  15. B Minor Mass
  16. St. Matthew Passion
  17. The Goldberg Variations
  18. The Well Tempered Clavier (performed by Glenn Gould)
• Schubert
  19. The Unfinished Symphony
  20. The Trout Qunitet
  21. Impromptu
• Berlioz
  22. Grande Messe des Morts Requiem
  23. Symphonie Fantastique
  24. Witches Sabbath
  25. Nuits d'Ete
  26. Te Deum
  27. Roman Carnival
  28. Dramatic Symphony, Romeo and Juliet
• Verdi
  29. Rigoletto
  30. La traviata
  31. Otello
  32. Requiem
  33. Aida
• Bruckner
  34. Third Mass
  35. Te Deum
  36. Seventh Symphony
  37. Fourth Symphony
  38. Fifth, Eight and Ninth Symphony
  39. The Third Mass
• Tchaikovsky
  40. Swan Lake
  41. Pathetique Symphony
  42. Violin Concerto
  43. First Piano Concerto
  44. Fantasy Overture, Romeo & Juliet
  45. Sleeping Beauty
  46. The Nutcracker
  47. Serenade for Strings
  48. Symphony No. 4
• Dvorak
  49. Slavonic Dances
  50. Serenade for Strings & Serenades for Wind
  51. Eight Symphony
  52. Cello Concerto
  53. American Quartert
  54. Symphony from the New World
  55. Seventh Symphony
  56. Sixth Symphony
  57. Piano Quintet
  58. String Quintet
• Mahler
  59. Second Symphony, The Resurrection
  60. Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn)
  61. Symphony No. 1
  62. Symphony No. 4
  63. Symphony No. 8
• Holst
  64. The Planets

If you are a classical buff, and want to suggest any other composers or pieces of music I should listen to, please add a comment below. 

Goodbye Last.fm, Hello Jango

No doubt I coming late to this party, but a colleague shared Jango, the advertising-supported Internet radio website.  I immediately feel in love with it.   A nice clean website, easy to navigate, and a great selection of artists and tunes.  I’ve just finished uninstalling the Last.fm dektop client; it is history.  If I need some tunes now, I just have to click on the Jango bookmark.  Which I have just done, and I’m now enjoying some Stone Temple Pilots.