# They're Coming For All The Classical Music: What Do You Save?



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

The bad guys are coming! (Mentally insert whatever bad guy you prefer, please do not share it with the rest of us so as to avoid political thread death spiral)

What music do you save for posterity first? What next? In what format? 

For me, if I had to list my first ten priorities, they would be:

Beethoven's symphonies
Brahms' symphonies
Sibelius' symphonies
Mozart's Divertimentii
Bach's Concertos
Tchaikovsky's symphonies
R. Strauss' tone poems
Schumann's symphonies
Mendelssohn's symphonies
Schubert's symphonies

For format, I would go with a micro-SD card filled with FLAC files of recordings, since it could be easily hidden. Obviously, preserving the musical scores would be of paramount importance, but I do not possess them.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Keeping it at one per composer:

Bach's religious works
Beethoven's piano sonatas
Brahms' chamber works
Bruckner's symphonies
Mahler's symphonies
Mozart's concertos
Schubert's Lieder
Shostakovich' symphonies
Sibelius' tone poems
Wagner's operas

on SD card or USB stick, in FLAC.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Aaaah! Bruckner! Wagner!


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

1. Bach's religious works
2. Handel's operas
3. Beethoven's piano sonatas
4. Mozart's operas
5. Schubert's lieder
6. Schumann's piano works
7. Verdi's operas
8. Wagner's operas
9. Tchaikovsky's symphonies
10. Sibelius' symphonies

If I could take 11 it would be Liszt's piano works (although a lot of it is already in my head and fingers  )

The advantage here is that he transcribed hundreds of other works for piano, which means that they can be recreated.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

And here's a list of the works that they can take first, perhaps as a temporary distraction:
1. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No.2
2. Chopin Minute Waltz
3. Beethoven Für Elise
4. Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
5. Wagner Piano Sonatas
6. Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture
7. Beethoven Wellington's Victory
8. Pachelbel's Canon
9. Sarasate Zigeurnerweisen
10. Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumblebee


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

All right now, look. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik may be overplayed, but it is a work of genius.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

MatthewWeflen said:


> All right now, look. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik may be overplayed, but it is a work of genius.


Haha, there are many works of genius that I don't mind never hearing again. Bach's Double Concerto is another one of them.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

But imagine being a person in this dystopian future who has come across our secret archive. Wouldn't you want them to hear Eine Kleine Nachtmusik for the first time, with fresh ears? I could argue the same for Canon in D (though I would place the Mozart in higher priority).


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

In my view, to take all the works of a certain type by a certain composer does not suit the infernal urgency scenario.
I will therefore list singularily grabbable works I could pick as quick as possible:

1. Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
2. Williams, Empire Strikes Back
3. Wagner, Lohengrin
4. Mozart, Requiem
5. Beethoven, Symphony No. 5
6. Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1
7. Shostakovich, Suite for Variety Orchestra
8. Bach, Toccata & Fugue D minor
9. Dvorak, Symphony No. 9
10. Steiner, Big Sleep Overture


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

MatthewWeflen said:


> But imagine being a person in this dystopian future who has come across our secret archive. Wouldn't you want them to hear Eine Kleine Nachtmusik for the first time, with fresh ears? I could argue the same for Canon in D (though I would place the Mozart in higher priority).


No fear, Eine Kleine shall live on in solo violin form.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Fabulin said:


> In my view, to take all the works of a certain type by a certain composer does not suit the infernal urgency scenario.
> I will therefore list singularily grabbable works I could pick as quick as possible:
> 
> 1. Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
> ...


Well, that makes it considerably harder :devil:


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ You would only need to hide the classical works.

The problem for me with this scenario - or one of them at least - is that I wouldn't be able to explore music and performances that are new to me. It might make sense to store and hide only works and performances that I don't know yet. A lot of my favourites so far live on in my memory.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Hmm... without thinking too much, here is my current list:

1. Wagner's Operas;
2. Bach's Sacred Works;
3. Beethoven's Symphonies;
4. Beethoven's String Quartets;
5. Bach's Organ Works;
6. Beethoven's Piano Sonatas;
7. Mozart's Operas;
8. Brahms's Symphonies;
9. Tchaikovsky's Ballets;
10. Mozart's Symphonies.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Allerius said:


> Hmm... without thinking too much, here is my current list:
> 
> 1. Wagner's Operas;
> 2. Bach's Sacred Works;
> ...


I don't like referring to Bach's religious works as "sacred" because all of his music is sacred


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'd bury my electric guitar in the back yard in the hopes that a descendant of Alex Lifeson will discover it in the year 2112. And I'll give the bad guys a Philip Glass album in hopes that they'll leave me alone and not confiscate my music collection.


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## Swosh (Feb 25, 2018)

Sonatas over the string quartets!?


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

1 Beethoven Symphonies
2 Bartok Quartets 
3 Holst The Planets 
4 Goldberg Variations 
5 Mendelssohn Symphonies 
6 My Romantic Piano Concertos mp3 Collection /downloads (there's a lot of them)
7 Beethoven Piano Sonatas
8 Vivaldi Four Seasons 
9 Mahler Symphonies
10 Mozart Symphonies


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I'm joining the resistance. We hide out in caves in secret places. We have a full library of classical music and excellent equipment to play it on. And we broadcast it to all who are willing to risk tuning in.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Enthusiast said:


> I'm joining the resistance. We hide out in caves in secret places. We have a full library of classical music and excellent equipment to play it on. And we broadcast it to all who are willing to risk tuning in.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

MatthewWeflen said:


> The bad guys are coming! (Mentally insert whatever bad guy you prefer, please do not share it with the rest of us so as to avoid political thread death spiral)
> 
> What music do you save for posterity first? What next? In what format?


First, I save my gun.
Then, I sing with the chorus: "I'll give you my music collection when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

"This music collection insured by Smith and Wesson."


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Save the whales!


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

MatthewWeflen said:


> The bad guys are coming! (Mentally insert whatever bad guy you prefer, please do not share it with the rest of us so as to avoid political thread death spiral)
> 
> What music do you save for posterity first? What next? In what format?
> 
> ...


Mozart's divertimenti are wonderful and underrated compared to the rest of his output. Not many people would have thought of them or placed them on such a list.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Beethoven string quartets
Beethoven symphonies
Mahler symphonies
Bach keyboard works
Bruckner symphonies
Mozart piano concertos
Mozart operas
Schubert song cycles
Brahms chamber music (too broad?)
Schubert's string quintet


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Keeping it to 10: 

Mozart's operas
Mozart's concertos
Wagner's operas
Beethoven's piano sonatas
Mahler's symphonies
Brahms's chamber music
Handel's oratorios
Bach's organ music
Haydn's string quartets
Schumann's solo piano music

HMs: 

Beethoven's symphonies
Mozart's chamber music
Schubert's chamber music
Schubert's lieder
Stravinsky's ballets
Scriabin's piano music
R. Strauss's tone poems
Verdi's operas
Couperin's keyboard works
Haydn's symphonies


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I find many of these lists far too long, with people hiding away whole libraries of music: "Beethoven's symphonies, Mahler's symphonies, Strauss' tone poems" etc. Let's boil it down to, say, ten Can't Live Without individual pieces. Things get tricky when we discuss such as the Brandenburg concertos, or the Bachianas Brasileiras, or the WTC, and call them one piece, so let's exclude them quasi-arbitrarily, and focus on standalone compositions.

Here are ten of mine, not in any order:

Mozart: Symphony No. 41, Jupiter
Hovhaness: Violin Concerto No. 2
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3, Eroica
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Martinů: Symphony No. 1
Bach: D-minor Keyboard Concerto
Ravel: Concerto for the Left Hand 
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2
Debussy: La Mer

If I kept at it, I could supply dozens more lists of ten, as could we all, but a severely austere list such as this will reveal more of one's own spectrum of tastes than the encyclopedic alternatives heretofore supplied.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Strange Magic said:


> I find many of these lists far too long, with people hiding away whole libraries of music: "Beethoven's symphonies, Mahler's symphonies, Strauss' tone poems" etc. Let's boil it down to, say, ten Can't Live Without individual pieces. Things get tricky when we discuss such as the Brandenburg concertos, or the Bachianas Brasileiras, or the WTC, and call them one piece, so let's exclude them quasi-arbitrarily, and focus on standalone compositions.
> 
> Here are ten of mine, not in any order:
> 
> ...


Point taken. Here's a quick (and occasionally idiosyncratic) stab:

Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Beethoven: Symphony 9
Sibelius: Symphony 7
Brahms: Symphony 4
Mendelssohn: Symphony 1
Schumann: Symphony 4
Tchaikovsky: Symphony 6
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
R. Strauss: Metamorphosen
Schubert: Symphony 2

Arguments are swirling in my head for these to make the cut in place of some of the above:
Vivaldi: The 4 Seasons
Rossini: William Tell Overture
Wagner: Tannhauser Overture


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Keeping it to 10 single works:

1. Symphony No. 9 in D Minor "Choral" - Ludwig van Beethoven (1824) 
2. Symphony No. 9 in D Major - Gustav Mahler (1910)
3. Mass in B Minor - Johann Sebastian Bach (1749) 
4. Symphony No. 9 in C Major "The Great" - Franz Schubert (1826) 
5. Tristan und Isolde - Richard Wagner (1859) 
6. Requiem - Guisseppe Verdi (1874) 
7. Don Giovanni - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1787) 
8. Der Ring des Nibelungen - Richard Wagner (1876)
9. Symphony No. 15 in A Major - Dmitri Shostakovich (1971) 
10. String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor - Ludwig van Beethoven (1825) 

Pretty difficult to top that if limited to just 10, and I dont think I could ever tire of those in regular rotation. That said, as comprehensive as those are, and with each a culmination of its art/genre and virtually unsurpassable, it would still be very difficult to leave behind so many others (the biggest omission being keyboard works).


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

But you're cheating with Der Ring des Nibelungen since that is actually four operas.

The creator of the thread clearly wanted groups of works of similar type or something in common, not individual works. It's his thread, so his format should be adhered to.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Open Book said:


> But you're cheating with Der Ring des Nibelungen since that is actually four operas.
> 
> The creator of the thread clearly wanted groups of works of similar type or something in common, not individual works. It's his thread, so his format should be adhered to.


Though they can indeed be performed as "four individual operas/music dramas", Wagner's Ring was intended as a whole by the composer, and this is very standard practice, so I disagree that this is "cheating" to list it as such (which it almost always is).

I think the idea of choosing entire bodies of works is much more of a "cheat" (so to speak, not actually if that is what the OP wants) and found "single works" more interesting like some users above.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I'm enjoying every style of answer, whether it's a list of single works or a resistance fantasy preserving whole libraries. Both are interesting.

If I wanted to be puckish I could limit it to the complete works of one composer. For me, it can only be Beethoven.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Just need to take one piece by Phillip Glass and leave on repeat play
Lightens my load running away from the bad guys


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

I would hide all my music away in somewhere they'd never find it, a grim place largely forgotten by man.......Stockport County's Edgeley Park ground would be a great place.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

If you take the list of music on the gold-plated copper record on the Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, and just look at the western classical music (mostly excerpted), you get this list of pieces:

Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
Bach, Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin
Mozart, The Magic Flute
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier
Beethoven, Fifth Symphony
Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130

The complete list:
Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40
Java, court gamelan, "Kinds of Flowers," recorded by Robert Brown. 4:43
Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08
Zaire, Pygmy girls' initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull. 0:56
Australia, Aborigine songs, "Morning Star" and "Devil Bird," recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes. 1:26
Mexico, "El Cascabel," performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14
"Johnny B. Goode," written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38
New Guinea, men's house song, recorded by Robert MacLennan. 1:20
Japan, shakuhachi, "Tsuru No Sugomori" ("Crane's Nest,") performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51
Bach, "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55
Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55
Georgian S.S.R., chorus, "Tchakrulo," collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18
Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima. 0:52
"Melancholy Blues," performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05
Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30
Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35
Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48
Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20
Bulgaria, "Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin," sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59
Navajo Indians, Night Chant, recorded by Willard Rhodes. 0:57
Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, "The Fairie Round," performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17
Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service. 1:12
Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen. 0:38
China, ch'in, "Flowing Streams," performed by Kuan P'ing-hu. 7:37
India, raga, "Jaat Kahan Ho," sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30
"Dark Was the Night," written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by Budapest String Quartet. 6:37


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Strange Magic said:


> I find many of these lists far too long, with people hiding away whole libraries of music: "Beethoven's symphonies, Mahler's symphonies, Strauss' tone poems" etc. Let's boil it down to, say, ten Can't Live Without individual pieces. Things get tricky when we discuss such as the Brandenburg concertos, or the Bachianas Brasileiras, or the WTC, and call them one piece, so let's exclude them quasi-arbitrarily, and focus on standalone compositions.


As if 10 cycles wasn't hard enough to decide between! But, very well then:

Mozart's 41st Symphony
Mozart's Don Giovanni
Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
Mahler's 2nd Symphony
Liszt's Piano Sonata in Bm
Brahms's Piano Quintet 
Beethoven's String Quartet no. 15
Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe
Schubert's Piano Sonata no. 21
Handel's Messiah


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## Swosh (Feb 25, 2018)

Wagner's Tristan 
Beethoven's razumovsky String Quartets and grobe fugue
Beethoven Hammerklavier
Missa Solemnis
Mozart's piano concertos 18, 21 and 24 
Don Giovanni
Chopin's Ballades 1 and 4
Bach's Goldberg variations

Those are the most precious to me!


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## Swosh (Feb 25, 2018)

Fabulin said:


> In my view, to take all the works of a certain type by a certain composer does not suit the infernal urgency scenario.
> I will therefore list singularily grabbable works I could pick as quick as possible:
> 
> 1. Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake
> ...


Lohengrin over Tristan?


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Would people agree that most of the lists offered so far are surprisingly conservative, offering mostly big helpings of The Old Masters? Some post-1900 composers and compositions, but not many.


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## Eva Yojimbo (Jan 30, 2016)

Strange Magic said:


> Would people agree that most of the lists offered so far are surprisingly conservative, offering mostly big helpings of The Old Masters? Some post-1900 composers and compositions, but not many.


Indeed. I consciously noticed that about my own list, and while there are a handful of post-1900 works and composers I count among my favorites (Bartok and Messiaen both make my top 10/15, Stravinsky and Ravel are up there too), I had difficulty choosing just one of their works to replace anything on my list. For Messiaen, I probably would've chosen the Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus; for Bartok probably the Concerto for Orchestra; but which works to replace? For the former, I'd be inclined to swap either the Liszt or Schubert Sonatas... and that's a difficult choice! For the Bartok perhaps the Ravel would be on the chopping block and, in truth, I had difficulty choosing between them. Part of it may simply be that I'm more familiar with the older works, given that most of my exploration of 20th century classical has been, in general, more recent than that of pre-1900 classical. EG, I've only heard Vingt Regards... twice. Even though I very much considered it a masterpiece after the first listen, I've still heard the Liszt and Schubert at least 50 times between them, so there's much more familiarity. I also lament I didn't manage to get one concerto on the list...


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Swosh said:


> Wagner's Tristan
> Beethoven's razumovsky String Quartets and grobe fugue
> Beethoven Hammerklavier
> Missa Solemnis
> ...


Hmm... today, I would like to save the following one hundred and fifty classical pieces if I could:

1. Wagner - Tristan und Isolde;
2. Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 "Choral";
3. Wagner - Parsifal;
4. Bach - Mass in B minor;
5. Wagner - Gotterdammerung;
6. Beethoven - String Quartet No. 15;
7. Beethoven - String Quartet No. 14;
8. Wagner - Die Walküre;
9. Beethoven - Missa Solemnis;
10. Wagner - Das Rheingold;

11. Berlioz - Les Troyens;
12. Brahms - Requiem;
13. Wagner - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg;
14. Beethoven - String Quartet No. 13 (with the Grosse Fuge);
15. Mozart - Die Zauberflöte;
16. Bach - St. Matthew Passion;
17. Beethoven - Symphony No. 5;
18. Bach - The Art of Fugue;
19. Schubert - String Quintet;
20. Brahms - Symphony No. 4;
21. Mozart/Süssmayr - Requiem;
22. Schubert - Symphony No. 8;
23. Wagner - Lohengrin;
24. Berlioz - Te Deum;
25. Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty;
26. Mahler - Symphony No. 9;
27. Brahms - Symphony No. 3;
28. Wagner - Tannhäuser;
29. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 "Passionate";
30. Bach - Organ Trio Sonatas;
31. Berlioz - Requiem;
32. Brahms - Symphony No. 1;
33. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 29 "Hammerklavier";
34. Mahler - Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection";
35. Wagner - Siegfried;
36. Mozart - Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter";
37. Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral";
38. Mozart - Don Giovanni; 
39. Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 "Eroica";
40. Mozart - Idomeneo;
41. Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto;
42. Schubert - String Quartet No. 14 "Death and the Maiden";
43. Bach - The Musical Offering;
44. Beethoven - String Quartet No. 16;
45. Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier (Second Book);
46. Beethoven - Fidelio;
47. Mahler - Symphony No. 5;
48. Brahms - Violin Concerto;
49. Beethoven - Diabelli Variations;
50. Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker;
51. Wagner - The Flying Dutchman;
52. Brahms - Symphony No. 2;
53. Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor";
54. Bach - Goldberg Variations;
55. Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5;
56. Bach - St. John Passion;
57. Verdi - Otello;
58. Bach - Clavier-Übung III for Organ;
59. Mussorgsky/Ravel - Pictures at an Exhibition (Orchestrated);
60. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 31;
61. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5;
62. Beethoven - String Quartet No. 12;
63. Schumann - Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish";
64. Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet;
65. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 32;
66. Tchaikovsky - Violin Concerto;
67. Berlioz - Symphony No. 3 "Roméo et Juliette";
68. Sibelius - Symphony No. 5;
69. Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 2;
70. Prokofiev - Symphony No. 7;
71. Dvorák - Symphony No. 9 "From the New World";
72. Ravel - Daphnis et Chloé;
73. Mozart - Le Nozze di Figaro;
74. Bach - The Well-Tempered Clavier (First Book);
75. Schubert - Piano Sonata No. 21;
76. Beethoven - Symphony No. 7;
77. Bach - Cello Suites;
78. Mozart - Symphony No. 40;
79. Josquin - Missa Pange Lingua;
80. Mozart - Clarinet Concerto;
81. Schumann - Piano Concerto;
82. Debussy - La Mer;
83. Mozart - Symphony No. 38 "Prague";
84. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 23 "Appassionata";
85. Mahler - Symphony No. 6;
86. Vivaldi - Il Cimento dell'Armonia e dell'Inventione;
87. Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2;
88. Sibelius - Violin Concerto;
89. Mozart - Symphony No. 39;
90. Sibelius - Symphony No. 2;
91. Mozart - Serenade No. 13 "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik";
92. Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4;
93. Vivaldi - L'Estro Armonico;
94. Verdi - Aida;
95. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 24;
96. Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4;
97. Liszt - Années de Pèlerinage;
98. Berlioz - Symphony No. 4 "Funèbre et Triomphale";
99. Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 30;
100. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21;
101. Beethoven - Symphony No. 8;
102. Schubert - Symphony No. 9 "The Great";
103. Borodin - Prince Igor;
104. Mahler - Das Lied von Der Erde;
105. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 23;
106. Beethoven - Violin Concerto;
107. Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake;
108. Beethoven - Triple Concerto;
109. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 20;
110. Schubert - Wanderer Fantasy;
111. Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue for Organ;
112. Haydn - The Creation;
113. Bach - Sonata and Partitas for Solo Violin;
114. Shostakovich - Symphony No. 11 "The Year 1905";
115. Saint-Saëns - Symphony No. 3 "Organ";
116. Bach - Prelude and Fugue in E minor "Wedge";
117. Haydn - Symphony No. 104 "London";
118. Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5;
119. Schubert - String Quartet No. 13 "Rosamunde";
120. Holst - The Planets;
121. Mozart - "Great" Mass;
122. Mahler - Symphony No. 3;
123. Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring;
124. Khachaturian - Violin Concerto;
125. Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 2;
126. Beethoven - Choral Fantasy;
127. Berlioz - Les Nuits d'Été;
128. Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras;
129. Mahler - Symphony No. 8 "Of a Thousand";
130. Bruckner - Symphony No. 4 "Romantic";
131. Ravel - Ma Mere L'Oye;
132. Bach - Magnificat;
133. Liszt - Piano Sonata in B minor;
134. Dvorak - Symphony No. 8;
135. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 27;
136. Vaughan-Williams - Symphony No. 5;
137. Vivaldi - La Stravaganza;
138. Schubert - Wintereisse;
139. Brahms - Double Concerto;
140. Beethoven - Mass in C;
141. Rimsky-Korsakov - Sheherazade;
142. Mahler - Symphony No. 1 "Titan";
143. Debussy - Nocturnes;
144. Brahms - Hungarian Dances;
145. Berlioz - Symphony No. 1 "Fantastique";
146. Beethoven - String Quartet No. 7 "Razumovsky";
147. Bach - Harpsichord Concerto No. 1;
148. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 25;
149. Bach - Double Violin Concerto;
150. Beethoven - Symphony No. 4.

An interesting exercise I think. I feel like missing many great pieces, either because I don't know them yet, because I forgot them, or because one hundred and fifty classical music works is a too small number of them.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Eva Yojimbo said:


> Indeed. I consciously noticed that about my own list, and while there are a handful of post-1900 works and composers I count among my favorites (Bartok and Messiaen both make my top 10/15, Stravinsky and Ravel are up there too), I had difficulty choosing just one of their works to replace anything on my list. For Messiaen, I probably would've chosen the Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus; for Bartok probably the Concerto for Orchestra; but which works to replace? For the former, I'd be inclined to swap either the Liszt or Schubert Sonatas... and that's a difficult choice! For the Bartok perhaps the Ravel would be on the chopping block and, in truth, I had difficulty choosing between them. Part of it may simply be that I'm more familiar with the older works, given that most of my exploration of 20th century classical has been, in general, more recent than that of pre-1900 classical. EG, I've only heard Vingt Regards... twice. Even though I very much considered it a masterpiece after the first listen, I've still heard the Liszt and Schubert at least 50 times between them, so there's much more familiarity. I also lament I didn't manage to get one concerto on the list...


Well, I would include Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring that went up with the Voyager spacecraft, as I mentioned above. Maybe also Debussy's Prelude to the afternoon of a faun, Ameriques by Varese, Le marteau sans maitre by Boulez, Ancient Voices of Children by Crumb, Gorecki's symphony no. 3 and Part's Speigel im Speigel. For me, Quartet for the End of Time would by Messiaen's contribution, together with Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.


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## Swosh (Feb 25, 2018)

Strange Magic said:


> Would people agree that most of the lists offered so far are surprisingly conservative, offering mostly big helpings of The Old Masters? Some post-1900 composers and compositions, but not many.


Can't be old when you're immortal!


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Swosh said:


> Lohengrin over Tristan?


If I pick _Lohengrin _and you pick _Tristan_, we can save them both. 

Anyway I find it slightly amusing that you questioned _Lohengrin _rather than _Suite for Variety Orchestra_ or an overture to _Big Sleep_


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## Swosh (Feb 25, 2018)

Fabulin said:


> If I pick _Lohengrin _and you pick _Tristan_, we can save them both.
> 
> Good point!


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

The obvious answer is jazz, but since I don't want to be banned, I'll mention: 

- Everything by Hildegard 
- Josquin's masses
- Byrd's masses 
- Monteverdi's madrigals 
- Handel's operas 
- Bach's mass 
- Beethoven's symphonies 
- Stravinsky's ballets 
- Albeniz's piano and guitar music 
- Reich's Music for 18 Musicians and other works for percussion ensembles


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## geralmar (Feb 15, 2013)

Ravel, Bolero 
Weber/Berlioz, Invitation to the Dance

Tchaikovsky, Arabian Dance (Nutcracker)
Grieg, Arabian Dance (Peer Gynt)


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

I can't bring myself to choose 10 pieces. Not even 10 cycles. I'll go with 10 composers, listed in alphabetical order (assuming that we save the complete oeuvre of each chosen composer, with performances of our choice):

Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Chopin
Mahler
Mozart
Ravel (or maybe Debussy? I really can't decide... one of the two)
Schubert
Wagner

This covers probably around 70% of what I'd consider to be absolutely essential CM.
If I could keep 20, I'd certainly take both Debussy and Ravel, and then add the following 9 names to the previous list:

Bartok
Haydn
Faure
Liszt
Messiaen
Prokofiev
Schumann
Scriabin
Sibelius

This covers probably around 95% of what I'd consider to be absolutely essential CM.
If I were allowed 25 names, then add:

Bruckner
Handel
Palestrina
Shostakovich
Tchaikovsky

Note that this list is not the same as my 10 favorite composers or 10 greatest composers. For one, this one prioritizes diversity of era, genre, and style more than either of those. Nonetheless, they're all pretty similar.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

When the sun dies—and eventually it will consume itself—there will be no posterity. It’ll all vanish into the invisible. But enough of this cheerfulness... In the meantime, keep listening to your indispensable favorites! :cheers:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

When they come, I will not save my Bach
Nor will I, moreover, save Rach
Instead, I will flee with my Raff
Cuz he’s good for a laff.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

I will save nothing. 

This way, every big composer will be vanished and I, who I can compose some silly music, I will become the greatest composer on earth.


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## Tallisman (May 7, 2017)

starthrower said:


> And I'll give the bad guys a Philip Glass album


Now I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy


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