14 Comments
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Marcus's avatar

Hate to be That Guy, but Technically these are all Romantic and 20th Century composers rather than Classical. This does make them more accessible for a modern ear, so it's a great list in terms of getting into European art music.

Kristi Brockschmidt's avatar

Jupiter is our homeschool theme song! 🥰

Otto Excelsior's avatar

I also enjoy Modest Mussorgsky... Pictures at an Exhibition is amazing!

Edgar López Fierro's avatar

Grupos de Heavy Metal como Theatres des Vampires y de Agonist tienen su versión de la "Danza Macabra"

Squire's avatar

Appalachian Spring by Copland, and Ma Vlast by Smetana are also beautifully evocative pieces.

Doug Jordan's avatar

It takes a lot of courage to post a top five (or top ten, or ...) list of classical music (or anything else), and I'm sure you'll get lots of feedback, or push back. Here's mine:

* not Saint-Saens Danse Micabre, but perhaps the Bacchanal from Sampson & Delilah;

* not Dvorak Symphony # 9, but perhaps his Cello Concerto;

* not Strauss II, The Blue Danube (not anything by the waltz King) but perhaps Beethoven Symphony #7 (especially the 2nd Movement);

* yes to Shostakovich Jazz Suite # 2;

* Yes to Holst, Jupiter, but I'm also partial to Orff, Veni, Veni, Venius!

Sanford Schimel's avatar

Dvorak's 9th was written in 1893, so 19th century, n0t 20th.

Marcus's avatar

Yep it's Romantic period, 20th Century period is distinct. Both are distinct from Classical period.

Sanford Schimel's avatar

But still technically correct since it is Classical music in the general sense

Falon Bejarano's avatar

I really enjoyed listening to all of these!

An Actor Explains's avatar

A wonderful rundown! Thank you!

Promiscuous Prose's avatar

I love these pieces! Some of my favorite.

Crédit Mutuel's avatar

Those pieces are great pieces to get into classical music and not the most popular ones as well!!