Classical Music Masterpost (Edit 1)
Okay I’m sure you’ve seen this in some form or shape before but I feel like a lot of the choices are pretty generic and not very diverse so I’m making one of my own. There will definitely be some repeats just because some pieces are so fitting for so many topics. Additionally there will be a lot of work by specific composers under one category just because their style works well for that category. Of course there will be some of the classic works by the well known composers, but this post is hopefully much more diverse and musically interesting.
If you want to suggest something message me @thacher-schreiber. I’ll give it a listen and place it on the list wherever I deem it fit.
When you don’t know how you feel:
Mass (Leonard Bernstein)
Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah” (Leonard Bernstein)
Pictures at an Exhibition (Modest Mussorgsky)
The Firebird (Igor Stravinsky)
Concerto for Orchestra (Bela Bartok) Le Tombeau De Couperin (Maurice Ravel) The Carnival of the Animals (Camille Saint-Saëns)
When you feel like listening to something really furious:
Eine Alpinesinfonie (Richard Strauss)
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Johannes Sebastien Bach)
Symphony No. 8 (Dmitry Shostakovich)
Night on Bald Mountain (Modest Mussorgsky)
Romeo & Juliet Ballet Scenes: Montagues and Capulets (Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No. 25 in G Minor (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Prelude in C-Sharp Minor (Sergei Rachmaninov) Symphony No. 5 (Gustav Mahler) Piano Concerto No. 1 (Frederic Chopin)
When you’re feeling really melancholy:
Symphony No. 4, Mvmt II (Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky)
3 Romances for Oboe and Piano (Robert Schumann)
Symphony No. 7, Mvmt II (Ludwig Van Beethoven)
Song of India (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov)
Les Saisons: Barcarole (Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky)
Elegie in E-Flat Minor (Sergei Rachmaninov)
Symphony No. 6 (Gustav Mahler)
Symphony No. 6 (Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky) La Mer (Claude Debussy)
When you want to listen to heavy metal without actually having to listen to heavy metal:
The Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor: Mvmt III (Sergei Prokofiev)
When you’re feeling hyperactive:
Candide Overture (Leonard Bernstein)
Slava! - A Political Overture (Leonard Bernstein)
Comedian’s Gallop (Dmitry Kabalevsky)
Carnival Overture (Antonin Dvorak)
Entry of the Gladiators (Julius Fucik)
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Fugue (Benjamin Britten) Overture to La Gazza Ladra (Gioachino Rossini)
When you feel at peace:
Appalachian Spring (Aaron Copland)
Reverie (Claude Debussy)
Quiet City (Aaron Copland)
Symphony No. 3 (Aaron Copland)
Symphony No. 6 (Ludwig Van Beethoven)
Down a Country Lane (Aaron Copland)
The Red Pony Suite (Aaron Copland)
Symphony No. 9 (Antonin Dvorak) Out Town (Aaron Copland) Claire de Lune (Claude Debussy)
When you’re nervous:
Symphony No. 4, Mvmts 1 & 4 (Franz Schubert)
Danse Macabre (Camille Saint-Saëns)
When you’re feeling like going on adventure:
Danse Bacchanale (Camille Saint-Saëns)
Daphnis et Chloé (Maurice Ravel)
Cuban Overture (George Gershwin)
An American in Paris (George Gershwin)
Rhapsodie Espagnole (Maurice Ravel)
The Planets (Gustav Holst)
Samson eat Dalila (Camille Saint-Saëns) Pines of Rome (Ottorino Respighi)
When you feel like questioning God:
Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish” (Leonard Bernstein)
Mass (Leonard Bernstein)
When you’re feeling kinda weird:
Sonata for English Horn and Piano (Paul Hindemith)
“The Age of Gold” Ballet Suite (Dmitry Shostakovich)
Drei Klavierstücke (Arnold Schoenberg)
Quintet in G Minor (Sergei Prokofiev)
Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet (Igor Stravinsky)
Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (Bela Bartók)
Violin Concerto in D Major (Igor Stravinsky)
The Owl and the Pussy Cat (Igor Stravinsky)
Rhapsodie Negre (Francis Poulenc)
When you feel triumphant:
Symphonic Metamorphosis, Mvmt IV: Marsch (Paul Hindemith)
Symphony No. 9, Mvmt I (Dmitry Shostakovich)
Festive Overture (Dmitry Shostakovich)
Pines of Rome (Ottorino Respighi)
When you feel like galloping into the sunset on horseback with your beautiful lover:
Don Juan (Richard Strauss)
Symphony No. 9, Mvmt 4 (Antonin Dvorak)
When you’re feeling stately and majestic:
First Suite in E-Flat (Gustav Holst)
Marche Militaire (Camille Saint-Saëns) Enigma Variations (Edward Elgar)
When you’re feeling jazzy:
Rhapsody in Blue (George Gershwin)
On the Town: Three Dance Episodes (Leonard Bernstein)
Three Preludes (George Gershwin)
When you feel like traveling back in time to the Old West:
Billy the Kid (Aaron Copland)
When you’re feeling fun:
Rodeo (Aaron Copland)
Old American Songs (Aaron Copland)
When you feel like telling a story:
Peter and the Wolf (Sergei Prokofiev)
Billy the Kid (Aaron Copland)
When you feel very pious:
Ave Maria (Franz Schubert)
Requiem (Giuseppe Verdi)
When you feel like dancing:
La Valse (Maurice Ravel)
Capriccio Italien (Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky)
Molly on the Shore (Percy Aldridge Grainger)
Pulcinella Suite (Igor Stravinsky)
Three Latin American Sketches (Aaron Copland)
When you feel like bathing in vodka and wrestling bears for a living:
Prelude in G Minor (Sergei Rachmaninov)
When you want to listen to something HUGE:
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Richard Strauss)
Elektra (Richard Strauss)
Fugue in G Minor “Little” (Johannes Sebastien Bach)
Prelude in C-Sharp Minor (Sergei Rachmaninov) Eine Alpinesinfonie (Richard Strauss) Finlandia (Jean Sibelius)
When you want to listen to something light:
Suite No. 1 for Small Orchestra (Igor Stravinsky)
Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra (Igor Stravinsky)
The Flight of the Bumblebee (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) L'invitation Au Château (Francis Poulenc) Symphony No. 3, Mvmt 4 (Pyotr Illich Tchaikovksy)
When you’re feeling mysterious:
Rhapsodie Espagnole (Maurice Ravel)
Rhapsody for Cor Anglais/Saxophone (Claude Debussy)
When you feel like killing an oboist:
Oboe Concerto in D (Richard Strauss)
Le Api (Antonio Pasculli)
When you really like oboes: Oboe Trio (Ludwig Van Beethoven) Variations on La ci darema la mano from Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Ludwig Van Beethoven) When you want to deSTROY THE FUCKING SOVIET REGIME Symphony No. 4 (Dmitri Shostakovich) Symphony No. 5 (Dmitri Shostakovich) Symphony No. 8 (Dmitri Shostakovich) Symphony No. 9 (Dmitri Shostakovich) When you’re feeling productive: Mouvements Perpetuels (Francis Poulenc) When you’re in concert band: First Suite in E-Flat (Gustav Holst) Lincolnshire Posy (Percy Aldridge Grainger) Children’s March (Percy Aldridge Grainger) Molly on the Shore (Percy Aldridge Grainger) When you’re filled to the point of bursting with those weird emotions: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture (Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky) Symphony No. 4 (Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky) Piano Concerto No. 2 (Dmitri Shostakovich) When you want to kill a pianist: 12 Etudes, Op. 10 (Frederic Chopin) Waltzes Op. 34, 64, 70 (Frederic Chopin) La Campanella (Franz Liszt) When you feel mischievous: Till Eulenspeigels Lustige Streiche (Richard Strauss) When you’re in a baroque kind of mood: Oboe Concerto (Alessandro Marcello) Sonata for Violin/Flute/Oboe and Continuo (Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach BWV 1020) Concerto for Oboe d'amore (Johannes Sebastien Bach BWV 209) When it’s Spring: Appalachian Spring (Aaron Copland) The Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky) Violin Concerto “Spring” from the Four Seasons (Antonio Vivaldi)
That’s all for now. It’s very likely I’ll end up changing things and adding things. Once again if you want to suggest something for the list or even if you see a organization or grammar mistake just message me @thacher-schreiber.
Another note: A lot of the groupings here are based off of my personal preferences/thoughts (and iTunes library) so some of this you may not feel as if you are on the same page as I am. I hope that to not effect your enjoyment of the music as it nonetheless is all very good music in general.
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