The novels were a hopeless cause very soon after embarking on the attempt but I made some headway with the music. I have however stopped at 50. Not for want of candidates- there are too many rather than not enough- but really because these 50 seem to represent some kind of favourite elite and to continue would begin to become a matter of listing more and more Bach cantatas, Sibelius symphonies, Mozart concertos or Handel operas.
My list is ridiculous in almost every respect. Precious few are genuinely 'classical' pieces. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik seems to me quintissentially classical but the term refers to the second half of the C18th and much of my list is baroque, renaissance and modern with not very much one might call late romantic.
It also contains very short pieces like those by Reynaldo Hahn or Howard Skempton alongside the 4 discs needed to contain The Well-Tempered Klavier, as well as the flagrant disregard of any ground rules whatsoever by including single arias alongside complete operas. It means nothing beyond allowing myself to determine a certain measure of 'taste' for myself. I could just list 'Everything by Bach' follwed by 'Everything by Handel' but that would be very unfair to Josquin, Pergolesi, Tallis and Monteverdi.
They are in the order they were put on the shortlist which does not reflect any preference.
But, unworthy as it may be, here it is,
Tallis Spem in alium
Beethoven Symphony
no. 6
J.S. Bach The
Well-Tempered Klavier
Josquin Des Prez Le
Deploration de la Mort de Johannes Ockeghem
Biber Mystery Sonatas
Buxtehude Trio
Sonatas Op. 1
Monteverdi Vespers
1610
J.S. Bach Cello
Suites
Mozart The Magic Flute
Handel Messiah
F. Couperin Lecons
de Tenebres
James MacMillan Seven
Last Words from the Cross
Sibelius Symphony
no. 5
Purcell Dido and Aeneas
Gluck Orfeo and Eurydice
Wylkynson Jesu Autem
Transiens
Pergolesi Stabat
Mater
J.S. Bach Double
Violin Concerto
Schubert Symphony
no.8 Unfinished
Reynaldo Hahn A
Chloris
Shostakovich 24
Preludes and Fugues
Handel Rinaldo
Mendelssohn Symphony
no.4
James MacMillan Veni,
Veni, Emmanuel
Tchaikovsky Violin
Concerto
Mozart Piano Concerto
no.20
J.S. Bach Solo
Violin Partitas
Vivaldi The Four Seasons
Puccini La Boheme
Puccini Madame Butterfly
Charpentier Lecons
de Tenebres
Mozart Soave
s'il vento
Satie Gnoisiennes
Faure Requiem
Robert Morton Le Souvenir de vous me tue
Allegri Miserere
J. S. Bach Cantata
no. 170
Telemann Trumpet
Concerto
Elgar Cello Concerto
Mendelssohn Violin
Concerto
Bartok Solo Violin Sonata
Palestrina Missa
Papae Marcelli
Gorecki Symphony
no. 3 Sorrowful Songs
Sibelius Symphony
no.2
Rachmanninov Vespers
Sibelius Karelia Suite
Tallis Salvator Mundi
Mozart Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Krumpholtz Harp
Concerto no.6
Howard Skempton Song
no.2 from 'Images'
