By Daniel McAdam 
 

The title of this page is deliberate.  What follows is not a list of the world’s most popular classical works, although many are very popular.  It is also not a list of classical works you should like, because I am in no position to tell you that, and neither is anyone else.  (Although it would be the rare listener who would not find most of the works presented here enjoyable.)  No, these are, simply, classical works that you should be familiar with.

Why?  There are two reasons.  The first reason, the more important one, is that familiarity with these works will provide you, the classical music enthusiast, with a foundation of knowledge upon which you can build, and which can be used in developing your own personal taste and judgment.  The second reason – trivial, I grant you, but nonetheless valid – is that others will expect you to have some familiarity with these works.  If you’re in a conversation where you’re rhapsodizing about Scriabin’s Mystic Chord one minute, and then saying you’ve never heard Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata the next, you’ll find yourself in an awkward situation; at least, people will give you funny looks. 

The list serves another purpose, as well, for those new to classical music, as it represents a reasonably worthwhile “checklist” of sorts if one is just setting out to build a collection of classical recordings.

So, for worthwhile and trivial reasons alike, and without further ado, I present my list for your perusal.  Feel free to agree, or disagree, and don’t pay too much attention to the order in which the works are listed: 
 

1. Beethoven - Symphony No. 9 “Choral”
2. Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
3. Pachelbel - Canon
4. Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 14 “Moonlight”
5. Beethoven - Für Elise
6. Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1
7. Vivaldi - Four Seasons
8. Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade
9. Ravel – Bolero
10. Bach – Brandenburg Concertos
11. Mozart – Serenade 13 “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”
12. Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2
13. Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”
14. Dvorak – Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”
15. Mussorgsky – “Night on Bald Mountain” aka “Night on a Bare Mountain”
16. Elgar – Enigma Variations
17. Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite
18. Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique
19. Debussy – Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune
20. Bach – Cantata 208 “Sheep May Safely Graze”
21. Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 21 “Elvira Madigan”
22. Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor”
23. Handel – Messiah
24. Albinoni - Adagio
25. Barber – Adagio for Strings
26. Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”
27. Mozart – Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”
28. Chopin – Nocturnes
29. Beethoven – Symphony No. 7
30. Orff – Carmina Burana
31. Respighi – Fountains of Rome
32. Haydn – Symphony No. 94 “Surprise”
33. Bach – Mass in B Minor
34. Mahler – Lied von der Erde
35. Rodrigo – Concierto de Aranjuez
36. Debussy – Clair de Lune
37. Grieg – Peer Gynt
38. Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 3 “Scottish”
39. Allegri – Miserere
40. Saint-Saens – Symphony No. 3 “Organ”
41. Mahler – Symphony No. 5
42. Elgar – Cello Concerto
43. Holst – Planets Suite
44. Sibelius – Finlandia
45. Smetana – Ma Vlast
46. Schubert – Piano Quintet “Trout”
47. Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition
48. Bach – Cantata No. 147 “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”
49. Paganini – Violin Concerto No. 1
50. Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet
51. Beethoven – Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”
52. Strauss – Blue Danube
53. Tchaikovsky – Swan Lake
54. Handel – Water Music
55. Copland – Appalachian Spring
56. Saint-Saens – Carnival of the Animals
57. Borodin – In the Steppes of Central Asia
58. Bruch – Violin Concerto No. 1
59. Mozart – Clarinet Concerto
60. Vaughan Williams – Lark Ascending
61. Mozart – Requiem Mass 19
62. Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto
63. Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 62
64. Massenet – Thais
65. Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis
66. Brahms – Violin Concerto
67. Chopin – Piano Concerto No. 1
68. Bach – Toccata and Fugue
69. Verdi – Messa de Requiem
70. Dvorak – Cello Concerto
71. Bach – Double Violin Concerto
72. Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet
73. Shostakovich – The Gadfly
74. Mozart – Flute and Harp Concerto
75. Bruch – Scottish Fantasy
76. Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
77. Stravinsky – Rite of Spring
78. Mahler – Symphony No. 1 “The Titan”
79. Tchaikovsky – Capriccio Italien
80. Liszt – Hungarian Rhapsodies
81. Mendelssohn – Midsummer Night’s Dream
82. Strauss – Also Spake Zarathustra
83. Vivaldi – Gloria
84. Mozart – Symphony No. 40
85. Bach – Cello Suites
86. Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 23
87. Schubert – Symphony No. 9 “The Great”
88. Mendelssohn – Symphony No. 4 “Italian”
89. Bach – Cantata No. 140 “Wachet Auf”
90. Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 3
91. Schubert – Symphony No 8 “Unfinished”
92. Haydn – Trumpet Concerto
93. Brahms – Symphony No. 1
94. Brahms – Symphony No. 2
95. Haydn – Symphony No. 94 “Surprise”
96. Handel – Music for the Royal Fireworks
97. Vivaldi – Chamber Concerto
98. Wagner - The Ring of the Nibelungs
99. Bruckner - Symphony No. 9
100. Aida - Giuseppe Verdi

 
Having completed the list (although it may be revised from time to time), I realize there may have been simpler ways to go about this; for example, I might have just simply written, “all of Beethoven’s symphonies,” instead of listing them individually.  Of course, as it is, we're left with one hundred works, which is good, in that it's a nice round number, so long as readers don't absolutely insist on viewing these entries as the 100 greatest classical works of all time, or something of that sort; but that point has already been made.

I don’t believe the list would have been better off alphabetized, as one gets too quickly to Bach and Beethoven that way, and takes far too long to reach Tchaikovsky and Vivaldi. 

A chronological list might have been interesting, but more to the experienced classical music listener than to someone in the early stages of appreciation.  An unnumbered list might not have been a bad idea, because the order really is unimportant, but numbering was helpful in putting the list together.

Finally, I'm not sure about the inclusion of a couple of opera works; at some point, I may take these out, and make a separate list of opera works you should know. 

That the list contains immortal works side-by-side with works that one could probably live without is inarguable; Dukas and Massenet sit uneasily alongside the likes of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart.  But if the entries on this list get you thinking – or, better yet, listening – it will have served its purpose.