Many people have asked us over the years, “Which pieces of classical music do YOU think are the best?” And of course, that’s a difficult question to answer! But, we’ve managed to narrow our list down from thousands and thousands of pieces to…oh, a hundred or so.
This is simply a list of our listeners’ favorites over the years.
| Bach | The Brandenburg Concerti |
| Bach | Orchestral Suite #3 (Air on the G string) |
| Bach | Violin Concerto #2 |
| Barber | Adagio for Strings |
| Beethoven | “Moonlight Sonata”, Piano Sonata #14 |
| Beethoven | Piano Concerto #5, “Emperor” |
| Beethoven | Symphony #3, “Eroica” |
| Beethoven | Symphony #5 |
| Beethoven | Symphony #6, “Pastoral” |
| Beethoven | Symphony #7 |
| Beethoven | Symphony #9, “Choral” |
| Beethoven | Violin Concerto in D |
| Berlioz | Symphonie Fantastique |
| Bernstein | Candide Overture |
| Bizet | Carmen |
| Boccherini | Minuet in G |
| Borodin | Nocturne for Strings |
| Brahms | Piano Concerto #1 |
| Brahms | Symphony #1 |
| Brahms | Symphony #3 |
| Brahms | Variations on a Theme by Haydn |
| Brahms | Violin Concerto |
| Bruch | Scottish Fantasy |
| Chopin | Piano Concerto #1 |
| Copland | Appalachian Spring |
| Copland | Fanfare for the Common Man |
| Debussy | Clair de lune |
| Debussy | Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun |
| Dukas | The Sorcerer’s Apprentice |
| Dvorak | Cello Concerto |
| Dvorak | Slavonic Dances |
| Dvorak | String Quartet #12, “American” |
| Dvorak | Symphony #9, “New World” |
| Elgar | Enigma Variations |
| Faure | Pavane |
| Gershwin | An American in Paris |
| Gershwin | Rhapsody in Blue |
| Grieg | Peer Gynt Suites |
| Grieg | Piano Concerto |
| Handel | The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba |
| Handel | Messiah |
| Handel | Music for the Royal Fireworks |
| Handel | Water Music |
| Haydn | Symphony #94, “Surprise” |
| Haydn | Symphony #104, “London” |
| Haydn | Trumpet Concerto |
| Holst | The Planets |
| Liszt | Piano Concerto #1 |
| Mahler | Symphony #1, “Titan” |
| Massenet | Meditation from Thais |
| Mendelssohn | A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture |
| Mendelssohn | Symphony #3, “Scottish” |
| Mendelssohn | Symphony #4, “Italian” |
| Mendelssohn | Violin Concerto |
| Mozart | Clarinet Concerto |
| Mozart | Eine Kleine Nachtmusik |
| Mozart | Overture to the Marriage of Figaro |
| Mozart | Piano Concerto #21, “Elvira Madigan” |
| Mozart | Requiem |
| Mozart | Symphony #38, “Prague” |
| Mozart | Symphony #40 |
| Mozart | Symphony #41, “Jupiter” |
| Mussorgsky | Pictures at an Exhibition |
| Orff | Carmina Burana |
| Pachelbel | Canon in D |
| Ponchielli | Dance of the Hours |
| Prokofiev | Peter and the Wolf |
| Rachmaninov | Piano Concerto #2 |
| Rachmaninov | Piano Concerto #3 |
| Rachmaninov | Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini |
| Ravel | Bolero |
| Rimsky-Korsakov | Capriccio Espagnol |
| Rimsky-Korsakov | Scheherezade |
| Rossini | Barber of Seville Overture |
| Rossini | William Tell Overture |
| Saint-Saens | Carnival of the Animals |
| Saint-Saens | Symphony #3, “Organ” |
| Schubert | Symphony #9, “Great” |
| Schubert | Symphony #8, “Unfinished” |
| Schubert | Trout Quintet |
| Schumann | Symphony #1, “Spring” |
| Schumann | Symphony #3, “Rhenish” |
| Sibelius | Finlandia |
| Smetana | The Moldau |
| Strauss, J. Jr. | The Blue Danube Waltz |
| Strauss, R. | Also Sprach Zarathustra |
| Tchaikovsky | 1812 Overture |
| Tchaikovsky | The Nutcracker |
| Tchaikovsky | Piano Concerto #1 |
| Tchaikovsky | Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture |
| Tchaikovsky | Sleeping Beauty |
| Tchaikovsky | Swan Lake |
| Tchaikovsky | Symphony #5 |
| Tchaikovsky | Symphony #6, “Pathetique” |
| Tchaikovsky | Violin Concerto |
| Vaughan Williams | Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis |
| Vaughan Williams | The Lark Ascending |
| Vivaldi | Mandolin Concerto in C |
| Vivaldi | The Four Seasons |
| Wagner | Ride of the Valkyries |
