101 Classical Music CDs

Classical music isn't meant to be listened to once and then forgotten. It is complex and many-layered music that is meant to be learned. But what does it even mean to "learn" a work of classical music? If you were in a music appreciation class, you might be subjected to a "needle drop" test, where the teacher plays a brief section of a symphony for the class. If you can name the symphony and the composer (and likely some other trivia like the year it was written or the year the composer was born or died), congratulations! You've "learned" that piece. A professional musician would say he "learned" a classical music work once he can play--and play well, hopefully--all of the relevant parts in that symphony assigned to his instrument. But for those of us who are not in class or working as pro musicians, those of us with busy lives and a limited amount of time to dedicate to classical music, I'll submit a more entry-level definition of w...

I'm often asked by people who are new to classical music for a list of CDs or key symphonies that I think are the best choices to start off a new classical music collection. What are ideal symphonies or works that can help you get started getting to know classical music? Today I'm going to attempt to answer this question, and I'll provide you with a brief list of works that can form the foundation of a great collection of important classical music. Keep in mind that whenever one reviews any type of list like this, invariably one can complain that a given work was left off the list ("where's Chopin? or Mahler?"), or even that some work was left on the list ("ugh, Beethoven's 5th again?"). This list is in no way meant to be exhaustive. It is merely a starting point for the novice listener. If you purchase recordings of these works and listen to each and every one of them, you'll have a great head start on your journey towards getting to know c...

Let me share a few words of encouragement for those of you who might be a bit intimidated by the potential time commitment involved in learning the great classical musical works. Most of us are accustomed to hearing our music in 3-4 minute songs, so it can seem like an enormous investment in time to get to know entire symphonies that can range from 30 minutes to more than an hour. Beethoven's famous Fifth Symphony clocks in at a relatively brief 25 minutes, but even that can represent a significant time commitment if you want to listen closely to various sections of the symphony, or repeat a favorite movement a couple of times. Of course, symphonies by composers like Bruckner or Shostakovich can run an hour or more long. And we'll see even more extreme examples of length when we tackle Mahler in future posts. If you have a job, a family and a typically busy life, you won't often be able to drop everything and invest a non-trivial amount of time in listening closely to a sym...