Robert Peters wrote:

>Not being an expert in classical music and not having a paramount view,
>I nevertheless say that I have already built up a kind of list of my
>favourite works from the material I know and already bought: it would
>mean pain to me missing Schuberts "Winterreise", Brittens "War Requiem",
>Schumanns "Dichterliebe", Mendelssohns "Midsummer Nights Dream", Mozarts
>Piano Concert Nr.  27 (which helped me a lot during a operation under local
>anesthetics), Bizets "Carmen", Mozarts "Don Giovanni", Ravels "Pavane pour
>une infante defunte", Pergolesis "Stabat Mater", Mussorgskys "Pictures of
>an exhibition", Beethovens 9th Symphony.

Gappy though your selections may be, they still reflect a sophisticted
taste.  And just by reading the list for a week, you'll be able to pull at
least 25 core classics.  But for what it's worth, here are some of my own
personal likes, leaning heavily toward chamber music: (I'm afraid 25 is
too low a number)

BACH: keyboard partitas & sonatas; cello suites; brandenburg concertos; st.
matthew's passion
MOZART: string quintets, clarinet quintet, clarinet concerto, piano
concertos too numerous to mention, operas such as Marriage of Figaro, Cosi
fan Tutti, Abduction from the Seraglio, Magic Flute
BEETHOVEN: middle quartets, late quartets, late piano sonatas, Emperor & 4th
piano concertos
CHOPIN: nocturnes
MENDELSSOHN: octet, trio Op 49
BRAHMS: clarinet quintet, sextets, clarinet trio, piano trios, violin &
piano sonatas, violin concerto
BRUCH: 1st violin concerto (not my favorite composer by any means, but this
is probably the most brilliant example of the romantic concerto)
PUCCINI: La Boheme, Tosca
VERDI: Aida, La Traviata
WAGNER: Tristan & Isolde, the four Ring operas, Meistersinger
R. STRAUSS: Rosenkavalier
TCHAIKOVSKI: Piano concerto #1, violin concerto, 5th & 6th Symphonies
PROKOFIEF: 5th Symphony, Romeo & Juliet, Sonata for flute & piano Op 84a
SHOSTAKOVICH: 5th Symphony, and try some of his string quartets

I actually wrote an extensive list of this kind, but with annotations,
for a twenty-something friend of a friend.  I'll pass along the same advice
to you as I did to him: consider each of these a link to more of the
same--whether through the composer or the form or the performer.  Enjoy!

Dave Wolf
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