Bill Pirkle wrote: >If you had to select 10 compositions to introduce someone to classical >music which ones would you choose? Remember, you don't want to turn >them off with works that are hard to understand. They should include >symphonies, concertos, and trios, quartets and piano works. Seeking breadth, while vitiating the less-accessible Bach's B-minor Mass Beethoven's Symphony 5 Beethoven's Piano Concerto 5 Beethoven's Moonlight Piano Sonata Catakini's "La Wally" Dvorak's Symphony 9 (New World) Finzi's Love's Labor Lost / Clarinet Concerto Grieg's Holberg Suite Handel's Water Music Suite Haydn's String Quartet Op. 76, No. 3 Holst's The Planets Mahler's Symphony 9 (Barbirolli) Mozart's Jupiter Symphony Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances Schubert's Trios Sibelius' Symphony 5 Sibelius' Violin Concerto Tchaicovsky's Piano Concerto 1 Vivaldi's Four Seasons So much for "ten." To limit one to ten and simultaneously desire the whole spectrum of styles and periods is just not reasonable (although someone, I hope, will be better able than I to try). My own view is that the symphonic form is the most colorful and engaging to the novice. I've tried to cover different musical periods as well as different musical forms, including an opera. I was very tempted to include Pachebel's Canon in D, but Baroque is already well represented. A solo violin piece would be appropriate, but I can't stand them, so none is included. Only two choral works are included and none from the present age. But, as the recent discussion of Janacek and Dvorak suggest, choral music is neglected at our peril. The Trio form rarely excites me, and Haydn's Trios could easily supplant Schuberts. Only one tone poem is included (Holst), but any by Sibelius, Dvorak, and to a lesser degree, Strauss, could be added. Delius, Rodrigo, Bartok, and Stravinsky would be good second-level choices. Wagner's overtures would also be a good second-level choice.Two conspicuous absentees are Chopin and Brahms. To select one piece from Chopin's ourve is just not possible; and Brahms, while better known, isn't always better liked. D. Stephen Heersink <[log in to unmask]>