My Favorite Music - Part 1: Classical

Dear Victoria,

I wanted you to know about my favorite music. It has taken me a lifetime to figure out what my favorite music is, so I don't expect you to take all this in in a week, a month or a year. I will take you many years to fully develop your musical tastes. But at least this list may help you grow and find your own way.

This is Part 1 - Classical. I plan to follow this up with other favorite music lists including Rock/Pop/R&B, Blues, Folk/World Music, and Jazz.

So on with the show! Take as long as you like; listen when you can. If something doesn't grab you now, check back as time goes by and have another listen.....

One of the most enjoyable things a person can do in this life is listen to great music! Hopefully you will be able to hear a lot of great music in person performed by great musicians.

Note: I tried to pick YouTube clips that were clear and performed by the artists I like best. Sometimes only a part of the work is included; at other times the entire work is performed.

Moussorgsky - from Pictures at an Exhibition (The Promenade)

Vivaldi -  from The Four Seasons (Winter Part 1)

Frédéric Chopin - Prelude in E-Minor (op.28 no. 4)

George Gershwin - Rhapsody In Blue

Ravel - Pavane pour une infante défunte

Ravel - Piano Concerto in G

Aaron Copeland Appalachian Spring

Ralph Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending

Rachmaninoff - from Symphony No. 2

Scriabin - Etudes in C# Minor and D# Minor

Brahms - Piano Concerto No 1 (Complete)

Respighi - The Pines of Rome 

Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G minor 

Mozart - from Piano Concerto No. 2

Shostakovitch - from Symphony No. 5

Shostakovitch - from Piano Concerto No. 2 (Andante)

Vaughan Williams - from Symphony No. 5

Bach - The Little Fugue in G Minor

Dvorak - from the New World Symphony (First Movement)

Debussy -  Reverie

Eric Satie - from The Gymnopédies

Holst - from the Planets (Jupiter)

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (1st and 3rd movements)

Jean Sibelius - from Symphony No. 2

Elgar  - from the Enigma Variations

William Walton - Crown Imperial

Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

Prokofiev - from Piano Concerto No. 3 (1st Movement)

Stravinsky - from The Rite of Spring