Essential Listening - 20th Century      Back to Essential Listening page

BARBER, Samuel
 Adagio for Strings Op. 11/2
 Concerto for Piano Op. 38
 Concerto for Violin Op. 14  
 Sonata for Piano Op. 26 

BARTÓK, Béla
 Concerto for Orchestra  
 Dance Suite for Orchestra  
 Quartets ( 3, 4, 5) 

BERG, Alban
 Concerto for Violin
 Lyric Suite for String Quartet 

BERNSTEIN, Leonard
 Chichester Psalms  
 West Side Story (ballet music)   

BRITTEN, Benjamin
 Peter Grimes Op. 33 (opera)
 Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Op. 31 
 Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra Op. 34

COPLAND, Aaron
 Appalachian Spring (suite or complete ballet)
 Concerto for Piano
 Fanfare for the Common Man
 Rodeo (Dance episodes or complete ballet)
 El Salón México
 Symphony #3

GERSHWIN, George
 American in Paris
 Porgy and Bess (opera - selections)
 Rhapsody in Blue  

HOLST, Gustav
 The Planets (suite)

IVES, Charles
 Piano Sonatas (#2 "Concord")
 Three Places In New England 

MAHLER, Gustav
 Kindertotenlieder
 Das Lied von der Erde
 Symphonies

MARTINU, Bohuslav
 Concertos (String Quartet, Cello, Violin, Piano, etc.)
 Double Concerto for 2 String Orchestras, Piano and Timpani 

MENOTTI, Gian Carlo
 Amahl and the Night Visitors

ORFF, Carl
 Carmina Burana (scenic cantata)

POULENC, Francis
 Chamber Music
 Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani
 Piano Music 

RESPIGHI, Ottorino
 Ancient Airs and Dances 
 Feste Romane  
 Pines of Rome

SCHOENBERG, Arnold 
 Piano Music
 Pierrot Lunaire
 String Quartets 

SHOSTAKOVICH, Dmitri
 Concertos for Violin, Cello or Piano
 Preludes and Fugues for Piano Op. 87
 String Quartets

SIBELIUS, Jean
 Concerto for Violin Op. 47
 Finlandia Op. 26 

STRAUSS, Richard
 Alpine Symphony Op. 64
 Also Sprach Zarathustra Op. 30 (Symphonic Poem)
 Concertos (Horn, Oboe)
 Don Juan Op. 20(Symphonic Poem)
 Ein Heldenleben Op. 40 
 Metamorphosen (Symphonic Poem)
 Rosenkavalier (opera)  
 Till Eulenspiegel Op. 28 (Symphonic Poem)

STRAVINSKY, Igor
 Apollo (ballet)
 Concerto "Dumbarton Oaks"
 Firebird (ballet suite) 
 Symphony in C
 Symphony of Psalms

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, Ralph
 Fantasia on a Theme by Tallis
 Fantasia on Greensleeves
 The Lark Ascending for Violin and Orchestra 

WALTON, William
 Concertos (for Violin, Viola, Cello)
 Facade
 Belshazzar's Feast
 Symphony No. 1