Advice from Classical music buffs please

Greetings,

there is a gaping hole in the 'classical' section of my mp3 player and I am toying with which compilation/ 'greatest hits' cd to get. A couple have stuck out during my perusal period, particularly this mammoth cd-set (67 tunes for £9!), but it is missing a few which I really like...

Any suggestions from those in the know?

1. Peer Gynt
Composed by Edvard Grieg

2. Canon and Gigue in D
Composed by Johann Pachelbel

3. Le carnaval des animaux
Composed by Camille Saint-Saëns

4. Pavane
Composed by Gabriel Fauré

5. Concierto de Aranjuez
Composed by Joaquín Rodrigo

6. (4) Orchestral Suites
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

7. Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor
Composed by Gustav Mahler

8. Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E minor
Composed by Sir Edward Elgar

9. Adagio in G minor
Composed by Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni

10. Symphony No. 9, "From the New World" in E minor
Composed by Antonín Dvorák

11. Les contes d'Hoffmann
Composed by Jacques Offenbach

12. Carmen
Composed by Georges Bizet

13. Carmina Burana
Composed by Carl Orff

14. 12 Concertos for Violin and Strings
Composed by Antonio Vivaldi

15. Pictures at an Exhibition
Composed by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

16. 1812
Composed by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky

17. Romeo and Juliet
Composed by Sergey Prokofiev

18. Messa da Requiem
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi

19. Die Walküre
Composed by Richard Wagner

20. Also sprach Zarathustra, 'Thus spake Zarathustra'
Composed by Richard Strauss

21. Rhapsody in Blue
Composed by George Gershwin

22. Boléro
Composed by Maurice Ravel

23. Invitation to the Dance, 'Aufforderung zum Tanze'
Composed by Carl Maria von Weber

24. (21) Hungarian Dances
Composed by Johannes Brahms

25. The Nutcracker - Suite
Composed by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky

26. Gaîté Parisienne
Composed by Jacques Offenbach

27. Water Music
Composed by George Frideric Handel

28. (4) Concertos for Horn and Orchestra
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

29. An der schönen, blauen Donau, 'Blue Danube'
Composed by Johann II Strauss

30. The bartered bride
Composed by Bedrich Smetana

31. Prince Igor
Composed by Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin

32. Radetzky March
Composed by Johann I Strauss

33. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 21, "Elvira M in C
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

34. Nocturnes
Composed by Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin

35. Kinderszenen
Composed by Robert Schumann

36. (26) Bagatelles
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven

37. Suite bergamasque
Composed by Claude Debussy

38. Sonata for Piano No. 14, 'Moonlight' in C sharp minor
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven

39. (24) Preludes
Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov

40. (Der) Fliegende Holländer (Wagner)_Ballad
Composed by Franz Liszt

41. (26) Preludes
Composed by Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin

42. (24) Préludes
Composed by Claude Debussy

43. Six Moments musicaux
Composed by Franz Schubert

44. Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 23 in A
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

45. Messiah
Composed by George Frideric Handel

46. Fantasia on 'Greensleeves'
Composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams

47. Má vlast
Composed by Bedrich Smetana

48. Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

49. Finlandia
Composed by Jean Sibelius

50. (The) Planets
Composed by Gustav Holst

51. West Side Story
Composed by Leonard Bernstein

52. (The) Hebrides, 'Fingal's Cave'
Composed by Felix Mendelssohn

53. Pomp and Circumstance
Composed by Sir Edward Elgar

54. Turandot
Composed by Giacomo Puccini

55. (L')Elisir d'amore, 'Elixir of Love'
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti

56. Nabucco
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi

57. (Il) trovatore
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi

58. Carmen
Composed by Georges Bizet

59. Carmen
Composed by Georges Bizet

60. La bohème
Composed by Giacomo Puccini

61. Tristan und Isolde
Composed by Richard Wagner

62. Madama Butterfly
Composed by Giacomo Puccini

63. (Die) Zauberflöte, '(The) Magic Flute'
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

64. Cavalleria rusticana
Composed by Pietro Mascagni

65. Aida
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi

66. Aida
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi

67. Guillaume Tell
Composed by Gioachino Rossini

[Statto]

2. canon and gigue in d
composed by johann pachelbel

6. (4) orchestral suites
composed by johann sebastian bach

24. (21) hungarian dances
composed by johannes brahms

29. an der schönen, blauen donau, 'blue danube'
composed by johann ii strauss

34. nocturnes
composed by fryderyk franciszek chopin

37. suite bergamasque
composed by claude debussy

41. (26) preludes
composed by fryderyk franciszek chopin

42. (24) préludes
composed by claude debussy

not really bothered about the rest myself

it also depends who's playing them of course

[Macc]

anything by gorecki/john taverner/arvo part is a winner in my book

Ideally someone (i.e. Statto ) should recommend a top 10 work/performance list so you can just narrow it down.

Two I'd recommend you get from my areas of interest would be:

Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians (the one released on ECM is the best)

Steve Reich - Variations (primarily for the peformance of Six Pianos) which is on Deutsche Grammophon label


Reich is 1960s onwards classical, so its different stuff...

i bump Fauré and Mahler in my whip on the regular...

check:
Fauré's Elegie (for Cello n Pianizzle)
Sonata for Cello and Pianizzle no 1 in D minor, Op. 109

for some bomb trax.

[Statto]

also check here...

http://spectraz.3.forumer.com/index.php?&showforum=15

steve reich

Many thanks peeps - I'll take the plunge soon enough. I still have around 50% capacity available on the old mp3 player which must be filled with choice tunes.

PS - is it just me or is the Subvert clock still set to BST instead of GMT?? I never fail to get confused around this time of year....

for those of you interested, i ended up buying one of those 'massive classical collections for you plebs who know nothing' cd sets - rinsed the tunes i wanted last night and will be taking it back to hmv with that classic excuse, "i bought this for someone else and it's the wrong one", before exchanging it for another!

rissssspek to the 'rinse and return' cru, say beaux!

[Macc]

Ponce!