A curated collection of 300 classical works and cycles: symphonies, concertos, keyboard music, opera, chamber and choral music. Explore composers, background and listening guides.
One entry per work or cycle. Whole symphonies, operas and sets count as one entry. The collection draws on the supplied candidate lists and is presented alphabetically rather than as a definitive ranking.
52 matching works | Showing 26-50 | Page 2 of 3
Composition: 1929
Shostakovich's Third Symphony links a continuous orchestral sequence to a choral conclusion celebrating May Day. Changes of pace and character replace a conventional cycle of separate movements. The final vocal section supplies the...
Composition: 1935-1936
Shostakovich's Fourth was withdrawn before its planned premiere in 1936, amid the political attack on his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. The enormous three-movement score remained unheard in public until 1961. Its long outer movements...
Composition: 1937
Shostakovich composed his Fifth Symphony after official criticism placed his career in danger. Its public success helped restore his standing, but the music's emotional implications remain debated. A large opening movement and satirical...
Composition: 1941
Shostakovich began the Leningrad Symphony during the German invasion of the Soviet Union and finished it after his evacuation. Its first movement includes an extended episode built over a repeated drum pattern. Three further movements...
Composition: 1943
Shostakovich wrote his Eighth Symphony during the war, but its five movements resist the simple progression of a victory celebration. A long opening movement is followed by two sharply contrasted fast movements and a passacaglia. The...
Composition: 1899 first version; revised 1900
Sibelius's First Symphony begins with a solo clarinet above a quiet timpani roll, creating a distinctive introduction before the main orchestral movement. Four movements combine broad melodies with strongly profiled rhythms and abrupt...
Composition: 1901-1902
Sibelius's Second Symphony grows from small fragments that gradually form broader statements. A restless slow movement and a rapid scherzo lead toward a finale whose opening feels prepared by much that came before. Audiences associated...
Composition: 1907
Sibelius reduced the orchestral weight and number of movements in his Third Symphony. The opening movement is followed by a measured, dance-like slow movement; the finale begins with fragmentary scherzo material that gradually coalesces...
Composition: 1911
Sibelius's Fourth opens in the low register and makes the unstable tritone interval central to its musical language. Its four movements turn away from a conventional sequence of triumphal climaxes. The third movement unfolds slowly,...
Composition: 1915 original; revisions in 1916 and 1919
Sibelius reworked his Fifth extensively, eventually combining earlier material into the familiar three-movement design. The finale's broad horn theme is connected with the swans he described in his diary. Rapid string motion and...
Composition: 1923
Sibelius's Sixth is often labeled D minor, but much of its distinctive harmony draws on the Dorian mode. The four-movement work uses relatively transparent textures and frequent exchanges between strings and winds. Its final pages...
Composition: 1924 (completion)
Sibelius compresses a symphony's contrasting functions into one continuous movement. Tempos and textures change gradually or turn sharply, while a broad trombone theme acts as a recurring landmark. Rather than dividing into four...
Composition: 1903-1904 original version; revised 1905
Sibelius combines an intensely demanding violin part with a strongly individual orchestral setting. The soloist enters over a quiet string texture, and an extended cadenza carries structural weight within the first movement. The slow...
Composition: 1980-1982
Silvestrov's Fifth Symphony unfolds as one large movement. It belongs to the period in which his music increasingly revisited the melodic language of earlier Romantic music through distant recollection and changing resonance. The...
Publication: Published 1758 (composition date not established)
This E-flat symphony by Johann Stamitz circulated in the Paris collection La Melodia Germanica. Its Op.11 designation belongs to the publisher's series rather than a consecutive opus list created by Stamitz. The collection helped...
Composition: 1915
Stenhammar dedicated his Second Symphony to the musicians of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and conducted its premiere there in 1915. Four movements progress through an energetic opening, an Andante, a scherzo and a finale beginning...
Premiere: 1867
The Blue Danube began as a waltz for male chorus and orchestra for the Vienna Men's Choral Society. Its familiar orchestral form brings together an introduction, a sequence of contrasting waltzes, and an extended closing section. Johann...
Composition: 1896
Strauss's tone poem begins with a sunrise gesture but continues through a much larger sequence of contrasting musical episodes. Titles drawn from Nietzsche's book suggest philosophical questions rather than a straightforward plot. The...
Premiere: 1915
Strauss's Alpine Symphony follows a mountain journey across twenty-two connected sections, from night and sunrise through ascent, summit, storm, and return to darkness. Despite the title, its design is a continuous sequence of...
Composition: 1938-1940
Stravinsky began this symphony in France and completed it after moving to the United States. Its four movements adopt familiar symphonic outlines while reshaping their rhythms, phrase lengths and instrumental balances. The work belongs...
Composition: 1942-1945
Stravinsky assembled this wartime symphony from materials with different origins, including music connected with an unrealized film project. Piano is prominent in the outer movements, while harp has a distinctive role in the quieter...
Composition: 1930; revised 1948
Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms places the chorus within an unusual orchestra that omits violins and violas while adding two pianos. Three connected movements set Latin psalm texts through austere chordal writing, counterpoint, and...
Premiere: 1910
The Firebird established Stravinsky's close connection with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Its Russian fairy-tale scenario follows Prince Ivan, the magical Firebird, and the defeat of the threatening Kastchei. The score combines brilliant...
Premiere: 1913
The Rite of Spring was conceived as a ballet about imagined ancient rites culminating in a sacrificial dance. Stravinsky developed the scenario with Nicholas Roerich, and the original production was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. Its...
Composition: 1905-1906
Suk began Asrael as a memorial to his teacher and father-in-law Antonin Dvorak. The death of Suk's wife Otylka during its composition changed its emotional and structural course. Five movements form two larger parts, moving through...
The 300-entry selection uses the 100 general favorites in the supplied classical list, then adds the earliest 200 nonduplicate symphony candidates in the supplied order. It is a curated discovery collection, not a universal popularity ranking. One work or cycle counts as one entry; movements and performances are not separately counted. Titles, musical forms, chronology and version notes are reviewed against the cited sources. Composition, premiere and publication dates are labeled separately; uncertainty is retained. Era and listening suggestions are editorial aids.
1960-2025. Each year contains 150 selections.