[Moiraine]

Many good ideas have already been said here. Maybe a little chronology would help you choose as well :

The oldest classical composers already mentionned are : Bach, Haëndel, Haydn, Vivaldi, Purcell, ... (Before that, we have almost no written music). That would be roughly 17th century - beginning of the 18th century. That's what's called truly "classical" music.

Mozart is at a turn (2nd part of the 18th century) because he was a precursor, his music prefigures already the next century. He was a genius - though, as he was constantly running for money, not all of his work is top standard - I wouldn't advise listening to many of his symphonies in a row. [img]smile.gif[/img] But his Requiem is a gem.

The 19th century is the century of "romantic music". Started with Beethoven - his 9 symphonies are all gems. After, you have, in no particular order, Chopin and Liszt (piano music), Schubert, Brahms, Rachmaninov, Tchaïkowski, Mendelssohn, Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaïkovski, Grieg, Mussorgsky, Wagner, ...

First half of the 20th century has a lot of what I would call "expressionist music" (it's no the real word, but that kind of music always reminds me of the expressionist paintings of Monet, Manet, ...). Here you have : Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, ...

You also have the Eastern-european music, inspired from folklore, with composers like Bartok.

Gershwin is also a must, he is a world all by himself. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have a fondness for Schubert, Chopin, Bartok and Debussy. But that's just me ... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 05-10-2002, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: Moiraine ]