Introduction

A long story about how this project came about:

When I was in the 5th grade, Mrs. Elder had a record player in the front of the room. This was around 1989, and people were just getting tired of cassette tapes (especially when the tape would get caught in the player) but not yet ready for CDs. Hey, records still work fine, they are just too big.

In the morning as we were getting settled for a long day of 5th grade work, Mrs. Elder would put on a record, and the music was usually something from the Classical repertoire. The only one I really remember was Smetana's "The Moldau" and it would literally take you to some other place (but most of the time I would find my way back to the second floor of Greenbriar East Elementary school!). She also mentioned that there was a local radio station, WGMS 103.5 FM, that played this music, and we would sometimes listen to that, too.

So I would go home and tune in the radio. I discovered some wonderful things like the Bach Brandenburg Concertos, which prominently featured the French horn. Maybe somehow that is how I was attracted to begin playing it in the 7th grade.

As I got into playing in the band, I continued to listen. I got a CD player for Christmas or my birthday (don't remember which), and began collecting CDs of Classical music, beginning with a set that was sold week-by-week in the grocery store. That's where I discovered Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", among other things.

When I was in high school, I was influenced by the quality band programs in the area who specialized in playing orchestral transcriptions (orchestra pieces rewritten for band; reassigning string parts to the saxophones, clarinets, and other wind players). In my freshman year alone, we explored the music of Paul Dukas (Sorcerer's Apprentice), Bernstein (Candide) Rimsky-Korsakov (Scheherazade), and Borodin (Polovetsian Dances). I would go to Kemp Mill Music in Greenbriar or Tower Records and search for professional recordings of these pieces. Each came with other pieces that I would later enjoy as well.

Once I got to James Madison University as a music major, I was surprised by how (simultaneously) I knew so much more music than a lot of people (who doesn't know Dvorak's 8th Symphony?!?) yet I knew so little (Mahler 3? What's that? John Rutter? Never heard of him!). There were serious holes in my own foundation, but some people knew even less, and they were destined to be the future music teachers of our children!

So this thought was in my head for a while, and recently I have been associating with some very talented high school musicians who have some deep passions for some music (Mahler, Shostakovich), but know little about some of the great piano or choral works in the repertoire.

I have consulted with some of these people, and have come up with a list of 20 pieces of Classical music that I think everyone should hear. I could have made a much bigger list, but 20 seems like a good number to start with (especially if you are at "0"). Surely there is something on the list that you may not have heard or something that you need to rediscover. Most of these pieces were chosen because:

1. They are not very long
2. They change 'moods' a lot, so they should keep your interest
3. They are representative of the composer's larger body of works
4. They are performed and recorded often
5. They are pieces that I am very familiar with

Those of you who know more about this may argue some of my choices, but I plan to explain why they were chosen as time goes on. I hope that you find this helpful and informative. Please let me know if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions.