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Objective
editTo produce an objective list of popular western classical music.
Include guidance as to what should be included, based on published popular music catalogs, ranking (e.g. from classical radio stations) and "Best Music" compilations.
Classical music is largely European (some US), so we should use European lists and rankings. These could be from old CD and cassette catalogs, manufacturers listings, web based reviews and classical music magazines.
What constitutes popular?
editPopular is likely to be well known, recognizable and famous. However, this is subjective, so we need an alternate way of defining popular that is more objective and will meet Wikipedia's requirements of impartiality. This could be:
- Music that is famous (e.g. used in TV adverts)
- Music that is highly ranked on popularity lists
- Music that has had many recorded (and cataloged) performances
- Music known throughout Europe (i.e. not only one country)
What Constitutes classical music?
editWhilst many people may have different ideas of what constitutes popular classical music, most will have a fairly intuitive idea of what it is. Here we want to take a "general view", and not simply the classical era:
- Pre-Classical (Baroque) period (1600-1740)
- Classical era is primarily music from the classical period (1730-1820)
- Post-Classical (Romantic) period (1815-1910)
- Great classics, regardless of era (e.g. Handel's Messiah)
- Do not include modern (twentieth century) modern, contemporary and pop music
- Do not include African, Asian and Afro-American (i.e. Jazz, Soul, R&B)
- Do not include choral works, opera, vocal (that can be another topic)
Layout of list
editThe list will be in the form of table with of a minimum of 100 and probably several hundred rows.
- Table columns can be sorted
- There should be columns for:
- Title
- Composer
- Class/Type (e.g. Symphony, Suite, Concerto)
- Specific rantings (with reference)
- Overall Ranking (calculated)
- Ideally it should be possible to filer (e.g. show only Symphonies), but this is currently not possible
- The same piece should not appear twice (e.g. as a movement and as a complete work)
- There should be links to composer pages (always)
- There should be links to the work's page on Wikipedia (if it exists)
- Provide a link to listen to the music (if reasonably easy)
Top 50/100/300 Table
edit| Composer | Piece | Type | R1 | Top10 | R3 | R4 | R5 | Rank | TV/Film Theme Tune |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wagner | Ride of the Valkyries | Overture | Movie | 20 | 20 | Apocalypse Now | |||
| Gershwin | Rhapsody in Blue | Rhapsody | 19 | 19 | YouTube #19 | ||||
| Grieg | In the hall of the Mountain King | Suite | 18 | YouTube #18 | |||||
| Beethoven | Symphony No 9 (Ode to Joy) | Symphony | Sym | 17 | YouTube #17 | ||||
| Liszt | Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 | Rhapsody | 16 | YouTube #16 | |||||
| Ponchielli | Dance of the hours | Suite | 15 | YouTube #15 | |||||
| Elgar | Pomp and Circumstance No 1 | March | 14 | YouTube #14 | |||||
| Ravel | Bolero | Suite | 13 | YouTube #13 | |||||
| Bizet | Carmen, Toreador's Song | March | 12 | YouTube #12 | |||||
| Offenbach | Infernal Gallop | Suite | 11 | YouTube #11 | |||||
| Orff | Carmina Burana, O Fortuna | Opera | 10 | YouTube #10 | |||||
| Strauss R | Also Sprach Zarathustra | Sym. Poem | Movie | 9 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | ||||
| Handel | Hallelujah Chorus | Chorus | 8 | YouTube #8 | |||||
| Rossini | William Tell Overture | Overture | 7 | 7 | The Lone Ranger TV theme | ||||
| Strauss J | The Blue Danube | Waltz | 6 | Star Wars | |||||
| Pachelbel | Canon in D | Canon | 5 | Ordinary People | |||||
| Tchaikovsky | 1812 Overture | Overture | 4 | 4 | YouTube #4 | ||||
| Bach JS | Toccata & Fugue | Organ | 3 | 3 | YouTube #3 | ||||
| Mozart | Eine Kleine Nachmusik, Allegro | Suite | 2 | 2 | YouTube #2 | ||||
| Mozart | Symphony No 40 | Symphony | Sym | ||||||
| Dvorak | Symphony No 9 (New World) | Symphony | Sym | Hovis Advert (TV) | |||||
| Tchaikovsky | Symphony No 6 (Pastoral) | Symphony | Sym | ||||||
| Bruckner | Symphony No 5 | Symhonon | Sym | ||||||
| Mahler | Symphony No 5, Adagietto | Symphony | Sym | Death in Venice | |||||
| Sibelius | Symphony No 5 | Symphony | Sym | ||||||
| Copland | Symphony No 3 | Symphony | Sym | ||||||
| Prokofiev | Symphony No 5 | Symphony | Sym | ||||||
| Shostakovich | Symphony No 10 | Symphony | Sym | ||||||
| Mozart | Piano Concerto No 27 | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Beethoven | Piano Concerto No 5 | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Brahms | Piano Concerto No 1 | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Shumann | Piano Concerto | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Grieg | Piano Concerto | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Tchaikovsky | Piano Concerto No 1 | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Prokofiev | Piano Concerto No 3 | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Ravel | Piano Concerto | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Bartok | Piano Concerto No 2 | Concerto | PC | ||||||
| Rachmaninov | Piano Concerto No 2 | Concerto | PC | Brief Encounter | |||||
| Barber | Adagio for Strings | ? | Platoon, Elephant Man | ||||||
| Mascagani | Cavalleria rusticana, Intermezzo | ? | The Godfather | ||||||
| Verdi | La Forza del destino | Overture | Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources | ||||||
| Vivaldi | The four Seasons | Suite | Kramer v Kramer | ||||||
| Rimsky-Korsakov | Flight of the Bumble Bee | Suite | Shine |
- R1 = ClassicFM Top 350 Hall of Fame
- R2 = Gramophone 10 Ten lists (Symphonies, Piano Concerts)
- R3 = London Philharmonic Orchestra Top 50 Album (2009)
- R4 = Kickass Classical Top 100
- R5 = YouTube Top 20 Compilation (2013)
- Rank = Average ranking of R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5