Classical Music Listening Suggestions

Are you interested in listening to more classical music, but not sure where to start? Would you like to engage your child with classical music?

The following playlists are a great introduction to classical music - I've included a wide variety of pieces: relaxing, exciting, seasonal, and more! To make listening easy, each heading is a link to connect you to a Spotify playlist!

Energetic

• Allegro from Piano Concerto No. 2 – Shostakovich

• Festive Overture – Shostakovich

• Overture to Candide – Bernstein

• Overture to the Bartered Bride – Smetena

• William Tell Overture – Rossini

• Sabre Dance – Khachaturian

• Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov

• 1812 Overture – Tchaikovsky

• Hoedown from Rodeo – Copland

• Polovtsian Dances Prince Igor – Borodin

• Scaramouche – Milhaud

• No. 1 & No. 8 from Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 – Dvorak

• Mvt. III from Violin Concerto in E Minor – Mendelssohn

Relaxing

• Three Gymnopedies for Piano – Satie

• Adagio for Strings – Barber

• Largo from Symphony No. 9 – Dvorak

• Piano Concerto No. 2 – Shostakovich

• Sleep – Whitacre

• Peer Gynt Suite, I. Morning Mood – Grieg

• Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flat major, Op. 9 – Chopin

• Vocalise, Op. 34 – Rachmaninoff

• Spiegel Im Spiegel – Part

• Meditation de Thais – Massenet

Famous

• Symphony No. 5 – Beethoven

• Gran Partita – Mozart

• Carmen Suite – Bizet

• Cello Suite in G Major – Bach

• Appalachian Spring - Copland

• Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra – Britten

Holiday & Seasonal Music

• Valentine's Day

• Clair de lune – Debussy

• The Blue Danube – Strauss

• 3 Romances, Op. 28, No. 2 – Schumann

• Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy Overture – Tchaikovsky

• Easter

• Easter Oratorio – Bach

• Russian Easter Festival, Overture, Op. 36 – Rimsky-Korsakov

• Fourth of July

• Fanfare for the Common Man – Copland

• Stars & Stripes Forever – Sousa

• Variations on America – Ives

• Halloween

• Danse Macabre – Saint-Saens

• Night on Bald Mountain – Mussorgsky

• In The Hall of the Mountain King – Grieg

• Christmas

• Nutcracker Suite – Tchaikovsky

• Messiah – Handel

Contemporary

• Slalom – Pann

• Short Ride in a Fast Machine – Adams

• Histoire du Tango – Piazzola

• Black Dog – McAllister

• Trip – Lowenstern

• Five Frogs – Brandon

• Danzon No. 2 – Márquez

• A Child's Garden of Dreams – Maslanka

• Blue Shades – Ticheli

• Strange Humors – Mackey

• Strum – Montgomery

Programmatic (Tells a Story)

• Peter and the Wolf – Prokofiev

• The Sorcerer's Apprentice – Dukas

• Carnival of the Animals – Saint-Saens

• Syrinx for Solo Flute – Debussy

• Enigma Variations – Elgar

• Wings for Solo Clarinet – Tower

• The Planets – Holst