User:Willi Gers07/Top 100 Lists

Even though I don't always agree with them, I like Top 100 lists. Sometimes I agree with a particular item being in the list 100%. Sometimes I agree with it but think it should be higher, or perhaps lower. If you want to nominate a piece for inclusion in a list I've created, please nominate it here: User talk:Willi Gers07/Top 100 Lists, not here.

The WCPE Top 100
This is the list compiled from votes by WCPE's listeners as of December 2008. I've made changes for spelling and to improve Wikipedia linking, but the ranking numbers are unchanged. To vote on a future version of this list, go to the WCPE website.


 * 1) Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9
 * 2) Beethoven: Symphony No. 5
 * 3) Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 9
 * 4) Beethoven: Symphony No. 3
 * 5) Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
 * 6) Johann Pachelbel: Canon in D
 * 7) Beethoven: Symphony No. 6
 * 8) Johann Sebastian Bach: The Brandenburg Concerti
 * 9) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 41
 * 10) Modest Mussorgsky, arr. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
 * 11) George Frideric Handel: Messiah
 * 12) Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5
 * 13) Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2
 * 14) Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
 * 15) Handel: Water Music
 * 16) Mozart: Requiem
 * 17) Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
 * 18) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
 * 19) Bedřich Smetana: The Moldau
 * 20) Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21
 * 21) Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
 * 22) Gustav Holst: The Planets
 * 23) Franz Schubert: The Trout Quintet
 * 24) Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3
 * 25) Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring
 * 26) Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake
 * 27) Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor
 * 28) Mozart: Symphony No. 40
 * 29) Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
 * 30) Schubert: Symphony No. 8
 * 31) Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
 * 32) Beethoven: Violin Concerto
 * 33) Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks
 * 34) Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto
 * 35) Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14
 * 36) Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings
 * 37) Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 (The Shine Concerto)
 * 38) Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
 * 39) Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto
 * 40) Schubert: Symphony No. 9
 * 41) Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto
 * 42) Jules Massenet: Meditation from "Thaïs"
 * 43) Frederic Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1
 * 44) Dvořák: Cello Concerto
 * 45) Brahms: Symphony No. 1
 * 46) Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor
 * 47) George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
 * 48) Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4
 * 49) Jean Sibelius: Finlandia
 * 50) Georges Bizet: Carmen Suites
 * 51) Sergei Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
 * 52) Bach: Mass in B minor
 * 53) Joseph Haydn: Trumpet Concerto
 * 54) Maurice Ravel: Bolero
 * 55) Johann Strauss, Jr.: The Beautiful Blue Danube
 * 56) Brahms: Symphony No. 2
 * 57) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1
 * 58) Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings
 * 59) Handel: Largo from "Xerxes"
 * 60) Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream
 * 61) Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
 * 62) Georg Phillip Telemann: Tafelmusik
 * 63) Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
 * 64) Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
 * 65) Bach: Anna Magdalena Bach Book Excerpts
 * 66) Gioacchino Rossini: Overture to "William Tell"
 * 67) Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italien
 * 68) Amilcare Ponchielli: Dance of the Hours
 * 69) Mozart: Clarinet Concerto
 * 70) Dvořák: Symphony No. 8
 * 71) Brahms: Symphony No. 3
 * 72) Claude Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
 * 73) Haydn: Symphony No. 94
 * 74) Richard Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries
 * 75) Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
 * 76) Max Bruch: Scottish Fantasy
 * 77) Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
 * 78) Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations
 * 79) Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
 * 80) Beethoven: Triple Concerto
 * 81) Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
 * 82) Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites
 * 83) Brahms: A German Requiem
 * 84) Alexander Borodin: Polovtsian Dances
 * 85) Bach: Cantata 140 (Sleepers, Awake)
 * 86) Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem
 * 87) Mozart: Overture to "The Marriage of Figaro"
 * 88) Rossini: Overture to "The Barber of Seville"
 * 89) Bach: Sheep May Safely Graze
 * 90) Ottorino Respighi: The Pines and Fountains of Rome
 * 91) Berlioz: Harold in Italy
 * 92) Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
 * 93) Wagner: Tannhauser: Overture and Venusburg
 * 94) Tomaso Albinoni: Adagio in G minor for Strings and Organ
 * 95) Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3
 * 96) Liszt: Les Preludes
 * 97) Wagner: The Ring Cycle
 * 98) Paul Dukas: Sorcerer's Apprentice
 * 99) Carl Orff: Carmina Burana
 * 100) Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23

My list of the American Top 100
The criterion for consideration to be in this list, besides my personal taste, will be that the composer was born in America or became an American citizen. To nominate a piece for this list, please leave a message on the talk page.

I've decided to start it off with my Top 10. But these could shift as I fill in spots 11 to 100.


 * 1) Roy Harris: Symphony No. 3
 * 2) Aaron Copland: Rodeo
 * 3) Leonard Bernstein: Candide
 * 4) John Philip Sousa: "The Stars and Stripes Forever"
 * 5) Copland: "Fanfare for the Common Man"
 * 6) Sousa: "Semper Fidelis"
 * 7) Tobias Picker: "Old and Lost Rivers"
 * 8) John Adams: "Short Ride in a Fast Machine"
 * 9) Copland: Old American Songs
 * 10) John Williams: Incidental music for The Empire Strikes Back
 * 11) Michael Torke: "Green"
 * 12) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 13) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 14) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 15) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 16) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 17) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 18) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 19) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 20) TO BE DETERMINED...

My list of the 20th Century Top 100
The criterion for consideration to be in this list, besides my personal taste, will be that the piece was written between January 1, 1901 and December 31, 2000. To nominate a piece for this list, please leave a message on the talk page.


 * 1) Robert Simpson: Symphony No. 3
 * 2) Joaquin Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
 * 3) Roy Harris: Symphony No. 3
 * 4) Aaron Copland: Rodeo
 * 5) Edmund Rubbra: Symphony No. 6
 * 6) Leonard Bernstein: Candide
 * 7) Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring (OK, now I'm getting to the usual suspects).
 * 8) Copland: "Fanfare for the Common Man"
 * 9) Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture
 * 10) Tobias Picker: "Old and Lost Rivers"
 * 11) John Adams: "Short Ride in a Fast Machine"
 * 12) Copland: Old American Songs
 * 13) Simpson: Symphony No. 4
 * 14) John Williams: Incidental music for The Empire Strikes Back
 * 15) Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
 * 16) Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes
 * 17) Michael Torke: "Green"
 * 18) Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 2
 * 19) Górecki: Symphony No. 3
 * 20) Gustav Mahler: Kindertotenlieder
 * 21) Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
 * 22) Mahler: Symphony No. 5
 * 23) Simpson: Symphony No. 5
 * 24) Mahler: Symphony No. 7
 * 25) Mahler: Symphony No. 8
 * 26) Mahler: Symphony No. 6
 * 27) Mahler: Symphony No. 10
 * 28) Mahler: Symphony No. 9
 * 29) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 30) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 31) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 32) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 33) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 34) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 35) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 36) TO BE DETERMINED...
 * 37) TO BE DETERMINED...

Other lists
There are a few other lists I might put on this page after I finish compiling my own lists.