Wikipedia:Featured sounds

Music

Organised, by date of composition or (where that is not available) date of performance. Where dating is particularly ambiguous, the date is marked with "?". Arrangements not notable in their own right are listed by date of the original co mposition.

Antonio Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni, 1725). Performed by the Wichita State University Chamber Players; violin, John Harrison.

Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "La primavera" (Spring)

Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 8, RV 315, "L'estate" (Summer)

Concerto No. 3 in F major, Op. 8, RV 293, "L'autunno" (Autumn)

Concerto No. 4 in F minor, Op. 8, RV 297, "L'inverno" (Winter)

Franz Schubert – Impromptu in B flat
Franz Schubert's Impromptu in B flat (1827, D. 935/3; Op. 142 No. 3)

A combined version is also available:

Franz Schubert - Octet, D. 803
A performance of Franz Schubert's Octet, D. 803, on period instruments.

Ludwig van Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 28
Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101 (1816). Performed by Daniel Veesey from Musopen.com.

See also: Beethoven's original sketch of the fourth movement

Charles Gounod – Petite Symphonie pour neuf instruments à vent
Charles Gounod's Petite Symphonie pour neuf instruments à vent (Little Symphony for Nine Woodwinds, 1885). Performed by the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet: Felix Skowronek, flute; Laila Storch, oboe; William McColl, clarinet; Christopher Leuba, horn; Arthur Grossman, Bassoon; and guest performers Ove Hanson, oboe; Julie Oster, clarinet; David Cottrell, horn; and Robert Olson, bassoon.

Johann Sebastian Bach – Sonata for Flute or Recorder and Harpsichord in B minor, BWV 1030
Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonata in B minor for flute or recorder and harpsichord. Performed by Alex Murray (traverso) and Martha Goldstein (harpsichord)

Gilbert and Sullivan – H.M.S. Pinafore
These recordings of selections from W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) was created by Edison Records in 1911. It stars Elizabeth Spencer, Mary Jordan, Harry Anthony, Walter Van Brunt, James F. Harrison, and William F. Hooley.

Molière and Jean-Baptiste Lully – Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
The ballet music by Jean-Baptiste Lully from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Molière's 1670 comédie-ballet (that is, a ballet broken up by spoken scenes). This version was performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra in 2007.

Frédéric Chopin – Cello Sonata Op. 65
Frédéric Chopin wrote his Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 65 in 1846. It is one of only nine works of Chopin published during his lifetime that were written for instruments other than piano (although the piano still appears in every work he wrote). Chopin composed four sonatas, the others being all piano sonatas. The cello sonata was the last of Chopin's works to be published in his lifetime.

The sonata was written for and dedicated to Auguste Franchomme, and it was played by Franchomme and Chopin at the composer's last public concert, at the Salle Pleyel on 16 February 1848.

This performance is by John Michel and Lisa Bergman.

Ludwig van Beethoven – The Diabelli Variations
The 33 Variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op. 120, commonly known as the Diabelli Variations, is a set of variations for the piano written between 1819 and 1823 by Ludwig van Beethoven on a waltz composed by Anton Diabelli. One of the supreme compositions for the piano, it often shares the highest honours with Bach's Goldberg Variations. The distinguished music writer Donald Francis Tovey has called it "the greatest set of variations ever written." Pianist Alfred Brendel has described it as simply "the greatest of all piano works." It also comprises, in the words of Hans von Bülow, "a microcosm of Beethoven's art."

"Trois Quintetti Concertans" by Giuseppe Cambini
Giuseppe Cambini (1746–1825?) wrote the Trois Quintetti Concertans ("Three Wind Quintets") around 1802, making the some of the earliest ever composed. This recording was performed in 2004 by the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet: Felix Skowronek (flute), Laila Storch (oboe), William McColl (clarinet), Christopher Leuba (horn), and Arthur Grossman (bassoon). (nom)]]

No. 1 in Bb major

No. 2 in D minor

No. 3 in F major

Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Sonata No. 8 (Opus 30-3)
The Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major of Ludwig van Beethoven, the third of his Opus 30 set, was written between 1801 and 1802, published in May 1803, and dedicated to Czar Alexander I of Russia. This sonata is characteristic of early/middle Beethoven in its solid sonata structure, just beginning to get adventurous in syncopation, with some extraordinary off beat sforzandi.

Brahms' String Quintet No. 1 in F major, Opus 88
Johannes Brahms' String Quintet No. 1 in F major, Opus 88 was composed in 1882 in the spa town of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria, and published by the firm of Fritz Simrock. It is a "Viola Quintet" in that it is scored for string quartet with an extra viola. It has three movements:

Hungry Lucy – Pulse of the Earth
Pulse of the Earth is a 2010 album by American trip-hop/indie duo Hungry Lucy.

J. S. Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major
Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007, performed by John Michel.

Erik Satie - Trois Gnossiennes
Erik Satie's Trois Gnossiennes, composed c. 1890, and first published in 1893.

Satie's coining of the word "gnossienne" was one of the rare occasions when a composer used a new term to indicate a new "type" of composition. Satie had and would use many novel names for his compositions ("vexations", "croquis et agaceries" and so on). "Ogive," for example, had been the name of an architectural element until Satie used it as the name for a composition, the Ogives. "Gnossienne," however, was a word that did not exist before Satie used it as a title for a composition. The word appears to be derived from "gnosis"; Satie was involved in gnostic sects and movements at the time that he began to compose the Gnossiennes. However, some published versions claim that the word derives from Cretan "knossos" or "gnossus" and link the Gnossiennes to Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur myth. Several archeological sites relating to that theme were famously excavated around the time that Satie composed the Gnossiennes.

Performed by La Pianista.

Ottorino Respighi – Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1
Suite No. 1 from Ottorino Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances (1917). It is based on Renaissance lute pieces by Simone Molinaro, Vincenzo Galilei, and various anonymous composers.

Gustav Holst - The Planets, Op. 32 (selections)
The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character, as defined by Holst. With the exception of Earth, which is not observed in astrological practice, all the planets are represented in the complete composition, though this selection misses out Saturn and Neptune. All were performed in 1998 by the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band in a transcription by Merlin Patterson, edited by Capt. Lang and MSgt Aldo Forte.

Gustav Holst - First Suite in E-flat for Military Band
Gustav Holst's "First Suite in E-flat for Military Band", first composed in 1909, is considered one of the cornerstone masterworks in the concert band repertoire.

Three Drum cadences
Snare drum cadences performed by the United States Navy Band

Field recordings – Recordings of nature and other background noises, such as machines in operation or wind-chimes.

Historical recordings – Speeches, historic incidents, landmarks in the history of recording, and similar.

Miscellaneous

Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, produced by FergusRossFerrier on behalf of the University of Cambridge Recorded Drama Society