I’ve updated my meta-lists of best classical music by adding several more lists to the mix and expanding the main page to include all works on three or more of the original source lists.  I’ve also added a new page with the list organized by the type of composition. Click on the links below to go directly to the classical music meta-lists:

The Best Classical Music of All Time: Ranked
The Best Classical Music of All Time: Chronological
The Best Classical Music of All Time: By Composer
The Best Classical Music of All Time: By Type of Composition

I was originally going to introduce the new and updated lists with a serious post about the definition of classical music, going into how it really should be referred to as Western art music, because “classical” technically only refers to music (much of it in sonata form) produced during the period of 1750-1828 or so (Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, et al.).  But I decided against that.  Instead I decided to look at my listening history (which since 2008 or so has been tracked by the Last.fm website – they keep track of every time I listen to a song on the computer, iPod or iPhone) and find the 25 pieces of classical music I have listened to most frequently (either the entire piece or portions of it).  These don’t necessarily represent my preferences (although I like all the music here), since I usually have my playlist on “shuffle” mode, so the selection is somewhat random.  I am intrigued by the number of contemporary composers and the absence of big names like Mozart and Beethoven (even though I’ve got lots of their work in my collection).  Here’s the list of the 25 pieces of classical music I’ve listened to most frequently since 2008, arranged in chronological order by date of composition:

1. Anonymous: Chevalier, mult estes guariz (12^th Century)
2. Anonymous: La quinte estampie real (13^th Century)
3. Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 Cellos in G minor (c. 1720)
4. George Frideric Handel: Concerti Grossi, Op. 3 (1734)
5. George Frideric Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749)
6. Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor (1749)
7. Christoph Willibald Gluck (arr. by Hector Berlioz): Orphée et Eurydice (1762, Berlioz version, 1859)
8. Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (1859)
9. Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 (1878)
10. Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 (1883)
11. Claude Debussy: Mazurka (1890)
12. Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a (1892)
13. Claude Debussy: Children’s Corner (1908)
14. Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19 (1917)
15. Dmitri Shostakovich: Adagio (Elegy) for String Quartet (1931)
16. Charles Ives: They Are There! (1942)
17. John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano (1948)
18. Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 4 in D major (1949)
19. Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story (1957)
20. Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 7 in F# minor, Op. 108 (1960)
21. Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 15 in Eb major, Op. 144 (1974)
22. Iannis Xenaxis: Tetras for String Quartet (1983)
23. Christopher Rouse: Kabir Padavali (1998)
24. Arvo Pärt: Lamentate (2002)
25. Hans Abrahamsen: Let me tell you (2013)