For a lot of newcomers to classical music, film scores have been a useful gateway. Spotify is awash with “workout” playlists featuring the music of Hans Zimmer, a composer so mainstream he is now a regular on the music festival circuit.
Lockdown is the perfect time to become more acquainted with classical music, which is why friend of Attaboy! and international opera singer Clive Bayley has compiled a list of pieces to listen to before you’re 30. Unlike most music that can be found on popular radio, the music below is long-lasting and more rewarding.
1. Allegri, Miserere
17th-century Sistine Chapel vibes with the most famous top note in sacred music.
2. JS Bach, The Six Brandenburg Concertos
Approachable 18th-century baroque sophistication.
3. Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major
There are 27, and this has one of the most sublime slow movements.
4. Beethoven, String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 131
Not for the faint-hearted, as a virtually deaf Beethoven takes you on a personal tour of mystery and elation, with a few jokes here and there.
5. Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique
A besotted opium taker’s trip to hell. No return tickets.
6. Wagner, Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
Wagner rewrites the rule book and music was never the same again.
7. Debussy, La Mer
Finished in Eastbourne, but this impressionistic sea view takes us much further afield.
8. Richard Strauss, An Alpine Symphony
Massive orchestral forces on a filmic journey up a mountain and back.
9. Mahler, Symphony No. 9
Mahler’s farewell to life. Look out for ‘Abide with Me’ in the soul-wrenching last movement.
10. Britten, War Requiem
Eternally moving pacifist statement from the sixties, combining Latin liturgy with the Great War poems of Wilfred Owen.
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