A collection of Rossini overtures can be nice. They contain lots of familiar music (e.g., the Lone Ranger theme embedded in the William Tell Overture), but it's nice to hear it in the context of an entire 5-8 minute overture as opposed to over-shortening it on one hand or listening through the entire 2-hour opera on the other.
There are orchestral suites where you could play just one selection. For example, "Jupiter" from Holst's "The Planets" is rousing and dynamic, while "Mars, The Bringer of War" has an ominous, and then explosive and eventually somewhat chaotic conclusion. At the other end of the spectrum are quiet and moody movements such as Venus and Neptune.
I like the entire suite, but each of the seven movements has its own kind of fun.
There are orchestral suites where you could play just one selection. For example, "Jupiter" from Holst's "The Planets" is rousing and dynamic, while "Mars, The Bringer of War" has an ominous, and then explosive and eventually somewhat chaotic conclusion. At the other end of the spectrum are quiet and moody movements such as Venus and Neptune.
I like the entire suite, but each of the seven movements has its own kind of fun.