A personal "7 Wonders of (classical) music"

For Elgar, don't overlook his Cello Concerto and his magnificent oratorio:  "The Dream of Gerontius." 

Mahler's 9th

Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kije Suite

Berg: Wozzeck

Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale

Beethoven's 5th

JS Bach: Goldberg Variations

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos

My list is going to be substantially different than any that I have seen so far.

I want to be challenged, not calmed or relaxed, when I listen to classical music.  

Elliott Carter - Concerto for Orchestra (1969)

Charles Wuorinen - Fourth Piano Concerto (2003)

 Bruno Maderna - Concerto no. 3 for Oboe and Orchestra (1973)

Kaija Anneli Saariaho - Laterna Magica (2008)

Beat Furrer - Konzert, for piano and orchestra (2007)

Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic for chamber orchestra (1972)

Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki - Violin Concerto No. 2: Metamorphosen (1992–95)

Brian Ferneyhough - Prometheus (1967)

I could very easily list a couple dozen more, but I’ve been listening to these most recently, so they made my list this time. 

Ask me again in a few days, and at least some of these will be different.

Astounding! On  more than one millenium of Western Music you picked  all composers in the almost same few decades.

When i listen music i dont want to sleep but i dont want  only secondary masters because they all want to be recognised  "original".. Why not Scriabin sonatas a top of pianistic writing ?  Why not Sorabji transcendental studies ?  Why not Robert Simpsons or an opera from Weil  or Busoni  (Faust) or Akhnaten From Glass ? 

Where is Jakob Obrecht ? Not mentioning the hundred years of French Flamish school composers.or italian genius as Gesualdo no composer ever replicate as poweful emotional engine and more modern in his expressionism  than most modern composers.

My list is going to be substantially different than any that I have seen so far.

I want to be challenged, not calmed or relaxed, when I listen to classical music.  

Elliott Carter - Concerto for Orchestra (1969)

Charles Wuorinen - Fourth Piano Concerto (2003)

 Bruno Maderna - Concerto no. 3 for Oboe and Orchestra (1973)

Kaija Anneli Saariaho - Laterna Magica (2008)

Beat Furrer - Konzert, for piano and orchestra (2007)

Ernst Krenek - Static and Ecstatic for chamber orchestra (1972)

Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki - Violin Concerto No. 2: Metamorphosen (1992–95)

Brian Ferneyhough - Prometheus (1967)

I could very easily list a couple dozen more, but I’ve been listening to these most recently, so they made my list this time. 

Ask me again in a few days, and at least some of these will be different

There are too many choices.  Many pieces that people are listing are good choices even though they would not be my first choices. 

I would add Beethoven string quartet in C sharp minor, 

Bach, Brandenburg Concertos and some of his Cantatas

Wagner, Die Walkure

Schubert, Trios for Piano Trios

Carter, String Quartets, especially # 2

For jazz, I would add recordings by Fletcher Henderson, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Duke Ellington, Bennie Moten, Mary Lou Williams, Thelonious Monk, and Teddy Wilson with Billie Holiday.

For Blues, I would start with recordings by Blind Blake.