The NPR Classical 50 archive
Listen Steve Reich's 'Maximum' Minimalism
January 12, 2010 – The composer's Music for 18 Musicians brings elements of "maximalism" to minimalism.
Listen John Dowland's Art Of Melancholy
January 5, 2010 – The dark, wistful mood that pervades Dowland's lute music was, in its day, a sign of maturity.
Listen Mahler's Apocalyptic Second Symphony
December 29, 2009 – Mahler answered the metaphysical challenge of Beethoven's Ninth with the "Resurrection" Symphony.
Listen Handel's Miraculous 'Messiah'
December 22, 2009 – Hear the composer's oratorio — which is, by any measure, the greatest choral work in English.
Listen Monteverdi's Pioneering 'Vespers'
December 15, 2009 – Monteverdi's set of Vespers illustrated a mastery of blending Renaissance and Baroque styles.
Listen Schubert's Desolate 'Winter Journey'
December 8, 2009 – The solitary and psychological mix in Schubert's masterful song cycle, Winterreise.
Listen Bartok's Best 'Concerto For Orchestra'
December 1, 2009 – The Chicago Symphony, playing as if it had been set on fire, set a standard for Bartok back in 1955.
Listen Dvorak's Symphony For A 'New World'
November 24, 2009 – The Bohemian composer claimed "everyone who has a nose must smell America" in his Symphony No. 9.
Listen Wagner's Overtures In Full-Spectrum Sound
November 17, 2009 – Powerful orchestral sounds, as well as silence, elicit an emotional response from the listener.
Listen Quiet Anguish In Elgar's Cello Concerto
November 10, 2009 – Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre exposes both the tenderness and pain in Elgar's late-career concerto.
Listen Bach's Best 'Brandenburg' Concertos
November 3, 2009 – Simultaneously subtle and brilliant, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are a microcosm of Baroque music.
Listen Berlioz's Unbridled 'Symphonie Fantastique'
October 27, 2009 – Hear a musical treat for Halloween that still sounds fiercely psychedelic and sweepingly romantic.
Listen Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphonic 'Coup'
October 20, 2009 – The Symphony No. 5 achieves a "victorious" closer that ends with the triumph of evil over good.
Listen Liszt: Surmounting The Ultimate Piano Sonata
October 13, 2009 – Franz Liszt's multi-layered sonata can spark a powerful emotional experience in the listener.
Listen Sibelius' 5th Symphony: A Song For Swans
October 6, 2009 – Inspired by swans in flight, Jean Sibelius introduces some of his best ideas in his fifth symphony.