Great Music of the Last Century

For those of you who have asked for recommendations on great 20th century music, here is an abbreviated list of some of my favorite CD’s:
Samuel Barber, Adagio Symphony No.1, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, David Zinman on Argo Records. There are wonderful melodies in Barber’s work. This recording has the Adagio for Strings, School for Scandal, and much more.
Various Composers, Latin America Fiesta, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, on Sony Classical. This music contains lively, fascinating and interesting new rhythms, with a couple Copland, a Chavez, and my favorite recording of the breathtaking Villa-Lobos Bachiana brasileria No.5.
Ralph Vaughn Williams, Orchestral Works, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Neville Marriner. This is a 2 CD set of Vaughn Williams’ greatest hits. I love the full, rich, warm orchestration and great melodic lines, you really can’t go wrong with this one.
For something new and a bit heavy, The Gorecki Symphony No.3, Polish National Symphony Orchestra, Antoni Wit, on Naxos Records.
Piano Concerto No.1, By Demitri Shostokovich is a piece of music with so much going on in it that it can sound different with each new listening. There is a recording by Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw called “The Jazz Album” with the really fun Jazz Suites 1 and 2.
There are some great recordings of the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2, I like Helene Grimaud’s recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra, but some like the forcefulness of Andrei Gavrilov, with Riccardo Muti conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra. This is the one piece of music that can make every listener a richer person.
For the pure fun of musical imagination, listen to Stravinsky’s Firebird and Petrouchka. There is a wonderful recording by Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra.
If you want something different in Piano music, you really should hear Francis Poulenc, the Complete Solo Piano Music. I find his music inspiring and remarkably beautiful, a real eye opener for anyone who has not heard him before.
In order to keep this from being too overwhelming, I will stop with these few, but there is so much more out there for those who just take time to listen.