Have you seen The Dante Project (the ballet for which Ades wrote the music)?
Still off-topic, but leading to an on-topic recommendation: the concert suites from the three Tchaikovsky ballets: “Swan Lake,” “The Sleeping Beauty,” and “The Nutcracker.”
Well that brightened my evening! Most of the male members of the audience kept a straight face.
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The cameraman clearly had his work cut out focussing solely on the music-making.
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I like some classical, but not all. For instance I like the arias from some operas but I don’t like the “talky-singing” bits in between. It’s still an ongoing adventure so I’ve got a strategy to help me discover new stuff, just one of the benefits of streaming.
If I’m indoors pottering about or whatever but not listening with total attention, I keep the app set to one of two Classic stations and if I hear something I like, I’ll “Shazam” it and then look for a version that I like by shortlisting what I can find on my streaming service.
And “Four Seasons” - I prefer the Anne-Sophie Mutter version! 
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Lots of excellent suggestions above.
Doesn’t however stop me from throwing in one of my own: Prokofiev’s 1st “Classical” symphony. Short and, for sheer joie de vivre, unbeatable (IMO of course!).
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Yes. I indulged myself last Christmas and got the ballet on DVD as well as Dudamel’s performance of the score. Our TV is in another room from the main hifi, so one’s a visual treat and the other a sonic one.
Roger
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Thanks, one to listen too.
Everyone, thank you all for your help and suggestions, much appreciated.
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So true, imho. I saw my very first opera, Tosca, in Florence, and will never forget the experience. It was not just the music and singing, it was the passion on the singers faces and the energy they gave off.
For me at least, I have never been able to recapture this experience, with the recorded medium, or live performances on the radio or the TV.
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I knew nothing about classical when I started at uni (many years ago). My father started giving me cassettes every couple of weeks. Fantastic intro. Tchaikovsky 1st piano concerto. Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin concertos. Beethoven 3rd and 5th symphonies and piano concertos. Dvorak 9 symphony. If streaming do listen to them as complete works not just individual movements.
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If Oxford Ian still lives in Oxford, attending an Evensong in say Magdalens could be such an experience.
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Sadly Oxford Ian doesn’t live in his town of birth any longer, he actually moved out in the winter of 1962/63.
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Frozen out?
It was a very harsh winter
I agree, but with operas I’ve seen live the hifi brings the atmosphere etc back as I listen. Live video recordings are quite variable in quality and in ability to get somewhere near - but for operas I haven’t seen they are better than just audio. Previously unknown operas just as audio are harder to get into.
With live (including video) I very much prefer in original language with sur/subtitles, as I can glance and follow the story. If sung in English it is much harder to follow the dialogue, and Inend up focusing on trying to pick it out which limits involvement. With audio only it helps to have the sritten libretto to follow, so as I only stream music from my own store I find it best to buy CD and rip, rather than download.
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An excellent list, although I am yet to fully appreciate Brahms.
May I add Beethoven symphonies 6 & 7 and the late Mozart symphonies 36-41
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My introduction to Verdi’s Requiem came by chance at a rehearsal in Durham Cathedral. Afterwards I bought this famous recording. Verdi: Requiem Mass & Te Deum
Zinka Milanov (soprano), Bruna Castagna (mezzo), Jussi Björling (tenor), Nicola Moscona (bass)
NBC Symphony & Westminster Choir, Arturo Toscanini
It is operatic and the sound is dated (1951), but well worth hunting out.
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Try Brahms’ chamber music. His first piano trio and his first sextet are good entry points.
All in all he published 24 1/4* works of chamber music. To my ears, they range from good to masterpiece.
One movement of the F.A.E. Sonata.
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When videocassettes were new, I asked myself why I would ever want to own a movie. Then I realized I wanted to own a video of Ingmar Bergman’s “The Magic Flute.” I’ve since bought in every format in which it was released.
Thank you.
It is just a selection from my limited Classical collection. You may have noticed several Clarinet works, including the Brahms Quintet & Trio. I used to play.
Of course you can add to it…!
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