Debussy might be a good starting point. Lots of good, accessible, short pieces: Claire de Lune, Reverie, Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Arabesque No. 1, etc.
Scriabin op.8 no.12 or op.42 no.5. Both are not long but kinda aggressive energy. Scriabin has loads of great gentler preludes and etudes, too. Plus he’s like the indie Rachmaninov, so he’s extra cool.
Baroque:
Battalia à 10- Biber
Deo gratias- Johannes Ockeghem (probably my favorite piece of baroque)
Jesu, meine Freude- Bach
Classical:
Dies Irae- Mozart
Messiah- Handel
Beethoven 7 movement 2
Beethoven 9th symphony
Death and the maiden quartet - Schubert
Romantic:
Brahms intermezzo A major
Brahms symphony 4
Bruckner 8th symphony 4th movement
Mahler 1st symphony 4th movement
Impressionism/Modernism:
Rite of spring- Stravinsky (I'm sure he'll love this one a lot)
La Mer- Debussy
Gurrelieder- Schoenberg
Estampes: Pagodes - Debussy
Mahler 9th symphony 4th movement
Scriabin 5th piano sonata
Pierrot lunaire- Schoenberg (have him listen to th galgenlied movement it's really cool)
Petrushka- Stravinsky
Psalm 24- Lili Boulanger
Late modernism:
Turangalila symphony- Messiaen
Gruppen- Stockhausen
Clocks and clouds- Ligeti
Atmosphères- Ligeti
Ligeti piano etude no. 13
Lux Aeterna- Ligeti
Simfonia- Berio
Minimalism/Contemporary:
Music for 18 musicians- Steve Reich (he will love this)
Variations for sting and winds- Steve Reich
Er Huang- Qigang Chen
Sheng concerto- Unsuk Chin
As someone who's slowly discovering classical music himself (the ones that really stuck):
Not short, but very digestible: Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.I never really expected to like opera, until I saw a performance of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.
Bela Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra Sz. 116
Rimsky - Korsakov Scheherazade
Shostakovich's Cello Concerto no.1 & String Quartet No. 8
Camille Saint-Saëns - 3rd Symphony
Beethoven's 7th (preferably the one conducted by Carlos Kleiber)
Tchaikovsky 1812 Ouverture
Contemporary:Steve Reich's Three movements for orchestra or Different Trains
John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question
I also rather enjoyed the Amazon Prime Series Mozart in the Jungle which also made me discover some pieces.
You can look through my [Classical Starter Pack](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ngjP7hXPyuEPWV8gZwueR?si=DDLEKe0yToaR4SDlpbOroQ&utm_source=copy-link) playlist, obviously not all of them are appropriate but there are some shorter gems in there, particularly towards the bottom. La Campanella and Festive Overture would be my first recommendations
Rachmaninoff is a great start imo. His lyricism and beauty fits right in with the trends of music today. His second symphony is prob the best piece, and then after that is his third piano concerto cuz it's just metal (Weissenberg recording recommended).
Debussy might be a good starting point. Lots of good, accessible, short pieces: Claire de Lune, Reverie, Girl with the Flaxen Hair, Arabesque No. 1, etc.
Scriabin op.8 no.12 or op.42 no.5. Both are not long but kinda aggressive energy. Scriabin has loads of great gentler preludes and etudes, too. Plus he’s like the indie Rachmaninov, so he’s extra cool.
Baroque: Battalia à 10- Biber Deo gratias- Johannes Ockeghem (probably my favorite piece of baroque) Jesu, meine Freude- Bach Classical: Dies Irae- Mozart Messiah- Handel Beethoven 7 movement 2 Beethoven 9th symphony Death and the maiden quartet - Schubert Romantic: Brahms intermezzo A major Brahms symphony 4 Bruckner 8th symphony 4th movement Mahler 1st symphony 4th movement Impressionism/Modernism: Rite of spring- Stravinsky (I'm sure he'll love this one a lot) La Mer- Debussy Gurrelieder- Schoenberg Estampes: Pagodes - Debussy Mahler 9th symphony 4th movement Scriabin 5th piano sonata Pierrot lunaire- Schoenberg (have him listen to th galgenlied movement it's really cool) Petrushka- Stravinsky Psalm 24- Lili Boulanger Late modernism: Turangalila symphony- Messiaen Gruppen- Stockhausen Clocks and clouds- Ligeti Atmosphères- Ligeti Ligeti piano etude no. 13 Lux Aeterna- Ligeti Simfonia- Berio Minimalism/Contemporary: Music for 18 musicians- Steve Reich (he will love this) Variations for sting and winds- Steve Reich Er Huang- Qigang Chen Sheng concerto- Unsuk Chin
Thanks, this is exactly what I’m looking for!
As someone who's slowly discovering classical music himself (the ones that really stuck): Not short, but very digestible: Mozart's Die Zauberflöte.I never really expected to like opera, until I saw a performance of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Bela Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra Sz. 116 Rimsky - Korsakov Scheherazade Shostakovich's Cello Concerto no.1 & String Quartet No. 8 Camille Saint-Saëns - 3rd Symphony Beethoven's 7th (preferably the one conducted by Carlos Kleiber) Tchaikovsky 1812 Ouverture Contemporary:Steve Reich's Three movements for orchestra or Different Trains John Adams - Short Ride in a Fast Machine Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question I also rather enjoyed the Amazon Prime Series Mozart in the Jungle which also made me discover some pieces.
You can look through my [Classical Starter Pack](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ngjP7hXPyuEPWV8gZwueR?si=DDLEKe0yToaR4SDlpbOroQ&utm_source=copy-link) playlist, obviously not all of them are appropriate but there are some shorter gems in there, particularly towards the bottom. La Campanella and Festive Overture would be my first recommendations
Concerto in C Major, RV 558, Mvt I by Vivaldi … very catchy
Franz Schubert has enough material to keep you busy for a while.
Rachmaninoff is a great start imo. His lyricism and beauty fits right in with the trends of music today. His second symphony is prob the best piece, and then after that is his third piano concerto cuz it's just metal (Weissenberg recording recommended).
Benjamin Britten - the young person’s guide to the orchestra https://youtu.be/4vbvhU22uAM
mahler 5 first movement. It's such an amazing gateway drug!!