Classical's Top "200"

A while back, I made a post about Kickass Classical's Top 100 that featured the 100 most well-known pieces of classical music. While the list does seem fairly comprehensive, some might be disappointed that the list lacks some well-known composers such as Shostakovitch or Sibelius. Luckily, Kickass Classical has since released a second list entitled their Top 200. The title is somewhat misleading because the Top 200 is not a list of the second hundred most well-known pieces of classical music. Kickass Classical makes the distinction clearer, "The Kickass Classical Top 100 features Classical Music that has transcended the genre - pieces made famous outside the Classical Music world. The Kickass Classical Top 200 feature famous Classical Music standards - the most familiar tunes inside the genre." It is in this list that Shostakovitch, Vaughn Williams, Smetana, Sibelius, and Stravinsky all make appearances. Just like the Top 100, Kickass Classical ranks them in order of their popularity based on radio play, sales, concerts, and use in other media. The list also includes the composer, composition date, associating "keywords," and a small sample of each piece. These pieces are ranked 101-200 to relate to their Top 100 list.

While the list is interesting to look at, I find that its name of "Top 200" to be slightly inappropriate. When Kickass Classical first published this particular list, I thought it was a continuation of their original 100 but was surprised to see that I was wrong. While it is nice to see what music is popular within the classical genre, I was hoping to see what other pieces had made it outside the classical world. Regardless, it is always fun to test myself and see which pieces I can identify and which ones I cannot.

Classical's Top 100

Kickass Classical
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