Rachmaninoff's piano concertos are usually pretty good (a shame that he was quite anti-communist).
Sibelius's Violin Concerto and D minor (his opus 47) is pretty good as well.
Scarlatti's Sonatas have also been great every time I've listened to one of 'em.
Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5 is also a favorite.
You may have noticed that these songs aren't household names (like "the well-tempered clavier" or the "moonlight sonata") but I'm trying to avoid those for now.
Also, not a composition highlight, but shout-out to Ryuichi Sakamoto.
What are your favorite compositions/symphonies/sonatas/etc. of classical music in general? Can range from anywhere to early baroque to the Soviet composers to the 21st century and so on and so forth.
This barely counts and shows off my philistine tendencies, but I really love some of the Depeche Mode instrumentals. Most of these can be classified as Neoclassical Darkwave (Goths going "classical music is cool, we should make some" basically)
Oberkorn (It's a Small Town) (Development Mix) - 1982
The Great Outdoors! - 1983 - definitely electronic, and not my favorite, but it reminds me of video game music. Specifically this , despite being from the era before mass g*ming.
Pimpf - 1987
Stjarna - 1987
Agent Orange - 1987 - this one fits slightly less perhaps
Sonata No. 14 in C#m - 1987 - yes, it's a Beethoven cover and apparently contains a mistake towards the end of the recording, because it was not supposed to end up on the album.
Memphisto - 1990
Sibeling - 1990
Zenstation - 2001 - not classical influenced, but the only interesting one they made after Alan Wilder (a classically trained musician) left the band in '95
Huh. I've never heard of "neoclassical darkwave." I guess I'll listen to these and try it out...
https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/neoclassical-darkwave/
Obscure genres my beloved.
Oh, I love rateyourmusic.com.
Good for finding obscure shit.