Recommended Listening (1959-Now)

RECOMMENDED LISTENING - 1959 to NOW

A subjective list of the "best" 20 albums released each year, from 1959 to the present day.

Taken together, the selected recordings represent a collection of 1,300 LPs, all of which are recommended.

And, there's a list of over 70 classical composers for you to investigate too.

See if you agree with the choices.  Seek out things you've not heard of.

Let's go!

1959 - Albums of the Year

1960 - Albums of the Year

1961 - Albums of the Year

1962 - Albums of the Year

1963 - Albums of the Year

1964 - Albums of the Year

1965 - Albums of the Year

1966 - Albums of the Year

1967 - Albums of the Year

1968 - Albums of the Year

1969 - Albums of the Year

1970 - Albums of the Year

1971 - Albums of the Year

1972 - Albums of the Year

1973 - Albums of the Year

1974 - Albums of the Year

1975 - Albums of the Year

1976 - Albums of the Year

1977 - Albums of the Year

1978 - Albums of the Year

1979 - Albums of the Year

1980 - Albums of the Year

1981 - Albums of the Year

1982 - Albums of the Year

1983 - Albums of the Year

1984 - Albums of the Year

1985 - Albums of the Year

1986 - Albums of the Year

1987 - Albums of the Year

1988 - Albums of the Year

1989 - Albums of the Year

1990 - Albums of the Year

1991 - Albums of the Year

1992 - Albums of the Year

1993 - Albums of the Year

1994 - Albums of the Year

1995 - Albums of the Year

1996 - Albums of the Year

1997 - Albums of the Year

1998 - Albums of the Year

1999 - Albums of the Year

2000 - Albums of the Year

2001 - Albums of the Year

2002 - Albums of the Year

2003 - Albums of the Year

2004 - Albums of the Year

2005 - Albums of the Year

2006 - Albums of the Year

2007 - Albums of the Year

2008 - Albums of the Year

2009 - Albums of the Year

2010 - Albums of the Year

2011 - Albums of the Year

2012 - Albums of the Year

2013 - Albums of the Year

2014 - Albums of the Year

2015 - Albums of the Year

2016 - Albums of the Year

2017 - Albums of the Year

2018 - Albums of the Year

2019 - Albums of the Year

2020 - Albums of the Year

2021 - Albums of the Year

2022 - Albums of the Year

2023 - Albums of the Year

Top LP of the Year 1959 - 2023

You can find this list's predecessor over at this site.

FAVOURITE COMPOSERS

Born 1500-1599

1505 Thomas Tallis
1510 Diego Ortiz
1516 Cipriano De Rore
1543 William Byrd
1563 John Dowland
1567 Claudio Monteverdi
1582 Gregorio Allegri
1582 Sigismondo D’India
1585 Heinrich Schutz
1587 Biagio Marini


Born 1600-1699



1653 Arcangelo Corelli
1656 Marin Marais
1659 Henry Purcell
1671 Tomaso Albinoni
1678 Antonio Vivaldi
1681 Georg Philipp Telemann
1683 Jean-Philippe Rameau
1683 Johann Heinichen
1685 Georg Friedrich Handel
1685 Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 Domenico Scarlatti


Born 1700-1799

1709 Franz Xavier Richter
1711 William Boyce
1714 Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach
1732 Joseph Haydn
1735 Johann Christian Bach
1739 Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1770 Ludwig van Beethoven
1782 John Field
1797 Franz Schubert


Born 1800-1899



1809 Felix Mendelssohn
1810 Robert Schumann
1811 Franz Liszt
1854 Leos Janacek
1862 Claude Debussy

1864 Richard Strauss
1866 Erik Satie
1871 Alexander Zemlinsky
1872 Alexander Scriabin

1874 Arnold Schoenberg
1881 Bela Bartok

1883 Edgar Varese

1883 Anton Webern

1895 Paul Hindemith

Born 1900-1999



1905 Giacinto Scelsi
1905 Michael Tippett

1906 Dimitri Shostakovich

1908 Elliott Carter

1908 Olivier Messiaen

1910 Samuel Barber

1912 John Cage

1916 Alberto Ginastera

1922 Iannis Xenakis

1923 Gyorgy Ligeti

1925 Luciano Berio

1926 Morton Feldman
1928 Karl-Heinz Stockhausen

1930 Toru Takemitsu
1931 Sofia Gubaidulina

1933 Henryk Gorecki

1934 Peter Maxwell Davies

1934 Alfred Schnittke

1935 Arvo Part
1935 Helmut Lachenmann

1936 Steve Reich

1937 Philip Glass

1938 Frederic Rzewski

1944 Michael Nyman

1947 John Adams

1948 Peter Ruzicka

1952 Wolfgang Rihm

1959 Craig Armstrong
1966 Max Richter