​Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his sacred oratorio for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with German libretto by Christian Friedrich Henrici in 1727. Considered one of the masterpieces of Baroque sacred music, it sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the Lutheran Bible’s Gospel of Matthew to music. This nearly three hours piece is the more popular of the two Passion oratorios, the other being the earlier St John Passion. The first performance was said to be at St Thomas Church in Leipzig around 1727 on Good Friday. Bach was the church’s music director at the time.

Here are four albums:

Bach: St Matthew Passion. Sir John Eliot Gardiner with James Gilchrist (Evangelist), Stephan Loges (Jesus), Hannah Morrison, Zoë Brookshaw, Charlotte Ashley (soprano), Reginald Mobley, Eleanor Minney (alto), Hugo Hymas (tenor), Ashley Riches, Alex Ashworth, Jonathan Sells (bass), and English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Trinity Boys Choir. Release Date: 10 Mar 2017. Label: SDG.
 
Bach: St Matthew Passion. Masaaki Suzuki with Benjamin Bruns (Evangelist), Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Aki Matsui (soprano), Damien Guillon (counter-tenor), Clint van der Linde (baritone), Makato Sakurada (tenor), Zachary Wilder (tenor), Christian Immler (baritone), Toru Kaku (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 7 Feb 2020. Label: BIS.
 
Bach: Matthaus-Passion. Raphael Pichon with Julian Prégardien (Evangelist), Stéphane Degout (Christus), Sabine Devieilhe & Hana Blažiková (sopranos), Lucile Richardot (mezzo), Tim Mead (countertenor), Reinoud Van Mechelen & Emiliano Gonzalez Toro (tenors), Christian Immler (bass-baritone), and Pygmalion. Release Date: 11 Mar 2022. Label: Harmonia Mundi.

​J.S. Bach: St Matthew Passion. Jos van Veldhoven with Amaryllis Dieltiens (soprano), Siri Karoline Thornhill (soprano), Tim Mead (alto), Matthew White (alto), Gerd Türk (tenor - Evangelist), Julian Podger (tenor), Charles Daniels (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass) & Sebastian Noack (bass), and The Netherlands Bach Society with Kampen Boys Choir. Release Date: 18 Apr 2011. Label: Channel.

Reference: (2014). Schwarm, B. St Matthew Passion, BWV 244, Work by Bach. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/St-Matthew-Passion-BWV-244

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Franz Schubert wrote his final symphony in 1826. The 60 minutes, unusually long piece for its time, is listed as Symphony No. 8 in the New Schubert Edition, was first performed ten years after Schubert’s death in 1828. Robert Schumann was shown the manuscript of the Symphony when he visited Vienna in 1838. He took a copy of it to Leipzig where it was performed at the Gewandhaus on 21 March 1839, with Felix Mendelssohn as its conductor. Subsequently, several orchestras in Paris and London refused to play it due to its extremely lengthy woodwind and string parts. Often considered to be Schubert’s finest orchestral music, it is one of the composer’s most innovative pieces with far more emphasis on melody. 

Here are four albums:

Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 8 ‘Unfinished’ & 9 ‘The Great.’ Herbert Blomstedt with Gewandhausorchester. Release Date: 8 Jul 2022. Label: Deutsche Grammophon.

Schubert: The Great C Major Symphony. Claudio Abbado with Orchestra Mozart. Release Date: 1 Jun 2015. Label: Deutsche Grammophon.

Schubert: 8 Symphonies. Karl Bohm with Berliner Philharmoniker. Release Date: 1 May 2001. Label” Deutsche Grammophon.

​Franz Schubert: Symphonies. Nikolaus Harnoncourt with Berliner Philharmoniker. Release Date: 22 Sept 2017. Label: Berliner Philharmoniker.

Reference: (2014). Schwarm, B. Symphony No. 9 in C Major, Work by Schubert. Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Symphony-No-9-in-C-Major

​Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completed his second of three ballets in 1889. It was his second-longest work around 180 minutes, a prologue and three acts, and was premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on 15 January 1890. It was quite well received. Tsar Alexander III was at the performance and complemented Tchaikovsky, and thereafter, paying him a substantial bonus. The Sleeping Beauty was adapted from Ivan Vsevolozhsky’s The Beauty Sleeping in the Forest, after the Brothers Grimm’s version of Perrault’s story La belle au bois dormant. The ballet was dedicated to Ivan Vsevolozhsky.

Here are four albums:

Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66. Neeme Jarvi with James Ehnes (violin) Robert deMaine (cello) and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Release Date: 3 Dec 2012. Label: Chandos.

Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty. Mark Ermler with The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Release Date: 14 Dec 2021. Label: Sony.

Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66. Mikhail Pletnev with Russian National Orchestra. Release Date: 1 Feb 1999. Label: Deutsche Grammophon.

​Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty & Symphony No. 4. Anatole Fistoulari with Paris Conservatoire Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Release Date: 15 Feb 2019. Label: Eloquence (Decca).

Reference: (2024). The Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky Research. USA: Authors.
https://en.tchaikovsky-research.net/pages/The_Sleeping_Beauty

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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completed his last ballet, the two-act 90-minutes classical piece in April 1892, and it was premiered on 18 December at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, choreographed by Marius Petipa, who also composed the libretto. The plot was adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 short children’s story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, adapted by Alexandre Dumas. It’s first performance was not well received until 1944 when it was performed in the United States by the San Francisco Ballet under the artistic director William Christensen. The 20-minute Nutcracker Suite was premiered 9 months earlier.
Here are four albums:

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Op. 71. Valery Gergiev with Kirov Orchestra. Release Date: 16 Nov 1998. Label: Philips.

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker. Vladimir Jurowski with State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov.” Release Date: 15 Nov 2019. Label: Pentatone.

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker. Richard Bonynge with National Philharmonic Orchestra and Finchley Children’s Music Group.Release Date: 16 May 2005. Label: Decca.

​Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker. Gustavo Dudamel with Los Angeles Philharmonic. Release Date: 30 Nov 2018. Label: Deutsche Grammophon.

Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites. Mstislav Rostropovich with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Release Date: 1 Jul 1996. Label: Deutsche Grammophon.

​Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Suite & Piano Concerto No. 1. Martha Argerich, Nicolas Economou and Claudio Abbado with Berliner Philharmoniker. Release Date: 12 Aug 1996. Label: Deutsche Grammophon. 

Reference: (2024). Schwarm, B. The Nutcracker, Ballet by Tchaikovsky. Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Nutcracker