The Best Classics... Ever!

The Best Classics... Ever! is a compilation album released by EMI in late 2005. This compilation contains both short works and excerpts from longer works by renowned classical composers.

The Best Classics... Ever!
Compilation album by Various Artists
Released	November 18, 2005
Genre	classical
Length	more than 240 min
Label	EMI
Various Artists chronology
The Best Smooth Jazz... Ever! vol. 2 (2005) The Best Classics... Ever! (2005) The Best Smooth Jazz... Ever! vol. 3 (2006)
The Best Classics... Ever! series chronology
The Best Classics... Ever! (2005) The Best Classics... Ever! vol. 2 (2007)

Track listing

CD 1

1. Erik Satie – "Gymnopédie No. 1"
2. Johann Pachelbel – "Canon in D"
3. Johann Sebastian Bach – "Air" (on the G string)
4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – "Lacrimosa" (Requiem in D minor K. 626)
5. Sergei Rachmaninoff – "Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, part II: Adagio sostenuto" (opening)
6. Antonio Vivaldi – "Winter (The Four Seasons), part II: Largo"
7. Michael Nyman – "The Heart Asks Pleasure First"/"The Promise" (The Piano)
8. Tomaso Albinoni – "Adagio in G minor (realised Giazotto)" (extract)
9. Gabriel Fauré – "Pavane" (arr. Craig Leon)
10. Edward Elgar – "Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, part I: Adagio – Moderato" (opening)
11. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – "Swan Theme" (Swan Lake, Act II – No. 10 Scene)
12. Gustav Mahler – "Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor, part IV: Adagietto" (conclusion)
13. Ludwig van Beethoven – "Moonlight Sonata, part II: Adagio sostenuto" (extract)
14. Samuel Barber – "Adagio for Strings"
15. Karl Jenkins – "Agnus Dei" (The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace)
16. Gregorio Allegri – "Miserere mei, Deus" (vv.1-4 & 17-20)
17. Johannes Brahms – "Waltz No. 15 in A-flat"

CD 2

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – "Eine kleine Nachtmusik, part I: Allegro"
2. Johann Strauss II – "On The Beautiful Blue Danube: Waltz, Op. 314" (extract)
3. Giuseppe Verdi – "La donna è mobile" (Rigoletto)
4. Antonio Vivaldi – "Concerto "L'estate", RV 315, part III: Presto"
5. Georges Bizet – "Prelude" (Carmen)
6. Maurice Ravel – "Boléro" (conclusion)
7. Giacomo Puccini – "Nessun dorma" (Turandot, Act III)
8. Léo Delibes – "Dôme épais" (Lakmé, Act I)
9. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23, part I: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso (opening)
10. George Gershwin – "Rhapsody in Blue" (jazz band version – opening)
11. George Frideric Handel – "Lascia ch'io pianga" (Rinaldo) (arr. Craig Leon and Isobel Cooper)
12. Sergei Rachmaninoff – "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" (Op. 43 – Variation 18)
13. Vincenzo Bellini – "Casta Diva" (Norma, Act I)
14. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – "Canzonetta sull'aria" (Le nozze di Figaro, Act III)
15. Giacomo Puccini – "O mio babbino caro" (Gianni Schicchi)
16. Franz Schubert – "Ave Maria" (Maria Callas)
17. John Williams – "Schindler's List Theme"

CD 3

1. Frédéric Chopin – "Mazurkas Op. 59, No. 3 in F sharp minor"
2. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – "Flight of the Bumblebee"
3. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – "Allegro Moderato" (Swan Lake)
4. Antonio Vivaldi – "Spring (The Four Seasons), part I: Allegro"
5. Johann Sebastian Bach – "Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048, part I: Allegro moderato"
6. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – "Le nozze di Figaro" (Overture)
7. Jacques Offenbach – "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" (Barcarolle) (Les contes d'Hoffmann, Act IV)
8. Georges Bizet – "Au fond du temple saint" (Temple Duet) (Les pêcheurs de perles, Act I)
9. Gustav Holst – "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" (conclusion) (The Planets)
10. George Gershwin – "Summertime" (Porgy and Bess)
11. Edvard Grieg – "Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, part I: Allegro molto moderato"
12. Giuseppe Verdi – "Va, pensiero" (Chorus of Hebrew Slaves) (Nabucco, Act III)
13. Izzy – "Suo Gân"
14. George Frideric Handel – "Zadok the Priest – Coronation Anthem"
15. Georges Bizet – "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Habanera) (Carmen, Act I)
16. Johann Sebastian Bach – "Goldberg Variations Aria"

CD 4

1. Richard Strauss – "Also sprach Zarathustra"
2. Sergei Prokofiev – "Montagues and Capulets" (Romeo and Juliet)
3. Ludwig van Beethoven – "Symphony No. 5 in C minor"
4. Richard Wagner – "Ride of the Valkyries" (Die Walküre)
5. Carl Orff – "O Fortuna" (Carmina Burana)
6. Antonio Vivaldi – "Concerto 'L'inverno', RV 297"
7. Pyotr Tchaikovsky – "Waltz of the Flowers" (The Nutcracker)
8. Gioachino Rossini – "Largo al factotum" (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
9. Giuseppe Verdi – "La forza del destino" (Overture)
10. Charles Gounod – "Valse de Juliette" (Roméo et Juliette)
11. Giacomo Puccini – "Un bel dì vedremo" (Madama Butterfly)
12. Giuseppe Verdi – "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (Brindisi) (La traviata)
13. Pyotr Tchaikovsky – "1812: Festival Overture, Op. 49"
14. Ludwig van Beethoven – "Ode to Joy" (Choral Symphony)
15. George Frideric Handel – "Hallelujah Chorus"