The NPR Classical 50 Critic Ted Libbey and radio host Fred Child recommend 50 recordings any fanatic or first-timer should not be without.
Special Series

The NPR Classical 50

50 recordings any fanatic or first-timer should not be without

Russian-born US composer Igor Stravinsky in 1955. AFP/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Ted Libbey & Fred Child Recommend Stravinsky's 'Rite Of Spring'

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/101789919/101737265" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Leonard Bernstein. Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/105855746/105523368" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Carol Lawrence (right) sings "I Feel Pretty," along with (left to right) Elizabeth Taylor, Carmen Gutierrez and Marilyn Cooper, in the 1957 original Broadway cast recording of West Side Story. Sony Music Photo Archives/Sony Music Photo Archives hide caption

toggle caption
Sony Music Photo Archives/Sony Music Photo Archives

One Hand, One Heart

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/111591389/111535853" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120949138/120949269" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Pianist Van Cliburn Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Ted Libbey Recommends Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/104667889/104663407" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre, recording with Sir John Barbirolli. David Farrell/EMI Classics hide caption

toggle caption
David Farrell/EMI Classics

Ted Libbey And Lisa Simeone Recommend Music By Elgar

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120248259/120122979" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178 (LW A179)

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113544353/113513296" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

The original poster advertising the premiere of The Magic Flute on Sept. 30, 1791, is on display at the birth home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Getty Images

Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute), opera, K. 620

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/106937831/106950228" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Monteverdi's Poppea. Wikimedia Commons hide caption

toggle caption
Wikimedia Commons

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Monteverdi's Vespers

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120992666/120966893" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Mahler's Symphony No. 2

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121173057/120961920" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Courtesy of VocalEssence

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Handel's Messiah

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121033930/120953533" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Jeffrey Herman/courtesy of the artist

Ted Libbey And Lisa Simeone Recommend Reich's Music for 18 Musicians

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121255227/121254883" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Portrait of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven by German painter Joseph Karl Stieler, circa 1820. Kean Collection/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Kean Collection/Getty Images

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/111545985/111536038" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Dowland's Lute Songs

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/121262154/120966520" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
iStockphoto.com

Ted Libbey And Lisa Simeone Recommend Schubert's Winterreise

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120965770/120954765" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

The Brooklyn Bridge in 1884. Dvorak would arrive in New York only six years later to head the National Conservatory of Music. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Dvorak's Symphony No. 9

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120698678/120574169" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Frank Salomon Associates

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120020618/114331505" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/114175937/114104045" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
MPI/Stringer/Getty Images

Ted Libbey And Fred Child Recommend Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5

  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113792055/113760244" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">