Project 366 - The Classical Collections

For Part One of Project 366, click here.
For Part Two of Project 366, click here.

Part Three - The Classical Collections

A Continued journey through the Western Classical Music Repertoire

Project 366 enters a short third phase this month, consisting of 56 new Listener Guides (nos. 245 to 300). In the spirit of our past two phases, there is a unifying “vision” to this tranche of the project.

When I started the Project in 2016, I asked the question: “What constitutes the basic repertoire?”

As I said then, there is no one-size-first-all answer to the question, as personal taste has a lot to do with it. The works one may think are “must haves” in one’s music collection (reflective of one’s conception of the repertoire) is very dependent on the kinds of music (composers, settings, eras) that resonate most with us. One of the aims of the Project was to propose a series of listener guides to not only try and cater to different tastes, but also to expose areas (maybe) less frequented.

In the course of that exploration (244 guides to date), we have sampled “collections” or “cycles” of works by one composer – think of Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies, or Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues for keyboard. Wouldn’t it be interesting to look at our past guides in the context of “complete collections”?

Again – in doing so, we are somewhat arbitrary in our choices as these are mainly “targets of opportunity”. Some collections we will consider in this tranche of the Project may not be among your favourites or make your must-have list. But the fun part is that it allows you (and me in the future) to continue the exploration and build more collections!

Mozart’s 27 Piano Concertos	245-254
German Symphony Collections	255-263
The Mahler Symphonies	264-270
Piano Concerto Collections	271-279
Tchaikovsky and Nielsen Collections	280-287
Five "odd" collections	288-300

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