5 Beautiful Pieces of Classical Music

Get ready to hear some of the most beautiful pieces of classical music.

I have compiled a list of 5 pieces that I consider to be some of the most beautiful pieces of classical music. You can listen to all of them in the following playlist as you read more about them below:

Or listen with this Spotify playlist:

1. Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer in the first half of the 20th century. This orchestral work uses the theme from Thomas Tallis called Why Fum’th in Fight. Thomas Tallis composed the theme in 1567 as part of a collection of 9 tunes for Archbishop Parker’s Psalter. The tune for the Psalm 2 setting is used in Vaughan Williams’ piece. This is the text for the original Psalm setting by Thomas Tallis:

“Why fum’th in fight the Gentiles spite, in fury raging stout?
Why tak’th in hand the people fond, vain things to bring about?
The Kings arise, the Lords devise, in counsels met thereto,
against the Lord with false accord, against His Christ they go.”

In modern translations the verses read:

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed.”

2. Rachmaninov – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini: Variation 18

This piece also comes from two composers. The original work by Paganini is the 24 Caprices for solo violin, which comes from the early 1800s. Rachmaninov in the 20th century then wrote a work for piano and orchestra on the 24th variation of Paganini’s piece. In Rachmaninov’s 18th variation on the Paganini theme, he turned the melody upside down and the result was amazing.

3. Liszt – Un Sospiro

Liszt was a pianist and composer from the Romantic Era (he lived for much of the 1800s), and arguably one of the greatest pianists of all time. This piece is the third of his 3 Concert Etudes. The title translated means “A sigh”. It starts with a melody that is split between the two hands, with the left hand crossing over to play some of the melody.

This even more difficult section starts at 1:38, yet the pianist makes it look easy:

This piece, despite being difficult to play, is very easy to listen to.

4. Lauridsen – O Magnum Mysterium

This choral piece from Lauridsen uses a text on the scene of the nativity. The title means “O great mystery”, and the text contemplates with awe the incarnation of Christ and the scene of His birth. Lauridsen said the piece is an “affirmation of God’s grace to the meek—a quiet song of profound inner joy”. In my opinion this is the most beautiful choral work ever written.

5. Mahler – Symphony No. 5 Mvmt IV. Adagietto

This movement from Mahler’s 5th Symphony was a love song to his wife. It may have been inspired by a poem he wrote to his wife:

In which way I love you, my sunbeam,
I cannot tell you with words.
Only my longing, my love and my bliss
can I with anguish declare.

This movement from his 5th symphony flows very nicely.