Having written posts on influential non-fiction books and on influential fiction books, I thought it interesting to list pieces of music that have  influenced me.   To start with, I’ve confined myself to western art music (aka “classical” music).   Jazz and world music to come in due course.  The music is listed in alpha order of  composer surname.

• Adams:  Phrygian Gates
• Arriaga:  String Quartets
• Arriaga:  Symphony
• Bach:  Double Concerto for Violin
• Bach: Piano Concerto #1, BWV1052
• Bach:  St. Matthew Passion
• Bach:  St. John Passion
• Bach:  Mass in B Minor
• Bach:  The Well-Tempered Clavier
• Bach:  Cantatas
• Bach:  Toccata and Fugue in D minor
• Bach:  Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin
• CPE Bach:  Magnificat
• Beethoven:  Piano Sonatas
• Beethoven:  Symphonies 3, 5 and 9
• Beethoven:  Piano Concertos
• Beethoven:  Piano Quartets
• Beethoven:  Piano Trios
• Beethoven:  Violin Concerto
• Bernstein:  Overture to Candide
• Binge: Elizabethan Serenade
• Cage:  Music for prepared piano
• Cherubini:  The String Quartets
• Chopin:  Preludes
• Debussy:  Preludes
• Farrenc:  The Piano Quartets
• Farrenc: The Symphonies
• Feldman: Triadic Memories
• Glass: Koyaanisqatsi
• Glass: Symphony for 8 (Cello Octet)
• Handel:  Messiah
• Haydn:  Sturm und Drang Symphonies
• Haydn:  The Creation
• Haydn:  The String Quartets
• Hummel:  Trumpet Concerto
• Maxwell Davies:  Eight Songs for a Mad King
• McPhee:  Tabu Tabuhan
• Meale:  Clouds Now and Then
• Mendelssohn:  The String Symphonies #7-12
• Mendelssohn:  Magnificat
• Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture
• Mendelssohn:  Octet
• Mendelssohn:  String Quartets and Quintets
• Mendelssohn:  Piano Trios and Quartets
• Mendelssohn: Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Mendelssohn:  Elijah
• Mendelssohn:  Violin Concerto in E minor
• Mendelssohn:  Violin Concerto in D minor
• Mendelssohn:  Concerto for Piano and Violin in D minor
• Mendelssohn: The Symphonies
• Mendelssohn:  Songs without Words
• Montague: Piano Concerto
• Mozart:  Last 3 symphonies
• Mozart:  Requiem
• Mozart: The String Quartets
• Nishimura:  Bird Heterophony
• Nyman: Songs for Tony
• Ore: Codex Temporis
• Orff:  Carmina Burana
• Penberthy: Saxophone Concerto
• Reich:  Nagoya Marimbas
• Reich:  Music for 18 Musicians
• Riley:  In C
• Roman: Drottningholm Music (Music for a Royal Wedding)
• Schumann:  Dichterliebe
• Schumann:  The Symphonies
• Sculthorpe:  Sun Music III
• Shostakovich:  Concerto for Piano and Trumpet
• Shostakovich:  Incidental Music for Hamlet
• Shostakovich:  24 Preludes and Fugues for Piano
• Stockhausen:  Stimmung
• Stravinsky:  The Rite of Spring
• Takemitsu:  A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden
• Tchaikovsky:  Symphonies #4 and #5
• Tchaikovsky:  Violin Concerto
• Vanhal:  The Symphonies
• Wagner:  Prelude to The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
• Xenakis:  Metastaseis
• Xenakis:  Pithoprakta.