The text is taken from the scribblings on the wall of a Gestapo cell during the Second World War and, as you can imagine, its pretty harrowing stuff but Grecki makes it sound so transcendental that its hard to believe it was written in such dire circumstances.

Needless to say, each of these examples should be digested in a single sitting.

The original title is Passio Domini nostri J.C.

Evangelistam Matthum (the J.C.

Jesus Christ, which is maybe a bit familiar for someone he hadnt met but well let him off).

There are biblical proclamations of impending apocalypse littered throughout, and for each of them, Bach wangles in some sort of crushing atonality or strange chord, as if hes wincing with pain each time it happens.

This is such a human experience, composed at a time when human experiences werent chief among the aims of most Baroque composer composers.

The premiere performance was given just nine days before the composer died.

Many initially thought it was a lengthy suicide note, others pointed to the hugely controversial homosexual leanings Tchaikovsky was known to have, while some thought it was just a tragic, sad, glorious and indulgent artistic expression.

Its a lesson in the very best ways of expressing emotions through music.

Ruddy massive. Mahler s Symphony No.

No other composer couldve made it more entertaining (listen out for death shrieks), or more rewarding.

The epic final few minutes are a stupidly generous reward on their own, but getting there is half the fun.

Its a one-movement experiment in structure that was universally hated when it was first composed.

You can actually hear the struggle and the effort it mustve taken to compose, which means its not always a relaxing listen, but few pieces in history have so nakedly shown how a composer can throw absolutely everything into a single work.

And, in the end, it was hugely influential to serialist composers of the 20th century with none other than Igor Stravinsky proclaiming it a miracle of music.

It might just be us, but doesnt it actually sound like Mozart is scared of death here Aside from being spooky as anything, the Requiem is a haunting patchwork of things completed by one of Mozarts pupils, Franz Sssmayr, its become a legendary mystery and the perfect way to end the story of one of historys most celebrated geniuses i.e.

What an enigma.

Make no mistake about it - Monteverdis Vespers are hugely entertaining on their own terms.

For starters, its simply enormous in scale.

If you want to be crude about it (and we do) then you could describe it as Monteverdi taking church music to the opera, with all the drama that implies.

Trumpets, drums, massive choruses, florid vocal lines this really is the greatest hits of the early Baroque.

We dont want to get all mushy on you, but theres something spectacularly English about how the ultimate stiff-upper-lipped curmudgeon, Edward Elgar, was able to convey his emotions in music rather than in words or actions.

His private life was surprisingly tumultuous (thats another story), and in pieces like the Cello Concerto its as if the gasket has blown and Elgar is finally able to let out all the pent-up emotion in a focused blast.

Its got a terrible reputation among non-aficionados as that really long opera that no-one likes, and in a way it represents all the most exclusive, cerebral and faux-worthy stereotypes of the opera world.

But we tell you: that perception is WRONG and the Ring Cycle is a fundamentally unhinged work of staggering genius.

What Richter manages to do so incredibly well is to subtly sneak in delightful additions, tweaks and reinventions to a classic you already know extremely well, and freshen it up not just for the modern era, but for the eras to come too.

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