Thanks Pete. To be clear, I am not claiming that these are the 100 Greatest Classical pieces in my opinion, nor asking anybody else to offer theirs. Wayback when @Leggie started a Classical Music tps thread which would serve that purpose well.
I used this list, originally put together by digitaldreamdoor.com which others had found helpful. It is (IMO) a fairly representative list of some of the best known classical pieces which I have chosen quite arbitrarily to use and not question, and am asking anyone who contributes to this thread to do the same. The aim is to make it simpler for classical n00bs by providing focus in the belief that divergence and diveristy do the opposite and simply make it more overwhelming. I tried to explain this here and here.
So see this as a “site seeing tour” though classical and try to ignore the click-bait title which I chose also to use. What I am doing is proposing my own personal favourite performances/recordings of these 100 and asking others to contribute theirs.
That said, huge thanks for chiming in and thanks for hauling me up on the Nutcracker Suite. You’re quite right. I formed a preference for the suite very early in life (iirc based on being taken to a very uninsipring performance of the full ballet) and kinda forgot about it thereafter, my bad. I will happily give it a new chance though and check out your recommendation!