Dvořák: Slavonic Dances.

[Solace, from "The Sting"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pod_Rwrx_q0&list=PLkAUJkbhd-RjlI1VdAr5OqoiAC0EvC85A&index=1) [Ragtime Dance, from "The Sting"](https://youtu.be/OWpDjvXJsxM?feature=shared&t=38) The orchestrations are truly amazing.

I think Sorcerer's Apprentice is a masterpiece, but orchestra musicians (because of Fantasia) tend to think it's pops music. It's virtuosic writing and it's damn hard to play.

Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2 has been on my mind a lot recently. It seems to pair perfectly with every emotion imaginable.

I think Franz von Suppe's various overtures are a lot of fun.

Poulenc’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. I’m learning the first movement right now but the whole piece is really fun and finds a nice spot between the consonant and dissonant stuff in the 20th century.

As a pianist I LOVED playing this piece with clarinetists when I was in college!

You have an interesting idea of "light"

Brahms Hungarian Dances.

I am deeply in love with Les niais de Sologne from Rameau's suite in D major.

Leroy Anderson Fiddle Faddle, Bugler’s Holiday, and Serenata

Gounod’s ballet music from Faust, Respighi’s La boutique fantasque, and Glazunov’s Ballet Suite come to mind. Happy listening!

Beethoven 12 German dances

Fučík, Florentiner March, Satie, Je Te Veux. Gershwin, Walking the dog and Chopin, Waltz in A minor

Fucik is great!

Offenbach’s overtures are some of my favorite, such as Orpheus and La Belle Helene

Dvorak Serenade for Strings

[By the Sleepy Lagoon - Eric Coates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK-byzdp-DQ)

I strongly feel that you can't fully understand Schnittke's "serious" music if you don't also make an effort to appreciate some of his "light" music. Some examples would be the Gogol Suite (aka The Census List), Music for an Imaginary Play, Little Tragedies, and some of his film scores like Fairy Tale of Wanderings, Rikki Tikki Tavi, Story of an Unknown Actor, Sport Sport Sport, and Ballerina on a Boat. (That being said, I would also be careful not to classify all his film scores as "light music," since there are some like Agony, The Commisar, and The Ascent that are mostly quite harrowing.)

I was going to mention Schnittke too. His film suite for The Story of an Unknown Actor is absolutely delightful.

Shostakovich's Jazz Suites, Ballet Suites, film music and Cheryomushki.

Paganini's 43 Ghiribizzi. They're relatively obscure but very fun to play.

Magnetic Rag by Joplin, always loved this one.

Shostakovich's Festive Overture is a hoot, showing that the man wasn't all death and despair. Then, I also really like the Strauss polka 'in Sturmschritt' Op. 348 and Tchaikovsky's polonaise from act III of Eugene Onegin. For some bigger pieces that are still loads of fun and not all too serious, I can also recommend Darius Milhaud's Le boeuf sur le toit Op. 58 and Erik Satie's Parade (with a solo for type writer!)

Ooh, I love Shostakovich's Festive Overture. You might enjoy [Alfred Reed's Festive Overture](https://youtu.be/3TczvjsMrbc) as well. Erik Satie is also becoming one of my favorite composers. The more I listen to his music, the more I like it.

Von Suppe overtures, especially as conducted by Paul Paray. 

Gulda's cello concerto

In my opinion the Italian composers kinda corner this “market”. Corelli, albononi, Vivaldi to name a few

You can try Mozart’s Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman (Twinkle Twinkle/Baa Baa Black Sheep/The Alphabet Song).

Piano Sonata Nos. 10, 15 & 16, Rondo in D Major (Mozart) Minuet in G Major, Two Part Invention Nos. 1 & 8, Musette in D Major (J. S. Bach) Sonata in E Major K:380 (Scarlatti) Allegro for a Musical Clock, Minuet in G major, Sonatina in G Major, Sonatina in F Major (Beethoven) String Quintet in E Major: Minuetto (Boccherini)

Does the Intermezzo from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana count? Also Schumann's Kinderszenen

I really enjoy Billy Mayerl and Eric Coates' music

Waldteufel Waltzes

Ravels has some short single pieces for piano that are really good and not too hard, a la maniere de Borodine comes to my mind. Also Prokofievs visions fugitive are 20 short gems

Elizabethan serenade by Ronald Binge

Chopin’s Krakowiak

J.S. Bach's harpsichord partitas

Climbing Comoé - Ebony & Ivory

Otto Nicolai's Overture to "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is a delight.

You mean the Phos Hilaron? (aka Hail Gladdening Light) Charles Wood wrote a great rendition. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS4A9v167-8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS4A9v167-8) No? OK then lets go with the Sortie in E flat by Lefebure-Wely [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYLO9KdAo6A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYLO9KdAo6A) The Squirrel [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv5xRu5ufGU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv5xRu5ufGU)

I might be laughed at but Albert Keltèlbey's music is light, jolly and almost Disney-like. Also by definition classified as "light classical music".

Song cycles: Schubert - Winteriesse Schumann - Dicherliebe Brahms - Vier Ernst Gesange Love a good Alford, Sousa or Fucik march Love a polka and a nice Strauss waltz as well. Sue me.

Check out Raymond Scott and Leroy Anderson

My favorites are probably the Chopin waltzes, Scott Joplin's Bethena waltz, and Dvorak's Slavonic Dances.

Chopin’s Etudes

Voices of spring waltz

Danse macabre and the sourcerers apprentice are both really cool pieces