Reddit reviews First Nights: Five Musical Premiers

My "Masterpieces of Western Music" course at university used First Nights. I thought that it was pretty interesting, though only covers Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, and Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps. So, it gives more depth that breadth, but it is quite interesting and gives you some ideas of general movements that each composer exemplifies.