Oscar Wilde sarcastically suggested, “Good resolutions are simply checks that people draw on a bank where they have no account.”

Of course it might also be said that making resolutions is a cleansing ritual demanding personal honesty, and that breaking them is simply part of an overall human cycle.

Here then are the 5 Top Tracks in support of your New Year’s Resolutions. Whether you delight in seeing the emergence of a new dawn, or enjoying a bit of a workout to lower your level of cortisol, Ravel and Beethoven can help. If you are dealing with a severe case of the “cocktail flu,” the Isle of the Dead won’t cure you, but Rachmaninoff knew exactly how you feel! Reality bites, but as Tippet and Strauss remind us, there is always hope that a spaceship or leader beyond good and evil will bring redemption.

And if all fails, we can hopefully try again next year!

Maurice Ravel: “Sunrise,” Daphnis et Chloe

Ludwig van Beethoven: “Allegro” from Symphony No. 4, Op. 60

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead, Op. 29

Michael Tippett: New Year Suite

Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30