[Nicolai P. Zwar]

Nothing wrong with whittling down anything if you are so inclined, lots of ballets, operas, etc. exist in Suites and “Highlights” CDs. I generally prefer sooner or later to know the whole thing, but they can serve as entry points or a nice listen in between. Heck, there are even 10 minute abbreviations of all kinds of movies now on YouTube.
I like the suites Bernard Herrmann condensed for his Phase IV recording series and often return to them.