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Your list of the five greatest composers

23K views 442 replies 78 participants last post by  Art Rock 
#1 · (Edited)
Inspired by the thread on the 50 greatest from 174 composers published by the BBC, here's out chance to join the fun. You can only choose five composers.

Not your five favorite, but the five you think are the greatest, however you wish to interpret that term. (Please don't number your list - I am copying and pasting them into a spread sheet and then will sort and subtotal the results. It's just easier without the numbers. Thanks.)

My list:

Bach
Beethoven
Wagner
Brahms
Schoenberg
 
#76 · (Edited)
Dunno ladies, Andante Largo clearly said Castelnuovo-Tedesco beats all of these suckers. But if you're not up-and-up on the true talents of this world, your opinion may mean little. Best to go study and come back when you've acquired musical knowledge.

Edit: Here's proof Andante said this. "Castelnuovo-Tedesco... They're the greatest composers for me."
What more proof do you need? It's coming from Andante himself. Do you think he's dumber than Boulez or Stravinsky whoever, 'popular' pop composers. He even has Respighi in his Top 5, he's obviously incredibly learned.

Unless his account was hacked or something, I think we're safe to bet on this being the case.
 
#78 · (Edited)
I can't but echo the widespread feeling that these five (here in chronological order, not order of merit, which I couldn't presume to suggest) are at least as deserving of nomination as any:

Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Wagner
Brahms

All five have in common being key figures in the Teutonic stream of European music, to which complexity of structure, including harmonic structure, was more central than it was to the music of other European traditions. People more attracted to melodic, rhythmic and coloristic elements in music would probably be less likely to give preeminence to these five, or at least to some of them.

Bach and Mozart, and to only a slightly lesser extent Beethoven and Brahms, seem to me "composer's composers," producing work after work, in nearly every common genre, in which a transcendent mastery of forms and techniques is a thing that makes us marvel, regardless of (but of course serving) the music's expressive intent. Wagner is an anomaly in this list, and I've often struggled with myself in deciding to put him in such august company. It finally seems to come down to that maddeningly fugitive quality of "genius," which sets itself previously unimagined goals and fulfills them with such mold-breaking originality and power as to leave everything changed in its wake. No great artist is without originality, and all these five had it in spades, but as innovation became more valued by the aesthetic movement we call "Romantic" the quest for the unprecedented became more essential. Beethoven set the paradigm with his constant exploration of new territory, and Wagner was his true disciple in a manner quite different from Brahms.
 
#79 · (Edited)
All five have in common being key figures in the Teutonic stream of European music, to which complexity of structure, including harmonic structure, was more central
Do sounds initially more palatable pose a heftier challenge to great complexity?

Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Wagner
Brahms
What might you make of, in terms of 'favorite' composers not greatest, a large majority of people (esp outside this community) choosing only one or two of these? Not to take away from your concise summary, it ties back into the first question. Is complexity of structure a buzzword for many of their more unique elements, or is it a complement to their more popular, palatable sound?
 
#82 ·
Maybe 'density' is a better word than 'complexity'. It avoids the negative implications of complexity's antonym.

For me, maybe it relates to the question I just started a thread about. Whilst I can enjoy hearing what different voices are doing, and I actively try to follow them while listening, it's the overall textures, plus rhythm and leading voice that most appeals. So Beethoven is urgent, rugged, while Sibelius moves from apparent immobility to a shimmering restlessness, shifting constantly.

Complexity per se is not relevant to my choices. What matters is the overall effect on my aesthetic buttons.
 
#85 · (Edited)
Maybe 'density' is a better word than 'complexity', hearing what different voices are doing, but it's the overall textures, plus rhythm and leading voice that most appeals.
There's also horizontal 'complexity.' I've mentioned before I'm an avid student of horizontal complexity, or what I refer to as general form. Often cited the names Wagner, Ravel, Mozart, Rachmaninoff.

This is perhaps what this below thread I made was seeking to find. Brahms didn't do so terribly at all right here:

What is the greatest ~5 minutes of music? - Page 8

But a still more-favorite example of mine of horizontal complexity is



All sorta feels like it's building up to 9:24 - :)
 
#112 · (Edited)
Sorry, but I think his style consists of a bit too much grindy sounds and lacks range, both within a piece, and between pieces. I've thought of starting a thread (but probably won't do it soon): "the greatest composer of Catholic music of the common practice", but I think I have my reasons why don't think Zelenka is. (and I classify Bach as Protestant.)
 
#113 ·
J S Bach
Beethoven

A traditional choice, but that's because these two composers are miles above any other composer in history.

So the choice of no. 3, 4 and 5 will inevitably become abritrary and to a large extent depend upon one's taste.

My 3, 4 and 5 are

Machaut
Buxtehude
Bartok

But it might as well be DuFay, Josquin, Mozart, Brahms, Hindemith or others.
 
#114 ·
"Bach said Buxtehude is the best." You're maybe the most consistent person I've ever seen on this forum, congrats... But still it's your own opinion.

Just like I think we solved the whole Top 50 composers according to all the popular composers we know in history. Most of them say Mozart is the best, but it's just their opinion. Next we should ask Miles Davis or The Beatles, it wouldn't be too far off.
 
#131 · (Edited)
I didn't take seriously the neglect of Handel because I didn't take the BBCpoll seriously. I said it was dumb not to include Handel. The argument came when people, to my utter astonishment, took issue with my statement. I don't take polls like this too seriously because it is exceedingly difficult to weigh one against the other in the matter of art. For example you might say that Beethoven compose the greatest piano sonatas and string quartets, Mozart the greatest operas, Bach the greatest choral music, etc, but just how do we make an objective judgment? Obviously personal preference comes into it and one might certainly change one's mind several times during ones lifetime.
 
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