YOUR 10 composers

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sqorda

Discussion Starter · 4 mo ago

Imagine you were forced to choose. You can only ever listen to ten composers. And you have to choose now.

So not the ten greatest, most important (or whatever) composers. But your ten composers.

(Yes, this is idiocy. Of course. But I have very important things to do. And I do not want to do them. I will do this instead.)

My 10 (chronologically):

JS Bach
Haydn
Beethoven
Schubert
Schumann
Brahms
Mahler
Debussy
Bartók
Ligeti

Yes, no Mozart.

But I figured I don’t really need Mozart. I’ve soaked him up anyway. Been listening to Mozart since I was seventeen or something (my brain tells me that makes forty years, something that I categorically refuse to believe). And when I’m in neeeeed of something, I very rarely turn to Mozart these days, haven’t for a long time. Haydn and Beethoven are my buddies, I can have a real conversation with them. But not with Mozart. He’s not about him and me. I can just look at him, admire him, marvel at him, yes. Except maybe in K516. And K491. Incredible psychodramas and both very ”real” (if you catch my drift). But however much I love them, they don’t really involve, include, invite, me. Pick any Beethoven piano sonata and Beethoven’s there in the room with you. That is, with me. And we’re talking. Right off the mark. And yes, there’s the first mvt of K504 (there’s tons of stuff, of course, the operas…). Figaro! Miracle of miracles! But what do you actually do with a miracle? What do you do with perfect? After forty years.

And I also had to exclude Monteverdi, Rameau (that was painful!), Handel (he’s always best when I’m drunk and I’m hardly ever drunk anymore, so…), Berlioz and Stravinsky. And Xenakis (but that’s OK. I think). And there are a few others, many, actually, that I will miss very much too. Yes.

And apologies, again, as always, for my not always good English.

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golfer72

· #2 · 4 mo ago

Brahms
Beethoven
Mahler
Rachmaninoff
Schubert
Bax
Sibelius
Medtner
Vaughn Williams
Elgar

Reactions: 4

prlj

· #3 · 4 mo ago

Oh what the heck:

Mahler
Beethoven
Martinu
Verdi
Puccini
Shosty
Mozart
Glass
Rautavaara
Haydn

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TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

· #4 · 4 mo ago (Edited)

Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Bruckner
Chopin
Haydn
Mahler
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Sibelius

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HenryPenfold

· #5 · 4 mo ago (Edited)

I can't resist lists like this!

This list will probably be different from my previous lists on the same question!

1. Wagner
2. Bruckner
3. Mahler
4. Sibelius
5. Debussy
6. Ravel
7. Shostakovich
8. Britten
9. Tchaikovsky
10 Bartok

Beethoven doesn't count because he's like God.

As much as I love much of Mozart's music, I prefer all the above and below......

Vaughan Williams, Harrison Birtwistle, Messiaen and Malcolm Arnold are often in my list - not this time

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Neo Romanza

· #6 · 4 mo ago

My 'Top 10' -

1. Debussy
2. Mahler
3. Strauss
4. Sibelius
5. Bartók
6. Ravel
7. Stravinsky
8. Tchaikovsky
9. Shostakovich
10. Berlioz

Reactions: 5

Highwayman

· #7 · 4 mo ago

Brahms
Bach
Beethoven
Schumann
Reger
Messiaen
Hindemith
Carter
Xenakis
Palestrina

These are not necessarily my 10 favourite composers but the ones I`d take to a desert island.

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Ethereality

· #8 · 4 mo ago

My Top 12 composers are Mmph, Tmpht, Harumph, and the respectable select writers of Symphony 1 through rum.

Though in addition to the 12 plum thumbkins, I listed a month this post did I ago:

For today:

Beethoven
Borodin
Brahms
Glazunov
Rimsky-Korsakov
Mahler
Debussy
Martinů
Hindemith
Elgar

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Neo Romanza

· #9 · 4 mo ago

prlj said:
Oh what the heck:

Mahler

Beethoven

Martinu

Verdi

Puccini

Shosty

Mozart

Glass

Rautavaara

Haydn

Glad to see Martinů on your list.

He didn't quite make my 'Top 10' but he's certainly in my 'Top 20'.

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prlj

· #10 · 4 mo ago

Neo Romanza said:
Glad to see Martinů on your list. He didn't quite make my 'Top 10' but he's certainly in my 'Top 20'.

Yeah! He's very much new to me, but I put him there as I'm excited to explore the catalog of someone I'm completely unfamiliar with. His double concerto blew me away the other day!

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Prodromides

· #11 · 4 mo ago

sqorda said:
And you have to choose now.

I already chose ... 15 months ago:

A New Version of Top 10 Composers | Classical Music Forum (talkclassical.com)

1. Charles Koechlin
2. Andre Jolivet
3. Richard Rodney Bennett (soundtracks, concert works, jazz pieces, etc.)
4. Aarre Merikanto
5. Alex North (soundtracks & concert works)
6. Arne Nordheim (orchestral/instrumental as well as mag tapes/electronic music)
7. Piero Piccioni (Italian soundtracks)
8. Meyer Kupferman (12-tone + jazz)
9. Toru Takemitsu
10. Heitor Villa-Lobos

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48486

· #12 · 4 mo ago

1. Beethoven

Shostakovich
Brahms
Dvorak
Nielsen
Sibelius
Strauss
Prokofiev
Vaughan Williams
Arnold

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Oldhoosierdude

· #13 · 4 mo ago (Edited)

I don't usually get involved in these lists but hey, why not.

Beethoven
Bach
Bax
Martinu
Farrenc
Holst
Mendelssohn
Tchaikovsky
Dvorak
Brahms, Schumann or Fibich.

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Neo Romanza

· #14 · 4 mo ago

Oldhoosierdude said:
I don't usually get involved in these lists but hey, why not.

Beethoven
Bach
Bax
Martinu
Farrenc
Holst
Mendelssohn
Tchaikovsky
Dvorak
Brahms, Schumann or Tchaikovsky.

Right on!

Another pick for Martinů.

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Oldhoosierdude

· #15 · 4 mo ago

Neo Romanza said:
Right on! Another pick for Martinů.

Oh yeah. I have a lot of his works. Can't imagine why everyone doesn't rate him at the top. I have never understood the "quirky" label I have seen applied to him.

Reactions: 2

Neo Romanza

· #16 · 4 mo ago

Oldhoosierdude said:
Oh yeah. I have a lot of his works. Can't imagine why everyone doesn't rate him at the top. I have never understood the "quirky" label I have seen applied to him.

I have A LOT of his recordings, too. What always surprised me was how he's not a part of the mainstream repertoire and how he's not really performed too often outside of Czechia. A shame as I think anyone who hasn't experienced his music would come away a fan. The first work I heard was his 1st symphony (Thomson on Chandos) and I was hooked from beginning. He wrote prolifically in all genres, but it seems the orchestral, choral, chamber works and operas get the most attention.

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Oldhoosierdude

· #17 · 4 mo ago

Neo Romanza said:
I have A LOT of his recordings, too. What always surprised me was how he's not a part of the mainstream repertoire and how he's not really performed too often outside of Czechia. A shame as I think anyone who hasn't experienced his music would come away a fan. The first work I heard was his 1st symphony (Thomson on Chandos) and I was hooked from beginning. He wrote prolifically in all genres, but it seems the orchestral, choral, chamber works and operas get the most attention.

The first works I got of his were some string quartets in a Naxos download give away. That was enough to hook me.

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sqorda

Discussion Starter · #18 · 4 mo ago

prlj said:
Yeah! He's very much new to me, but I put him there as I'm excited to explore the catalog of someone I'm completely unfamiliar with. His double concerto blew me away the other day!

He wrote several double concertos. Is it this one?
Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano, and Timpani, H 271

Stumbled on it recently too. Good stuff!

Reactions: 2

PathfinderCS

· #19 · 4 mo ago

I guess it's about time I did one of these for composers!

Hector Berlioz
Charles-Marie Widor
Gustav Mahler
Anton Bruckner
Ludwig van Beethoven
Igor Stravinsky
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johannes Brahms
Antonin Dvorak
Franz Schubert

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Ethereality

· #20 · 4 mo ago

golfer72 said:
Brahms

Beethoven

Mahler

Rachmaninoff

Schubert

Bax

Sibelius

Medtner

Vaughn Williams

Elgar

Great list! I almost included Bax and Sibelius but needed room for Martinu and Hindemith. A toss-up where our lists would've been uncannily similar.

Reactions: 2

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