SPF: Ravel vs. Grieg vs. R. Strauss vs. Elgar vs. Rachmaninoff

[Benji]

Ravel / Rachmaninov
Strauss
Elgar
Grieg

I went for Ravel in the end, but another day I might have chosen Rach. I wouldn't want to live in a world with Daphnis or the Left Hand PC, but then I could say the same about The Bells, which is one of the most moving pieces I know. But then I could also say the same about the Four Last Songs. 

I'm glad this is a just-for-fun exercise. Imagine you had to discard everything except your single top choice. 

[Scarpia]

I picked Strauss, but Ravel and Elgar would follow fairly closely.  I'm surprised Elgar as so few advocates on this thread.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

  I'm surprised Elgar as so few advocates on this thread.

Well, I just voted for him.

That said, none of the named composers are among my favorites. I like several of the Strauss tone poems, so I'd put him in 2nd place. I'm one of those listeners who finds Rachmaninoff a sentimental gloppy romantic mess, so he comes last. Ravel seems to be a big favorite here; my reaction is basically the same as ukrneal's. I don't hate Ravel; his soundworld just doesn't appeal to me. It's a problem I have with French composers generally - they favor color and texture over rigorous development. My taste is more "Germanic." I suppose Grieg gets 3rd place by default.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I wouldn't want to live in a world with Daphnis or the Left Hand PC,

My sentiments exactly 

[Chaszz]

Where is Sibelius in this survey??

[MN Dave]

Sibelius is a huge GMG favorite who would have wiped out the competition. Or so I thought.

[jochanaan]

The only way I can answer this is to break it into format categories:

Piano concertos: Rachmaninoff by a nose, although Ravel is a strong rival.
Horn concertos: Strauss
Cello concertos: Elgar
Operas: Strauss
Orchestral variations: Elgar, but only because his Enigma is truly orchestral without a solo piano.
Small piano pieces: Rachmaninoff by a nose again, with Grieg very close and Ravel a strong contender
Symphonies: A fair tie between Strauss and Rachmaninoff
Tone poems: Strauss, with Ravel and Rachmaninoff behind only in sheer number of compositions
Marches: Elgar
Incidental music to a Norwegian play: Grieg

[(poco) Sforzando]

Incidental music to a Norwegian play: Grieg

I greatly prefer Ravel's incidental music to a Norwegian play.

[Brian]

Symphonies: A fair tie between Strauss and Rachmaninoff

Hang on, are you basing Strauss on Sinfonia domestica and Eine alpensinfonie, or the two youthful works which are only available on Marco Polo?

Also, you left off ballets... 

[Sid]

Ravel & Rachmaninov, mainly for their excellent solo piano works and piano trios. For me, these are the crowning glories of their outputs. But I also like things like R. Strauss' Metamorphosen (have seen it live three times!). With Grieg, I am yet to hear his solo piano works so that might turn the tide. Elgar I have a mixed reaction to - I dislike his symphonies and think the violin concerto is a bit too long for the material. I did enjoy seeing the cello concerto live (it brought tears to my eyes), but I think that I enjoy his smaller scale works like the string quartet more. So basically it's a tie between the two R's here...

[jochanaan]

Hang on, are you basing Strauss on Sinfonia domestica and Eine alpensinfonie, or the two youthful works which are only available on Marco Polo?

Uh, Domestica and Alpensinfonie; I'm not at all familiar with the other two...

Also, you left off ballets... 

Oops! Definitely Ravel. 

[Chaszz]

For those who like late Romantics, I recommend Hubert Parry (whom Elgar studied under and greatly admired), Franz Schmidt and Franz Srecher, if you've not already heard them.

[Mirror Image]

Sibelius is a huge GMG favorite who would have wiped out the competition. Or so I thought.

As much as I love Sibelius, I like Ravel better, so no, for me, if Sibelius was in poll, he still would have lost.

[DavidW]

As much as I love Sibelius, I like Ravel better, so no, for me, if Sibelius was in poll, he still would have lost.

Same here, I love Sibelius but Ravel is still the winner.

[Sid]

I haven't heard anything else from Sibelius except for his orchestral works, so it's hard for me to judge. I missed a live performance last year of his string quartet "intimate voices," and have never heard a recording of that, nor his solo piano works...

[DavidW]

Oh Sid you're online!  You'll just LOVE what has happened to your 2nd Viennese school thread...

[Mirror Image]

Oh Sid you're online!  You'll just LOVE what has happened to your 2nd Viennese school thread...

Yes, he will. 

[The new erato]

For me Ravel is fo far ahead of the pack that it was a no brains involved vote. I'd guess Strauss would be a fairly distant runner-up; as for the rest they are composers I occasionally enjoy but could well live without.

[MN Dave]

As much as I love Sibelius, I like Ravel better, so no, for me, if Sibelius was in poll, he still would have lost.

Hm... 

[Luke]

FWIW I'd be in agreement with MI here - I absolutely adore Sibelius, but for every hard-won moment of granitic splendour or every surgingly overwhelming point of formal balance (oh, the 1st-2nd movement transition in the 5th symphony is running throuhg my head now!!!) that I derive from him and his large canvasses Ravel with his intricately detailed scores gives me countless moments of delight, bar after bar after bar of them. The hidden depths of his music move me deeply, he makes me gasp in astonishment, and makes me think. Technically speaking Ravel had one of the most complete equipments of any composer - as an orchestrator, as everyone says, but as a deeply individual harmonist and as a moulder of large forms too, for instance - and as a result he was able to compose like a wizard, repeatedly making sounds that no one else could make. One could say the same of Strauss...but, for me, Strauss's magic too often fails to work, he lacks Ravel's lightness and deftness and his humility too, I think - the humility that makes an airily-scored delicate work like Ma mere l'oye possible. All just IMO, just the way I hear things, and really to underscore that Ravel ranks so very, very high for me, not to denigrate the other two, who I love deeply also.