Composers That Are Linked To Your Soul

[Mirror Image]

I'm sure that this idea been done before, but what are five composers you know a ton about and have researched, studied, are passionate about, and listen to on a regular basis that by all respects your knowledge would make you, more or less, an "expert" on them?

For me, my 5 would probably be: Ravel, Villa-Lobos, Berg, Vaughan Williams, and Delius. I'm really working on becoming a lot more knowledgeable about Shostakovich as his history is certainly as fascinating as his music. Another composer I'm working on becoming more knowledgeable about is Nielsen, who, for the longest time, confused the hell out of me and I'm not quite sure why.

[karlhenning]

Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Berlioz
Schoenberg

[jowcol]

Moussorgsky got me into music.  I had out of the body experiences listening to him when I was three or four.   No one gets deeper than him for me, although, since his body of work is not that big, I must admit I don't listen him him as much these days only because his work is so deeply carved into me that I will never be without him.

Beyond that??  I'd probably say Bach, Stravinsky, Debussy, and maybe out of scope, I'd have to add the John Coltrane Quartet.

Although the last few years, I've not been faithful, but have been "playing the field". 

I wouldn't claim to be an" expert"  on them-- but they've really gotten  to be part of me.

[Luke]

Janacek
Ravel
Tippett
Brahms
Chopin

[karlhenning]

Janacek
Ravel
Tippett
Brahms
Chopin

It pained me to leave Chopin & Ravel off my list!

[Mirror Image]

Janacek
Ravel
Tippett
Brahms
Chopin

Tippett is a composer I just keep brushing off with no good reason. I have read a lot about him. What would you recommend somebody who totally clueless, like myself, about his music to start off with?

[DavidRoss]

When I saw the thread title, this fellow popped into mind:



Sibelius skated over my head until middle age, at which time he began to speak to me as no one else does.  Note, however, that I'm responding to the thread title only; I have no pretensions to expertise, regarding his music or anyone else's. 

[MN Dave]

An "expert" on? Probably no one. 

[karlhenning]

An "expert" on? Probably no one. 

Well, it would be interesting to discuss expert in scare-quotes!

Tippett is a composer I just keep brushing off with no good reason. I have read a lot about him. What would you recommend somebody who totally clueless, like myself, about his music to start off with?

You didn't ask me (and you did ask the fellow who knows best) . . . but I'd suggest the ballet The Rose Lake.

[Florestan]

No "expert' at all and not five. But "passionate about", most certainly.

Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Schumann
Chopin
Brahms
Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninoff

[MN Dave]

No "expert' at all and not five. But "passionate about", most certainly.

Oh, "passionate about." Well, then...

Beethoven
Chopin

[Florestan]

Oh, "passionate about." Well, then...

Beethoven
Chopin

0:)

[Luke]

@ Karl

it pained me to leave off some of those you had, too! But, push coming to shove, and taking the topic title as literally as I could, it would always be these five, I think. Composers whose every note speaks to me, with not a loose, wasted one to be found.

@ MI - I would go for

Concerto for Double String Orchestra - his first masterpiece, featuring his sprung rhythms in their most infectious form, and with a beautiful slow movement of genius which blends finds the common ground between English folk music, blues and Beethoven.

Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli - another masterpiece for strings, about which it has rightly been written that here, at the time of Le Marteau Sans Maitre and Punkte is Tippett writing lyrical, effusive, tonal music referencing Bach and Corelli - and doing so in a way which is as relevant and modern as any of its contemporaries. It is a sort of homage to string playing, a love song to the violin, with an ecstatic fugue which rises to a spectacularly powerful, deeply-felt climax.

Ritual Dances from The Midsummer Marriage - MM is Tippett's first opera, and contains much of his greatest music. It's standard to say 'but the plot is just too weird', though actually to someone as fascinated by Tippett's mixture of Jung, myth, symbolism and folklore as I am it's not a problem at all. The Ritual Dances, however, are orchestral extracts, and wonderful ones - you don't need to worry about the plot at all

A Child of Our Time - the simply magnificent wartime oratorio, a masterpiece of humanism and tenderness, of Jungian insight. The music has immense communicative power, and the progress of the work from pained, dark winter to flowing, light-filled spring is heartbreaking.

Piano Concerto - actually my favourite post 1950 piano concerto, inspired by Gieseking's playing of Beethoven's 4th PC - that tells you something about the lyricism of this piece. It's mid-period Tippett, slightly later than MM and full of the same sort of 'magic music' - tinkling celesta joining the piano in its cadenzas, arching fourth-based harmonies and motives....

Second Symphony - Tippett's least problematic symphony, exhibiting his mature style at its most flexible and powerful. A wonderful, positive piece.

Triple Concerto - of the later Tippett, this concerto for string trio is the most approachable and the most colourful piece, full of exquisite shadings and sensuous moments, including a slow movement influenced by Indian music of the most unimaginable lyrical beauty for its time - pure radiant tonality, potently memorable melody, and yet utterly, undeniably modern

that would make a good starter, I think.

[Luke]

Karl suggests The Rose Lake - it is a gorgeous piece too, (not a ballet, though maybe it has been made into one), and I certainly wouldn't avoid it! Another piece of lyrical late Tippett (very late in this case)

[karlhenning]

Karl suggests The Rose Lake - it is a gorgeous piece too, (not a ballet, though maybe it has been made into one)

Oops, my mistake! An early misprision that got lodged . . . .

[Mirror Image]

Thank you Luke and Karl for your help with Tippett. I shall seek out some recordings.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Ludwig van Beethoven
Richard Wagner
Gustav Mahler
Frederick Delius
Havergal Brian

[Mirror Image]

Frederick Delius

In my opinion, one of the most underrated composers of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. So many people listen to his music and fail to recognize what's underneath that luscious, often beautiful surface. Glad to see I'm not alone and understanding this man's great music.

[Bulldog]

Bach
Taneyev
Scriabin
Schumann
Shostakovich

[The new erato]

Beethoven
Stravinsky
Brahms
Frank Martin
Shostakovich