Top 100 of the twentieth century

[Lethevich]

These listeners are fascinating, they like things I have either never heard of, or would never consider wasting my time listening to.

39, KATS-CHERNIN - Wild Swans

wat?

29, WESTLAKE - Antarctica Suite

who?

[Mirror Image]

These listeners are fascinating, they like things I have either never heard of, or would never consider wasting my time listening to.

wat?

who?

Both are Australian composers. Kats-Chernin is a Minimalist who has gained popularity and Westlake's music could be mistaken for some Hollywood film composer's music. Nothing worthy of listening to IMHO.

[The new erato]

Lighten up people. It's only a list of what some people like to listen to. Like most of the posts here. Some of which I have strong reactions to, but never care to comment on, as peoples likes are just.....peoples likes.

[Lethevich]

But the thread might as well be deleted if we can't have fun with it

I still don't know who this "Ramirez" fellow is, but it's nice that he is well-liked :3

[starrynight]

These listeners are fascinating, they like things I have either never heard of, or would never consider wasting my time listening to.

wat?

who?

Or the radio station is fascinating for you, as those are the pieces they no doubt play and so what listeners vote for.

[KeithW]

I still don't know who this "Ramirez" fellow is, but it's nice that he is well-liked :3

Or the radio station is fascinating for you, as those are the pieces they no doubt play and so what listeners vote for.

These two come together nicely - Ramirez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Ram%C3%ADrez  was an Argentine composer.  The work ranked here was played on ABC Classic earlier this year (heard it before I left) - and so listeners are likely to have heard it, some may have enjoyed it, and voted for it.

The ABC's lists always rank a number of Australian compositions.  I suspect that British ranked list of this sort, for example, will give a higher prominence to British composers than might be seen elsewhere.  I guess that's where the ranking lists on this discussion board give great service - knowledgeable - and international - voters.  But opinions, nevertheless.

[mc ukrneal]

These two come together nicely - Ramirez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Ram%C3%ADrez  was an Argentine composer.  The work ranked here was played on ABC Classic earlier this year (heard it before I left) - and so listeners are likely to have heard it, some may have enjoyed it, and voted for it.

The ABC's lists always rank a number of Australian compositions.  I suspect that British ranked list of this sort, for example, will give a higher prominence to British composers than might be seen elsewhere.  I guess that's where the ranking lists on this discussion board give great service - knowledgeable - and international - voters.  But opinions, nevertheless.

That's why I am actually enjoying this list. I've never heard of some of these people, and it is an opportunity to explore.

[glindhot]

28, PUCCINI - Tosca

27, SIBELIUS - Symphony No. 2 in D Major Op. 43

26, KHACHATURIAN - Spartacus

25, MAHLER - Symphony No.5 in c-sharp minor

24, GERSHWIN - Porgy and Bess

23, SIBELIUS - Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47

22, RACHMANINOFF - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op.43

21, ELGAR - Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 in D Op.39

20, RAVEL - Bolero

19, RACHMANINOFF - Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor Op.30

18, COPLAND - Appalachian Spring

17, PUCCINI - Madama Butterfly

16, PART - Spiegel Im Spiegel

15, SIBELIUS - Finlandia

14, GORECKI - Symphony No.3 Op.36, 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs'

13, BERNSTEIN - West Side Story

12, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

11, STRAUSS - Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs)

10, PROKOFIEV - Romeo and Juliet Op.64

9, STRAVINSKY - Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)

8, ORFF - Carmina Burana

7, BARBER - Adagio For Strings

6, RODRIGO - Concierto de Aranjuez

5, RACHMANINOV - Piano Concerto No. 2

4, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - The Lark Ascending

3, GERSHWIN - Rhapsody in Blue

2, HOLST - The Planets

1, ELGAR - Cello Concerto in E minor Op.85

The voting for the top 100 is first-past-the-post. This means that a mediocre one-hit-wonder may well outvote the superior compositions of a prolific composer. That composer's votes, in total, may be far higher than the one-hit-wonder but because the votes are spread across a large number of his compositions, few, if any, individual works make it onto the list.

[westknife]

^Hence The Planets at number 2.

[Mirror Image]

...and it is an opportunity to explore.

Yeah, because Kats-Chermin and Westlake are composers of such depth and mastery.

[madaboutmahler]

What a pathetic list......

I will not even start on what I would change....
Obviously this list is just based on how popular the pieces are. What nonsense that pieces such as the Elgar P+C no.1, Copland Fanfare for the Common Man, Ravel's Bolero and Orff's Carmina Burana should be so high, when the real masterpieces of the 20th century, such as Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, all the Mahler symphonies (how dare they not have no.6 and 9 even in the top 50!), Shostakovich/Prokofiev symphonies (etc) are so low down.
There are a few pieces I am glad to see in their positions which I believe to be well-placed - such as Prokofiev R+J, Stravinsky Rite of Spring, Strauss Four Last Songs etc.

Us GMGers should take our own voting system on this. Would come up with a much more realistic result.
In fact, we shall do that. Going to start a new topic RIGHT now.

[Brian]

I'm honestly shocked at Elgar's Cello Concerto being No 1. How did that happen? I was just coming to the thread to post that my guess was No 1 would be "Bolero".

Incidentally, I find myself very strongly in agreement at the inclusion, if not necessarily the placement, of one of the very greatest works of American art, West Side Story.

The Four Last Songs have a good case for the top 20, too. Carmina Burana would not be in my top 100.