Top 25 Favorite Composers

Started by Winky Willy, March 01, 2012, 12:52:34 PM

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André

Bach
Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Wagner
Bruckner
Brahms
Mahler
Reger

Berlioz
Gouvy
Honegger
Schmitt
Koechlin

Sibelius
Pettersson
Dvorak
Janacek
Tchaikovsky

Verdi
Puccini
Elgar
Vaughan Williams
Arnold

A top 25 list is perforce quite conventional and reveals very little. It's the 26-50 ranking that stimulates the mind and forces to make hard choices  8).

Christo

(eyes closed:)

Arnold
Barber
Bartók
Bate
Braga Santos
Brian
Debussy
Falla
Guarnieri
Holmboe
Holst
Honegger
Janáček
Kinsella
Kodály
Nielsen
Pärt
Pierné
Ravel
Respighi
Saint-Saëns
Stravinsky
Tournemire
Tubin
Vaughan Williams
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Florestan

Quote from: André on December 29, 2018, 12:40:04 PM
A top 25 list is perforce quite conventional and reveals very little. It's the 26-50 ranking that stimulates the mind and forces to make hard choices  8).

Agreed 100%.  :)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Jo498

I'd say that Reger, Gouvy, Schmitt, Koechlin, Petterson and Arnold in the top 25 is not very conventional. I don't dare any suggestions what it might reveal personally...
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Madiel

Quote from: André on December 29, 2018, 12:40:04 PM
A top 25 list is perforce quite conventional and reveals very little. It's the 26-50 ranking that stimulates the mind and forces to make hard choices  8).

It doesn't matter what quota we put on any of these lists, someone talks about why they can't stick to the quota.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Florestan

Quote from: Madiel on December 30, 2018, 03:12:02 AM
It doesn't matter what quota we put on any of these lists, someone talks about why they can't stick to the quota.

Imo, much more revelatory than a list of favorite composers is a list of favorite periods. For me, that would be Romanticism, Classical and Baroque, in order (allowing for the vagueness and ex post facto definition in each case).
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Biffo

In no particular order -

Bach, JS
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Wagner

Bruckner
Haydn
Brahms
Mahler
Berlioz

Monteverdi
Schutz
Purcell
Tallis
Handel

Sibelius
Nielsen
Dvorak
Janacek
Martinu

Verdi
Elgar
Vaughan Williams
Tchaikovsky
Richard Strauss


Florestan

Quote from: Biffo on December 30, 2018, 07:15:19 AM
In no particular order -

Bach, JS
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Wagner

Bruckner
Haydn
Brahms
Mahler
Berlioz

Monteverdi
Schutz
Purcell
Tallis
Handel

Sibelius
Nielsen
Dvorak
Janacek
Martinu

Verdi
Elgar
Vaughan Williams
Tchaikovsky
Richard Strauss

So overall, you're mainly into Romanticism, 15 out of 25.  :)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Biffo

Quote from: Florestan on December 30, 2018, 07:19:54 AM
So overall, you're mainly into Romanticism, 15 out of 25.  :)

The list reflects the composers best represented in my collection but I also have a fair amount of renaissance and baroque music - Vivaldi almost made it to the list but I haven't been listening to him for a while. I have quite a large collection of British music but RVW, Elgar and Purcell stand out. I also like French music but again Berlioz is the only French composer I would consider for my top 25 - Ravel and Faure would probably make it into 26 - 50. I have a fair amount of 20th century music but most of that is from the first half (roughly) of the century. A few years ago Shostakovich would have made the list but my interest has waned recently - no idea why.

Jo498

Quote from: André on December 29, 2018, 12:40:04 PM
A top 25 list is perforce quite conventional and reveals very little. It's the 26-50 ranking that stimulates the mind and forces to make hard choices  8).
I beg to differ. If I make such listings they are very conventional up to about 15 but seem to become rather arbitrary already around 20 and I could not be bothered to seriously try 26-50. Beyond 30 I would rarely have a strongly held opinion at all if a certain composer should be 35 or rather 50.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

André

Quote from: Jo498 on December 30, 2018, 08:08:15 AM
I beg to differ.If I make such listings they are very conventional up to about 15 but seem to become rather arbitrary already around 20 and I could not be bothered to seriously try 26-50. Beyond 30 I would rarely have a strongly held opinion at all if a certain composer should be 35 or rather 50.

Be my guest ! This is what a forum is made for  :).

Madiel

Quote from: Florestan on December 30, 2018, 05:59:37 AM
Imo, much more revelatory than a list of favorite composers is a list of favorite periods. For me, that would be Romanticism, Classical and Baroque, in order (allowing for the vagueness and ex post facto definition in each case).

Well, I partially agree, in that the thing I find most interesting about these lists is the degree to which the composers are widely spread in time or tightly bound together. Some people's lists cover several centuries, others have a big cluster of composers from only a generation or two.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Florestan

Quote from: Madiel on December 30, 2018, 03:23:35 PM
Well, I partially agree, in that the thing I find most interesting about these lists is the degree to which the composers are widely spread in time or tightly bound together. Some people's lists cover several centuries, others have a big cluster of composers from only a generation or two.

Yes, that's what I meant.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Symphonic Addict

#193
In some order:

Beethoven
Nielsen
Brahms
Shostakovich
Dvorak

Sibelius
Vaughan Williams
Janacek
Martinu
Prokofiev

Arnold
Strauss
Langgaard
Saint-Saëns
Respighi

Alwyn
Bax
Holmboe
Hindemith
Schubert

Mahler
Bruckner
Tchaikovsky
Poulenc
Casella
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

#194
OMG...let's see if I can make a list...

The top five are in order, but the rest gets a bit hazy after those, but here's my list:

Debussy
Mahler
Strauss
Bartók
Ravel

Sibelius
Shostakovich
Martinů
Stravinsky
Dvořák

Berlioz
Vaughan Williams
Tchaikovsky
Prokofiev
Nielsen

Villa-Lobos
Schoenberg
Berg
Janáček
Schnittke

Korngold
Glazunov
Lutosławski
Poulenc
Enescu



Madiel

Ah, this is back...

This time, I'm just going to list the 23 composers for whom I have enough works recordings that they got their own page in the spreadsheet...

Are these all my favourites? I don't know, but they must have been sufficiently interesting to me that I acquired a reasonable number of discs (though this does slightly favour composers who wrote small works, you get more of them per disc).

Bach
Barber
Beethoven
Brahms
Bridge
Chopin
Debussy
Dvorak
Faure
Haydn
Holmboe
Mahler
Mozart
Nielsen
Pejacevic
Poulenc
Ravel
Schubert
Schumann
Scriabin
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Vivaldi
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

kyjo

#196
It's been a few years since I've made a list, so here goes! ;)

Dvořák
Sibelius
Atterberg
Rachmaninoff
Prokofiev

Poulenc
Saint-Saëns
Lloyd
Vaughan Williams
Nielsen

Brahms
Casella
Mendelssohn
Braga Santos
Barber

Respighi
Andreae
Beethoven
Arnold
Damase

Bax
Janáček
Elgar
Kabalevsky
Suk
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Karl Henning

Building on this:

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 01, 2021, 01:33:10 PM
10 is cruelly Procrustean, but, today:

JSB
Bartók
Chopin
Haydn
Hindemith
Nielsen
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Stravinsky
Weinberg


This is an old thread, and I've probably posted before. I should guess that Weinberg is a recent addition.
I do hate to have left Prokofiev out....

JSB
Bartók
Brahms
Britten
Bruckner
Chopin
F. Couperin
Dvořák
Hartmann
Haydn
Hindemith
Holmboe
Janáček
Liszt
Monteverdi
Mozart
Nielsen
Prokofiev
Rakhmaninov
D. Scarlatti
Schoenberg
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky

Vaughan Williams
Vivaldi
Weinberg


Looks like 28, but I'm leaving it ....
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Mirror Image

Quote from: kyjo on August 02, 2021, 07:33:23 AM
It's been a few years since I've made a list, so here goes! ;)

Dvořák
Sibelius
Atterberg
Rachmaninoff
Prokofiev

Poulenc
Saint-Saëns
Lloyd
Vaughan Williams
Nielsen

Brahms
Casella
Mendelssohn
Braga Santos
Barber

Respighi
Andreae
Beethoven
Arnold
Damase

Bax
Janáček
Elgar
Kabalevsky
Suk

Surprised not to see Shostakovich on your list, Kyle.

kyjo

#199
Quote from: Mirror Image on August 02, 2021, 10:53:22 AM
Surprised not to see Shostakovich on your list, Kyle.

Truth is, I don't really listen to Shostakovich's music nearly as often as I used to. Of course, I don't doubt that he's a great composer, but his often angst-ridden style isn't something I really gravitate towards these days. The same applies to my relationship with Mahler's music.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff