Greatest all around musician (artist), of all time and of today

[johnshade]

From sixty years of pleasure from the works of perhaps twenty composers, I think of the ones who gave me greatest pleasure, e.g. Mozart, Beethoven, Bartok. "Greatest": Beethoven.

[Ken B]

I took it to be asking for two names: one from the past and one still working today.

Ahhh.

I took it to mean someone very long-lived.  That's why I pick Mel Brooks's 2000 year old man.

FWIW I did not initially take it the way sanantonio did, but I think he took it the right way. Otherwise the "and of today" is redundant. 

[jochanaan]

All musicians of the past, with very few exceptions, were all-around musicians.  They sang, they played many instruments, they wrote, they improvised, they taught, they led ensembles.  Only in about the middle of the 19th century did musicians begin to specialize.

That said, one of the more interesting "crossover" musicians today is Yo-Yo Ma.  A great classical cellist, he has also played with many non-classical groups and has organized the Silk Road Ensemble, a group of master musicians from all over Asia.  If he were also a composer, he would definitely be in the running for best all-around musician of today.

[Gurn Blanston]

That Fux didn't wrote music on a par with Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven? Maybe; but an opinion shared by a critical mass for more than 2 centuries and a half becomes a fact. 

I would have thought that a man of your intellect would know better than to make simple, declarative statements based on little more than opinion...  looks like I was wrong again...

[Gurn Blanston]

I took it to be asking for two names: one from the past and one still working today.

OK.

Musicians then. Luigi Boccherini, who could play the most difficult violin concertos on his cello, at pitch!. Possibly the greatest cellist ever.

Or else Nicolo Paganini. It is one thing to be able to reproduce the things he did, as many can do today. He didn't reproduce them, he invented them.

Today, still living and playing?

I don't have an idea for this.

[Wakefield]

All musicians of the past, with very few exceptions, were all-around musicians.  They sang, they played many instruments, they wrote, they improvised, they taught, they led ensembles.  Only in about the middle of the 19th century did musicians begin to specialize.

Very good point.

Specialization of the musicians and standardization of the instruments are two features very clear from the middle of the 19th century onwards. 

[Bogey]

Quincy Jones.
Stevie Wonder.
Prince.

[Florestan]

I would have thought that a man of your intellect would know better than to make simple, declarative statements based on little more than opinion...  looks like I was wrong again...

I would have thought that a man of your intellect would know better than to ignore the emoticons at the end of a post. I still think the same. 

Seriously now, other than authoring perhaps the most influential musical treatise ever, what  achievements would recommend Fux for the greatest all around musician? Okay, Bach held him in high esteem but can you really make the case for his music being on par with Bach´s?

[Ken B]

I would have thought that a man of your intellect would know better than to ignore the emoticons at the end of a post. I still think the same. 

Seriously now, other than authoring perhaps the most influential musical treatise ever, what  achievements would recommend Fux for the greatest all around musician? Okay, Bach held him in high esteem but can you really make the case for his music being on par with Bach´s?

A question for Gurn. Say that I, who have never acted, write the greatest treatise on acting. Or I, who can play no instrument, by dint of deep study and mathematics write the greatest treatises on harmony, musical form, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre and composition. I doubt either would raise your opinion of me as an actor or as a musician.

What if George Bush writes the greastest treatise on being a president?

[jlaurson]

This guy... one of maybe only a dozen I can think of.


Fresh from Forbes:



MAY 29, 2015 @ 3:01 PM
Boxing Classical Music: Ferenc Fricsay on Deutsche Grammophon

There's something wonderful about classical music—certainly in its form as recorded music—having
become a commodity: It is more easily available than ever before, in greater variety than ever before,
and at a lower cost than ever before. Notable part of this trend is the packaging and re-packaging and
re-releasing of trusty records as part of box sets. Everything by everyone seems available affordably—
and we are talking about the physical product, not downloads, which you might think would spearhead
this development... perhaps even at the expense of the trusty CD.

Box sets used to be expensive, much cherished trophies of the collector. I remember my first set of
complete Beethoven Sonatas (incidentally not a particularly satisfying set, as it would eventually turn
out) and my first Ring Cycle (still a worthy member of the collection) and the hushed reverence that
went along with their purchase. With the tumbling of prices, that's changed entirely (furthered by the
budgetary constraints that are not those of one's student days). There are still some box sets that are
expensive, made with great care, and easy to covet. But more-so it has become a trend for labels to
use sets to manufacture bargain-basement collections that can be had for a few bucks per disc and
entice listeners to fill gaps in their collections they might not otherwise have had bothered or bee able
to fill....