Your Three Favorite Composers

[Ken B]

In no particular order:

Sibelius
Vaughan Williams
Ravel

Glad you are well again. Delius fever can be crippling; in the worst cases it leads to Koechlin. And piles.

[Mirror Image]

Glad you are well again. Delius fever can be crippling; in the worst cases it leads to Koechlin. And piles.

[NorthNYMark]

Hmmm...I'm pretty sure I voted earlier in the thread with my three B's: Beethoven, Brahms, and Bartók.  The first two places hold firm, but Shostakovich may have slightly displaced Bartók for the third spot.  I have a hard time choosing between them, in that I find almost everything Bartók wrote to be wonderful, but my responses to Shostakovich are more divided--I find his string quartets (and at least some of the other chamber works I've heard) to be among the most compelling works of all time, but his symphonic writing often leaves me cold. [I hasten to add that I don't blame the symphonic writing itself for my personal lack of connection to it thus far]. So if I put Shostakovich in that spot, it is perhaps ironically not in any way due to the work for which he is most famous.

[Henk]

For now:
1. Stravinsky. He exactly fits in the middle of "old" and "postmodern" music to me. Perfect.
2. Handel. Just great.
3. Beethoven.

[milk]

maybe Bach, Schumann, Feldman...that or Bach, Bach, and Bach

[Christo]

My first choice is still Vaughan Williams, who became a personal favourite in the 1970s, when I was 15. He still is. Second and third choices have differed over time. Today (:-)) they are Tubin and Holmboe.

Still the same, here. First choice is easy, but more than a dozen composers qualify for the other ranks.

[Mirror Image]

It's a difficult one but for me it'll have to be:

1 Beethoven
2 Bach
3 Vivaldi

A complete head-scratcher, especially since you're supposed to be this ultra contemporary classical guy.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

It's a difficult one but for me it'll have to be:

1 Beethoven
2 Bach
3 Vivaldi

You've expressed your love for the music of Beethoven and Bach before, but I don't recall Vivaldi so much. I'm wondering if you misspelt Xenakis?

[vandermolen]

Vaughan Williams
Miaskovsky

And today's choice:

Bax

[nodogen]

It's a difficult one but for me it'll have to be:

1 Beethoven
2 Bach
3 Vivaldi

You're quite the traditionalist.

[springrite]

I don't remember if I voted and how I voted. But for now:

Bach
Brian
Beethoven

(I think it may have been Bach, Mahler and Feldman?)

[nodogen]

From my modest little collection, I think the works I like most are by

Ravel
Scriabin
Vaughan Williams

[71 dB]

For me the first 2 are easy too:

Elgar
J. S. Bach

The third one then... ...for long Handel has occupied that position but... ...just watched again Giulio Cesare on DVD (yes, that Glyndebourne/William Christie one) and even that ultra-high-quality performance didn't hit me that hard. Maybe I am not in Handel-mood these days but anyway, I need to re-evalute Handel.

Who's gonna take the third position if not Handel? Today my answer is Taneyev.

Updating: Taneyev out, Weinberg in. 

This third name is so difficult. At the moment could be Nielsen, C.P.E. Bach, ... 

[Karl Henning]

I don't remember if I voted and how I voted.

Nor I.  But, first three to come to mind:

Stravinsky
Chopin
JS Bach

[prémont]

1. J.S Bach

2. Beethoven

- and yes, the third name is more difficult, might e.g. be
Froberger or Buxtehude.

[nodogen]

No I like to troll around when I'm really stressed by life and pissed off at my education. Mirror Image made a thread on the same thing, where my accurate answer is:

Xenakis (Cause he is life)
Kagel
Webern

(though Messiaen or Zorn could fit in there too)

The natural order of the universe has been re-established.

[nodogen]

In no particular order:

Sibelius
Vaughan Williams
Ravel

A gnat's whisker away from mine. 😊

[nodogen]

Interesting list, I knew from the 'dark side' that you liked Ravel and Scriabin. Are you still fond of those post-war composers? and the spectralists? 

I am, but I bought so much in such a short space of time that when I finally paused I went back and revisited a lot of stuff. I found, to my own surprise, how much I enjoyed music I had sort of skipped through quickly. Or maybe it's just creeping old fartdom. Actually I now have a shrine to Scriabin; it's what He would have wanted. Your tastes still Xenakis, Iannis and Greek-French composers?

[71 dB]

From my modest little collection, I think the works I like most are by

Ravel
Scriabin
Vaughan Williams

I am always surprised to see Ravel and Scriabin mentioned on favorite composers lists. I do like Ravel's Piano Concerto in G minor A LOT, in fact it's one of my favorite Piano Concertos and I also think Menuet Antique is a great piece of music, but his other music has yet to impress me. Maybe I think him too much as the composer of Bolero? Ravel's output is pretty limited, isn't it?

I never explored Scriabin beyond the symphonies. The third is great, I admit. Is he really that great and worth exploring deeper?

[nodogen]

I am always surprised to see Ravel and Scriabin mentioned on favorite composers lists. I do like Ravel's Piano Concerto in G minor A LOT, in fact it's one of my favorite Piano Concertos and I also think Menuet Antique is a great piece of music, but his other music has yet to impress me. Maybe I think him too much as the composer of Bolero? Ravel's output is pretty limited, isn't it?

I never explored Scriabin beyond the symphonies. The third is great, I admit. Is he really that great and worth exploring deeper?

Ravel's output is relatively limited I believe. Bolero is the one orchestral work of his that I don't really rate, I generally skip it. I'd suggest his high points might include Daphnis et Chloe and Gaspard de la Nuit.

My love of Scriabin comes from his body of piano works; not so much the orchestral although I do have them. Most of his pieces are miniatures, but the usual ones to be highlighted are the 10 sonatas, particularly the later ones. No.6 might have to be my favourite, perhaps played by Varduhi Yeritsyan.