Your Three Favorite Composers

[Mirror Image]

You're always welcome in my home.  Just let me know your preferred hard drink before ringing my doorbell.  I've got two extra bedrooms, and my dogs love having guests.

This is extremely generous of you, Sammy. If I'm ever out West, I'll give you a holler.

[Brahmsian]

Thread duty:


Stravinsky, Chopin, Shostakovich


Since three is an impossibly short list, I don't feel I'm "leaving anyone off" (quite a crowd of well-loved composers cannot fit onto the head of that pin); but the three on this list absolutely reign there.

Karl, say it ain't so???  No Tchaikovsky?  I was expecting STS on the list.   

[Brian]

You're always welcome in my home.  Just let me know your preferred hard drink before ringing my doorbell.  I've got two extra bedrooms, and my dogs love having guests.

And you don't even cook meth in your spare time!

[Sammy]

And you don't even cook meth in your spare time!

No, but Walter White's home is in my neighborhood.

[not edward]

1. Beethoven
2. Mahler
3. Someone else (today's shortlist: Schubert, Liszt, Brahms, Bruckner, Sibelius, Busoni, Prokofiev, Bartok and Ligeti).

... and yes, I know Busoni probably looks an odd man out in this, but I think of all composers he's the one whose music sticks in my head for the longest after listening -- I listened to the Sarabande und Cortege last week and the closing bars of the Sarabande still won't go away ...

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Mozart
Prokofiev
Tie: Bach/Wagner

[Papy Oli]

Mahler
Bruckner
Beethoven

[Gurn Blanston]

Thank god it isn't 11!

Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven

[Dax]

Ives
Alkan
Szymanowski

A lot easier than 11

[springrite]

Bach
Mahler



Then: One of Beethoven, Feldman, Brahms, Liszt, Medtner ... or...

OK, make that Beethoven

[Madiel]

I'm going to say:

Beethoven
Faure
Holmboe

Beethoven simply because it is so rare to hear anything that isn't impressive in some way. I've been revisiting my collection of Beethoven, such as it is, and I find real rewards in early, middle and late works.

With Faure and Holmboe, I'm in two minds about selecting them over others, but the fact is these are the 2 composers that seem to have a special ability to make me obsess over them. I can go through phases of not wanting to listen to anything else.

With Faure the chamber music alone is enough to keep me occupied. I also adore much of the piano music, and dislike none of it.  I've become acquainted with the melodies more recently, and not all of them have fully made an impact yet but I certainly wouldn't object to spending time on an island (climate unspecified) getting to know them better.

With Holmboe it's actually pretty close to Beethoven, in that I've rarely heard anything I'm not impressed by in some way.  It just feels a bit strange to be saying that about a not especially well-known composer.  But heck, I think it's fair to say that creating a Wikipedia list of a composer's compositions because you're frustrated by the lack of such a list is a reasonable indication that the composer is getting to you...


EDIT: And it looks as if I'm the first person to mention Faure? Which, given how many people have mentioned quite a few more than 3 composers, is a bit of a shock.

[Fafner]

Hmm, that is a difficult choice. Ummm... 

Beethoven
Shostakovich
Wagner.

[marvinbrown]

  For me there are 2 gods of music: WAGNER UND BEETHOVEN......... 


  Then: I'd say Bach (for his mathematical genius)! 

  marvin

[Sergeant Rock]

I'd say Bach (for his mathematical genius)! 

He composed some good music too 

Sarge

[marvinbrown]

He composed some good music too 

Sarge

  and how Sarge...and how!

  marvin

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Then: I'd say Bach (for his mathematical genius)! 

"Mathematical" is a bit of a stereotype (misnomer), though. 

Have you heard Bach's cantatas, Marvin? They're some of the most lyrical things on the planet. Take a listen to BWV 8 below and see if you can hear mathematical:



http://www.youtube.com/v/Hfkq-S7Vis8

[(poco) Sforzando]

"Mathematical" is a bit of a stereotype (misnomer), though. 

Have you heard Bach's cantatas, Marvin? They're some of the most lyrical things on the planet. Take a listen to BWV 8 below and see if you can hear mathematical:



http://www.youtube.com/v/Hfkq-S7Vis8

All music is by its nature mathematical. Rhythmic subdivisions and pitch relationships have their share of mathematical elements. It's not a dirty word, and I say that as someone who has at times played that marvelous opening chorus of BWV8 10-12 times in a row.

That said, my two favorite are easy - Beethoven and Bach. The third is harder, being a contest between Chopin, Brahms, Mahler, Monteverdi, Wagner, and probably others. If forced, I would go with Chopin.

[Florestan]

1. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven ex aequo
2. Schubert, Schumann, Chopin ex aequo
3. Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov ex aequo

[Henk]

Beethoven
Stravinsky
Rossini

[marvinbrown]

"Mathematical" is a bit of a stereotype (misnomer), though. 

Have you heard Bach's cantatas, Marvin? They're some of the most lyrical things on the planet. Take a listen to BWV 8 below and see if you can hear mathematical:



http://www.youtube.com/v/Hajj's7Vi's8

  Yes I am very familiar with Bach's cantatas, I have all of the sacred ones (Leonhardt/Harnoncaourt) By mathematical genius I was referring to the Art of the Fugue, the preludes and fugues the Well tempered Clavier. It is as if he writes in musical mathematical equations. The effect is not only academic, it is simply sublime.

  I can not think of anyone that I would like to learn music from more than Bach.

  Perhaps mathematical is not the best word here. How about academically sublime?

  marvin