Top 10 favorite works, one by each composer

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Updated list (warning: lots of operas coming):

Wagner: Ring
Beethoven: Pastoral symphony
Debussy: Pelléas
R. Strauss: Elektra
Rachmaninoff: Miserly knight
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
Puccini: La fanciulla del West
Verdi: Simon Boccanegra
Ravel: Miroirs
Sibelius: Pohjola's daughter

[Karl Henning]

Difficult, but here goes:

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 6
Miaskovsky: Symphony No 6
Bruckner: Symphony No 9
Braga Santos: Symphony No 4
Moeran: Symphony
Bax: Symphony No 3
Patrick Hadley: The Trees so High
Shostakovich: Symphony No 4
Walton: Symphony No 1
Copland: Symphony No 3

(+ Sibelius: Tapiola)

Of the pieces that I know, great list, Jeffrey!

[Mirror Image]

I'm going to try this again:

Mahler: Symphony No. 3
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva"
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2
Dvorak: Symphony No. 4
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
Elgar: Symphony No. 2

[Karl Henning]

All right! I'll play!

Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet
Stravinsky, Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Rakhmaninov, Всенощное бдѣніе
Hindemith, Konzertmusik for strings and brass, Op.50
Schoenberg, Serenade, Op.24
Sibelius, Symphony № 6
Berlioz, Les Troyens
Shostakovich, Preludes & Fugues, Op.87
Wuorinen, Mass for the Restoration of St Luke's
Vaughan Williams, A Pastoral Symphony

[Karl Henning]

I'm going to try this again:

Mahler: Symphony No. 3
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4
Nielsen: Symphony No. 3, "Sinfonia espansiva"
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2
Dvorak: Symphony No. 4
Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
Elgar: Symphony No. 2

Dadgummit, I left Nielsen out . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Brahms Clarinet Trio No. 1, Op. 114

Is there another?

And, goldarnit, why do I not yet know this piece?

[Mirror Image]

Dadgummit, I left Nielsen out . . . .

[Wanderer]

Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Bruckner: Symphony No. 5
Ravel: Piano Concerto in D (for the left hand)
Stravinsky: Les noces
Schreker: Die Gezeichneten
Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
Skalkottas: Piano Concerto No. 2
Berg: Drei Orchesterstücke, op. 6

[10 more]

Berlioz: Grande messe des morts
Haydn: Die Schöpfung
Alkan: Grand duo concertant, op. 21
Medtner: Second Improvisation, op. 47
Schumann: Introduction & Allegro concertante, op. 134
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin
Janáček: Jenůfa
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
R. Strauss: Deutsche Motette
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24

[arpeggio]

The problem that I always had with threads like this is that it is very difficult for me to answer them.  Between my tiepos and puur speelink if can get quick comical.

Like my all time favorite work is Walton's Belshazzard's Feets.

By the leeks of Babylon E I E I O.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I will take my top 10 composers (for today) and do the same that thatfabulsoujdalskjflien has done

Boulez: Répons
Pintscher: Sonic Eclipse
Saariaho: Orion
Bruckner: Symphony no. 7
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Neuwirth: Eleanor
Steen-Andersen: Double Up
Oliveros: Sound Geometries
Coates: String Quartet no. 7
Cage: Ryoanji

but another list where I simply just think of works I really love firstly and then choose one work per composer would look like this:

Répons (Boulez)
Comic Sense (Gadenstätter)
Eleanor (Neuwirth)
Sonic Eclipse (Pintscher)
Ich und du (Mundry)
Bliss (Dean)
Sonatas for String Quartet (Ferneyhough)
Viderunt Omnes (Perotin)
Sound Geometries (Oliveros)
Sparking Orbit (Fujikura)

[SharpEleventh]

Mozart - Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde
Mahler - Symphony No. 6
Rachmaninoff - Symphony No. 2
Bruckner - Symphony No. 9
Richard Strauss - Death and Transfiguration
Debussy - L'isle Joyeuse
Sibelius - Symphony No. 7
Poulenc - Concerto for (single) piano
Scriabin - Piano Sonata No. 5

Maybe.

[Mirror Image]

I think, if I was forced to pick one work which I think is the greatest work of all time I would choose Eclairs De Sur L'au-dela by Messiaen.

Boy, that's a ridiculous statement! I admire your courage, though.

[Mahlerian]

It wasn't stated correctly, I meant to say "my favourite work of all time", but I'd need someone to have a gun to my head to make that decision 
If there is a greatest piece of music of all time at all, it's either "I want to hold your hand" by the Beatles or even greater, Louie Louie. 

I should probably give the internet a rest for a few weeks 

Computer analysis has revealed that Smells Like Teen Spirit is the most iconic song of all time.

http://www.spin.com/2015/09/nirvana-smells-like-teen-spirit-most-iconic-song-ever-cant-argue-with-science/

[SymphonicAddict]

I will try with these choices (in no order):

Janácek: Glagolitic Mass
Rachmaninov: The Bells
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis
Bruckner: 7th symphony
Strauss: An Alpine Symphony
Schubert: String quintet
Tchaikovsky: Piano trio
Ravel: Piano concerto for the left hand
Brahms: Clarinet quintet
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

[Monsieur Croche]

Why only Book II?

for me, it is sooo much more polished and fluid (far less "boxy" themes and rhythms) than book I.  Book II was written decades after book I, and the composer had developed in skills quite a bit over those decades, and it shows in Book II.

Best regards.

[Jo498]

As someone who can neither play the piano nor knows anything about composition I'd say that as a listener the "highs" of book 1 are for me among the best pieces in either books (e.g. P&F in  c sharp minor, b minor, prelude in E flat major and minor and a few more, mostly minor mode fugues) and I probably prefer them to almost anything from book II but the "average" or median quality is higher in book II. There is also the difference that almost all the preludes of book II are more elaborate pieces, there is not a single "arpeggio"-Prelude left, if I am not mistaken.

[Karl Henning]

Tchaikovsky: Piano trio

An especially fine choice!

[Zeus]

Computer analysis has revealed that Smells Like Teen Spirit is the most iconic song of all time.

http://www.spin.com/2015/09/nirvana-smells-like-teen-spirit-most-iconic-song-ever-cant-argue-with-science/

Tell that computer it still has to pick nine more favorites.   

[SymphonicAddict]

That is a very strong contender for me and I reluctantly left it off, have I made a mistake?   




and Faure's Requiem 


DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!!!! 

I understand you. It's kind of frustrating 

[milk]

Fudging the rules in all sorts of ways, I must be mad!

Bach WTC 
Feldman Bunita Marcus
Debussy Arabesques
Froberger FbWV 620
Mendelssohn Songs Without Words
Schubert Die Schone Mullerin
Schumann 5 Stucke Im Volkston
Satie Gymnopedie
Cage Sonatas for Prepared piano
Riley: The Harp of New Albion