Your Top 20 Favorite Composers

[Mirror Image]

For this week anyway!

But Barber has always been a favorite of mine. He'll never leave my top 20.

[Ken B]

Barber is currently climbing his way up to the top, but I just don't know where he'll land.

All anyone can say for sure is, above Shostakovich.

[Madiel]

Sheesh. My work here is clearly not done. I felt sufficiently on the outer when having Holmboe and Faure in my top 3, but here Holmboe hasn't appeared at all yet (when I think one other person listed him in a top 3) and Faure has only managed a few mentions (he got no other mentions in a top 3, I think).

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL? *slap*

[Mirror Image]

All anyone can say for sure is, above Shostakovich.

Oh no, Barber will never succeed Shostakovich.

[Mirror Image]

Sheesh. My work here is clearly not done. I felt sufficiently on the outer when having Holmboe and Faure in my top 3, but here Holmboe hasn't appeared at all yet (when I think one other person listed him in a top 3) and Faure has only managed a few mentions (he got no other mentions in a top 3, I think).

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL? *slap*

As much as I like Holmboe, he'll never crack my top 20 and the reason I use the word never is because there aren't enough works in his oeuvre that I have been moved or touched by. The same with Faure. So I explained myself, let's see if anyone else will.

[Madiel]

Give it time, lad, you've probably still got about 180 opuses of Holmboe to go. 

PS I'm waiting until I'm at home to try and make a top 20. I suspect that'll exhaust the composers I have major collections of, given the paucity of my collection by GMG standards.

[Mirror Image]

Give it time, lad, you've probably still got about 180 opuses of Holmboe to go. 

[Madiel]

I thought long and hard about extending the list to the full 20, but declined. There were composers hovering on the edge of this, but I felt that I should restrict to the composers who've really convinced me of their place. In many cases these are the composers for whom I've sat down and mapped out their body of work so I can fill in the gaps. Some others I'm still exploring, but they may well make the grade once I've heard more.

The order is a bit rough and ready, but it'll do. The very top people are the ones where I enjoy their early work as much/almost as much as their later work (in contrast to someone like Schubert).

1. Beethoven
2. Faure
3. Holmboe
4. Chopin
5. Brahms
6. Rachmaninov
7. Haydn
8. Ravel
9. Bach
10. Barber
11. Schumann
12. Dvorak
13. Mozart
14. Schubert
15. Mahler
16. Shostakovich
17. Sibelius

Clearly, having at least some classicist tendencies (such as a belief in sonata form) and/or writing high quality chamber music is a good way to make the grade.

[Mirror Image]

Great to see Barber so high on your list, orfeo. Very cool. His music must mean a lot to you.

[Madiel]

Great to see Barber so high on your list, orfeo. Very cool. His music must mean a lot to you.

Well, the Adagio for Strings certainly does. I think it thoroughly deserves its place as one of the most popular pieces of 20th century music. It's one of my favourite things in ANY style of music when someone can take a simple motive and construct a convincing piece around it.

Some of the songs are also truly lovely, the pinnacle being the very last one, 'O Boundless Boundless Evening', which for me is one of the absolute top art songs. As much as anything, though, his place on the list is as a result of consistency. I know you've less positive feelings about some later works (ones that I don't think I've heard), but for me so far he's one of those composers whose style is in place from fairly early on and can be relied upon.

I also just find him attractive stylistically. He was prepared to take what he wanted from 'modern' trends but use it within his relatively 'romantic' framework.

[Mirror Image]

Well, the Adagio for Strings certainly does. I think it thoroughly deserves its place as one of the most popular pieces of 20th century music. It's one of my favourite things in ANY style of music when someone can take a simple motive and construct a convincing piece around it.

Some of the songs are also truly lovely, the pinnacle being the very last one, 'O Boundless Boundless Evening', which for me is one of the absolute top art songs. As much as anything, though, his place on the list is as a result of consistency. I know you've less positive feelings about some later works (ones that I don't think I've heard), but for me so far he's one of those composers whose style is in place from fairly early on and can be relied upon.

I also just find him attractive stylistically. He was prepared to take what he wanted from 'modern' trends but use it within his relatively 'romantic' framework.

What works outside of the Adagio for Strings and O Boundless Boundless Evening do you know? I'm afraid I don't know any of his songs, but this is one of my least favorite genres anyway. But works like Knoxville, Summer of 1915 and Prayers of Kierkegaard display an incredible skill for writing for the voice. Of course, the concertante works, Essays, and the two Symphonies get special mention here as well. Of the chamber works, Cello Sonata and Summer Music rise up to the top (not that he composed a lot of chamber music).

[Wanderer]

How about I just remove the names and leave the pictures up? The whole reason I posted the names and their pictures because it's different and it's nice to get a face along with a name sometimes.

Keyword here is sometimes.


Let's give it a go:

Beethoven
Bruckner
Mozart
Medtner
Alkan
Prokofiev
Brahms
Schubert
Schumann
Berlioz
Bartók
Scriabin
Janáček
Liszt
Ravel
R.Strauss
Vaughan Williams
Skalkottas
Sibelius
Zemlinsky
Schreker
Korngold
Zelenka
Wagner


24, 'cause I'm a rebel.

[Madiel]

What works outside of the Adagio for Strings and O Boundless Boundless Evening do you know?

Can I just throw opus numbers at you?

Because I've got opuses 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 23a, 25, 27, a bit of 28a, 29, 31, 33, 38a, 41, 45 and 47. 

Oh okay. All the songs with piano, Dover Beach, the three Essays, the School for Scandal overture, Medea's Dance of Vengeance, the Violin Concerto, the Cello Sonata, Summer Music, the Canzone for flute and piano, the Excursions for piano, the Nocturne for piano and a bit of the solo piano version of Souvenirs. I think that's everything so far.

Even if songs are one of your least favourite genres, Barber is worth trying. I've already mentioned O Boundless Boundless Evening of course, but other things definitely worth hearing include Solitary Hotel (highly amusing and brilliant), the Hermit Songs and Dover Beach which is with string quartet.

[Mirror Image]

Can I just throw opus numbers at you?

Because I've got opuses 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 23a, 25, 27, a bit of 28a, 29, 31, 33, 38a, 41, 45 and 47. 

Oh okay. All the songs with piano, Dover Beach, the three Essays, the School for Scandal overture, Medea's Dance of Vengeance, the Violin Concerto, the Cello Sonata, Summer Music, the Canzone for flute and piano, the Excursions for piano, the Nocturne for piano and a bit of the solo piano version of Souvenirs. I think that's everything so far.

Even if songs are one of your least favourite genres, Barber is worth trying. I've already mentioned O Boundless Boundless Evening of course, but other things definitely worth hearing include Solitary Hotel (highly amusing and brilliant), the Hermit Songs and Dover Beach which is with string quartet.

Very nice, orfeo. Okay, I have heard Dover Beach and I do enjoy it. The best I can remember. I don't think I've heard the Canzone for flute and piano yet. Will have to check that one out.