Your Top 10 Favorite Composers

[NikF]

Right now (and roughly in order) it is:

Brahms
Shostakovich
Ravel
Debussy
Mahler
Prokofiev
Stravinsky
Chopin
RVW
Bartok

[Autumn Leaves]

Right now (and roughly in order) it is:

Brahms
Shostakovich
Ravel
Debussy
Mahler
Prokofiev
Stravinsky
Chopin
RVW
Bartok

Hey Nik - I like your list!; mine is a bit similar :

Bach
Tchaikovsky
Sibelius
Shostakovich
Mahler
Chopin
Debussy
Mendelssohn
Brahms
Schumann

[Mirror Image]

Right now (and roughly in order) it is:

Brahms
Shostakovich
Ravel
Debussy
Mahler
Prokofiev
Stravinsky
Chopin
RVW
Bartok

A fine list indeed. Many of my favorites mentioned.

[TheGSMoeller]

I wrote this just over 5 years ago in 2012 in an old 25 Favorite Composers Thread...

Richard Strauss (Duett-Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon))
William Byrd (Ye Sacred Muses)
Heinrich I. F. Biber (Violin Sonata No.3)
Jean-Philippe Rameau(Les Cyclopes)
Franz Joseph Haydn(Symphony No. 80 in D minor)
Hector Berlioz(Grande Messe des Morts)
Charles Ives(Piano Sonata No.2 "Concord")
Sergei Prokofiev(Symphony No.  6 in E flat Major
Benjamin Britten(Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings)
Philip Glass(Beauty and the Beast)   

This is my solid top ten, with R.Strauss being numero uno, the rest being chronological. R. Strauss' tone poems (Till Eulenspiegel in particular) initially sparked my interest in classical music. The rest of the list I'll present in chronological order...

John Dowland(Lachrimae)
Claudio Monteverdi(Orfeo)
J.S. Bach(Goldberg Variations)
Antonio Vivaldi(Mandolin Concerto)
Georg Philipp Telemann(Overture-Suite in C major, TV 55 no C 3 "Wassermusik")
W. A. Mozart(Die Zauberflöte)
Franz Schubert(String Quartet No. 15 in D minor)
Edward Elgar(Symphony No. 2)
Alban Berg(Wozzeck)
Francis Poulenc(Figure humaine)
Alfred Schnittke(Choir Concerto)
Michael Nyman(MGV)
Pascal Dusapin(A Quia, concerto for Piano and Orchestra)
David Lang(Little Match Girl Passion)
Paul Schoenfield(Vaudeville, for Piccolo Trumpet and Orchestra)

I would say it's still close, although it's shocking that Bruckner was excluded completely, and Byrd made my Top Ten   
Maybe I don't know the old me as well as I though I did. 

[Mirror Image]

I think this thread needs no new Alien lists any time soon 

I don't think I need to post a list either. Members here should know my favorites by now and if they don't just look at my posting history.

[kyjo]

In some sort of order:

Rachmaninoff
Sibelius
Shostakovich
Ravel
Atterberg
RVW
Elgar
Dvorak
Prokofiev
Hanson

[Mirror Image]

I suppose it's definitely time to do another one of these lists (in no particular order):

Shostakovich
Vaughan Williams
Bartók
Mahler
Sibelius
Nielsen
Martinů
Dvořák
Ives
Szymanowski

[North Star]

Let's see...

Sibelius
Nielsen
Vaughan Williams
Ravel
Bartók
Mahler
Martinů
Elgar
Ives
Rachmaninov

I don't think I need to post a list either. Members here should know my favorites by now and if they don't just look at my posting history.

I suppose it's definitely time to do another one of these lists (in no particular order):

Shostakovich
Vaughan Williams
Bartók
Mahler
Sibelius
Nielsen
Martinů
Dvořák
Ives
Szymanowski

I think you're regressing again, John. 

[ritter]

I suppose it's definitely time to do another one of these lists (in no particular order):

Shostakovich
Vaughan Williams
Bartók
Mahler
Sibelius
Nielsen
Martinů
Dvořák
Ives
Szymanowski

Poor Koechlin, poor Delius... Thrown out into the cold, just like that...  

I'm just kidding of course. My lists would also be subject to changes every once in a while.

Good day, John!

[Mirror Image]

Poor Koechlin, poor Delius... Thrown out into the cold, just like that...  

I'm just kidding of course. My lists would also be subject to changes every once in a while.

Good day, John!

Hah! Good day to you, too, Rafael. I've cooled on Delius for many years now and I don't consider him an essential part of my listening or really much of an influence. Koechlin would definitely be in my 'Top 20' but not 'Top 10'.

Would be curious to see your updated list.

[North Star]

Time for some light editing.

Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Chopin
Dvořák
Janáček
Mozart
Ravel
Schubert
Sibelius

Just outside the top 10: Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Haydn, Berlioz, Rakhmaninov, Schumann

1 year later...


Bach
Beethoven
Chopin
Haydn
Janáček
Mozart
Ravel
Schubert
Sibelius
Stravinsky

(Followed by Rakhmaninov, Martinů, Brahms, Liszt, Berlioz, Monteverdi)

[ritter]

My list then...

....
Claudio Monteverdi
Johann Sebastian Bach
Wolgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
Richard Wagner
Gustav Mahler
Claude Debussy
Igor Stravinsky
Alban Berg
Pierre Boulez

..and my list now:

Johann Sebastian Bach
Wolgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
Richard Wagner
Claude Debussy
Manuel de Falla
Arnold Schoenberg
George Enescu
Igor Stravinsky
Pierre Boulez

So out go (temporarily, I suppose) Monteverdi, Mahler and Berg, and in come Falla, Schoenberg and Enescu.

[Mirror Image]

I think you're regressing again, John. 

Indeed, Karlo....indeed.

[bwv 1080]

right now

Mozart
Sor
Schumann
Schnittke
Henze
Carter
Brouwer
Terry Riley
Lutoslawski
Stravinsky

[amw]

Top 10 list is still consistent, but here:

JS Bach - has dominated my listening lately to an unusual degree.
Froberger - particularly the "darker" pieces
Louis Couperin - an old favourite
Mozart
Janáček
Sibelius - the music for violin and orchestra & violin and piano, mostly
Yannis Kyriakides - works with voices. as mentioned before in this forum
Chaya Czernowin - music is sometimes a bit busy for my taste, but its expressiveness is appealing right now
Enescu - the mature & late chamber music. Has a really special elusive quality that sets it apart from the late-romantic milieu, particularly in e.g. the slow movement of the D major piano sonata which is the kind of thing I hope to accomplish when I write music myself

the top 10 of the last..... few months? I guess comes out to be

Haydn almost exclusively for the string quartets, op. 20, 33 & 50
Beethoven
Julius Eastman. Not much (surviving) music but it's all great and has been listened to on repeat
Cage
JS Bach, as above, not listening so much as before
L Couperin. Mostly via Bob van Asperen's Aeolus recordings which are renewing my appreciation for the music.
Reich
Kurtág, spurred by the newish choral/vocal works release
Machaut. spent a fair amount of time with 14th century music lately in the hopes of eventually being able to tell apart different composers (lol) but Machaut still sounds more like music from the 24th century. sometimes when someone is incredibly famous for hundreds of years there's a good reason for it
Martinů, particularly very late & very early works (Fantaisies Symphoniques/Estampes/Parables/Fresques + Toccata discs of early orchestral music + early chamber music, eg Violin Sonata No.0)
Donatoni, somewhat of a "contemporary composer du jour" but also there's been a lot more of his music becoming available lately and I am definitely into it. the austerity in particular.

[Mandryka]

These are just the things that popped into my head when I asked myself what I've really enjoyed hearing over the past few months.

Schoenberg - it all started with the new recording by Trio Zimmerman, then I found myself getting more pleasure than ever before from the last two quartets.

Feldman, the late music, I'm getting more and more stamina to enjoy the experience of FBM and Triadic Memories and piano, violin, viola, cello. I'm kind of amazed at myself, that I can enjoy this stuff!

Mozart, really the quartets for Haydn and the last two quintets, I got a CD from quatuor Cambini Paris and it revived my interest a lot, as did someone's transfer of Tatrai quartet playing the late quintets.

Haydn op 20 - just because of Chiaroscuro  quartet.

Charles Mouton, I like the very late pieces, really it's Toyohiko Satoh's way of voicing the music which I like.

The anonymous authors of the Codex Huelgas, as performed by Luis Lozano Virumbrales.

Frescobaldi, for some reason I'm appreciating his music more than ever before.

Ockeghem, I like his music more than any other Franco-Flem at the moment. It flows so naturally, and is so rich contrapuntally.

Lassus, or rather Hilliard's Lassus, which just seems so very beautiful and easy-listening.

Beethoven, just one thing though, Arrau's Appassionata DVD.

Francesco Landini, I love the way the timbres in the Anonymous 4 recording cohere, what they do is relaxing

Generally, I've been enjoying Glen Wilson and The Rose Consort in everything they've  ever recorded.

[You did it]

I have no idea what I'd put at the moment.

(Gerard) Grisey and (Richard) Barrett are the only two that pop to mind that I don't have second thoughts on.

Medieval and Renaissance music have taken a turn for me (having been really into it at one stage this year).


Gotta gel over this longer 

[vandermolen]

Here we go, again ( )

Miaskovsky
Vaughan Williams
Bax
Shostakovich
Tubin
Braga Santos
Copland
Atterberg
Arnold
Sibelius

[You did it]

At the current, it is looking like:

Messiaen
Grisey
Stockhausen

Then the rest to varying extents:

Zorn
Stravinsky
Webern
Ives
Barrett
Varese
Scriabin

So it's all prett 20th/21st century right now, I've gone off early (Medieval/Renaissance) and romantic music lately.

[The One]

• Bach
• Beethoven
• Brahms
• Chopin
• Dvorak
• Haydn
• Mozart
• Schubert
• Tchaikovsky
• Vivaldi

Top 18 would have been a lot easier