Your Top 10 Favorite Composers

[ChopinBroccoli]

Very interesting to read. I'm also a huge jazz fan. I listened to jazz for about 15 years straight before venturing into classical music. My love for classical is predominantly for the Romantic Era and 20th Century. I especially am quite fond of the last decade of the 1890s up to around 1930. This 40 year period is absolutely incredible and the reason why I got into classical in the first place. No love for Debussy's mélodies or his opera, Pelléas et Mélisande? How about Ravel's Trois poèmes de Mallarmé or Shéhérazade?

I love that period as well!

When I hear those, all I keep thinking is how much I'd love them if the singers were a violin or a cello or an oboe 

I'm afraid I'm a lost cause on this subject

[Mirror Image]

I love that period as well!

When I hear those, all I keep thinking is how much I'd love them if the singers were a violin or a cello or an oboe 

I'm afraid I'm a lost cause on this subject

No problem. It doesn't hurt to ask. We simply like what we like --- there's no reason for any explanation.

[ChopinBroccoli]

No problem. It doesn't hurt to ask. We simply like what we like --- there's no reason for any explanation.

[Mirror Image]

I suppose it's time for a bit of an update:

'Top 3' - Debussy, Ravel, and Bartók



The other 7 -

First row: Sibelius, Stravinsky, Enescu
Second row: Fauré, Poulenc, Britten
Third row: Takemitsu

[vers la flamme]

I'll try this, but it will be so tentative, given that I've only been really into classical music for about a year at this point.

In no particular order:

Maurice Ravel
Robert Schumann
Gustav Mahler
Ludwig van Beethoven
Anton Webern
Jean Sibelius
Johannes Brahms
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Alexander Scriabin
Johann Sebastian Bach

Composers who just barely didn't make the cut: Claude Debussy, Frédéric Chopin, Igor Stravinsky, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Arnold Schoenberg. I'm rethinking my choices just writing this... Ask me again in a year and the list will be quite different.

[steve ridgway]

I first bought a couple of classical music CDs, Ligeti and Varese, three years ago, but have only really got into much in the last year or so since joining the forum. Some sort of milestone has now been reached in finding 10 composers that I enjoy enough to want to explore further. In alphabetical order -

Harrison Birtwistle
Pierre Boulez
George Crumb
Gyorgy Ligeti
Luigi Nono
Krzysztof Penderecki
Giacinto Scelsi
Alfred Schnittke
Toru Takemitsu
Edgard Varese

[springrite]

I first bought a couple of classical music CDs, Ligeti and Varese, three years ago, but have only really got into much in the last year or so since joining the forum. Some sort of milestone has now been reached in finding 10 composers that I enjoy enough to want to explore further. In alphabetical order -

Harrison Birtwistle
Pierre Boulez
George Crumb
Gyorgy Ligeti
Luigi Nono
Krzysztof Penderecki
Giacinto Scelsi
Alfred Schnittke
Toru Takemitsu
Edgard Varese

That's a very exciting and attractive list!

[steve ridgway]

That's a very exciting and attractive list!

I must have struck lucky in my ignorance .

[vers la flamme]

^Never would have pegged you for a Verdi guy based on your affinity for chamber and solo piano music. I need to spend more time with his operas.

[San Antone]

^Never would have pegged you for a Verdi guy based on your affinity for chamber and solo piano music. I need to spend more time with his operas.

There was a time when I was listening to a lot of opera, and Verdi was always the composer whose works appealed to me the most.  Vocal music in general is a big interest to me, choral works more so than lieder.  I've been listening and thinking about Bach cantatas and then I plan on delving into the Wagner Ring, so returning to Verdi was a natural evolution.

Anyway, it may not last, but for now, it is nice to revisit some of the works I used to love.

[Mirror Image]

There was a time when I was listening to a lot of opera, and Verdi was always the composer whose works appealed to me the most.  Vocal music in general is a big interest to me, choral works more so than lieder.  I've been listening and thinking about Bach cantatas and then I plan on delving into the Wagner Ring, so returning to Verdi was a natural evolution.

Anyway, it may not last, but for now, it is nice to revisit some of the works I used to love.

There was a time I was listening to a lot of Tchaikovsky, too, but my tastes have become quite refined. Nowadays, I can't even listen to Tchaikovsky. I can't stand most of those Italian opera composers with Verdi rising near the top of this musical junk heap.

[San Antone]

There was a time I was listening to a lot of Tchaikovsky, too, but my tastes have become quite refined. Nowadays, I can't even listen to Tchaikovsky. I can't stand most of those Italian opera composers with Verdi rising near the top of this musical junk heap.

Yes, my taste is not nearly as refined as yours and I enjoy junk like Verdi.

[Mirror Image]

Yes, my taste is not nearly as refined as yours and I enjoy junk like Verdi.

Well, I didn't mean to sound so dismissive of Italian opera, but I never understood the attraction. And what I mean by 'refined' is that I have finally been able to cut away the excess fat and get to essence of what I love in classical music.

[Mirror Image]

I suppose it's time for a bit of an update:

'Top 3' - Debussy, Ravel, and Bartók



The other 7 -

First row: Sibelius, Stravinsky, Enescu
Second row: Fauré, Poulenc, Britten
Third row: Takemitsu

This is still a damn fine list and, if any changes I had in mind, I might substitute Poulenc for Schoenberg (or Berg).

[Mirror Image]

Time for an update:

'Top 3' - Debussy, Ravel, and Bartók



The other 7 (in no particular order) -

First row: Ives, Stravinsky, Enescu
Second row: Fauré, Schoenberg, Szymanowski
Third row: Britten

[Christo]

I think I gave my Eternal List once or twice already and considering my age I guess it won't change that much anymore, except for one or two names still entering my repertoire. That said, I realized that in reality we often listen to completely other lists, more actual, less eternal. Since December the composers I played most often include mostly names never found on it, yet 'the right music' to listen to now:

Pēteris Vasks
Hendrik Andriessen
Eugene Goossens
Ēriks Ešenvalds
Olav Kielland
Ola Gjeilo
Joseph Jongen
Johann Sebastian Bach
Joseph Reinberger

(And, as always, RVW, the 'eternally No. 1' on most of my lists and only one I cannot live without  )

[Symphonic Addict]

I think I gave my Eternal List once or twice already and considering my age I guess it won't change that much anymore, except for one or two names still entering my repertoire. That said, I realized that in reality we often listen to completely other lists, more actual, less eternal. Since December the composers I played most often include mostly names never found on it, yet 'the right music' to listen to now:

Pēteris Vasks
Hendrik Andriessen
Eugene Goossens
Ēriks Ešenvalds
Olav Kielland
Ola Gjeilo
Joseph Jongen
Johann Sebastian Bach
Joseph Reinberger

(And, as always, RVW, the 'eternally No. 1' on most of my lists and only one I cannot live without  )

I thought Rheinberger was too conservative for your taste. Not bad. 
And glad to see Kielland on your actual list. The Sinfonia I is a great score.

[San Antone]

I think I have finally cracked this test, i.e. coming up with my favorite 10 composers.  My choices are often based on a single work, which I dearly love, but there will always be other works by these composers which speak to me in a major way. 

J.S. Bach - WTC, GV, Cello  Suite, Solo violin sonatas & partitas
Johannes Brahms - the late chamber works, the clarinet works especially
Igor Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms, Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Violin Concerto, L'Histoire du soldat
Claude Debussy - Pelleas et Melisande, solo piano music
Leonard Bernstein - Mass, West Side Story, Age of Anxiety
George Gershwin - Porgy & Bess, Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F
Maurice Durufle - Requiem, Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens 
Maurice Ravel - Concerto in G, solo piano music
Osvadlo Golijov - The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, La Pasión según San Marcos, Ainadamar
Kurt Weill - Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Three Penny Opera

One aspect more than any other which catapults a composer into my highest tier is the tendency to cross stylistic borders. Gershwin, Bernstein, Golijov, Weill, and to a lesser extent, Ravel and Stravinsky, all exhibit this trait. 

[vers la flamme]

I think I have finally cracked this test, i.e. coming up with my favorite 10 composers.  My choices are often based on a single work, which I dearly love, but there will always be other works by these composers which speak to me in a major way. 

J.S. Bach - WTC, GV, Cello  Suite, Solo violin sonatas & partitas
Johannes Brahms - the late chamber works, the clarinet works especially
Igor Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms, Symphonies of Wind Instruments, Violin Concerto, L'Histoire du soldat
Claude Debussy - Pelleas et Melisande, solo piano music
Leonard Bernstein - Mass, West Side Story, Age of Anxiety
George Gershwin - Porgy & Bess, Rhapsody in Blue, Concerto in F
Maurice Durufle - Requiem, Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens 
Maurice Ravel - Concerto in G, solo piano music
Osvadlo Golijov - The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, La Pasión según San Marcos, Ainadamar
Kurt Weill - Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Three Penny Opera

One aspect more than any other which catapults a composer into my highest tier is the tendency to cross stylistic borders. Gershwin, Bernstein, Golijov, Weill, and to a lesser extent, Ravel and Stravinsky, all exhibit this trait.

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Golijov or Duruflé in anyone's top 10. It's a good list, though. The Atlanta Symphony has recorded some of Golijov's music. I have Ainadamar on a DG CD. I listened once and did not enjoy it, so I put it away. I'll have to bust it out one of these days. I'm not really an opera guy, but what the hey. I have been meaning to explore more living composers' music. Is there a specific trait or group of traits in his music that especially draws you in?

As for Duruflé, I definitely should get the Requiem. Do you have a favorite recording? I understand there are like three or four different versions of it, a full orchestral version, a version with just organ, cello and choir, etc etc...

[San Antone]

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Golijov or Duruflé in anyone's top 10. It's a good list, though. The Atlanta Symphony has recorded some of Golijov's music. I have Ainadamar on a DG CD. I listened once and did not enjoy it, so I put it away. I'll have to bust it out one of these days. I'm not really an opera guy, but what the hey. I have been meaning to explore more living composers' music. Is there a specific trait or group of traits in his music that especially draws you in?

As for Duruflé, I definitely should get the Requiem. Do you have a favorite recording? I understand there are like three or four different versions of it, a full orchestral version, a version with just organ, cello and choir, etc etc...

Regarding Golijov, I like his mixing of genres (as I do with several other composers). E.G. in Ainadamar he incorporates Arab and Jewish idioms, as well as Spanish flamenco sounds.  I am drawn to composers who combine so-called  "low" art with "high" art, like Gershwin, Bernstein and Golijov. 

There are three versions of the Durufle Requiem:

The original was written for full orchestra, choir and organ and that version is well represented with Durufle conducting, but Robert Shaw's recording is also very good and has more recent sound. 

He then made a complete revision for choir, organ and cello.  The recording led by Sir Phillip Ledger and featuring Janet Baker is my favorite (although there are several other very good recordings). 

The last version he did was for a chamber orchestra and the Matthew Best version is often cited as very good.

I started a thread on the work where I list short reviews of many other recordings.  It is my favorite choral work and I have tried to hear all of the recordings.  It is often coupled with the Faure Requiem, but I prefer recordings that fill out the disc with other works by Durufle, e.g. the Four Motets or the Messe Cum jubilo.

This set of all the choral works is excellent, containing another of my favorite performances of the Requiem with Clare Wilkinson singing the "Pie Jesu":