Your Top 10 Favorite Composers

[Sergeant Rock]

I think that is Stockhausen's ghost...

He's haunting damn near everyone.

Sarge

[vandermolen]

I think these lists are a cruel exercise. I can't sleep at night and if I do fall asleep the composers that didn't make my list haunt me in horrible nightmares!!!!!!   

I think that is Stockhausen's ghost...

Fuseli's great painting 'Nightmare' featured on the cover of Bernard Herrmann's LP recording of Raff's fine Symphony 5 'Lenore' years ago. It also appeared on the CD.

[Ken B]

I think these lists are a cruel exercise. I can't sleep at night and if I do fall asleep the composers that didn't make my list haunt me in horrible nightmares!!!!!!   

I think that is Stockhausen's ghost...

If Stockhausen is anywhere near your Top 10 you don't deserve to sleep.

[Ken B]

Ghosts?
"Forget Banquo, you have Stockhausen now."

[Moonfish]

If Stockhausen is anywhere near your Top 10 you don't deserve to sleep.

Nah! It would probably be Marais that is haunting me...     0:)

[Moonfish]

I am starting to suspect that very few of us actually have a top ten list in our mind. Most likely it revolves around a top 30 or 40 (or even 50) batch that changes slightly as time goes by.   

[Jo498]

I actually find a top ten much easier than top 30. With top 10 I have some trouble with the last two spots but with Top 30 the bottom 10 or 15 get quite random, I am afraid. Maybe top 50 is easy again because than I can name almost any composer I care about a little.

[NJ Joe]

JS Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Brahms
Debussy
Sibelius
Ravel
Bartok
Stravinsky

Choosing a 10th is too difficult right now.

[Mirror Image]

My list has changed quite a bit since last time (in no particular order):

Sibelius
RVW
Ravel
Bartok
Stravinsky
Britten
Shostakovich
Nielsen
Prokofiev
Tchaikovsky

[Ken B]

My list has changed quite a bit since last time (in no particular order):

Sibelius
RVW
Ravel
Bartok
Stravinsky
Britten
Shostakovich
Nielsen
Prokofiev
Tchaikovsky

Barber
Koechlin
Delius
Schnitke
J L Adams
Elgar


RIP

[Mirror Image]

Barber
Koechlin
Delius
Schnitke
J L Adams
Elgar


RIP

Oh, you know my lists are never set in stone, Kenny. I do plan on keeping Sibelius on my top 10, though and Nielsen, too. Ravel and Bartok have always been in my top 10.

[Moonfish]

My list has changed quite a bit since last time (in no particular order):

Sibelius
RVW
Ravel
Bartok
Stravinsky
Britten
Shostakovich
Nielsen
Prokofiev
Tchaikovsky

John,
It is hard to believe that you removed your demigod Delius from your list (as well as Elgar for that matter).   

This is why we need top 30 lists....!

[North Star]

Will the real MI please stand up 

[Karl Henning]

I'm going to post today first, and then go back and check however I posted earlier:

In alphabetical order...

Brahms
Chopin
Haydn
Prokofiev
D. Scarlatti
Schoenberg
Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Vaughan Williams
da Victoria

[Karl Henning]

My next-earlier post seems to have been at a time when we were allowing an even dozen:

Twelve? Let's see . . .

Stravinsky
Schoenberg
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Chopin
Berlioz
JS Bach
Rakhmaninov
Sibelius
Nielsen
Brahms
D. Scarlatti

Getting the first ten is easy ... and then I wonder, whom am I leaving out, and I'll kick myself (figuratively) for the omission?...

I was aware of "missing" Berlioz, Nielsen & Sibelius this go-around;  they have not fallen into "disfavor," strictly speaking . . . as the names came to my mind, though, I acknowledged that in fact I have not been listening to much (any) of their music of late.  Likewise, although they've been absent from my recent listening, Bach & Rakhmaninov remain best-loved composers.

[North Star]

My next-earlier post seems to have been at a time when we were allowing an even dozen:

I was aware of "missing" Berlioz, Nielsen & Sibelius this go-around;  they have not fallen into "disfavor," strictly speaking . . . as the names came to my mind, though, I acknowledged that in fact I have not been listening to much (any) of their music of late.  Likewise, although they've been absent from my recent listening, Bach & Rakhmaninov remain best-loved composers.

I know just the thing for the lack of recent Sibelius listening.

https://www.youtube.com/v/3S_ItXpjWNE


I think I'll join in the list-making & comparison.

Ravel
Bach
Sibelius
Chopin
Janáček
Brahms
Berlioz
Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Bartók

E: I don't seem to have posted in this thread before. Oh well, I don't think the list is that different from earlier ones.

[Karl Henning]

I know just the thing for the lack of recent Sibelius listening.

https://www.youtube.com/v/3S_ItXpjWNE

An excellent suggestion! 

[Mirror Image]

John,
It is hard to believe that you removed your demigod Delius from your list (as well as Elgar for that matter).   

This is why we need top 30 lists....!

I still a lot of Delius' music, but he didn't make the cut this time around. I felt that Sibelius and Nielsen deserved the Top 10 spots this time.

[springrite]

John is the Don Giovanni of music listeners!

[Mirror Image]

John is the Don Giovanni of music listeners!