Your Top 10 Favorite Composers

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Not many changes, but thought I should post this anyway:

Wagner
Beethoven
Debussy
R. Strauss
Sibelius
Puccini
Rachmaninoff
Saint-Saëns
Berlioz
Verdi

[Mirror Image]

Mine has gone through another metamorphosis:

Nielsen
Sibelius
Dvořák
Vaughan Williams
Bartók
Shostakovich
Elgar
R. Strauss
Rachmaninov
Brahms

[Madiel]

Alas! Poor Ravel. From being close to your heart straight to being booted off the list.

[amw]

Since apparently this just means "your top 10 composers over the past few days/weeks/hours" now, I will say the composers I've been listening to most lately include Dvořák, Schubert and Martinů, plus occasionally Beethoven (András Schiff's 2x Diabellis, several recordings of Op. 130, and much more of the Sixth Symphony than I've ever usually listened to) and way more Japanese gagaku music than usual. At the moment I have minimal interest in Brahms apart from the string sextets & the first two violin sonatas, find Chopin and Mendelssohn ok in the quieter kitschier pieces but less interested in their big works at the moment, prefer Mozart to Haydn, and have little time for Bartók, Stravinsky, Cage, etc—maybe too "objective", but I am pretty into Jo Kondo, who's even more so, so idk. Sciarrino and Nono make up most of my modernist listening, plus Sørensen, who's not a modernist but has a similar calming effect. I also opened the Parmegiani Box, but he's no Luc Ferrari *cough* er, yeah. I have not listened to any pre-1780 music in what feels like forever.

I guess that's a good list of current favourites plus unfavourites-that-are-normally-favourites.

[71 dB]

Mine has gone through another metamorphosis:

Nielsen
Sibelius
Dvořák
Vaughan Williams
Bartók
Shostakovich
Elgar
R. Strauss
Rachmaninov
Brahms

All of your top 10 composers lived between the years 1841 and 1975. 

I wonder, who here have the shortest and longest "top 10 periods"?

My "top 10 period" is at least 1685-1934 and everybody knows why. If I force Buxtehude and Weinberg into my top 10, it's c. 1637-1996. 

[Mirror Image]

Alas! Poor Ravel. From being close to your heart straight to being booted off the list.

A sad day indeed. I had to make room for others.

[Mirror Image]

My current list:

Nielsen
Sibelius
Dvořák
Bruckner
Vaughan Williams
Bartók
Shostakovich
Elgar
R. Strauss
Rachmaninov

Basically, my list is getting to where it's becoming increasingly difficult to edit and, for me, that's a good thing. I feel bad for leaving Brahms off, though.

[springrite]

My current list:

Nielsen
Sibelius
Dvořák
Bruckner
Vaughan Williams
Bartók
Shostakovich
Elgar
R. Strauss
Rachmaninov

Basically, my list is getting to where it's becoming increasingly difficult to edit and, for me, that's a good thing. I feel bad for leaving Brahms off, though.

I once thought Berg would be safe...

[Mirror Image]

I once thought Berg would be safe...

I love Berg, but he has no place amongst my 'Top 10' unfortunately.

[springrite]

I love Berg, but he has no place amongst my 'Top 10' unfortunately.

John, you treat composers the way I used to treat my girlfriends, until I met and married Vanessa. 

[Mirror Image]

John, you treat composers the way I used to treat my girlfriends, until I met and married Vanessa. 

Hopefully, I'll meet my 'Vanessa' one day, too.

[some guy]

Since apparently this just means "your top 10 composers over the past few days/weeks/hours" now...

But what else could it possibly mean? That you listen and listen and gradually settle on ten and then stop? You keep listening, but that original ten, which you got to by listening and reacting and thinking and listening some more, remains somehow the same? What happened to the whole process which resulted in the original ten? Was the whole point of that to get to a point and stop moving then forever?

"Over the past few days/weeks/hours" is the only thing that gives this fatally flawed concept even the remotest semblance of validity. Take that away, and....

[Madiel]

Many of my top 10 composers are not ones I've listened to in the last few weeks.

But I have a long term memory.

There's no logic to saying that your best friends must be people you've seen in the last few weeks, or that the best experiences you've had must be ones that occurred in the last few weeks, so I completely fail to see why my favourite composers must be the ones I'm listening to within the last few weeks.

I might be focusing on some new music, like Nørgård, and I might be enjoying it a great deal, but does that mean that it MUST have supplanted in my affections music that I've known for years? No, of course it doesn't. One cannot listen to all music simultaneously, so at any given moment one must pick and choose. What I'm choosing right now doesn't logically imply anything about my long term choices.

If I spend two weeks regularly listening to Stockhausen in an attempt to understand why the hell anyone enjoys Stockhausen**, it would be nonsense to say that therefore Stockhausen is one of my favourite composers. It just makes him one of my most frequently listened to composers in a brief sample period. Favourites are things that you keep coming back to, repeatedly, over the longer term. Not things you're listening to right now but don't enjoy enough to want to repeat the experience.

There's a big middle ground in between total top 10 rigidity at one end, and constant top 10 fluidity at the other.

**This is basically what I did a few years ago.

[Madiel]

Hopefully, I'll meet my 'Vanessa' one day, too.

Musically I met Vagn.

[some guy]

If the following is a response to my post to amw, then I have to say that it misses the point. Or, rather, that it replaces the points I did make with other, less valid points, and proceeds to criticizing those points.

So, for the record, I do not say that my best friends must be people I've seen in the last few weeks, or that the best experiences I've had must have been the ones that occurred in the last few weeks.

I was not talking about long-term and short term choices at all. Nor was I implying anything about today's choices--choice of inclusion on a list has been silently conflated with choice of what to listen to at this moment, by the way..., in case anyone missed that bit of sleight-of-hand--being logically related to long term choices.

I agree that listening to Stockhausen for two weeks [for all the wrong reasons], does not mean that it must have supplanted in one's affections music that one has known for years, but since no one has ever said that or even suggested it, but since this bit of nonsense is totally made up just in order to make a non-point, my agreement is really neither here nor there.

And, finally, I do not see any of this topic as being in any way a continuum, so I don't think the whole "middle ground" thing really applies.

Many of my top 10 composers are not ones I've listened to in the last few weeks.

But I have a long term memory.

There's no logic to saying that your best friends must be people you've seen in the last few weeks, or that the best experiences you've had must be ones that occurred in the last few weeks, so I completely fail to see why my favourite composers must be the ones I'm listening to within the last few weeks.

I might be focusing on some new music, like Nørgård, and I might be enjoying it a great deal, but does that mean that it MUST have supplanted in my affections music that I've known for years? No, of course it doesn't. One cannot listen to all music simultaneously, so at any given moment one must pick and choose. What I'm choosing right now doesn't logically imply anything about my long term choices.

If I spend two weeks regularly listening to Stockhausen in an attempt to understand why the hell anyone enjoys Stockhausen**, it would be nonsense to say that therefore Stockhausen is one of my favourite composers. It just makes him one of my most frequently listened to composers in a brief sample period. Favourites are things that you keep coming back to, repeatedly, over the longer term. Not things you're listening to right now but don't enjoy enough to want to repeat the experience.

There's a big middle ground in between total top 10 rigidity at one end, and constant top 10 fluidity at the other.

**This is basically what I did a few years ago.

[Madiel]

If the following is a response to my post to amw, then I have to say that it misses the point.

Well it wasn't a direct response.

It would've helped if you hadn't cut off your quote of amw's post where you did, because it feels like YOU somewhat missed the point by lifting one half of a sentence. amw wasn't suggesting that a top 10 should be fixed for all time, it was actually a post that went on to say "what I've been listening to lately", in reaction to some other posts (which I had similarly noticed) that based "favourites" on what had been recently listened to.

So I'm following on from that notion. Not from the direction you took it.

[amw]

But what else could it possibly mean?

I've always taken it to mean Top 10 composers over your entire lifetime. As it happens, although I do keep listening to new stuff (all the time) that list hasn't really changed much since Schumann shot up the ranks about 4-5 years ago—there's simply very little new stuff I have discovered that's been as consistently important to me. So yeah, it does remain "somehow the same"—probably because of my particular psychology and musical interests. Maybe I should consider a voluntary moratorium on my "top 10" composers for, say, a few months and see what happens.

[Mirror Image]

Many of my top 10 composers are not ones I've listened to in the last few weeks.

But I have a long term memory.

There's no logic to saying that your best friends must be people you've seen in the last few weeks, or that the best experiences you've had must be ones that occurred in the last few weeks, so I completely fail to see why my favourite composers must be the ones I'm listening to within the last few weeks.

I might be focusing on some new music, like Nørgård, and I might be enjoying it a great deal, but does that mean that it MUST have supplanted in my affections music that I've known for years? No, of course it doesn't. One cannot listen to all music simultaneously, so at any given moment one must pick and choose. What I'm choosing right now doesn't logically imply anything about my long term choices.

If I spend two weeks regularly listening to Stockhausen in an attempt to understand why the hell anyone enjoys Stockhausen**, it would be nonsense to say that therefore Stockhausen is one of my favourite composers. It just makes him one of my most frequently listened to composers in a brief sample period. Favourites are things that you keep coming back to, repeatedly, over the longer term. Not things you're listening to right now but don't enjoy enough to want to repeat the experience.

There's a big middle ground in between total top 10 rigidity at one end, and constant top 10 fluidity at the other.

**This is basically what I did a few years ago.

I agree that, especially looking at my list now, that a 'Top 10' should be something that's stable. As I mentioned, the fact that my list is becoming increasingly difficult to alter is a sign that I'm on the right track. It absolutely killed me to let Ravel go since he had been a solid favorite for seven years now, but perhaps my tastes have changed? Unlike many listeners here, I'm still a relative newbie with only seven years of listening experience under my belt. I have so much more to learn and, thankfully, I'm in the right place.

[Madiel]

I agree that, especially looking at my list now, that a 'Top 10' should be something that's stable. As I mentioned, the fact that my list is becoming increasingly difficult to alter is a sign that I'm on the right track. It absolutely killed me to let Ravel go since he had been a solid favorite for seven years now, but perhaps my tastes have changed? Unlike many listeners here, I'm still a relative newbie with only seven years of listening experience under my belt. I have so much more to learn and, thankfully, I'm in the right place.

Tastes most definitely do change, whether it's been a short time or a long time. You can go on or off particular music, or composers, or whole genres, and then you may well get back on them again at some point. Sometimes a break makes a difference. And sometimes... it doesn't.

It is what it is. The one thing I'd say is that it's better to be at least open to the possibility that something or someone that doesn't meet your usual criteria will make a positive impression. There's a balance between using what you know about your own tastes to lead you towards other things likely to please you, but not refusing to even consider anything outside those parameters.

In the classical world, concerts and mixed programmes are a good way to discover pleasant surprises.

And, of course, there's no reason why the list of things you listen to can't be far, far wider than whoever makes your top 10.

[Mirror Image]

Tastes most definitely do change, whether it's been a short time or a long time. You can go on or off particular music, or composers, or whole genres, and then you may well get back on them again at some point. Sometimes a break makes a difference. And sometimes... it doesn't.

It is what it is. The one thing I'd say is that it's better to be at least open to the possibility that something or someone that doesn't meet your usual criteria will make a positive impression. There's a balance between using what you know about your own tastes to lead you towards other things likely to please you, but not refusing to even consider anything outside those parameters.

In the classical world, concerts and mixed programmes are a good way to discover pleasant surprises.

And, of course, there's no reason why the list of things you listen to can't be far, far wider than whoever makes your top 10.

Absolutely agreed. If we're not growing as listeners then we're forever doomed to remain in a state of stagnation. Of course, there's some music that I will never like because I just don't have the aptitude or really the interest to explore (e. g.  a lot of Baroque music and mostly post-WWII composers, although there are a few I like from each of these time periods), so, in this regard, I'll be happy to remain in that stagnated state.