Most bombastic composers of the 20th/21st century?

[Todd]

Scriabin.

[Karl Henning]

Scriabin.

I right away think of the Mazurkas, and wonder what you can mean 

[Cato]

Scriabin.

The composer may have been naturally bombastic    

[kishnevi]

No one seems to have mentioned an obvious contender


ETA
That is Karl Heinz down front.

[Mirror Image]

This man:

[Sergeant Rock]

The composer may have been naturally bombastic   

The moustache is a dead giveaway 




Sarge

[EigenUser]

You're banned for life from the Ravel fan club. 'Bombastic' doesn't mean just loud, you know. 

Strauss, Respighi, Mahler, Messiaen, Leifs, and even Shostakovich certainly indulged occasionally. And Orff.

I guess bombastic is really not quite the right word. Even with Messiaen, his music is loud with a ton of meaning -- joy. Some of the joyous music composed. Not just an "oh, how nice" kind of thing, but an almost-literally blinding glory. That isn't a subtle thing and it shouldn't sound like one.

The opposite of what I am trying to describe would be something like Debussy La Mer or a lot of Ligeti -- things that are very subtle. They certainly have loud moments, but they are restrained.

[Mirror Image]

The moustache is a dead giveaway 




Sarge

Not necessarily:

[Sergeant Rock]

Not necessarily:

  ...that reminds me: I haven't heard Sun-Treader in ages.

Sarge

[Ken B]

No one seems to have mentioned an obvious contender


ETA
That is Karl Heinz down front.

Composers.

[EigenUser]

Composers.

Gruppen has its bombastic moments, for sure.

[DaveF]

Taking "bombastic" to mean a glaring mismatch between quality of material and the volume at which it's pumped out, Malcolm Arnold and Robert Simpson seem quite at home in this thread.

[jfdrex]

Discuss:  Reinhold Glière, Symphony No. 3 ('Ilya Muromets').  Bombastic?  Or merely long and long-winded?

And speaking of bombastic Russian composers whose names begin with Гл -- how about Glazunov?

[The new erato]

No one seems to have mentioned an obvious contender


ETA
That is Karl Heinz down front.

Rummenige?

[kishnevi]

Listened to William Schuman's Third Symphony as played by Lenny and the NYPO this afternoon.  Based on that performance Schuman qualifies for this thread.

[EigenUser]

Penderecki is another one I thought of.

Also, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. Scarbo, in particular. Yet, for all of its over-the-top moments, it has one of the weirdest endings (quiet, creepy, unresolved).

Messiaen's Visions de l'Amen (which I absolutely love).

[Mirror Image]

Penderecki is another one I thought of.

Certainly. Personally, I never understood the attraction to this composer but I'm sure many are wondering the same for my love of Delius' music.

[Ken B]

Penderecki is another one I thought of.

Also, Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. Scarbo, in particular. Yet, for all of its over-the-top moments, it has one of the weirdest endings (quiet, creepy, unresolved).

Messiaen's Visions de l'Amen (which I absolutely love).

Penderecki sure can be!
My new tag line might be this:
"Ravel" -- Nate, when asked to name a bombastic composer

[DaveF]

Rummenige?

Definitely not - not even Debussy's orchestration is as delicate as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB9dOhFRirw

[Rons_talking]

Charles Ives deserves a seat at this table...