What Composers Are You Currently Exploring?

[Karl Henning]

I like a fair bit of early Milhaud, but none of it is great stuff, just lively and colorful. He's better in short fare. I find the symphonies hard to sit through. Impossible really.

The box set of Milhaud symphonies was for me a rare case of near-instant buyer's remorse.

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[kishnevi]

Side note
My eyes keep reading the thread title as
What Composers Are You Currently Exploding

In which case it's poor Darius who is the current victim.

[Mirror Image]

I like a fair bit of early Milhaud, but none of it is great stuff, just lively and colorful. He's better in short fare. I find the symphonies hard to sit through. Impossible really.

The only symphony by Milhaud I like is the 6th. You can keep the rest. I do like his Carnaval d'Aix, but found the rest of his music for piano/orchestra to be rather unmemorable and not worth revisiting. Generally speaking, there's only a few French composers I really enjoy: Ravel, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Poulenc, and Berlioz.

[Mirror Image]

I find most of Grieg's orchestral music to be a bit too far on the naive side. But his lieder, lyric pieces, and chamber music alone is enough to make him great.

Not sure why naivety has to be considered a bad thing in music per se or used as a criticism, but, IMHO, it certainly doesn't apply to Grieg. I mean you have these 'greatest hits' in his orchestral music that may give that kind of impression, but the same could be said of a lot of composers whose famous bits are often quoted or used in a TV commercial, but have you heard the quiet, more lyrical moments of Holberg's Time or picked up on the subtlety and exquisite nuances of his Piano Concerto? You're certainly entitled to feel however you want, I'm just expressing an alternate viewpoint. I think with a composer like Grieg, you have to recognize the environment he was nurtured in and how perhaps a more positive outlook helped shape his own experiences. This isn't to say he doesn't have his dramatic moments...he certainly does, but that's deeper to the core and is a side that he personally doesn't share often, but, when he does, it's extremely arresting.

[nathanb]

Not sure why naivety has to be considered a bad thing in music per se or used as a criticism, but, IMHO, it certainly doesn't apply to Grieg. I mean you have these 'greatest hits' in his orchestral music that may give that kind of impression, but the same could be said of a lot of composers whose famous bits are often quoted or used in a TV commercial, but have you heard the quiet, more lyrical moments of Holberg's Time or picked up on the subtlety and exquisite nuances of his Piano Concerto? You're certainly entitled to feel however you want, I'm just expressing an alternate viewpoint. I think with a composer like Grieg, you have to recognize the environment he was nurtured in and how perhaps a more positive outlook helped shape his own experiences. This isn't to say he doesn't have his dramatic moments...he certainly does, but that's deeper to the core and is a side that he personally doesn't share often, but, when he does, it's extremely arresting.

The Grieg Piano Concerto has to be one of the classical pieces I've listened to most, period. I love it for what it is, but I'm stickin' to my guns on this one

[Mirror Image]

The Grieg Piano Concerto has to be one of the classical pieces I've listened to most, period. I love it for what it is, but I'm stickin' to my guns on this one

Well, I'm certainly not trying to change your mind of course, but merely offering a well-considered rebuttal.

[nathanb]

Well, I'm certainly not trying to change your mind of course, but merely offering a well-considered rebuttal.

Then you are a gentleman and a scholar, my good man.

[Mirror Image]

Then you are a gentleman and a scholar, my good man.

This is out-of-the-blue but have you participated in the 'Top 10 Favorite Composers' thread? I'd love to know your tastes. My current list is in serious compromise right now, but I have my firm favorites, which will never be bumped from my list.

[nathanb]

I could certainly do that, but I've been thinking:

I would really have to just go ahead and exclude Bach/Mozart/Beethoven. I simply haven't listened to their music enough in the last year or so to justify including them without feeling that I'm just offering my blind allegiance. I love their music to death, and consider them to be three men of monolithic talent, but it is simply not where my heart leads me right now; I have listened to them a ton in the past, but if I'm going to do this kind of thing, I have to be honest about my present feelings, in spite of however much I may want to fit in and focus on historical giants.

[Mirror Image]

I could certainly do that, but I've been thinking:

I would really have to just go ahead and exclude Bach/Mozart/Beethoven. I simply haven't listened to their music enough in the last year or so to justify including them without feeling that I'm just offering my blind allegiance. I love their music to death, and consider them to be three men of monolithic talent, but it is simply not where my heart leads me right now; I have listened to them a ton in the past, but if I'm going to do this kind of thing, I have to be honest about my present feelings, in spite of however much I may want to fit in and focus on historical giants.

Any list of this nature should speak of your current experiences and where you're currently at musically speaking. For me, I've been getting back into music that has long been in my heart. Many members view me as a 20th Century connoisseur and have caught me in many different phases in this development as a listener. I don't think they know that Romantic music (incl. late-Romanticism) is where I actually caught the classical bug. Hearing Dvorak, Berlioz, Brahms, Liszt, Smetana, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Bruckner, Rachmaninov, Mahler, Strauss, Wagner, Mussorgsky, Liadov, Saint-Saens, etc. for the first-time seven years ago helped fuel what would turn into a passionate fire. Our tastes change as we get more experience under our belts, but I'll never forget the positive listening experiences I've had so far. I may have turned my back on this music for many years, but anything that has meant something to you will find a way back into your heart and mind. I'm a firm believer in that.

[nathanb]

Any list of this nature should speak of your current experiences and where you're currently at musically speaking. For me, I've been getting back into music that has long been in my heart. Many members view me as a 20th Century connoisseur and have caught me in many different phases of this development as a listener. I don't think they know that Romantic music (incl. late-Romanticism, too) is where I actually caught the classical bug. Hearing Dvorak, Berlioz, Brahms, Liszt, Smetana, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Bruckner, Mahler, Strauss, Wagner, Mussorgsky, Liadov, Saint-Saens, etc. for the first-time seven years ago helped fuel what would turn into a passionate fire. Our tastes change as we get more experience under our belts, but I'll never forget the positive listening experiences I've had so far. I may have turned my back on this music for many years, but anything that has meant something to you will find a way back into your heart and mind. I'm a firm believer in that.

And I firmly agree with what you say. As for where I am right this moment in my heart and mind, it's posted

[some guy]

The box set of Milhaud symphonies was for me a rare case of near-instant buyer's remorse.

Me too.

So I took that as a challenge.

I hadn't listened to these but once since I bought the set, and when I found that I had the sound files stored on a hard drive, having ripped these CDs, I accepted the challenge.

I've only made it through the first four so far, but I have to say, it's been a much better experience than I anticipated. They are strange creatures, to be sure. Very subtle, actually. With big, obvious bits as well, it's true. A lot of long passages in which there are really no things that stand out, so requiring a pretty intense concentration. Lose your concentration for an instance, and you're sunk.

I've enjoyed the first four so far pretty well, though. And am looking forward to the next nine. That first entrance of the chorus in number three is pretty cool. Big chords in the orchestra. When they cut out, there's a wordless chorus continuing on, piano. Magical.

Edit: Plus those covers, too. Nice covers, no?

[The new erato]

The only symphony by Milhaud I like is the 6th. You can keep the rest. I do like his Carnaval d'Aix, but found the rest of his music for piano/orchestra to be rather unmemorable and not worth revisiting. Generally speaking, there's only a few French composers I really enjoy: Ravel, Debussy, Saint-Saens, Poulenc, and Berlioz.

Magnard?

You should consider adding Faure and Cras. And is Honegger really French?

[Florestan]

This isn't to say he doesn't have his dramatic moments...he certainly does, but that's deeper to the core and is a side that he personally doesn't share often, but, when he does, it's extremely arresting.

Like for instance in Bergliot, which is one of the most frightening pieces I´v ever heard.

[some guy]

erato's post reminded me of something.

Milhaud wrote two sets of symphonies. The symphonies and the little symphonies.

Which #6 is Mirror referring to? The sixth symphony is not that much different from the other symphonies. (Yes, I'm up to six now. On to seven-twelve later today.) But the sixth little symphony I recall from my childhood as being quite cool. I don't recall any of the other little symphonies. Another thing to look forward to. I know I've listened to them. I just don't recall anything of them except for the sixth.

Otherwise, here's some more French composers worth exploring:

Michele Bokanowski
Jerome Noetinger
Lionel Marchetti
Christine Groult
eRikm
Varese (unless you're counting him as (US) American)
Francis Dhomont
Pierre Henry
Gilles Gobeil
Luc Ferrari
Beatriz Ferreyra (if you count Varese as US)
Eliane Radigue
Jean-Francios Laporte

For starters....

[mc ukrneal]

Any list of this nature should speak of your current experiences and where you're currently at musically speaking.

Now I understand why your lists are always changing....I don't share that view by the way.

[Spineur]

Magnard?
You should consider adding Faure and Cras. And is Honegger really French?

In term of nationality, yes.  But which composer embodies really the French spirit ?  As far as I am concerned, only
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Georges Bizet
Francis Poulenc
qualify.
As far as his music is concerned Berlioz could have been German.  Debussy music is a mixture of Wagner and french influences.  Ravel comes closer to the french spirit.

[Florestan]

Georges Bizet

Who is famous for one work only which actually embodies the Spanish spirit. 

[Spineur]

Who is famous for one work only which actually embodies the Spanish spirit. 

This reminds me of an interview of Sviatoslav Richter who was asked what is views were of spanish piano music.  His answer was there wasn't much beyond Ravel "Elborada del gracioso"    

[Florestan]

which composer embodies really the French spirit ?

What is the French spirit really? Can it be defined in such certain terms as to clearly distinguish it from the spirit of other nations? And if some (famous) Frenchmen are found to be lacking it, are they then less French because of that?

Just asking.