10 favourite American composers

Started by ComposerOfAvantGarde, July 19, 2016, 08:15:10 PM

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ComposerOfAvantGarde

#20
August 03, 2016, 04:17:50 AM Last Edit: August 03, 2016, 02:32:59 PM by jessop
Today's top 10 in order

Coates
Feldman
Carter
Crumb
Wolfe
Cage
Oliveros
Seeger
Ruggles
Babbitt

nathanb

#21
August 03, 2016, 12:44:26 PM
I guess something like:

1. John Cage
2. Morton Feldman
3. Elliott Carter
4. Alvin Lucier
5. Harry Partch
6. Milton Babbitt
7. Jason Eckardt
8. Pauline Oliveros
9. George Crumb
10. John Zorn
11. Earle Brown
12. Charles Wuorinen
13. Aaron Cassidy
14. Elliott Sharp
15. Robert Ashley
16. Gloria Coates
17. Michael Hersch
18. Gordon Mumma
19. Christian Wolff
20. Conlon Nancarrow

Sorry. 10 was too hard.

ComposerOfAvantGarde

#22
August 03, 2016, 01:17:36 PM
nathanb i love your list

Ken B

#23
August 03, 2016, 02:22:13 PM
Quote from: Cato on July 20, 2016, 03:56:16 AM
A very honorable mention!!!  8)

I am surprised nobody has yet included...Bernard Herrmann!

Alphabetically...(and more than 10)

George Antheil

Samuel Barber

Easley Blackwood

Elliott Carter

Aaron Copland

George Crumb

Louis Gottschalk

Lou Harrison

Karl Henning

Bernard Herrmann

Charles Ives

Ben Johnston

Jerome Moross

Harry Partch

George Rochberg

Carl Ruggles

John Phillips Sousa

Charles Wuorinen


I feel like I should start "Ken B's Arithmetic Grumble"

North Star

#24
August 03, 2016, 02:36:05 PM
Quote from: Ken B on August 03, 2016, 02:22:13 PM
I feel like I should start "Ken B's Arithmetic Grumble"
I don't think the grumble is about arithmetics when the disregarding of numerals is intentional - in this context, at least.
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

nathanb

#25
August 03, 2016, 04:21:29 PM
Quote from: jessop on August 03, 2016, 01:17:36 PM
nathanb i love your list

Well then I love you.

Androcles

#28
August 25, 2016, 02:57:10 PM Last Edit: August 25, 2016, 03:03:49 PM by Androcles
I have to confess I have struggled a bit with American composers.

The only one I really like and would listen to frequently is Elliott Carter. When I'm in the right mood, I might gives Charles Ives or Roger Sessions a spin. Morton Feldman gets my children to sleep.

Does Frank Zappa count?

Other than that, I've struggled with pretty much everyone else: Adams, Reich, Glass, Hovhaness, Piston, Wuorinen, Rochberg, Copland, Barber, MacDowell, et al. Cage is a bit of a funny one - a musical experimenter. I fell though that I could listen to something he did, take his point, find it interesting and then not be bothered about never listening to it again.

Would be glad of any suggestions by those who know more about it.
And, moreover, it is art in its most general and comprehensive form that is here discussed, for the dialogue embraces everything connected with it, from its greatest object, the state, to its least, the embellishment of sensuous existence.

ComposerOfAvantGarde

#29
September 05, 2016, 03:35:38 PM
I see no reason why Zappa shouldn't count; the fact is that he has been a prominent figure in genre-defying music, but has been influenced by western classical classical composers and hashe influenced later generations of composers as well.

Dax

#30
September 07, 2016, 02:52:02 AM
Not a single mention of Henry Cowell - why not?

Christo

#31
September 07, 2016, 03:25:46 AM
Barber
Schuman
Diamond
Gershwin
Still
Bernstein
Ellington
Copland
Harris
Mennin
(Reich, Glass, Adams)
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

Cato

#32
September 07, 2016, 03:31:08 AM
Quote from: Ken B on August 03, 2016, 02:22:13 PM
I feel like I should start "Ken B's Arithmetic Grumble"

"I'm just a rebel when it comes to music."  $:)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Karl Henning

#33
September 07, 2016, 04:03:20 AM
Quote from: Dax on September 07, 2016, 02:52:02 AM
Not a single mention of Henry Cowell - why not?

I guess he hasn't cracked into anyone's Top 10.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Cato

#34
September 07, 2016, 04:15:11 AM
Quote from: Dax on September 07, 2016, 02:52:02 AM
Not a single mention of Henry Cowell - why not?

Quote from: karlhenning on September 07, 2016, 04:03:20 AM
I guess he hasn't cracked into anyone's Top 10.

Not much on YouTube: here is an early work with his trademark "cluster" style...

https://www.youtube.com/v/4U3DlKRX-Aw
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

SurprisedByBeauty

#35
March 11, 2017, 10:12:53 AM Last Edit: March 11, 2017, 10:14:52 AM by SurprisedByBeauty
Since this is somewhat related: Although it doesn't include my favorite American composers, except for Cage Carter (who'd sneak in at No.10).

Classical CD Of The Week: America! From "Maryland, My Maryland" To John Cage

http://bit.ly/CDoftheWeek49

vandermolen

#36
March 11, 2017, 11:45:11 AM
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on July 20, 2016, 04:19:22 AM
Ives
Diamond
Harris
Bernstein
Ruggles
Antheil
Herrmann
Barber
Gershwin
Korngold (a naturalized American citizen; he composed his most famous film scores after permanently settling in America, and composed the Symphony, Violin and Cello Concertos after he became a citizen)
This could be my list too.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

#37
March 11, 2017, 11:46:41 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on March 11, 2017, 11:45:11 AM
This could be my list too.

I didn't know you liked Ruggles, Jeffrey? :o Awesome!

vandermolen

#38
March 11, 2017, 11:50:50 AM Last Edit: March 11, 2017, 11:54:35 AM by vandermolen
Quote from: Mirror Image on March 11, 2017, 11:46:41 AM
I didn't know you liked Ruggles, Jeffrey? :o Awesome!
Well, to be honest John, I only really know the 'Sun Treader' but that is a very fine work. I had it on a great LP with Ives's Three Places in New England in my favourite recording, conducted by MTT with the Boston SO. On CD it was coupled with Piston's Second Symphony - also a fine score and the greatest of his symphonies IMHO.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

#39
March 11, 2017, 11:53:26 AM
Quote from: vandermolen on March 11, 2017, 11:50:50 AM
Well, to be honest John, I only really know the 'Sun Treader' but that is a very fine work. I had it on a great LP with Ives's Three Places in New England in my favourite recording, conducted by MTT with the Boston SO. On CD it was coupled with Piston's Second Symphony - also a fine score and the greatest of his symphonies IMHO.

Ah okay, very cool. Ruggles is definitely worth your time as he composed in a highly individual, craggy style. He composed very little, but his works for orchestra are American musical monuments IMHO. There's a set with MTT conducting all of Ruggles' works with the Buffalo Philharmonic, but I think this set may be sadly OOP. :( I picked it up when it was released several years ago.
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