Your Top 5 Most Joyful Composers

Started by Florestan, October 11, 2020, 10:52:55 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Symphonic Addict

Dvorak
Glazunov
Haydn
Braga Santos
Respighi
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Florestan

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on October 11, 2020, 02:06:52 PM
Dvorak
Glazunov
Haydn
Braga Santos
Respighi

Thanks, Cesar.

Although for me  Braga Santos is amongst the very last names I would think of when it comes to joyful...
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Papy Oli

Quote from: Brian on October 11, 2020, 11:32:48 AM
As Todd says, all but maybe 2 Francaix works are pure joy, but perhaps the piano concerto, double piano concerto, and piano concertino are good starting points, or a collection of chamber music (like the wind quintets and L'Heure du berger). There's a wonderful miniature oboe concerto called L'horloge de Flore. The ballets are all on Hyperion (including The Emperor's New Clothes), which makes them more expensive to collect.

You'd particularly enjoy the conceits behind some of his solo piano works: "Five Encores," all named for the reason you might play that particular encore (No. 3: In case of success, No. 4: In case of triumph, No. 5: In case of delirium!), and the "Promenade d'un musicologue eclectique," containing a series of affectionate portraits of his favorite composers, and then a very not affectionate parody of 12-tone  ;D

Francaix is a perfect choice to go alongside Haydn, Dvorak, J. Strauss, and Chabrier. Hmmm, wonder if Handel would fit here...

Edit: Dug up two (very old - 2013 - I often don't remember the works anymore!) reviews I wrote for MusicWeb covering orchestral and chamber Francaix, and a couple MWI reviews of other music by other people which you may also find useful.

That sounds like a French composer I should encounter sooner rather than later as well, thank you Brian.
Olivier

Symphonic Addict

#23
Quote from: Florestan on October 11, 2020, 10:52:55 AM
While browsing through this:

http://www.antonin-dvorak.cz/

I stumbled upon this:

IDo you agree with this apparently paradoxical statement? If no, you may skip this thread. If yes, who are your top 5 composers in this respect?

I disagree with Martinu. Happy music all the time would bee too monotonous. I like contrasts in everything.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Florestan on October 11, 2020, 02:10:43 PM
Thanks, Cesar.

Although for me  Braga Santos is amongst the very last names I would think of when it comes to joyful...

His early works are imbued with sheer happiness. The later ones are totally the opposite. But when wanted to be happy, my goodness!!
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Florestan

Quote from: Papy Oli on October 11, 2020, 02:13:20 PM
That sounds like a French composer I should encounter sooner rather than later as well, thank you Brian.

:D
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Papy Oli on October 11, 2020, 02:13:20 PM
That sounds like a French composer I should encounter sooner rather than later as well, thank you Brian.

Yes, Françaix is like the epithome of good humour. A great choice that.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Papy Oli

Olivier

Florestan

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on October 11, 2020, 02:17:01 PM
I disagree with Martinu. Happy music all the time would bee too boring. I like contrasts in everything.

Real life has been harsh to me as of late (meaning the last two years). I need music that gives me pleasure and makes me happy. Happiness is never boring for me.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Florestan

Quote from: Papy Oli on October 11, 2020, 02:26:31 PM
;D

We've done Ibert already, you need to catch up  :P  he's a good'un  ;)

I will and will report.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

TheGSMoeller


Florestan

Quote from: Symphonic Addict on October 11, 2020, 02:23:28 PM
Yes, Françaix is like the epithome of good humour. A great choice that.

Now I really MUST listen to his music.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Brian

#32
Quote from: Florestan on October 11, 2020, 01:22:43 PM
Thanks. Ibert, a new name for me. What is it with these Frenchmen, are they all so joyfull?
You don't know Jacques Ibert?! My goodness. Divertissement may be the single funniest piece of music in existence....maybe. Escales is like a sequel to Ravel. The flute concerto is also well worth hearing and if my memory is right there's a pretty cool 25-minute long Christmas work for choir and orchestra. EDIT: Tropismes pour des Amours Imaginaires is not at all about Christmas, haha.

kyjo

Boccherini
Braga Santos
Dvořák
Poulenc
Saint-Saëns
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

springrite

Quote from: Brian on October 11, 2020, 02:57:59 PM
You don't know Jacques Ibert?! My goodness. Divertissement may be the single funniest piece of music in existence....maybe. Escales is like a sequel to Ravel. The flute concerto is also well worth hearing and if my memory is right there's a pretty cool 25-minute long Christmas work for choir and orchestra. EDIT: Tropismes pour des Amours Imaginaires is not at all about Christmas, haha.

Those would be the top works that comes to mind for me as well.
The English loved him... well, at least the English who are tired of being so seriousness about everything... He was known to the English, cheekily, as Jackie Bear.
Do what I must do, and let what must happen happen.

Jo498

Quote from: Florestan on October 11, 2020, 01:36:23 PM
The idea of this thread is not that X composed two or three joyful things --- the idea is that most of their output is joyful.
My idea is rather that I sense a generally joyful and optimistic view which can include dark and tragic pieces. In cases like Bach and Handel this seems at least somewhat connected to faith and a lot of their music explicitly celebrating tidings of great joy. In the case of Beethoven it is more like an indomitable energy and hope of winning against all odds but eventually not ending in futile wrath but triumph or gruff humour (like the 8th or many earlier/smaller chamber/piano pieces) even serenity (like the last string quartet, the final of the Pastoral etc.). Haydn and Mozart are somewhere in-between, so one cannot pinpoint a potential source of joy so clearly, although of these five they are the most joyful if one goes by the sheer number of joyful pieces.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Biffo

Quote from: Florestan on October 11, 2020, 01:36:23 PM
Well, thanks --- sort of.

The idea of this thread is not that X composed two or three joyful things --- the idea is that most of their output is joyful.
[/b]

Well in that case I can do no better than copy your choice -

Haydn
Mozart
Schubert
Tchaikovsky
Dvorak

I have to say that Schubert also wrote a good deal of gloomy music, especially the lieder, but probably enough joyful stuff to tip the balance.

vandermolen

I listen little to 'joyful' composers, but here goes.

Glazunov - in works like the Seasons
Dvorak
Martinu
Rachmaninov - Symphony No.2 (definitely not 'The Isle of the Dead' or 'The Bells'  :o)
Some Finzi ('In Terra Pax'), although it's more ecstatic rather than joyful I think.
"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).

Brian

Quote from: springrite on October 11, 2020, 08:46:15 PM
He was known to the English, cheekily, as Jackie Bear.
Hah, I did not know that, but I think of him as Jockey Bear...bit closer to the pronunciation  ;D

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: vandermolen on October 12, 2020, 05:07:28 AM
I listen little to 'joyful' composers, but here goes.

Glazunov - in works like the Seasons
Dvorak
Martinu
Rachmaninov - Symphony No.2 (definitely not 'The Isle of the Dead' or 'The Bells'  :o)
Some Finzi ('In Terra Pax'), although it's more ecstatic rather than joyful I think.

Rachmaninov?  ???
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky