Your own five favorites to listen to, versus the five you think are greatest

[ChamberNut]

Six Favorite Composers

Beethoven
Brahms
Schubert
Mozart
Schumann
Bruckner


Five Greatest Composers

Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Haydn
Wagner

[MN Dave]

5

[ChamberNut]

5

Yes, I know Dave.

I cannot limit it to 5 favorites though.  Those are my "Six pack", and I cannot exclude any of those.

[MN Dave]

Yes, I know Dave.

I cannot limit it to 5 favorites though.  Those are my "Six pack", and I cannot exclude any of those.

[karlhenning]

Among the "five greatest" cited by so many neighbors, so few were non-German speakers.

I wonder why those of us in other countries even bother composing?

[Norbeone]

'Greatest':

Bach
Beethoven
Stravinsky
Schoenberg
Debussy


Favourites:  (not definitively, except for Bach)

Bach
Bartok
Stravinsky
Webern
Tchaikovsky

[Norbeone]

Among the "five greatest" cited by so many neighbors, so few were non-German speakers.

I wonder why those of us in other countries even bother composing?

All the rest should take German language lessons, then, I suppose, perhaps, maybe.

[ChamberNut]

   

[ChamberNut]

Among the "five greatest" cited by so many neighbors, so few were non-German speakers.

I wonder why those of us in other countries even bother composing?

Five Greatest Non-German Speaking Composers
DeBussy
Dvorak
Stravinsky
Bartok
Elgar

[karlhenning]

Ah, and now we've got the non-German-speaking-composers ghetto 

[MN Dave]

Ah, and now we've got the non-German-speaking-composers ghetto 

After the Germans, I'd go with the Russians...probably. Maybe the French.

[not edward]

Five favourites:

Beethoven
Brahms
Prokofiev
Stravinsky
Mahler

Five greatest:

Bach
Beethoven
Sibelius
Bartok
Stravinsky

Better?

[bwv 1080]

"Greatest"

Josquin
Bach
Mozart
Beethoven
Carter

Favorite at the moment

Bach
Schumann
Bartok
Carter
Dutilleux

[jwinter]

Five favorites:

Beethoven
Bruckner
Mozart
Brahms
Mahler

Five greatest:

Beethoven
Bach
Mozart
Brahms
Haydn

Sorry, Karl .  I agree that this is an inherently silly (if enjoyable) exercise, but here's my dilemma: when I see "greatest", I think not only in terms of aesthetic quality but also of influence and innovation.  That said, I agree that there are many great Russian, Italian, French, etc. composers; but honestly, if we've only got 5 spots, who's going to knock off Mozart or Bach?  This has been debated so many times that the "greatest" list is largely pre-ordained (ie, if you don't think Beethoven is great, you must be either clueless or some sort of crank).  There's only so much room for individual taste in such a list -- personally, on most days I'd rather listen to Tchaikovsky or Prokofiev than to Haydn (though I enjoy Haydn a great deal), but given Haydn's immense output in so many genres, and the uniformly high quality throughout, how can he be left off a list of the "greatest"?  The man largely invented the classical symphony & string quartet, fer cryin' out loud.

Ah, the things I'll debate to avoid working on a Friday afternoon... 
So, who would win, Superman or Thor?

[(poco) Sforzando]

You almost have the "Five B's" .......

Bartók
Berg
Britten
Bruckner
Bhodges

[bhodges]

Bartók
Berg
Britten
Bruckner
Bhodges

Agreed, an interesting coincidence, but trust me, if you heard any of Bhodges' music you'd put Brahms back on the list.    Or maybe Berio.

--Bruce

[greg]

Five Favorites:
Mahler
Prokofiev
Brahms
Penderecki
Schoenberg


Five Greatest:
Mahler
Bach
Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Schoenberg

[karlhenning]

Neighborly apology accepted, jwinter 

[karlhenning]

UK Edition:  Neighbourly apology accepted, jwinter 

[ChamberNut]

Five Favorites:
Mahler
Prokofiev
Brahms
Penderecki
Schoenberg


Five Greatest:
Mahler
Bach
Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Schoenberg

Hmm, looks more like Variations on a list of favorites by GGGGGGREG