Your Favorite Composer for the Piano

Started by Don, August 28, 2008, 07:23:28 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Name Your Favored Composer

Chopin
17 (40.5%)
Liszt
4 (9.5%)
Mendelssohn
3 (7.1%)
Schumann
18 (42.9%)

Total Members Voted: 32

Voting closed: September 02, 2008, 07:23:28 AM

Don

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 06, 2008, 08:49:14 AM
Mendelssohn suffers from the popular delusion that sad music is somehow superior to cheerful music. Once you've rid yourself of this bullshit, Mendelssohn comes out pretty well.

To me, cheerful music has little to offer.  I'm making a distinction here between cheerful/upbeat music and uplifting music.  If you want cheerful music, all you have to do is enter a supermarket, elevator or office building.

DavidW

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 06, 2008, 08:49:14 AM
Mendelssohn suffers from the popular delusion that sad music is somehow superior to cheerful music. Once you've rid yourself of this bullshit, Mendelssohn comes out pretty well.

That's funny because I thought that Mendelssohn suffers from being an uninventive tunesmith compared to the likes of Chopin and Schumann.  It has nothing to do with sad vs cheerful.  Mendelssohn's great music is in his chamber works, not his piano works.

Josquin des Prez

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 06, 2008, 08:49:14 AM
Mendelssohn suffers from the popular delusion that sad music is somehow superior to cheerful music.

Nonsense. Mendelssohn suffers from the simple fact his inspiration was very uneven, despite his immense natural talents. Hey, nobody has ever said being an artist was easy. Though shit. If your argument had any merit at all then how do you explain Mozart? Or Haydn?

M forever

Quote from: Josquin des Prez on September 06, 2008, 10:24:49 AM
Hey, nobody has ever said being an artist was easy.

How would you know? And how do you measure and compare inspiration? I personally think that Mozart and Haydn were "more important" composers, too, but then I think that these direct comparisons and rankings are simply idiotic. Mendelssohn left us a number of great pieces, and when I listen to his music, as to any other composer's, I either enjoy it or not. It never occurs to me to "compare" it to someone else's music.

Ten thumbs

Quote from: DavidW on September 06, 2008, 10:06:25 AM
That's funny because I thought that Mendelssohn suffers from being an uninventive tunesmith compared to the likes of Chopin and Schumann.  It has nothing to do with sad vs cheerful.  Mendelssohn's great music is in his chamber works, not his piano works.
To say Mendelssohn's piano0 music is uninventive shows a remarkable ignorance of it.
Quote from: Josquin des Prez on September 06, 2008, 10:24:49 AM
Nonsense. Mendelssohn suffers from the simple fact his inspiration was very uneven, despite his immense natural talents. Hey, nobody has ever said being an artist was easy. Though shit. If your argument had any merit at all then how do you explain Mozart? Or Haydn?
I agree that it is uneven but it does include some very fine works. That is why I prefer other composers overall.
Quote from: Don on September 06, 2008, 09:36:52 AM

To me, cheerful music has little to offer.  I'm making a distinction here between cheerful/upbeat music and uplifting music.  If you want cheerful music, all you have to do is enter a supermarket, elevator or office building.
On the contrary, sad music is easy to write in comparison with cheerful music. The music one hears in supermarkets etc is anything but cheerful, it's enough to drive one mad.
Quote from: ezodisy on September 06, 2008, 09:27:34 AM
I wouldn't call it bullshit, just a modern appreciation of classical music :)
I don't believe we are really so out of touch with the spirit of music.
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Ten thumbs

Another excellent composer of cheerful music for the piano: Debussy.
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Don

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 08, 2008, 01:54:13 PM
On the contrary, sad music is easy to write in comparison with cheerful music. The music one hears in supermarkets etc is anything but cheerful, it's enough to drive one mad.

So you're still hung up on this sad/cheerful comparison?  Dig a little deeper.  As for the supermarkets, I'll assume you visit them as infrequently as possible.  I go there at least once every two days so I can soak up the cheerful tunes. ;D

greg

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 08, 2008, 01:54:13 PM
On the contrary, sad music is easy to write in comparison with cheerful music.
Ok, now this is getting a bit silly........

Don


Ten thumbs

Actually I voted for Schumann because he was able to was able to switch from being cheerful to being sad so readily, probably due to his schizophrenia. This contrast adds greatly to the sense of pathos.
The preferred artists broadcast in my local supermarket practise what can best be described as moaning.
Some more cheerful works for you:
Chopin: the delightfully whimsical Nocturne Op. 37 No. 1
Scriabin: the foot-tapping Sonata No. 4
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.



Josquin des Prez


greg

I find Debussy's piano music hard to get into. Just listened to a disc again today, reconfirming my previous impressions:


lukeottevanger

You associate Debussy with male pattern baldness?

greg

Quote from: lukeottevanger on September 09, 2008, 12:42:17 PM
You associate Debussy with male pattern baldness?
I think that's me in the future, listening to Debussy while working at a program in a lab. Except the future doesn't look too good, because it means i'll be back to wearing glasses for some reason, and i go bald earlier than what i've guessed, given genetic probabilities into account.

Ten thumbs

I don't think any of you gave any thought my proposition regarding the difference between composing sad and composing cheerful music. This was not so pronounced in the era of diatonic music, so composers such as Haydn and Mozart did not face any difficulty in this respect. With chromatic harmony however the diminished minor second begins to take over as the driving force. Using the major second effectively became more problematic. Debussy gets round this by his use of the whole tone scale.
Another brilliant example:
Kabalevsky Prelude Op38 No21 in Bb Festivamente. You can really give this some wellie!
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.

Don

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 09, 2008, 01:17:54 PM
I don't think any of you gave any thought my proposition regarding the difference between composing sad and composing cheerful music.

I gave it some thought and quickly decided it was even too trivial for me.

Don

Quote from: Ten thumbs on September 09, 2008, 01:17:54 PM
Another brilliant example:
Kabalevsky Prelude Op38 No21 in Bb Festivamente. You can really give this some wellie!

You find the Kabalevsky cheerful?  Perhaps, but I've always considered it more ceremonial than upbeat.

Ten thumbs

#59
Quote from: Don on September 09, 2008, 04:22:57 PM
You find the Kabalevsky cheerful?  Perhaps, but I've always considered it more ceremonial than upbeat.
Some wild ceremony this!!!!
Quote from: Don on September 09, 2008, 03:40:04 PM
I gave it some thought and quickly decided it was even too trivial for me.
Sorry, I didn't realise it was so obviously true.
A day may be a destiny; for life
Lives in but little—but that little teems
With some one chance, the balance of all time:
A look—a word—and we are wholly changed.