6 favourite v 6 greatest composers

[The Six]

Debussy
Scriabin
Shostakovich
Messiaen
Bach
Myself

[The new erato]

I would've payed $70 for that set if I had to.


As I keep saying, it's because he's Swedish. They just have it hard.

Ah come on. Don't you know they are socialists? (overheard on the US campaign).

[greg]

errrrrrrrr......


ummmmm........


uhhhhhhh........

how should i respond to that? 

[Dundonnell]

I would've payed $70 for that set if I had to.


As I keep saying, it's because he's Swedish. They just have it hard.

Considering that Atterberg combined his activities as a composer with being music critic with a Stockholm newspaper and his day job as a Head of Department at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office from which he did not retire until he was over 80...yes, I think that Atterberg probably did have quite a lot on his plate

But what is it with this down on the Swedes?

[greg]

But what is it with this down on the Swedes?

They just don't have a composer that's well-known like Grieg of Norway or Sibelius of Finland. Then again, Denmark and Holland don't exactly have composers most people have heard of, either- i mean, ones that are that popular, unless i'm forgetting someone.

[Dundonnell]

They just don't have a composer that's well-known like Grieg of Norway or Sibelius of Finland. Then again, Denmark and Holland don't exactly have composers most people have heard of, either- i mean, ones that are that popular, unless i'm forgetting someone.

Would you not count Carl Nielsen? He was a great composer....popular? Hmm.

Holland(sorry, the Netherlands, oops!) has produced more composers of quality than Belgium or Portugal.

Spain? Popular composers? 'Great' composers? Falla was probably the closest in the 20th century.

[greg]

Exactly...... i just meant popular. Some countries have a hard time producing composers that are popular, i suppose.

[vandermolen]

Pettersson and Rosenberg are two of my favourite composers (both swedes) and I lile Atterberg's 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th symphonies.

[The new erato]

Pettersson and Rosenberg are two of my favourite composers (both swedes) and I lile Atterberg's 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th symphonies.

Yes, but popular means of the people. Most folks here are borderline cases.

And BTW excellent choices in favorites.

[71 dB]

Would you not count Carl Nielsen? He was a great composer....popular? Hmm.

To be popular one has to appeal to masses. There is not enough smart people to form a "mass". Less-smart people are needed too. Nielsen's music appeals to smart people so it can't become popular but it certainly is popular among smart people! 

[Dundonnell]

To be popular one has to appeal to masses. There is not enough smart people to form a "mass". Less-smart people are needed too. Nielsen's music appeals to smart people so it can't become popular but it certainly is popular among smart people! 

Yeeeeeess

But by that token....does Sibelius appeal to "the masses"?

[Dundonnell]

Pettersson and Rosenberg are two of my favourite composers (both swedes) and I lile Atterberg's 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th symphonies.

Really Good Swedish Composers-

Franz Berwald
Wilhem Peterson-Berger
Wilhelm Stenhammer
Hugo Alfven
Ture Rangstrom
Kurt Atterberg
Gosta Nystroem
Hilding Rosenberg
Dag Wiren
Lars-Erik Larsson
Allan Pettersson
Karl-Birger Blomdahl
plus lots of more 'modern' composers I am not familiar with-like Ingvar Lidholm etc etc

It's not a bad list Well done, the Swedes

[71 dB]

Yeeeeeess

But by that token....does Sibelius appeal to "the masses"?

Here in Finland you could say Sibelius appeals to the masses. 

[Dundonnell]

Here in Finland you could say Sibelius appeals to the masses. 

I always knew that the Finns had good taste

[vandermolen]

Yes, but popular means of the people. Most folks here are borderline cases.

And BTW excellent choices in favorites.

Thank you 

[ChamberNut]

6 favorites

Beethoven
Brahms
Mozart
Bruckner
Schubert
Schumann

Today

Beethoven
Brahms
Mozart
Shostakovich
Bruckner
Tchaikovsky

The Russians are coming. 

[DavidW]

It's my number 1 'music listening goal' for 2009, James. 

Holding you to it dude, holding you to it.

Greatest composer to not appear on my favorite list: perhaps Wagner or Monteverdi

[Lilas Pastia]

Just noticed this thread (sorry, Jeffrey!). Interesting dichotomy, although for some it seems to be a non-issue. I find this quite difficult. 'Great' composers based on what? Favourite based on when? My idea now is certainly different from what it was a few years ago, and what it will be a few years hence. No problem for the 'favourite' part. But doesn't that mean our opinion of the 'greatest' is perforce uninformed or incompletely grounded? Boy, I'd hate to be a Supreme Court Justice and have to stop the buck once and for all...

Anyhow, here goes (as Colin said, 'because it's you, Jeffrey' :

Greatest: for me that means composers who are known troughout the world, whose reputation has been high during their lifetime - or soon thereafter, and has not suffered any eclipse since. They have been performed throughout the world and through generations of music lovers.  They also contributed very significantly to music in general or an important musical genre with which they are identified.                                         

Greatest:                                 
- Bach                                             
- Beethoven 
- Bruckner
- Handel
- Haydn                                 
- Verdi

I could add: Brahms, Chopin and Mozart.

Favourites: that means not necessarily those I play most often. Rather, those that've been with me ever since my musical sensibilities have been awakened, and to which I still return to as aesthetic anchors:

- Mozart
- Haydn
- Beethoven
- Bruckner
- Verdi
- Brahms.

I could add: Chopin, Schubert, Puccini, Sibelius, C.P.E. Bach, Boccherini, Elgar, R. Strauss and Haydn.

I feel it's too early to decide on 20th Century composers. Many had a major impact on the way music has been composed, perceived and played since then. These include Ravel, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Mahler, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bartok, etc etc.  They can just as well elicit contrarian views, strong aversion, or a realization that theirs are not lasting musical qualities (IOW, mileage varies).

[WI Dan]

I wouldn't know about "greatness".

My 6 Favorites:

Bach
Beethoven
Dvorak
Mozart
Schubert
Sibelius

[drogulus]

     If everyone names their favorites we don't need a separate greats list. That's generated automatically by counting the votes. Not only does this work here, it works in real life. One day when Bach ceases to get votes from current listeners we'll finally know how greatness is undone.

     You can make a greats list anyway but usually these have willful kinks in them with favorites that are near greats smuggled in like I do for Berlioz. Unless you're a musicologist with a scholarly interest in advocacy it don't mean a thing, just half vote counting and half disguised preference.

     So, in the spirit of the hive mind:

     Bach

     Mozart

     Beethoven

     The only thing I can say about these "choices" is that they do indeed feel great, and the authority these choices wield over mere individual preference seems secure for the time being. For once I'll take the side of the modernistas and say this looks like ossification. Can it really be healthy for a composer to occupy the same position in the firmament for 2 centuries? Of course not, and all the talk about objective criteria can't change the fact. If objective criteria can't produce great composers any more than we'd better find different ones. Or, better yet, dethrone the greatness ideology in favor of....favorites. The greatest composers are the ones you like, and then we can throw out the fake votes cast in solidarity with everyone else and elect new greats, which is what we used to do before the world went mad with preservationism.