Not sure if there is such a thread, but how about indicating who your favorite orchestral writer by country is? One per country - but you can cheat if you'd like. I'm not a stickler for rules like Gurn is. :P
Alright, here are just a few of mine.
France - Ravel
England - Vaughan Williams
Germany - Wagner/Beethoven/Strauss
Austria - Mahler/Bruckner
Russia - Rimsky-Korsakov
Czech Rep. - Dvorak
Hungary - Bartok
United States - Copland
Italy - Respighi
Quote from: ChamberNut on August 15, 2011, 03:22:38 PM
Not sure if there is such a thread, but how about indicating who your favorite orchestral writer by country is? One per country - but you can cheat if you'd like. I'm not a stickler for rules like Gurn is. :P
Alright, here are just a few of mine.
France - Ravel
England - Vaughan Williams
Germany - Wagner/Beethoven/Strauss
Austria - Mahler/Bruckner
Russia - Rimsky-Korsakov
Czech Rep. - Dvorak
Hungary - Bartok
United States - Copland
Italy - Respighi
I am not sure I know enough music theory to truly judge, but I agree with you regarding Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Sincerely,
Hany.
France: Berlioz
England: Simpson
Germany: Beethoven
Austria: Mahler
Russia: Shostakovich
Czech: Martinu
Hungary: Bartok
United States: Barber
Italy: Vivaldi
Finland: Sibelius
Denmark: Holmboe
Estonia: Part
Poland: Lutoslawski
Sweden: Pettersson
:)
Quote from: haziz on August 15, 2011, 03:28:05 PM
I am not sure I know enough music theory to truly judge, but I agree with you regaring Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Sincerely,
Hany.
I think Ray needs to change the title because it's about "favorite orchestral writer" not orchestrator, which is just one specific part of composing orchestral music.
Quote from: DavidW on August 15, 2011, 04:31:59 PM
I think Ray needs to change the title because it's about "favorite orchestral writer" not orchestrator, which is just one specific part of composing orchestral music.
Done! Although unfortunately the title change doesn't ripple through to the subsequent posts.
Quote from: DavidW on August 15, 2011, 04:31:59 PM
I think Ray needs to change the title because it's about "favorite orchestral writer" not orchestrator, which is just one specific part of composing orchestral music.
In that case:
Germany: Beethoven
Russia: I will cheat and include both Tchaikovsky and Rimsky Korsakov (mainly for his skill as orchestrator)
France: Ravel and Debussy
England: Elgar
Norway: Grieg
Finland: Sibelius
Czech: Dvorak
Sincerely,
Hany.
France: Ravel
England: Vaughan Williams
Russia: Prokofiev
Austria: Bruckner
USA: Hanson Herrmann Barber
Germany: Hindemith
Italy: Vivaldi
For other countries, I generally can only think of one composer I like, so no point in listing them.
I'm going to play it fast and loose with the whole Holy Roman Empire/Austrian Empire/Austria-Hungary thing since so many great composers were born in their borders.
Armenia: Khatchaturian
Austria: Mozart
Bohemia: Dvorak
Brazil: Villa-Lobos
Denmark: Holmboe
England: Bax
Estonia: Part
Finland: Sibelius
France: Debussy
Germany: Bach
Hungary: Bartok
Ireland: Stanford
Italy: Vivaldi
Japan: Akutagawa
Mexico: Chavez
Moravia: Janacek
New Zealand: Lilburn
Norway: Sinding
Portugal: Braga Santos
Russia: Rimsky-Korsakov
Spain: Rodrigo
Sweden: Atterberg
Switzerland: Honegger (technically Swiss)
USA: Copland
Wales: Mathias
Quote from: eyeresist on August 15, 2011, 05:34:54 PM
. . . For other countries, I generally can only think of one composer I like, so no point in listing them.
Only one Czech composer you like? Where's the outrage!
Japan: Takemitsu
Korea: Isang Yun
Estonia: Tubin
Sweden: Pettersson
Cambodia: Ung
USA: Carter
Spain: Halffter
Poland: Lutoslawski
Italia: De Sabata
England: Rubbra
Denmark: Neilsen
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on August 17, 2011, 05:34:22 AM
Only one Czech composer you like? Where's the outrage!
Small area with a disproportionately large number of enjoyable composers: Mahler, Dvorak, Janacek, Martinu, Suk, Novak, Foerster, Fibich, Kalliwoda, Vanhal, Rosetti, Krommer, Dussek, Zelenka...
England: Havergal Brian
Austria: Anton Bruckner
Denmark: Rued Langgaard
Finland: Jean Sibelius
Netherlands: Léon Orthel
France: Hector Berlioz
Poland: Mieczyslaw Karlowicz
Russia/USA: Igor Stravinsky
Italy: Ottorino Respighi
Sweden: Hugo Alfvén
Germany: Ludwig van Beethoven
Czech Republic: Bohuslav Martinu
Estonia: Eduard Tubin
Romania: George Enescu
Quote from: gn i n n e h lr a k on August 17, 2011, 05:34:22 AM
Only one Czech composer you like? Where's the outrage!
Below Dvorak, there is a great space, and then a huddle of mediocrity >:D
I'm going to redo mine...
England: Vaughan Williams
France: Koechlin (it pained me to exclude Ravel and Debussy)
Germany: R. Strauss
Austria: Bruckner
Italy: Respighi
Hungary: Bartok
Czech Republic: Janacek (Martinu isn't trailing far behind)
Estonia: Tubin
Sweden: Pettersson
Finland: Sibelius
Spain: de Falla
Romania: Enescu
Switzerland: Honegger
Poland: Szymanowski
Russia: Stravinsky
Australia: Vine
Mexico: Revueltas
Argentina: Ginastera
Brazil: Villa-Lobos
United States: Ives
German ... Beethoven
Austrian ... Bruckner
French ... Debussy
Britain ... Vaughan-Williams
Spanish ... Falla
Portuguese ... Luis Freitas Branco
Russian ... Stravinsky
Hungarian ... Bartok
Italian ... Vivaldi
Czech ... Dvorak
Roumanian ... Enescu
Polish ... Lutoslawski
North American ... Charles Ives
Germany: R.Strauss
Austria: Mahler
France: Ravel
England: Elgar
United States: Bernstein
Russia: Tchaikovsky/Rimsky Korsakov/Prokofiev, and Shostakovich as well... (so many great orchestral writers from Russia!)
Czech: Martinu
Hungary: Bartok
Italy: Respighi
Finland: Sibelius
Denmark: Nielsen
Norway: Svendsen
Sweden: Yngve Skold
Poland: Karlowicz/Lutoslawski
Daniel
Germany: Wagner
Austria: Mahler
France: Ravel
England: Elgar/Holst
United Stated: Bernstein
Russia: Cajkovskij/Rachmaninov/Shostakovich
Czech: Dvorak
Hungary: Liszt
Italy: Respighi
Finland: Sibelius
Denmark: Nielsen
Norway: Grieg
Poland: Lutoslawski
But it's very hard to choose just one/two composers for every country, the list could be so long.....
A shortlist. There are far too many countries in this world, I must have overlooked quite a few ;)
Argentina: Ginastera
Armenia: Khatchaturian
Australia: Benjamin
Austria: Mahler
Azerbaijan: Karayev
Belgium: Meulemans
Brazil: Guarnieri
Britain: Vaughan Williams
Canada: McPhee
Croatia: Gotovac
Cuba: Brouwer
Czechia: Janáček
Denmark: Holmboe
Egypt: El-Dabh
Estonia: Tubin
Finland: Englund
France: Pierné
Georgia: Kancheli
Greece: Skalkottas
Guatemala: Castillo
Hungary: Bartók
Ireland: Kinsella
Iceland: Leifs
India: Shankar
Israel: Ben-Haim
Italy: Respighi
Japan: Ifukube
Korea: Yun
Latvia: Vasks
Lithuania: Čiurlionis
Malta: Camilleri
Mexico: Chávez
Netherlands: Orthel
New Zealand: Lilburn
Norway: Irgens-Jensen
Poland: Lutosławski
Portugal: Braga Santos
Romania: Constantinescu
Russia: Stravinsky
Serbia: Hristić
Slovakia: Moyzes
Spain: Falla
Sweden: Nystroem
Switzerland: Martin
Turkey: Saygun
Ukraine: Silvestrov
USA: Barber
Argentina: Piazzolla
Austria: Haydn
UK: Britten
Czech: Martinu
France: Poulenc
Germany: Bach
Italy: Vivaldi
Poland: Gorecki
Russia: Prokofiev
USA: Ives
I didn't like this, too difficult for some countries, but I played along. ;D 8)
Austria: Mozart
Bohemia: Dvorák
Brazil: Villa-Lobos
England: Holst
Finland: Sibelius
France: Debussy
Germany: Beethoven
Hungary: Bartók
Italy: Vivaldi
Japan: Takemitsu
Moravia: Janacek
Norway: Grieg
Russia: Stravinsky
Soviet Union: Prokofiev
Spain: De Falla
Sweden: Atterberg
USA: Copland
Quote from: madaboutmahler on September 07, 2011, 02:50:06 AM
United States: Bernstein
Seriously? ??? I like some of Bernstein's music, but he's your favorite from the United States?
Quote from: Mirror Image on November 08, 2011, 08:52:33 AM
Seriously? ??? I like some of Bernstein's music, but he's your favorite from the United States?
Probably, yes John! :) Well, at least for orchestration which this topic is about. If it came to choosing a favourite American composer, I would find it very difficult to choose between Bernstein, Barber and Copland.
Quote from: Mirror Image on August 17, 2011, 09:12:59 PM
Russia: Stravinsky
I imagine you may change this to Prokofiev now? ;)
Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 08, 2011, 09:11:23 AM
Probably, yes John! :) Well, at least for orchestration which this topic is about. If it came to choosing a favourite American composer, I would find it very difficult to choose between Bernstein, Barber and Copland.
I imagine you may change this to Prokofiev now? ;)
No, Daniel, this thread is about your favorite orchestral writer by country, not orchestrator. Ives easily wins for me, but Barber and Copland aren't far behind.
No, actually Daniel, Stravinsky is still my favorite Russian composer. I love Prokofiev's music, as you know, but my attachment to Stravinsky's music predates my love for classical music. I heard some Stravinsky work about 17 years ago and was immediately enchanted with it. This was the nucleus that got the ball rolling. Unfortunately, I didn't really get into classical music until about '08. That's when a little lightbulb went off in my head, but I've always been a musically curious person, but I owe it to my grandfather whose persistence is what made me seriously listen to this music.
I'm seeing Re:Orchestral Writer... and Re:Orchestrator...in this thread.
Maybe the topic was changed at some point.
Quote from: Mirror Image on November 08, 2011, 09:18:08 AM
No, Daniel, this thread is about your favorite orchestral writer by country, not orchestrator. Ives easily wins for me, but Barber and Copland aren't far behind.
No, actually Daniel, Stravinsky is still my favorite Russian composer. I love Prokofiev's music, as you know, but my attachment to Stravinsky's music predates my love for classical music. I heard some Stravinsky work about 17 years ago and was immediately enchanted with it. This was the nucleus that got the ball rolling. Unfortunately, I didn't really get into classical music until about '08. That's when a little lightbulb went off in my head, but I've always been a musically curious person, but I owe it to my grandfather whose persistence is what made me seriously listen to this music.
Yes, that is what I meant ;) Never really got into Ives... will have to give his music another chance sometime. Talking of American composers, what do you think of Gershwin?
Ok :) '08?! So after only 3 years of listening, you know such a massive range of work...! Great, John :) Not the greatest fan of Stravinsky myself, I find quite a lot of his work rather boring, sorry. However, works like
Symphony in Three Movements ,
Petrushka ,
The Firebird and of course
The Rite of Spring remain favourites.
Quote from: eyeresist on August 17, 2011, 08:53:47 PM
Below Dvorak, there is a great space, and then a huddle of mediocrity >:D
Biber, Zelenka, Gluck, Mahler (born in Kaliště, Bohemia), and Martinů might disagree
Quote from: madaboutmahler on November 08, 2011, 09:26:00 AM
Yes, that is what I meant ;) Never really got into Ives... will have to give his music another chance sometime. Talking of American composers, what do you think of Gershwin?
Ok :) '08?! So after only 3 years of listening, you know such a massive range of work...! Great, John :) Not the greatest fan of Stravinsky myself, I find quite a lot of his work rather boring, sorry. However, works like Symphony in Three Movements , Petrushka , The Firebird and of course The Rite of Spring remain favourites.
Yes, give Ives a chance. Listen to his 2nd symphony or the
Holidays symphony. The thing I admire about Ives's music is the freedom of expression. The music can go from incredibly lyrical to chaotic in a matter of measures, but the way Ives makes these transitions is awe-inspiring. He was writing polystylistic music before Schnittke was even born!
Anyway, I don't know that much about classical music, I do, however, know what I like, which took some time to find out. I listened to wide range of eras from Baroque to Contemporary and I found that the music I gravitated the most to was 20th Century music. I just can't get into the Classical Era or Baroque. The Romantic Era has some nice music, but even I found it seriously lacking from a harmonic standpoint, but I found late-Romantic music much more to my liking. This is where music started to change yet again. Composers like Bartok, Ravel, Koechlin, Vaughan Williams, Villa-Lobos, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, etc. are the reasons I still listen to classical music, otherwise, I could have simply moved onto something else or stayed with jazz, which I was heavily involved in for 10 years. Rock music also has also meant a lot to me through the years.
Re: Gershwin
From what little I've heard, he's a coo composer. 8) I like the
Porgy & Bess Suite and the
Piano Concerto. Can't say I'm a fan of
Rhapsody in Blue or
American In Paris. I don't listen to Gershwin enough though to really make a good judgement on his music.
Quote from: Mirror Image on November 08, 2011, 09:45:23 AM
Yes, give Ives a chance. Listen to his 2nd symphony or the Holidays symphony. The thing I admire about Ives's music is the freedom of expression. The music can go from incredibly lyrical to chaotic in a matter of measures, but the way Ives makes these transitions is awe-inspiring. He was writing polystylistic music before Schnittke was even born!
Anyway, I don't know that much about classical music, I do, however, know what I like, which took some time to find out. I listened to wide range of eras from Baroque to Contemporary and I found that the music I gravitated the most to was 20th Century music. I just can't get into the Classical Era or Baroque. The Romantic Era has some nice music, but even I found it seriously lacking from a harmonic standpoint, but I found late-Romantic music much more to my liking. This is where music started to change yet again. Composers like Bartok, Ravel, Koechlin, Vaughan Williams, Villa-Lobos, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, etc. are the reasons I still listen to classical music, otherwise, I could have simply moved onto something else or stayed with jazz, which I was heavily involved in for 10 years. Rock music also has also meant a lot to me through the years.
Re: Gershwin
From what little I've heard, he's a coo composer. 8) I like the Porgy & Bess Suite and the Piano Concerto. Can't say I'm a fan of Rhapsody in Blue or American In Paris. I don't listen to Gershwin enough though to really make a good judgement on his music.
Ives certainly sounds very interesting - I shall give him another chance. Maybe I was just listening to the wrong pieces before. I am yet to hear the 'Holidays symphony', which you mention, for example.
Great post John. It's so great that you found music. Without your knowledge of lesser known music, I would not know of a large handful of composers!
Gershwin certainly is a cool composer! ;) I love those pieces you mention, even the ones you claim not to be a fan of. Come on John, they're irresistable! ;) Rhapsody in Blue was one of the first pieces of classical music I was addicted to, probably around 6 years ago now...! :) Happy memories of just sitting down and listening to it over and over again... :)