Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on
Today at 05:15:42 PM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20097.msg606181#msg606181)
Quote from: MN Dave on
Today at 05:14:28 PM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20097.msg606179#msg606179)
Quote from: Gurnatron5500 on
Today at 05:13:43 PM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20097.msg606178#msg606178)
You would be content with my second place pick though... 0:)
8)
;D
Mine would be Bach or Chopin. Just sayin'...
Mine would be Beethoven or Mozart. Either one is a hell of a fallback! :)
8)
Enough of this or stuff: Choose your no. 2! : )
Ooo! Argh! Eee!
Chopin
Nice choice. Possibly the only correct choice ; )
Scriabin
Quote from: Bulldog on
Today at 05:31:30 PM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20098.msg606199#msg606199)
Scriabin
Cool.
My number two is Vaughan Williams. 'Nuff said. 8)
My no. 2 might just need to be Tchaikovsky. His music was some of the very first classical music I ever heard.
Quote from: karlhenning on March 01, 2012, 12:37:34 PM
My no. 2 might just need to be Tchaikovsky. His music was some of the very first classical music I ever heard.
So a sentimental choice, Karl? Always good to go with your gut I think. I never knew you were that big of a fan of Tchaikovsky. I don't think I've ever recalled a post where you even talk about him until now.
Vaughan Williams was my second choice because no matter how much time I spend away from his music, when I listen to it, it always feels like like the first time I've heard it and that sense of humanity that seems to run deep into his music fulfills me.
Seeing as I listed Bach as my #1 Brahms takes the #2 spot.
Mine is Ludwig van Beethoven, no doubt.
Probably Mahler.
Argh.
Bach, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Sibelius, Debussy...
2. Sibelius
Karl's posted on Tsaikovski, alright. (Souvenir de Florence IIRC, is among favourites)
Quote from: Mirror Image on
Today at 05:42:43 PM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20098.msg606217#msg606217)
So a sentimental choice, Karl?[...]
Not entirely sentimental, though, John. The fact is, too, that the more of Tchaikovsky's music I get to know, the deeper my appreciation; and those early favorites when I was a teenager, are pieces which still hold up for me — I appreciate their artistry ever more. There's some Henning brain in this decision, too : )
Haydn.
Thinking back over fifty years of listening to classical music: some of my original favorites have lost their sheen (I won't name names); some are as important as they ever were (my Trinity, of course); others I initially dismissed but eventually they overcame my resistance, slowly worked their way into my heart (Debussy, Schoenberg). But I can only think of one who I liked in a casual, unthinking way fifty years ago but who grew and grew, inexorably in stature over the years; who developed into an overwhelming love..and addiction. Papa. I need my Haydn fix every day 8)
Sarge
Quote from: North Star on
Today at 05:49:35 PM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20098.msg606229#msg606229)
Karl's posted on Tsaikovski, alright. (Souvenir de Florence IIRC, is among favourites)
Aye, and the Serenade for strings . . . .
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on
Today at 05:51:57 PM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20098.msg606232#msg606232)
Haydn.
Thinking back over fifty years of listening to classical music: some of my original favorites have lost their sheen (I won't name names); some are as important as they ever were (my Trinity, of course); others I initially dismissed but eventually they overcame my resistance, slowly worked their way into my heart (Debussy, Schoenberg). But I can only think of one who I liked in a casual, unthinking way fifty years ago but who grew and grew, inexorably in stature over the years; who developed into an overwhelming love..and addiction. Papa. I need my Haydn fix every day 8)
Sarge
Testify, Sarge! You can practically see Gurn's eye gleaming : )
between Richard Strauss and Elgar.
erm....
Ok.
Richard Strauss.
how about a 'your no.3 composer'? ;)
Bach :)
Quote from: DavidW on March 01, 2012, 04:59:08 PM
Bach :)
So far our lists start out the same. But I bet your third is not my third.
:)
Quote from: Arnold on March 01, 2012, 05:16:27 PM
So far our lists start out the same. But I bet your third is not my third.
:)
Your 25 is in alphabetical order so I don't know, but I can say that it looks like Lizstian Wagner and I have the closest top 25 on that thread which is weird since I'm not a hardcore Wagnerite! :D
My third is Mozart, but it could just as easily be Beethoven.
... or perhaps Northstar. I would like to see Greg's top 25. I imagine it is Xenakis Xenakis Xenakis... ;D It's a shame how many composers like Xenakis, Gorecki, Ravel, Debussy, Faure etc just barely missed my list.
J.S. Bach
This is tougher than choosing your #1 :o
I would have to give that honor to Benjamin Britten, he a grown to become one of my most listened to composers and I, at times, have considered him to be my favorite. Britten is the composer who increased my interest in choral music, pieces such as Ceremony of Carols, Rejoice in the Lamb and Canticle II: Abraham and Issac i feel cannot be equalled.
Quote from: DavidW on March 01, 2012, 05:24:37 PM
... or perhaps Northstar. I would like to see Greg's top 25. I imagine it is Xenakis Xenakis Xenakis... ;D It's a shame how many composers like Xenakis, Gorecki, Ravel, Debussy, Faure etc just barely missed my list.
The French composers are well represented on my list, but unfortunately there is not enough room for many 20th C. composers such as Gorecki, Schnittke, Xenakis. I am an Early Music buff, so I included maybe a half dozen of those since, based on my listening habits, they are more favored than most modern composers.
My #3 is my avatar. :)
Beethoven and Mozart fill out the top 5 spots, with Mozart getting the edge. I love Beethoven, but, as his music becomes more "Romantic" he begins to drop behind Mozart and Haydn, my main man.
:D
Quote from: Arnold on March 02, 2012, 03:09:33 AM
My #3 is my avatar. :)
I should have guessed! ;D Schoenberg is on my top 25. :)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Quote from: DavidW on
Today at 09:40:17 AM (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20098.msg606456#msg606456)
I should have guessed! ;D Schoenberg is on my top 25. :)
Ditto!
Well, well. Only now, faced with choosing a number 2, do I clearly recognise that there is no number 2, because my choice of number one (Elgar) was entirely misleading. It wasn't a number one at all in the ordinary sense - that is a most favourite among several (or many) favourite composers. It was a choice of one unique and complicated kind of relationship out of a set of completely different relationships. However much I've come to admire Mozart, or Wagner, or Haydn, or Puccini, or Sibelius, or Vaughan Williams, or Handel, Elgar is the musical love of my life. It's like comparing how I feel about my wife with how I feel about my friends. It's not a difference that can be expressed in terms of degrees of intensity, but only as a difference in kind.
So although on the face of it, it goes like this:
1. Elgar
2. Wagner,
that's misleading, and it's really more like this:
[Elgar over here in a separate class of his own.] And then, of the others: 1. Wagner
2. Mozart
And I fear that will play havoc with the sophisticated statistical analysis that Karl is doubtless going to carry out on our results.
Life, eh? It baffles us to the end.
Play havoc! At least it's not a bagpipe! : )
Quote from: karlhenning on March 02, 2012, 10:15:29 AM
Play havoc! At least it's not a bagpipe! : )
Ah, Elgar's Bagpipe Concerto, played on period instruments. It doesn't get better than that.
It's an image.
I choose Shostakovich for this one :)
Quote from: Conor71 on March 02, 2012, 12:43:51 PM
I choose Shostakovich for this one :)
Excellent choice! ;) :D
Quote from: DavidW on March 01, 2012, 05:24:37 PM
... or perhaps Northstar. I would like to see Greg's top 25. I imagine it is Xenakis Xenakis Xenakis... ;D It's a shame how many composers like Xenakis, Gorecki, Ravel, Debussy, Faure etc just barely missed my list.
Interesting, all this stuff about me and Xenakis, when I barely listen to him any more. :D
He was ranked #6 on my list, I think.
1. Mahler
2. Prokofiev3. Brahms
4. Bruckner
5. Shostakovich
6. Xenakis etc.
I did a list on facebook with Andy, and he actually found my list interesting... I have a saved text file of my favorite works, but not my favorite composers. Would have been nice to copy and paste on the top 25 thread. ::)
I can now put here the composer whose works I would retain beyond all others. This is an entirely personal choice and has nothing to do with stature in the musical world. I would keep Fanny Hensel for the depth of emotion in her piano works, for her lieder, which Felix justly called the most beautiful that mankind could make and, as a bonus, for some very fine chamber and vocal music.
Charles Ives (1874-1954).
I remember discovering Ives during my senior year in High School. I had checked out a Leonard Bernstein record that featured four different lectures on composers, Ives being the last lecture. I'll never forget the sound of Ives' Fourth of July (from his Holiday's Symphony) blaring from my turntable in the middle of the night as I lay in bed, eyes wide open. Thus began an obsession that lasted for years (and is still with me!).
Scholar Maynard Solomon, perhaps on a lead from Eliot Carter, started a fascinating discussion regarding the possibility Ives purposely added dissonance onto his youthful works in order to be more 'modern' and spite the establishment. I tend towards this point of view these days, but whatever Ives did, it's the end result that counts. In the end, Ives's strong sense of the mystery of existance, and his transcendental freedom between the physical and spiritual conditions of nature is what is heard most in his music.
One of the happiest moments of my life was finally tracking down the score to his Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-1860. Some nice lady in a piano store ordered me the score, which cost around 20 bucks in 1989. I used to pour over that thing during camping trips, following along to John Kirkpatrick's classic perfromance from 1968 (Columbia MS 7192, out of print LP).
The Concord Sonata is interesting in that it was originally a Piano Concerto, also known as the Emerson Overture (based on the great transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson). The piano is portrayed as Emerson, and the orchestra is the congregation (or The Mass culture of America) reacting to Emerson's edgy, transcendental discourse. Great (very dissonant and wild) music and great concept!
Like most of Ives's music, this piece is a 'happening' each time it is performed, like performance art, or like Jazz. However, the music seems very occupied over the concept of time, or at least thats how I've heard it. And I'm not just talking about the unique technical aspects he used, such as avoiding using time signatures for most of the Concord Sonata and etc. Ives was obsessed with the past...America's past as well as his own, especially his own childhood. I strongly feel that Ives is the forefather of 'conceptual' art.
My favorite recording of the 2nd is the Harold Faberman account, but after listening to this and the Schermerhorn (on Naxos) I have to admit that Schermerhorn is really excellant and is winning me over with each new listen. I'm finally getting used to the corrected tempos in the new criticial edition.
The 1st and 2nd Symphonies are works I can put on causually as well as listen seriously with full attention. The 3rd is almost like that as well, but the 4th demands my full attention, rightly so. What I really like about the 2nd is it's effortless dance with the themes...the tunes develop and progress very naturally, humorously and seriously as well. In any given listening situation, I can listen just to the surface, or listen at a deep level and find a profound discourse goin on, connected to Ives's own personal nostalgia, but also connected to a more universal "Americana" that I definitely feel in sympathy with.
The 2nd is so musically evocative of the soil and culture from which it arose in an apparently more "simple" manner than the mature works, and it also evokes nature as well...I often think of thunder-filled clouds in the distance during the 1st movement. Now when I say "simple" I don't mean to imply the 2nd is not sophisticated, rather, I mean to suggest "simple" from the viewpoint of my ears upon hearing the "surface" of the music. Every year I appreciate more what Ives accomplished as a youthful composer. The 1st String Quartet is another great early work.
I recently bought the new critical edition score of the 2nd Symphony (edited by Jonathan Elkus), which is a real wonderful edition, beautifully put together with excellant commentary and an essay by the editor. The 2nd Symphony is fast becoming my favorite Ives symphonic work. I recently read the article "Quotation and Paraphrase in Ives's Second Symphony" by J. Peter Burkholder, and was taken aback with memories of my own grandfather playing many of these old tunes and hymns on his violin when I was young...we used to play Turkey In the Straw and Old Black Joe and etc.
8)
Quote from: Leo K on March 02, 2012, 03:57:19 PM
Charles Ives (1874-1954).
I remember discovering Ives during my senior year in High School. I had checked out a Leonard Bernstein record that featured four different lectures on composers, Ives being the last lecture. I'll never forget the sound of Ives' Fourth of July (from his Holiday's Symphony) blaring from my turntable in the middle of the night as I lay in bed, eyes wide open. Thus began an obsession that lasted for years (and is still with me!).
Scholar Maynard Solomon, perhaps on a lead from Eliot Carter, started a fascinating discussion regarding the possibility Ives purposely added dissonance onto his youthful works in order to be more 'modern' and spite the establishment. I tend towards this point of view these days, but whatever Ives did, it's the end result that counts. In the end, Ives's strong sense of the mystery of existance, and his transcendental freedom between the physical and spiritual conditions of nature is what is heard most in his music.
One of the happiest moments of my life was finally tracking down the score to his Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord, Mass., 1840-1860. Some nice lady in a piano store ordered me the score, which cost around 20 bucks in 1989. I used to pour over that thing during camping trips, following along to John Kirkpatrick's classic perfromance from 1968 (Columbia MS 7192, out of print LP).
The Concord Sonata is interesting in that it was originally a Piano Concerto, also known as the Emerson Overture (based on the great transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson). The piano is portrayed as Emerson, and the orchestra is the congregation (or The Mass culture of America) reacting to Emerson's edgy, transcendental discourse. Great (very dissonant and wild) music and great concept!
Like most of Ives's music, this piece is a 'happening' each time it is performed, like performance art, or like Jazz. However, the music seems very occupied over the concept of time, or at least thats how I've heard it. And I'm not just talking about the unique technical aspects he used, such as avoiding using time signatures for most of the Concord Sonata and etc. Ives was obsessed with the past...America's past as well as his own, especially his own childhood. I strongly feel that Ives is the forefather of 'conceptual' art.
My favorite recording of the 2nd is the Harold Faberman account, but after listening to this and the Schermerhorn (on Naxos) I have to admit that Schermerhorn is really excellant and is winning me over with each new listen. I'm finally getting used to the corrected tempos in the new criticial edition.
The 1st and 2nd Symphonies are works I can put on causually as well as listen seriously with full attention. The 3rd is almost like that as well, but the 4th demands my full attention, rightly so. What I really like about the 2nd is it's effortless dance with the themes...the tunes develop and progress very naturally, humorously and seriously as well. In any given listening situation, I can listen just to the surface, or listen at a deep level and find a profound discourse goin on, connected to Ives's own personal nostalgia, but also connected to a more universal "Americana" that I definitely feel in sympathy with.
The 2nd is so musically evocative of the soil and culture from which it arose in an apparently more "simple" manner than the mature works, and it also evokes nature as well...I often think of thunder-filled clouds in the distance during the 1st movement. Now when I say "simple" I don't mean to imply the 2nd is not sophisticated, rather, I mean to suggest "simple" from the viewpoint of my ears upon hearing the "surface" of the music. Every year I appreciate more what Ives accomplished as a youthful composer. The 1st String Quartet is another great early work.
I recently bought the new critical edition score of the 2nd Symphony (edited by Jonathan Elkus), which is a real wonderful edition, beautifully put together with excellant commentary and an essay by the editor. The 2nd Symphony is fast becoming my favorite Ives symphonic work. I recently read the article "Quotation and Paraphrase in Ives's Second Symphony" by J. Peter Burkholder, and was taken aback with memories of my own grandfather playing many of these old tunes and hymns on his violin when I was young...we used to play Turkey In the Straw and Old Black Joe and etc.
8)
Thanks for this post, Leo. I've had an at times complicated relationship with the earlier Southern New England composer; but recent acquisitions of Hilary Hahn playing the violin sonatas, and of Litton conducting the symphonies, has been an enormous plus.
Great post, Leo. I really should get familiar with Ives; I remember liking the Concord Sonata, but it's been a while.
That is more difficult to say - probably Beethoven.
I said Bach in another thread forgetting I said Chopin here.
Whatever. ;D
Probably Beethoven.
Henning, Karl (Date of birth unknown ;D)
Seriously. I gave this one quite a bit of thought....John Williams was my No. 1 (see that thread) for personal connections and reasons. I put Karl here because I truly enjoy his music and he is the first composer I have met, which I think as DavidW puts it, complete coolness. I discuss him with friends more than I do LvB or Haydn....etc. It is fun saying that I am going to go see a work composed by him or to say we had dinner in Boston. I bet a number of folks enjoyed dinner with a young Mozart and thought that was cool as well. Same here. Once again, a personal connection to a favorite, which I would not trade for any works by another artist (save Williams ;)) on my shelf. Time for some Mousetrap! The Passion According to St. John.
Quote from: Bogey on March 06, 2012, 07:18:49 PM
Time for some Mousetrap! The Passion According to St. John.
The Season is (almost) there. I know that many of us, me included, are going to play the piece again. Thanks for reminding.
Thank you both, from the bottom of my heart.
Van den Budenmayer.
Quote from: karlhenning on March 07, 2012, 06:39:38 AM
Thank you both, from the bottom of my heart.
See Henning thread.
Quote from: Christo on March 07, 2012, 06:48:35 AM
Van den Budenmayer.
Wrote some great music...or did he? :-\ ;D
Probably Modest Mussorgsky at the moment
Quote from: paulrbass on March 07, 2012, 05:50:09 PM
Probably Modest Mussorgsky at the moment
That's a cool pick....not one you would expect to see. Kind of like choosing Dukas....or Saint-Saëns. Just cool composers that never get enough run, IMO.
Quote from: Bogey on March 07, 2012, 05:52:39 PM
That's a cool pick....not one you would expect to see. Kind of like choosing Dukas....or Saint-Saëns. Just cool composers that never get enough run, IMO.
I have always loved the operas Khovanschina (Which I saw last night) and Boris Godonov, along with the song cycles, as well as the piano version of Pictures. There is something about his musical language that attracts me to his music.
I wonder what he would have produced if he didn't die as young as he did.
Beethoven !!!
Shostakovich is my No. 1.
Right now? Schubert, probably.
Right now I'll go with Bartok (haven't figured out how to add diacritics on a PC). On another day I might choose Beethoven, however.