Picking up where my favorite British composer poll excluding these five left off......
1. VW. He will always be my numero uno Brit. There's such depth and humanity in all of his music, whether it be the lyrical outpurings of the Tallis Fantasia and Symphony no. 5 or the searing power and drive of Symphonies 4 and 6.
2. Elgar. His music doesn't reveal all its secrets on first hearing, and that is one of the things I love most about it. Both of the symphonies and the violin and cello concertos are magnificently noble and powerful works. I also love his more extroverted side, as shown in the Wand of Youth Suites and the glorious In the South. I rank him behind RVW simply because there are more works by RVW than Elgar that I love.
3. Walton. His music is quite inspiring in its lyrical vigor. His Symphony no. 1, Belshazzar's Feast and the string concertos are works I would not want to be without. I rank him behind VW and Elgar because his music doesn't leave as much of a lasting impression on me as the above composers'.
4. Britten. He is a composer I have never been able to connect with fully. I very much like the piano and violin concertos, Sinfonia da requiem, Young Apollo, Frank Bridge Variations, Simple Symphony, Four Sea Interludes and the Guide, but works such as the War Requiem, Cello Symphony and Spring Symphony leave me cold. Despite the fact that I enjoy a number of his works, he's not a composer I find myself returning to that often. I just don't think he had that strong of an individual voice.
5. Holst. He is a strange bird. The Planets is one of my all-time favorite pieces of classical music. But, apart from the St. Paul's Suite and the ballet suite from The Perfect Fool, I can't express much enthusiasm for the rest of his output. Why couldn't he continue writing in the visionary, viscerally exciting style of The Planets? Works such as the First Choral Symphony and the Cotswold Symphony pretty much bore me to tears. Why, Holst, why?
Now, let's hear from you! :)
1. Britten
2. Elgar
3. RVW
4. Holst
5. Walton
1. VW
2. Elgar
3. Britten
4. Walton
5. Holst
Quote from: kyjo on August 25, 2013, 05:19:27 PM4. Britten. He is a composer I have never been able to connect with fully. I very much like the piano and violin concertos, Sinfonia da requiem, Young Apollo, Frank Bridge Variations, Simple Symphony, Four Sea Interludes and the Guide, but works such as the War Requiem, Cello Symphony and Spring Symphony leave me cold. Despite the fact that I enjoy a number of his works, he's not a composer I find myself returning to that often. I just don't think he had that strong of an individual voice.
The bolded texts is what left me very surprised. Britten has as much as a distinctive voice as RVW or Elgar. I think you should really reconsider this opinion. It's one thing to not enjoy the man's music fully but it's another matter completely to say he didn't have a unique compositional persona.
Quote from: Mirror Image on August 25, 2013, 05:44:57 PM
The bolded texts is what left me very surprised. Britten has as much as a distinctive voice as RVW or Elgar. I think you should really reconsider this opinion. It's one thing to not enjoy the man's music fully but it's another matter completely to say he didn't have a unique compositional persona.
Yeah, I knew that comment would be controversial (which I sort of intended it to be)! OK, he did have a unique voice, but it's not an easily recognizable one. He doesn't come out and hit you in the face with his personality like Wagner, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky etc. and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. :) But it's not often that I'm listening to a piece of his and think in my mind "Oh, that section is so Britten-esque!"
Quote from: kyjo on August 25, 2013, 05:56:51 PM
Yeah, I knew that comment would be controversial (which I sort of intended it to be)! OK, he did have a unique voice, but it's not an easily recognizable one. He doesn't come out and hit you in the face with his personality like Wagner, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky etc. and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. :) But it's not often that I'm listening to a piece of his music and think in my mind "Oh, that section is so Britten-esque!"
Then who could have written
Serenade,
Les Illuminations, the
War Requiem,
Peter Grimes, etc.? Every work Britten composed has his individual stamp on it whether it was an opera, a choral work, an orchestral suite, etc. I don't think your comment is controversial, I just don't think it's firmly rooted in what Britten was actually about as a composer. Musical styles don't have to come right out and hit you, but they reveal themselves over a lot of serious listening.
1. Vaughan Williams
2. Walton
3. Britten
4. Elgar
5. Holst
1. VW
2. Elgar
3. Walton
4. Holst
5. Britten
I don't get what's the big whoop about Britten, so he goes last. Picking between Elgar and VW for the top slot is difficult - I went with VW because of his greater range of expression, but that's just how I feel today.
Walton is superb in the works I like, but there aren't that many of them. He should have composed more. As for Holst, I love The Planets and Egdon Heath, but nothing else I've heard.
Quote from: Velimir on August 25, 2013, 06:24:57 PM
I don't get what's the big whoop about Britten, so he goes last. Picking between Elgar and VW for the top slot is difficult - I went with VW because of his greater range of expression, but that's just how I feel today.
And I've never gotten what the big whoop is about RWV. :D
It's Britten for me by a landslide.
1. Britten
2. RVW
3. Elgar
4. Holst
5. Walton
Need to hear more Walton, though.
Vaughan Williams
Walton
Elgar
Holst
Britten
1. Holst
2. Elgar
3. Britten
4. Vaughan Williams
5. Walton
But I need to get to know Walton's music better.....
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on August 26, 2013, 02:17:07 AM
1. Holst
2. Elgar
3. Britten
4. Vaughan Williams
5. Walton
But I need to get to know Walton's music better.....
Wow, didn't realize you like Holst enough to put him first here,
Ilaria!
What are some of your favourites from him, say 5-10 works?
Hard choices. I like all of them, but when forced to choose:
Elgar
Holst
Britten
Walton
Vaughan Williams
Quote from: kyjo on August 25, 2013, 05:19:27 PM
5. Holst. He is a strange bird. The Planets is one of my all-time favorite pieces of classical music. But, apart from the St. Paul's Suite and the ballet suite from The Perfect Fool, I can't express much enthusiasm for the rest of his output. Why couldn't he continue writing in the visionary, viscerally exciting style of The Planets? Works such as the First Choral Symphony and the Cotswold Symphony pretty much bore me to tears. Why, Holst, why?
The Planets aren't actually that different from most of the rest of his music apart from being louder and longer. If you enjoy them you'd probably enjoy at least the Fugal Overture, the Suites for military band/orchestra, Indra, etc as well. Personally i like
Hammersmith and
Egdon Heath the best, but they are some of the least Planets-like music he wrote.
i don't listen to most of these people too often (and wouldn't put any of them in my "top 20" for british composers) but these are the order i'd pick
- VW Symphonies 5 and 3, last movement of Symphony 6
- Walton Concertos, Symphony 2
- Britten Serenade, Illuminations, Nocturne, String Quartet 2
- VW other symphonies, orchestra music and Job
- Holst Hammersmith, Egdon Heath, concertante works
- Britten orchestra music, String Quartet 3
- Walton chamber music & remaining orchestra music
- Holst Planets
- other Holst i've heard
- Britten piano & other chamber music
- Elgar
i don't know any of VW's chamber music, very much music by Holst or Elgar, or choral music by any of the above composers. i know Britten perhaps the best but not any of the operas. Belshazzar's Feast is one of those things i always meant to get around to listening to but never did.
Quote from: North Star on August 26, 2013, 02:31:26 AM
Wow, didn't realize you like Holst enough to put him first here, Ilaria!
What are some of your favourites from him, say 5-10 works?
I absolutely love his music, I could easily put Holst in my top 15 composers. :)
Some of my favourites, in no specific order:
The Planets
Egdon Heath
A Somerset Rhapsody
Two Songs without Words
The Golden Goose
The Cloud Messenger
St. Paul's Suite
A Choral Fantasia
Capriccio
Lyric Movement
Choral Hymns
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on August 26, 2013, 05:01:06 AM
I absolutely love his music, I could easily put Holst in my top 15 composers. :)
Some of my favourites, in no specific order:
The Planets
Egdon Heath
A Somerset Rhapsody
Two Songs without Words
The Golden Goose
The Cloud Messenger
St. Paul's Suite
A Choral Fantasia
Capriccio
Lyric Movement
Choral Hymns
Thanks for the list, I think I'll listen to some
Holst now. :)
The ones I have (in the 4 disc EMI box) are bolded. Egdon Heath is great stuff, for sure.
Quote from: North Star on August 26, 2013, 05:12:48 AM
Thanks for the list, I think I'll listen to some Holst now. :)
The ones I have (in the 4 disc EMI box) are bolded. Egdon Heath is great stuff, for shure.
Very glad to hear that. :)
It's great stuff indeed, what a gorgeous, hauntingly beautiful work! Holst himself thought
Egdon Heath was his best composition.
Quote from: kyjo on August 25, 2013, 05:19:27 PM
1. VW
2. Elgar
3. Walton
4. Britten
5. Holst
That's the correct order 8)
Sarge
Quote from: sanantonio on August 26, 2013, 06:48:00 AM
There are 120 ways these five composers can be listed.
You guys have a long way to go.
:)
Yeah, right, you math wizard! 8)
Britten and VW
LARGE GAP
Walton and Elgar
SMALLER GAP
Holst
Elgar
VW, Walton & Holst
Britten
Quote from: Klaze on August 26, 2013, 09:45:07 AM
Britten and VW
LARGE GAP
Walton and Elgar
SMALLER GAP
Holst
That's actually not bad....
I'm not going to stick to the five you listed, though I will include them. Here's my list:
1. Britten
2 Elgar
3 Arnold, Malcolm
4 Holst
5 Bridge, Frank
6 Bax, Arnold
7 Walton
8 VW
Quote from: RebLem on August 29, 2013, 01:55:18 PM
I'm not going to stick to the five you listed, though I will include them. Here's my list:
1. Britten
2 Elgar
3 Arnold, Malcolm
4 Holst
5 Bridge, Frank
6 Bax, Arnold
7 Walton
8 VW
VW last?! ??? Oh dear! :)
1. Britten
2. Walton (mainly for facade, Symphony #1, and the Viola Concerto
3. RVW
tied for last: Holst and Elgar. (I only care for Elgar's Cello and Violin concerti. For Holst, I really only know The Planets, St. Paul's Suite, Egdon Heath, and The Perfect Fool)
Quote from: PaulR on August 29, 2013, 04:29:37 PM
For Holst, I really only know The Planets, St. Paul's Suite, Egdon Heath, and The Perfect Fool)
Then you're not really missing out on much IMO. Those are his best works. I've also developed a liking for
Beni Mora, a nice little suite of colorful exotica.
Keeping in mind just this list, it would be:
RVW
Elgar
Britten
Walton
Holst
But that is somewhat misleading. By far, the best work from any of the composers on the list is Peter Grimes. Britten is a stage work composer above all else, but I have to be in the right mood to listen. RVW and Elgar's orchestral works are easier to get into, and Elgar's Second has grown on me quite a bit in the last year or two, and RVW's Third and Fourth are quite good, but they are not top-shelf stuff in the same way as Peter Grimes. Pity Bax is not listed . . .
RVW
Holst
Britten
Walton
Elgar
But, like many else here, I would insert a whole bunch of other UK composers in this list, if allowed to, but RVW would stay in pole position.
Quote from: Todd on August 29, 2013, 05:37:32 PM
Keeping in mind just this list, it would be:
RVW
Elgar
Britten
Walton
Holst
But that is somewhat misleading. By far, the best work from any of the composers on the list is Peter Grimes. Britten is a stage work composer above all else, but I have to be in the right mood to listen. RVW and Elgar's orchestral works are easier to get into, and Elgar's Second has grown on me quite a bit in the last year or two, and RVW's Third and Fourth are quite good, but they are not top-shelf stuff in the same way as Peter Grimes. Pity Bax is not listed . . .
Granted, Peter Grimes is a great work, no doubt about it. But other highlights of his output for me are the Billy Budd, Noye's Fludde, the Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, the three string quartets, the Simple Symphony, the War Requiem, Sinfonia de Requiem, the Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, and, of course, the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
As for Elgar, my favorites besides all the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, are the two symphonies and The Dream of Gerontius.
One I didn't mention that I think perhaps should be added to the pantheon is Malcolm Arnold. And here, of course, we are talking only of modern or fairly modern composers. Others of note are William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, John Dowland, and the incomparable Henry Purcell. And I have been persuaded that Charles Villiers Stanford, Sir Charles Hubert H Parry, and Cyril Scott are very fine composers, too.