Not in any particular order. Trying to broaden my horizons a bit.
Debussy, Ravel, Bartók, Sibelius, Villa-Lobos and Martinů. If I was allowed to expand it to 10, the others would be Dvořák, Shostakovich, Szymanowski, Fauré and Enescu.
Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Sibelius, Haydn
Ligeti, Xenakis, Penderecki, Schnittke, Scelsi.
Listening to some Schnittke right now (for his birthday), and thinking he might be on my list. Others: Bartók, Ligeti, Bruckner, Mahler.
--Bruce
My top 5 are:
Shostakovich
Nielsen
Sibelius
Beethoven
Dvorak
Quote from: Dave B on November 24, 2020, 07:18:23 AM
Mozart...Vivaldi...Beethoven....Bach.. Tchaikovsky...Handel. .Too general a thread topic, I guess. But I can't delete it.
You can change the opening post, and the (thread) title.
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on November 24, 2020, 08:53:51 AM
My top 5 are:
Shostakovich
Nielsen
Sibelius
Beethoven
Dvorak
Sibelius and Nielsen...very interesting. My love for Nielsen came a bit later, but these two are certainly towering figures of Nordic music.
Vaughan Williams
Miaskovsky
Bax
Honegger
Tubin
Chronologically
Haydn
Mozart
Schubert
Chopin
Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninoff
Morton Feldman
Claude Debussy
Gustav Mahler
Toru Takemitsu
Maurice Ravel
Haydn,
Mozart,
Beethoven,
Schubert,
Vivaldi,
The Russian Romantics from Glinka thru Shostakovich ( :-[ Well, they are interchangeable to me ::) )
8)
Mahler
Beethoven
Schubert
Bruckner
J.S. Bach
Brahms
LKB
Bach is definitely at the top for me. After that, the list constantly shifts.
Quote from: T. D. on November 24, 2020, 12:29:59 PM
Bach is definitely at the top for me. After that, the list constantly shifts.
My top five are pretty stable, but from no. 6 on l experience some shifting as well. Too many master composers for a short list...
Counting,
LKB
Quote from: T. D. on November 24, 2020, 12:29:59 PM
Bach is definitely at the top for me. After that, the list constantly shifts.
Mine is almost in a constant flux as well, but if I were to be really honest about (and judging from my own listening habits over the past say 2-3 years), then my list would actually look something like this: Debussy, Ravel, Sibelius, Nielsen and Dvořák.
Quote from: Mirror Image on November 24, 2020, 10:03:32 AM
Sibelius and Nielsen...very interesting. My love for Nielsen came a bit later, but these two are certainly towering figures of Nordic music.
I don't remember who came the first, but both are imprescindible in my top 5 or 10. I can't live without any of them!
In this moment:
Bach
Debussy
Webern
Boulez
Feldman
Make it ten (a top-10 as of 2025):
1946- Pēteris Vasks (Latvia)
1921-1999 Ruth Gipps (UK)
1910-1981 Samuel Barber (USA)
1909-1996 Vagn Holmboe (Denmark)
1905-1982 Eduard Tubin (Estonia)
1879-1936 Ottorino Respighi (Italy)
1876-1946 Manuel de Falla (Spain)
1872-1958 Ralph Vaughan Williams (UK)
1862-1918 Claude Debussy (France)
1854-1928 Leoš Janáček (Bohemia)
Difficult excercise, but if I think which composers from various periods I listen to the most, these emerge.
Machaut (Early)
Bach (Baroque)
Mozart (Classical)
Verdi (Romantic)
Bernstein (20th century)
Currently,
Reich
Ligeti
Johnston
Schoenberg
Brahms
Roughly
Shostakovich
Dvořák
Bruckner
Tchaikovsky
Penderecki
Bach
Haydn
Mozart
Schubert
Mahler
Bruckner fell off my list (he is #6) because I've been listening to Schubert a lot more these days. Chamber music, symphonies, masses, solo piano, lieder... you name it. He is a great composer from his early output through his late masterpieces.
Quote from: Christo on March 17, 2025, 05:07:25 AMTop-5:
1921-1999 Ruth Gipps (UK)
1872-1958 Ralph Vaughan Williams (UK)
1909-1996 Vagn Holmboe (Denmark)
1946- Pēteris Vasks (Latvia)
1905-1982 Eduard Tubin (Estonia)
Quote from: Florestan on November 24, 2020, 10:40:06 AMChronologically
Haydn
Mozart
Schubert
Chopin
Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninoff
Happy with this list to which I must add Rossini.
Nothing like reviving an old thread...
Haydn
Beethoven
Dvorak
Faure
That will do as I don't quite know who would take out 5th, after this it gets messy. Though I might trip and fall into a Holmboe rabbit-hole at any moment.
Vaughan Williams
Dvorak
Mozart
Janacek
Martinu
Bartok
Shostakovich
Kodaly
Debussy
Ravel
....too many to list depending upon my mood and what I want to listen to! ;D ;)
K
Quote from: Madiel on March 18, 2025, 05:05:29 AMNothing like reviving an old thread...
Haydn
Beethoven
Dvorak
Faure
That will do as I don't quite know who would take out 5th, after this it gets messy. Though I might trip and fall into a Holmboe rabbit-hole at any moment.
Some holes are worth excavating.
Rather than hang myself up over whom I'd be leaving out, five composers I always love:
JSB
Haydn
Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Martinů
probably, roughly, and chronologically
Haydn
Beethoven
Schubert
Dvorak
Janacek
what's funny is this makes me sound like I listen to almost all music from 1780-1830 or so, but most of my listening is 20th century. it's just that the 20th century was so fragmented and had so many different voices!
Quote from: Karl Henning on March 18, 2025, 08:03:47 AMRather than hang myself up over whom I'd be leaving out, five composers I always love:
JSB
Haydn
Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Martinů
I didn't realize that Martinů was so high on your list, Karl. That's great! 8)
I don't know.
DSCH, Vasks, Tabakov, Pettersson, Holmboe?
Maybe?
RVW, Bax, Tubin, Diamond, Hovhaness?
So many similar votes here: for RVW, Holmboe, Vasks, even Tubin, Kodály, Diamond, Martinů. I am perplexed! :)
Quote from: hopefullytrusting on March 17, 2025, 05:29:31 AMCurrently,
Reich
Ligeti
Johnston
Schoenberg
Brahms
Who is Johnston (first name ?) and what makes him worth hearing ? Disc suggestions, please ! 😉
Quote from: foxandpeng on March 18, 2025, 10:58:32 AMI don't know.
DSCH, Vasks, Tabakov, Pettersson, Holmboe?
Maybe?
RVW, Bax, Tubin, Diamond, Hovhaness?
🙏
I must make 3 different lists, otherwise I'd go nuts.
A list: Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert
A' list: Wagner, Bruckner, Brahms, Verdi, Elgar
A'' list: Sibelius, DSCH, Braunfels, Reger, Vaughan-Williams.
With a knife on my throat I'd keep Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner and Shostakovich. Then I'd pay 30 pieces of silver to GMG's moderators and go hang myself.
Quote from: André on March 18, 2025, 01:34:37 PM... Then I'd pay 30 pieces of silver to GMG's moderators ....
Do you have my bank details? ;D
No need to go through with the last part of your post, though. That would be unnecessary and a real pity,
André.
Quote from: André on March 18, 2025, 01:22:04 PMWho is Johnston (first name ?) and what makes him worth hearing ? Disc suggestions, please ! 😉
Ben Johnston, I would say "the" microtonal composer, and I would say his String Quartets are his benchmark works, but his work for solo piano is also quite lauded.
This is him speaking on his music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slXIOTTYpHY
I have been falling in love with intricate counterpoint, and his works are filled with that. :)
Quote from: hopefullytrusting on March 18, 2025, 01:47:41 PMBen Johnston, I would say "the" microtonal composer, and I would say his String Quartets are his benchmark works, but his work for solo piano is also quite lauded.
This is him speaking on his music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slXIOTTYpHY
I have been falling in love with intricate counterpoint, and his works are filled with that. :)
Thanks ! I'll put him on my 'watch list' !
Somewhat traditionally I consider J S Bach and Beethoven to be the towering figures of the Western music culture,
But as to number 3 and so forth the competition is so tough, that I'm not able to choose anyone.
My 'Top 5' hasn't over the last 4-5 years:
Mahler
Debussy
R. Strauss
Sibelius
Bartók
Quote from: Der lächelnde Schatten on March 19, 2025, 05:37:54 AMMy 'Top 5' hasn't over the last 4-5 years:
Mahler
Debussy
R. Strauss
Sibelius
Bartók
That's surprising, John. Judging by your current listening and purchasing habits, I should have thought that Schubert and Handel made their way to your pantheon. ;D
Quote from: Florestan on March 19, 2025, 05:47:48 AMThat's surprising, John. Judging by your current listening and purchasing habits, I should have thought that Schubert and Handel made their way to your pantheon. ;D
My 'Top 5' is doubtful to have any change, but a 'Top 10' certainly offers more wiggle room and Schubert is in this 'Top 10'. But I do have to say that Bach, Handel and Beethoven each occupy a special category that makes them unelectable for any favorite composer list. Their music is just
that special to me that I couldn't possibly have the courage to place them in any kind of ranking.
The 2 towering above all for me are:
Mozart
Beethoven
And then, since I love opera:
Verdi
Puccini
Wagner
Quote from: Florestan on March 19, 2025, 05:47:48 AMThat's surprising, John. Judging by your current listening and purchasing habits, I should have thought that Schubert and Handel made their way to your pantheon. ;D
Andrei is guaranteed to sniff out a Schubert reference wherever it can be found.
Five, because I'm terrible at math.
Bartók
Bruckner
Janáček
Mahler
Ravel
Shostakovich
No more terrible at maths than the conductor I heard about MANY years ago who conducted 5/4 time by going:
1-2-3-4-5 *breath intake*
1-2-3-4-5 *breath intake*