A single word that encapsulates a composer.
A few I can think of -
Elgar: Nobilmente.
Vaughan Williams: Elizabethan.
Beethoven: Angry.
Shostakovich: Ironic.
Myaskovsky: Stoic.
Mozart: Playful.
Haydn: Humorous.
Dvorak: Melodious.
Schoenberg: Uncompromising.
Rachmaninov: Romantic.
Pettersson: Uncompromising
Bax/Tubin : Legendary
Brahms: Autumnal
Tabakov - Existential
Vasks - Redemptive
Bach: mathematical
Isang Yun - yearning
Mahler: human
Satie: Odd.
along the same lines as "Elgar: Nobilmente"...
Bruckner: Feierlich
A few more:
Bruckner - otherworldly
Ravel - crystalline
Gershwin - urban
Sibelius - silence
Shostakovich - paranoid
Liszt - showman
Schoenberg - liminal
Stockhausen - numbskull :P
Reger - stodgy
Delius - contemplative
Arnold - quirky
Leifs - earthy
Chopin - sentimental
Brian - messy
Dvorák - rustic
Brahms - refined
Valen - gloomy
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on May 04, 2022, 11:23:17 AM
Reger - stodgy
Delius - contemplative
Arnold - quirky
Leifs - earthy
Chopin - sentimental
Brian - messy
Dvorák - rustic
Brahms - refined
Valen - gloomy
Another good one for Leifs would be elemental. ;)
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 04, 2022, 11:33:10 AM
Another good one for Leifs would be elemental. ;)
Quite so!
Hindemith: busy
Quote from: foxandpeng on May 03, 2022, 03:26:11 PM
Vasks - Redemptive
Woah! No joke, I'm listening to his VC
Distant Lights right now when I read this, in fact at about 4-5 minutes left in the piece, and it just changed my entire listening experience. Thank you for that!
Stravinsky - impish
Janáček - peppered
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on May 04, 2022, 06:20:30 PM
Woah! No joke, I'm listening to his VC Distant Lights right now when I read this, in fact at about 4-5 minutes left in the piece, and it just changed my entire listening experience. Thank you for that!
Definitely a fine descriptor for much of Vasks' music, indeed.
A few more:
Messiaen - psychedelic
Scriabin - bewitching
Tchaikovsky - heartbreaking
Schnittke - boundless
Penderecki - frightening
Webern - phlegmatic
Copland - folksy
Barber - troubled
Saint-Saëns - délicieux
Quote from: TheGSMoeller on May 04, 2022, 06:20:30 PM
Woah! No joke, I'm listening to his VC Distant Lights right now when I read this, in fact at about 4-5 minutes left in the piece, and it just changed my entire listening experience. Thank you for that!
You're welcome 🙂. I love that piece very much!
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on May 04, 2022, 11:23:17 AM
Reger - stodgy
Delius - contemplative
Arnold - quirky
Leifs - earthy
Chopin - sentimental
Brian - messy
Dvorák - rustic
Brahms - refined
Valen - gloomy
A good list, particularly like Reger, Brian and Dvorak. Not sure about Brahms, I thought upholstered or Victorian. Delius was one I thought about but surprisingly could not come up with anything that fits.
Quote from: Irons on May 05, 2022, 07:35:20 AM
A good list, particularly like Reger, Brian and Dvorak. Not sure about Brahms, I thought upholstered or Victorian. Delius was one I thought about but surprisingly could not come up with anything that fits.
Brahms also sounds me like "lordly" and nostalgic. In fact, many composers provoke a myriad of emotions and ideas that is just captivating.
Another one:
Langgaard - maverick
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on May 05, 2022, 06:03:01 PM
Another one:
Langgaard - maverick
You can say that again! After your recommendation - which I value, I purchased a CD. Noted foxandpend, who also knows his stuff, rates Langgaard too. Obviously me (or mood) but failed to make a connection with his music. :(
Quote from: Irons on May 06, 2022, 06:26:55 AM
You can say that again! After your recommendation - which I value, I purchased a CD. Noted foxandpend, who also knows his stuff, rates Langgaard too. Obviously me (or mood) but failed to make a connection with his music. :(
I haven't seen any post by foxandpeng rating Langgaard yet :D, but anyway, which works have you listened to? I recommend his symphonies 1-6, 9, 10 and 13 (1, 4 and 6 being exceptional in my view; No. 6 on Chandos is the best performance hands down),
Music of the Spheres,
Sinfonia interna, the string quartets,
Fra Dybet,
Sphinx,
Drapa (On the Dead of Edvard Grieg),
Heltedød,
Antikrist and/or its suite
The End of Time.
I'm aware about he was an odd composer, but somehow I do connect with his style quite well.
Schumann - Alive
Bantock - sybarite
Quote from: Symphonic Addict on May 06, 2022, 10:19:59 AM
I haven't seen any post by foxandpeng rating Langgaard yet :D, but anyway, which works have you listened to? I recommend his symphonies 1-6, 9, 10 and 13 (1, 4 and 6 being exceptional in my view; No. 6 on Chandos is the best performance hands down), Music of the Spheres, Sinfonia interna, the string quartets, Fra Dybet, Sphinx, Drapa (On the Dead of Edvard Grieg), Heltedød, Antikrist and/or its suite The End of Time.
I'm aware about he was an odd composer, but somehow I do connect with his style quite well.
I will have a crack at the 6th you recommend. I didn't reach that far having giving up after listening to the 4th of the Chandos disc and maybe prematurely thinking Langgaard is not for me. I do struggle making sense of multi-movement symphonies.
Sibelius: booze.
Vaughan Williams: old.
George Butterworth: young.