Your No. 1 Composer

[TheGSMoeller]

I'm going to choose the composer who's music was the first to get me excited about serious music...

...Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

...it was almost 20 years ago that I watched the NY Phil. on PBS perform Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche under the baton of Zubin Mehta, I had never heard a piece that endured so many emotions and presented it's listener with so many visuals. From there, I moved on to more Strauss, and more music in general thus beginning my passion for classical music. I find such a of high level personal involvement and colorful storytelling in Strauss' tone poems, a display of musical genius in his operas, a delicate devotion to his chamber and concerti, and a touch of pure love in his songs.

Over the years I have found a fondness for other composers that may have surpassed Strauss, but there is always a first love, and this music I first fell in love with will never be replaced.

[eyeresist]

I'm usually annoyed when people won't play by the rules laid down by a thread's creator. But in this case, I really can't, in good conscience, or even in fun, pick between Wagner, Mahler and Bruckner. My trinity is indivisible; the only number one I could pick.

I was raised Lutheran. I follow his example: "Here I stand. I can do no other." 

Sarge

Or, to put it more succinctly:

Banana. Suck it.





(Do you realise how hard it is to find a safe-for-work image of someone sucking a banana?)

[Bogey]

John Williams.

I can hum his music more than any other composer I know, he has my son listening to symphonic music....and enjoying it (Williams and other movie composers lead me into classical music) and at the same time his music enables me to replay many a loved movies in my head.  Goldsmith and others may have been somewhat more effective at the craft, but my reasons hold for this choice.

[Bulldog]

Current Tally:

Beethoven     5
Bach              3
Haydn           3
Brahms         2
Handel          2
Janacek        1
Mahler          1
Stravinsky    1
Bartok          1
Wagner        1
Brian            1
Shost.          1
Mozart         1
Holst            1
R. Strauss    1
J. Williams    1

[Bulldog]

John Williams.

That's the most surprising entry so far.  I knew you loved film music, but I underestimated its impact on you.

[Bogey]

That's the most surprising entry so far.  I knew you loved film music, but I underestimated its impact on you.

Indeed it has, Don and the effect on my lad is a positive one as well.  Pretty cool to see.  Williams can get a rap of just writing BIG stuff or formulaic.  This is not totally true (ie Catch Me If You Can), but point taken.  The likes of Herrmann, Rozsa, Newman, Goldsmith, Elfman etc., of whom I also enjoy, seem to get a more serious look by many film music buffs.  It also does not help that he is typecast to mainly Spielberg films, but as far as memorable and just fun for me to revisit, he fits my bill. I am just starting to look into his earlier efforts....should be fun as well.  In short, there is not a score from him of which I have heard that I did not enjoy part or all of. 

[ibanezmonster]

ummm... let's see....
ehhhhhhh....... errrrrrrrrr......
maybe.......... um.................
I think.........  ummm...... it was...........
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........................

Bulldog, you know who to add. 

[Bulldog]

ummm... let's see....
ehhhhhhh....... errrrrrrrrr......
maybe.......... um.................
I think.........  ummm...... it was...........
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........................

Bulldog, you know who to add. 

Xenakis?

[some guy]

I looked through my collection.

I thought about composers whose music I've only heard in concert.

None of them were numbered. Not any of them.

When I want to listen to what only Berlioz can give me, I listen to Berlioz. When I want to listen to what only Luc Ferrari can give me, I listen to Luc Ferrari. When I want to listen to what only Bach can give me, I listen to Bach. (Added after Bulldog's most recent post: When I want to listen to what only Xenakis gives me, I listen to Xenakis.) And so it goes.

Easy!

So I call Bulldog's number one idea a silly thing.

When I was a child, I had favorite composers. When I became a man, I put away childish things. (That's my Biblical version of "banana." Biblical references raise the tone of discussions, you know. Biblical and Greek and Roman and the Bhagavad Gita and the Kalevala. Man that stuff is so tonal.)

[Bulldog]

I looked through my collection.

I thought about composers whose music I've only heard in concert.

None of them were numbered. Not any of them.

When I want to listen to what only Berlioz can give me, I listen to Berlioz. When I want to listen to what only Luc Ferrari can give me, I listen to Luc Ferrari. When I want to listen to what only Bach can give me, I listen to Bach. (Added after Bulldog's most recent post: When I want to listen to what only Xenakis gives me, I listen to Xenakis.) And so it goes.

Easy!

So I call Bulldog's number one idea a silly thing.

When I was a child, I had favorite composers. When I became a man, I put away childish things.

Now that you've pumped yourself up, how about a composer's name?  Just one will do fine.

[Luke]

I looked through my collection.

I thought about composers whose music I've only heard in concert.

None of them were numbered. Not any of them.

When I want to listen to what only Berlioz can give me, I listen to Berlioz. When I want to listen to what only Luc Ferrari can give me, I listen to Luc Ferrari. When I want to listen to what only Bach can give me, I listen to Bach. (Added after Bulldog's most recent post: When I want to listen to what only Xenakis gives me, I listen to Xenakis.) And so it goes.

Easy!

So I call Bulldog's number one idea a silly thing.

When I was a child, I had favorite composers. When I became a man, I put away childish things. (That's my Biblical version of "banana." Biblical references raise the tone of discussions, you know. Biblical and Greek and Roman and the Bhagavad Gita and the Kalevala. Man that stuff is so tonal.)

Actually, despite having voted, I'm very much with you here...in principle. I found it both easy and difficult to cast my vote. Difficult becase - as you say - there are so many composers who take me to a specific place 100% of the way, and if it is a place I want to go to, then at that moment that particular composer is the one for me. Jo Janacek is my favourite composer, but so is Ravel, and so is Brahms, and so is Tippett, and so is Chopin, and so is Cage, and so is Satie, and so is Brian, and so is Bach, and so is Ligeti, and so is Beethoven, and so is Webern, and so is Stravinsky, and so is...well, you get the point.

All the composers above do things to me that no others do, take me to places no others can, and mean the world to me as they do it. But the place Janacek takes me to is a particularly special one; it's the place I would choose to live in, metaphorically speaking, were I able to, whereas the others, to extend the metaphor, offer me places I desperately want to visit for long, repeated periods, but not necessarily to base myself in fully. That's why it was also easy for me to pick him as a number 1, without in the least suggesting that any of the others leave me less moved or wonderstruck. I didn't find that a childish or shallow choice, personally - that's why I found your last paragraph somewhat patronising.

[Mirror Image]

At the end of the day, I'm proud of my choice of Shostakovich. The first time I heard Shostakovich, I didn't respond to his music at all and, to be even more honest, I found a lot of it just completely one-deminsional. He was a composer I admired but I didn't love (yet). Fast forward two years later and here I am writing about how much Shostakovich has meant to me. What happened along the way? Did my mind broaden? Did my tastes change? Was I looking for something in his music the first time I heard him that actually wasn't there? Probably, yes, to all three questions. One of the works that really got me interested in Shostakovich was his ballet The Golden Age (or The Age of Gold). This might not be "essential" Shostakovich, but it really made me take note of the many facets of his compositional style. There is no grey mood here like there is in his more serious music. This is, more or less, Shostakovich giving the listener a little relief after such intense music like his symphonies or SQs. I found this ballet to be one of my entry points into his style. I was already very familiar with all of his concerti, but I heard a performance with Viktoria Mullova (w/ Andre Previn conducting) of Violin Concerto No. 1 that really rattled my cage. Again, I found another entry. Shostakovich's music became much more accessible to me especially after hearing a lot of Prokofiev (another composer I couldn't live without). For me, Shostakovich's music was much more intense than Prokofiev and darker in mood, which I adjusted to quite nicely. The first symphony that really clicked with me after taking such a long hiatus from his music was Symphony No. 8. I now understood the musical language much better and was quite moved by the entire work. From here, I re-listened to Symphony No. 5 and like a hammer blow I heard everything I missed the first time around. When the Largo movement of this symphony ended, I paused the music, and just sat back and took a deep breath. I was just completely in awe of the way that movement took shape and the hold it had over me. I finished the rest of the symphony and I then moved onto Symphony No. 6. Shostakovich's music just gets under my skin and has continued to surprise me over and over again no matter how many times I hear a specific work. There are so many layers of emotion and the tension that is created in the music makes it all the more engrossing. He's my No. 1 and will continue to be even if I don't listen to his music as frequently as I have these past months.

Sorry for the rambling, but I thought I would just share why he's my favorite composer.

[springrite]

I refuse to choose between Bach and Mahler.


Well, OK, Bach it is.

[mszczuj]

Beethoven.

But Bach is at the exactly same level.

[eyeresist]

Interesting post, MI, particularly

Shostakovich's music became much more accessible to me especially after hearing a lot of Prokofiev (another composer I couldn't live without). For me, Shostakovich's music was much more intense than Prokofiev and darker in mood, which I adjusted to quite nicely.

I must hear that Mullova/Previn recording sometime.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Well done, MI. That's a very accurate description of how you can fall in love with an artist.

[Mirror Image]

Interesting post, MI, particularly
I must hear that Mullova/Previn recording sometime.

Thanks, eyeresist. I would call Mullova's performance of Shosty's Violin Concerto No. 1 the finest version I've heard and I've heard almost all of them from Oistrakh to Perlman to Repin to Mordkovitch to Vengerov, etc. There's something about Mullova's phrasing and just the general feeling she put into her interpretation that really moved me.

[Mirror Image]

Well done, MI. That's a very accurate description of how you can fall in love with an artist.

Thank you, Johan.

[springrite]

I was anxiously awaiting whether it's be Shosty, Keochlin or H V-L. Now we know!

[Elgarian]

All the composers above do things to me that no others do, take me to places no others can, and mean the world to me as they do it. But the place Janacek takes me to is a particularly special one; it's the place I would choose to live in, metaphorically speaking, were I able to, whereas the others, to extend the metaphor, offer me places I desperately want to visit for long, repeated periods, but not necessarily to base myself in fully. That's why it was also easy for me to pick him as a number 1, without in the least suggesting that any of the others leave me less moved or wonderstruck. I didn't find that a childish or shallow choice, personally - that's why I found your last paragraph somewhat patronising.

What a heart-warming explanation; I'd like to have said much the same myself, but would have done it less eloquently.

There was a period of a couple of years when exploring Wagner's music seemed the most important thing in my life; there was a week in hospital not so long ago when Mozart's piano concertos kept me sane through painful, sleepless nights; there was a glorious summer when I was sixteen, listening to Scheherazade almost every day and wondering whether music could actually get any better than this. And most of us have these treasured memories that - in the absence of anything else - would make it impossible to pick a number one, as per Bulldog's requirement.

But then there's this thing 'love', which isn't childish, which defies explanation, and which surely oughtn't to be scoffed at or patronised. And that brings me to Elgar. Irascible and unpredictable as a man, uneven as a composer, and too limited in range to be counted among the greatest, nevertheless (as Luke has it) his best music takes me to the places I most want to be. Not all the time, certainly; but the one that feels most right for me, most of the time. A kind of bedrock. My roots are pretty much the same as his; I can't contemplate the English landscape without hearing his music. (I can't sit still for long anywhere without hearing his music, actually.) There's no other single artist (musician, painter, or writer) to whom I feel so much personal affection and gratitude for providing companionship in the face of existential solitariness, by showing me musical equivalents for feelings and perceptions that I could never have articulated myself.

So add Elgar to the list, please, Bulldog.