Your Top 10 Favorite Composers

[vandermolen]

Ha. No, that second Italianate list. Haydn, then... nope. What a wilderness of knowledge. When I first started listening to classical music years ago, I listened to a lot of Haydn and and Mozart, like lots of novices. Bach, Handel, all the 'elli's ... but then dropped them off quite quickly. It all felt a bit samey to my tastes.

I never really had anyone to suggest what to hear, so just read Gramophone and followed my nose. I suspect I went in odd directions ... such as knowing virtually no Schubert for years, but being hugely familiar with Spohr; listening massively to Rubenstein but no Shostakovich.

Classical music wasn't encouraged where I came from 😁

I like your Tolstoy quote Danny 

[foxandpeng]

I like your Tolstoy quote Danny 

A fine summary of how I feel nowadays. Increasingly seeking out harmony and simplicity wherever I can find it. Life is too short and too precious, and kindness too rare.

[vandermolen]

A fine summary of how I feel nowadays. Increasingly seeking out harmony and simplicity wherever I can find it. Life is too short and too precious, and kindness too rare.

I agree.
All strength to you Danny. I've only just picked up that you are in hospital.

[Lisztianwagner]

Your new list officially qualifies as the one where, apart from Haydn, I have never heard a single work by any composer.

My ignorance is impressive, even to me.

As it has been already said, on the other hand, you know a lot about modern composers, even someone I've never heard about; that's an important contribution to enrich the forum. By the way, I hope you're better now and you've been recovering.

[foxandpeng]

As it has been already said, on the other hand, you know a lot about modern composers, even someone I've never heard about; that's an important contribution to enrich the forum. By the way, I hope you're better now and you've been recovering.

Appreciate your kindness. Slow progress, thank you!

[Madiel]

This forum collectively covers many centuries of music.

Having a particular interest in a century or two is not really a fault.

[Florestan]

Having a particular interest in a century or two is not really a fault.

This. One likes what one likes and that's it.

[Florestan]

You have probably not heard anything by Henri Herz or Sigismond Thalberg who were competitors with Liszt for the most dashing virtuoso (I am pretty sure I have heard only their names.)

Herz and Thalberg are indeed niche composers. If one is not into the kind of music they wrote, chances are one has never heard anything by them, since they have no calling-card hit(s) in their portfolio.

Nevertheless, their music is interesting and certainly better than its reputation. Herz wrote 8 piano concertos (six of them have been recorded in the Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series) and they are quite classically cut formally and there's little flashy virtuosity for the sake of it in them, Actually, they are quite lyrical and poetical. The Eighth PC (not recorded by anyone ever) features in the last movement a chorus of Dervishes singing "Praise to Allah!" --- now, that's something I'd like to hear. A selection of his solo piano music has been recorded by Philip Martin, also on Hyperion. The pieces alternates between bravura variations on operatic themes and Chopinesque Nocturnes. If you want amiable, lyrical music or fun virtuosic fireworks, Herz delivers. Schumann held him in contempt in lost no opportunity to belittle his music.

Back then Thalberg was held in higher esteem than Liszt, not least because of his aristocratic, poised, elegant playing as opposed to Liszt's histrionics. His fame rests on countless variations on operatic themes and a collection of operatic arias and ensembles transcribed for piano. His music has been more extensively recorded than Herz's, especially by the enthusiastic President of the International Thalberg Society, Italian pianist Francesco Nicolosi. Schumann and Mendelssohn held him in high esteem.

Besides their music, what I like about them is that they were not tortured, grumpy and disgrunted geniuses, but gentlemanly socialites who wrote music not for the future but for the here and now.

You might not have heard anything by Meyerbeer who wrote Grand opera.

Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer) was a colleague and friend of Carl Maria von Weber at the Abbe Vogler's school in Darmstadt. His fame rests indeed on Grand-Opera but before going to Paris he toured Italy for a few years, learning the Italian style and composing a few operas which are said to have out-Rossini-ed Rossini --- and from the two or three that I've heard, the claim is not far off the mark. His Grand-Operas were held in high esteem by such luminaries as Chopin, Heine, Bizet, Verdi, Tchaikovsky and initially even by a bloke called Richard Wagner. The argument can be made that it's actually Meyerbeer who created the Gesamtkunstwerk, only he did not roam about theorizing and postulating his ideas. He was a cultured man with a liberal outlook and despite Wagner's slanders, he was quite generous to him.

[DavidW]

Your new list officially qualifies as the one where, apart from Haydn, I have never heard a single work by any composer.

My ignorance is impressive, even to me.

I would call that an opportunity for discovery!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Try Raff's 5th Symphony PD - I love the ghostly night-ride section of the last movement.

Thanks for the rec.  I might give it a go later today--post shoveling.

PD

[foxandpeng]

I would call that an opportunity for discovery!

Sounds about right. So much music...

[Mapman]

Thanks for the rec.  I might give it a go later today--post shoveling.

Of the Raff that I've heard (which doesn't include the 5th yet -- coming soon!), the ghostly Scherzo of the 10th symphony stood out. It has a similar character to The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Of the Raff that I've heard (which doesn't include the 5th yet -- coming soon!), the ghostly Scherzo of the 10th symphony stood out. It has a similar character to The Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Thanks!

I ended up not listening to any Raff yesterday as I was kept busy by either shoveling or trying to get some things done before what I thought would be inevitable power outages.  Knock on wood, so far, so good. 

PD

[kyjo]

Thanks!

I ended up not listening to any Raff yesterday as I was kept busy by either shoveling or trying to get some things done before what I thought would be inevitable power outages.  Knock on wood, so far, so good. 

PD

Enjoy your Raff exploration, PD! As most others have suggested, the 5th Symphony is definitely a great place to start exploring his oeuvre; it's one of his most memorable and individual works, and arguably one of the greatest symphonies of the mid-19th century. That said, there's much else to enjoy in his large (and expectedly somewhat uneven) output, even if most of isn't as "progressive" or immediately gripping as the 5th Symphony. Particular standouts for me include his 3rd, 4th, and 9th Symphonies, Piano Concerto, the Macbeth and Tempest Overtures, and a whole swath of finely-crafted chamber music, especially his four piano trios, two piano quartets, String Sextet, and String Quartet no. 7 Die schöne mullerin. Happy listening!

[kyjo]

Currently:

Dvorak
Atterberg
Sibelius
Rachmaninoff
Prokofiev
Brahms
Nielsen
Vaughan Williams
Poulenc
Finzi

(3 Nordic, 2 British, 2 Russian, 1 Eastern European, 1 French, 1 German)

This appears to be my most recent list in this thread. Actually, I only have one personnel change to my list 3 years later! I'll also switch up my general order of preference a bit:

Antonín Dvořák
Sergei Prokofiev
George Lloyd
Jean Sibelius
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Kurt Atterberg
Johannes Brahms
Carl Nielsen
Francis Poulenc
Ralph Vaughan Williams

[foxandpeng]

More recently...

RVW
Holmboe
Tabakov
Bax
Arnold
Shostakovich
Vasks
Sibelius
Tubin
Rautavaara

Interesting that this year hasn't seen much change yet.

OK. I'll go, as it's been a while. No order. Subject to whim, as always.

Vasks
Tabakov
DSCH
Holmboe
Bax
RVW
Simpson
Hovhaness
Rautavaara
Pettersson

The odd thing is the possibility of Tabakov taking top spot because of his magisterial symphonies. Nobody grabs me like Tabakov at the moment.

[vers la flamme]

The odd thing is the possibility of Tabakov taking top spot because of his magisterial symphonies. Nobody grabs me like Tabakov at the moment.

He is an awesome symphonic composer.

[San Antone]

My long term ten favorite composers.  These are the ones I almost always find myself gravitating toward. These are not really ranked, but I as I happened to think of them.  So maybe the ones I thought of first are truly my favorites.

1   Bach
2   Cage
3   Carter
4   Boulez
5   Machaut
6   Weinberg
7   Shostakovich
8   Stravinsky
9   Brahms
10   Schoenberg

But for the last few weeks, I've been listening to this group of iconoclastic composers whose music appeals to me a lot.

Charles Ives (1874-1954)
Edgard Varèse (1883-1965)
Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
Harry Partch (1901-1974)
Elliott Carter (1908-2012)
John Cage (1912-1992)
Lou Harrison (1917-2003)
Morton Feldman (1926-1987)
James Tenney (1934-2006)
John Luther Adams (1953)

Then there's my second tier of top ten constants.

11   Liszt
12   Bernstein
13   Satie
14   Golijov
15   Haydn
16   Meyer, K.
17   Palestrina
18   Schoeck
19   Webern
20   Gesualdo

[Symphonic Addict]

Today's list:

JSB
"Papa"
Hindemith
Liszt
Nielsen
Rakhmaninov
D. Scarlatti
Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Vaughan Williams

This appears to be my most recent list in this thread. Actually, I only have one personnel change to my list 3 years later! I'll also switch up my general order of preference a bit:

Antonín Dvořák
Sergei Prokofiev
George Lloyd
Jean Sibelius
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Kurt Atterberg
Johannes Brahms
Carl Nielsen
Francis Poulenc
Ralph Vaughan Williams

Good to see the great Nielsen on your lists, guys!

[Papy Oli]

OK. I'll go, as it's been a while. No order. Subject to whim, as always.

Vasks
Tabakov
DSCH
Holmboe
Bax
RVW
Simpson
Hovhaness
Rautavaara
Pettersson

The odd thing is the possibility of Tabakov taking top spot because of his magisterial symphonies. Nobody grabs me like Tabakov at the moment.

Danny / @foxandpeng ,

What would be the recommended entry works for the 4 in bold above ? I think I streamed some Vasks ages ago but definitely nothing of the other three. Thank you very much.