Your Top 100 Favorite Composers

[Jo498]

Great Britain - 25
Germany - 0

I'm not saying that's a good or bad thing. Just making an observation!

Poor try to counterbalance the overall football WC etc. success rates... (Ok, that's England only, not UK)

[vandermolen]

Poor try to counterbalance the overall football WC etc. success rates... (Ok, that's England only, not UK)

[Mirror Image]

You always bring up Shostakovich every time I post a list. Cut me a break, man!

Never! I'll defend poor ol' Shostakovich until I'm dead!

[LKB]

As of right now:

1. Mahler
2. Bruckner
3. Beethoven
4. Schubert
5. J.S. Bach
6. RVW
7. Shostakovich
8. Delius
9. Josquin Des Prez
10. Dvorak
11. Tchaikovsky
12. Rachmaninov
13. Elgar
14. Debussy
15. Butterworth
16. Holst
17. Prokofiev
18. Haydn
19. Copland
20. Stravinsky
21. Mendelssohn
22. Brahms
23-100: Mahler 

[foxandpeng]

I'm not entirely sure how meaningful my list is, but not a bad idea to list some of my favourite composers from the last couple of years for my sake as much as anything else. I don't think I got to 100 (or maybe just over), because I stopped once I stopped really feeling it and no longer felt moved to include any others. Some are included because I know lots of their music, some because what little I know makes me happy. No order. No attempt at name checking the 'right composers'. The absence of lots of those is probably due to my ignorance.

RVW
Peteris Vasks
Arnold Bax
Soren Eichberg
Joseph Schwantner
Paul Hindemith
Douglas Lilburn
Philip Glass
Malcolm Tippett
Rawsthorne
Arnold
Tabakov
Rubbra
Richard Arnell
Daniel Jones
Michael Hersch
Laslo Lajtha
Grenville Bantock
Holst
Dvorak
Gorecki
George Lloyd
Harris
Barber
Creston
Ives
Hovhaness
Henze
Diamond
Hanson
Taneyev
Smetana
George Antheil
Walter Piston
Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Boris Tchaikovsky
Peter Tchaikovsky
Glazunov
Carl Nielsen
Blomdahl
Holmboe
Honegger
Sibelius
Stenhammar
Tveitt
Salmenhaara
Rosenberg
Pettersson
Wiren
Kinsella
Tubin
Bruckner
Mahler
Popov
Rautavaara
Alfred Hill
Hugo Alfven
Alla Pavlova
Per Norgard
Aulis Sallinen
Sally Beamish
Poul Ruders
Elena Ruehr
Elizabeth Maconchy
Peter Maxwell Davies
Robert Simpson
Brenton Broadstock
CH Parry
Tournemire
Philip Sawyers
Colin Matthews
David Matthews
Peter Fricker
Gavin Bryars
George Onslow
Grechaninov
Hans Gal
Imants Kalnins
Johan De Meij
Joachim Raff
John Knowles Paine
Joly Braga Santos
Luis de Freitas Branco
Kalinnikov
Kallstenius
Kancheli
Malcolm Lipkin
Peter Mennin
Sunleif Rasmussen
Anton Rubinstein
Louis Spohr
Peter Sculthorpe

[Madiel]

There's nothing ignorant about you, foxandpeng. Please stop putting yourself down like that. If anything you're one of the more interesting and enjoyable posters on the forum.

[Brian]

Well, now I'm at least going to have to check out Atterberg...

Atterberg is someone I once loved and still like but have cooled down a bit on. So I think I can give you both the enthusiastic version and the realistic version. 

Atterberg persisted on in a folk-influenced, romantic-era-based style in large scale symphonic forms well past the time when that stopped being trendy. His symphonies follow on naturally from, say, Svendsen, stylistically (but better). Philosophically, I guess you could compare him to the Russian Five: national pride, big tunes, had other employment (he was a critic), etc. He was nowhere near as challenging to the status quo as Langgaard or even his elder Nielsen. (His style remained about around Nielsen symphonies 2-3.) There are small scale works but they're spottily recorded or unavailable. One of the best is the charming suite for violin, viola, and string orchestra, which often gets paired on disc with stuff like the Wiren Serenade, Grieg Holberg Suite, Nielsen Suite, etc.

Symphonically, I think the most conservative but also most successful is 8, which is just like Grieg, but with structural mastery. (It's cyclical in form and the whole thing comes together in a showy bit of counterpoint at the end.) It would follow naturally from Grieg's concerto. Others are folksy too, like 7 (with a wild rustic finale), 4 (which is only 20 minutes long so you can use it to quickly check if you like Atterberg), and 3 (a series of very literal tone pictures; the thunderstorm is way too long but the finale is a masterpiece of Hollywoody feel-good orchestral extravagance -- you do have to like that kind of thing; certainly no Holmboian complexity there!). With 9, he decided to go big and choral like Beethoven; most people consider that one to be a bit of a mess. 5 is the GMG favorite because it is the darkest, and ends with a sinister waltz to the death.

The Sixth is the one with the funny story. He entered it into the 1928 competition that seemingly every big composer entered a symphony into. The prompt was to complete Schubert's Unfinished, which almost nobody followed. Atterberg in particular decided to send in a parodic joke piece full of deliberately ridiculous tunes and scoring. Unfortunately, this backfired when he won, everyone saw/heard the piece, and concluded that he was a moron. 

There are also concertos, one each, for violin, cello, piano, and French horn, if I'm remembering right. All following the general folksy late romantic mold.

[Symphonic Addict]

Atterberg is someone I once loved and still like but have cooled down a bit on. So I think I can give you both the enthusiastic version and the realistic version. 

Atterberg persisted on in a folk-influenced, romantic-era-based style in large scale symphonic forms well past the time when that stopped being trendy. His symphonies follow on naturally from, say, Svendsen, stylistically (but better). Philosophically, I guess you could compare him to the Russian Five: national pride, big tunes, had other employment (he was a critic), etc. He was nowhere near as challenging to the status quo as Langgaard or even his elder Nielsen. (His style remained about around Nielsen symphonies 2-3.) There are small scale works but they're spottily recorded or unavailable. One of the best is the charming suite for violin, viola, and string orchestra, which often gets paired on disc with stuff like the Wiren Serenade, Grieg Holberg Suite, Nielsen Suite, etc.

Symphonically, I think the most conservative but also most successful is 8, which is just like Grieg, but with structural mastery. (It's cyclical in form and the whole thing comes together in a showy bit of counterpoint at the end.) It would follow naturally from Grieg's concerto. Others are folksy too, like 7 (with a wild rustic finale), 4 (which is only 20 minutes long so you can use it to quickly check if you like Atterberg), and 3 (a series of very literal tone pictures; the thunderstorm is way too long but the finale is a masterpiece of Hollywoody feel-good orchestral extravagance -- you do have to like that kind of thing; certainly no Holmboian complexity there!). With 9, he decided to go big and choral like Beethoven; most people consider that one to be a bit of a mess. 5 is the GMG favorite because it is the darkest, and ends with a sinister waltz to the death.

The Sixth is the one with the funny story. He entered it into the 1928 competition that seemingly every big composer entered a symphony into. The prompt was to complete Schubert's Unfinished, which almost nobody followed. Atterberg in particular decided to send in a parodic joke piece full of deliberately ridiculous tunes and scoring. Unfortunately, this backfired when he won, everyone saw/heard the piece, and concluded that he was a moron. 

There are also concertos, one each, for violin, cello, piano, and French horn, if I'm remembering right. All following the general folksy late romantic mold.

The fact that the 5th is vandermolen's favorite doesn't mean it's the GMG favorite. 

For me it's the 3rd hands down, followed by the 2nd, 6th and 8th.

[foxandpeng]

There's nothing ignorant about you, foxandpeng. Please stop putting yourself down like that. If anything you're one of the more interesting and enjoyable posters on the forum.

Thank you for your kindness  Reading these lists is a timely reminder of just how much music there is out there, how knowledgeable GMG members are, and how many composers I really don't know so well. Good to have something to aspire to, I guess!

[classicalgeek]

I'm honestly surprised how much activity this thread has gotten so far. This is hard work - I'm always paranoid that I'm gonna forget a composer or two!

I think this is about 100 (in a rush - going to work soon). I started grouping them by nationality in order to try to avoid including the same name twice but that plan soon broke down.

Excellent lists, Kyle and Jeffrey!

There's nothing ignorant about you, foxandpeng. Please stop putting yourself down like that. If anything you're one of the more interesting and enjoyable posters on the forum.

I agree with this 100%! I really enjoy reading what you have to say, and your attention to "off-the-beaten path" composers.

[Mirror Image]

I'm not entirely sure how meaningful my list is, but not a bad idea to list some of my favourite composers from the last couple of years for my sake as much as anything else. I don't think I got to 100 (or maybe just over), because I stopped once I stopped really feeling it and no longer felt moved to include any others. Some are included because I know lots of their music, some because what little I know makes me happy. No order. No attempt at name checking the 'right composers'. The absence of lots of those is probably due to my ignorance.

RVW
Peteris Vasks
Arnold Bax
Soren Eichberg
Joseph Schwantner
Paul Hindemith
Douglas Lilburn
Philip Glass
Malcolm Tippett
Rawsthorne
Arnold
Tabakov
Rubbra
Richard Arnell
Daniel Jones
Michael Hersch
Laslo Lajtha
Grenville Bantock
Holst
Dvorak
Gorecki
George Lloyd
Harris
Barber
Creston
Ives
Hovhaness
Henze
Diamond
Hanson
Taneyev
Smetana
George Antheil
Walter Piston
Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Boris Tchaikovsky
Peter Tchaikovsky
Glazunov
Carl Nielsen
Blomdahl
Holmboe
Honegger
Sibelius
Stenhammar
Tveitt
Salmenhaara
Rosenberg
Pettersson
Wiren
Kinsella
Tubin
Bruckner
Mahler
Popov
Rautavaara
Alfred Hill
Hugo Alfven
Alla Pavlova
Per Norgard
Aulis Sallinen
Sally Beamish
Poul Ruders
Elena Ruehr
Elizabeth Maconchy
Peter Maxwell Davies
Robert Simpson
Brenton Broadstock
CH Parry
Tournemire
Philip Sawyers
Colin Matthews
David Matthews
Peter Fricker
Gavin Bryars
George Onslow
Grechaninov
Hans Gal
Imants Kalnins
Johan De Meij
Joachim Raff
John Knowles Paine
Joly Braga Santos
Luis de Freitas Branco
Kalinnikov
Kallstenius
Kancheli
Malcolm Lipkin
Peter Mennin
Sunleif Rasmussen
Anton Rubinstein
Louis Spohr
Peter Sculthorpe

Cool list, foxandpeng. Also, there's nothing ignorant about your choices or anything else you post about. You're a very knowledgeable person and you should give yourself more credit. Classical music isn't a popularity contest. It involves each of us figuring out what composers we like and hopefully getting emotional/intellectual fulfillment from the music. That's it. A delightful bonus is coming to a place like GMG where we can talk ad nauseam about these composers that we love. Sharing one's passion is never ignorant and you've done this on this forum since day one. Keep it up, good sir!

[Wanderer]

What the heck, it's Saturday, let's give this a try.

Bach
Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Brahms
Schumann
Mendelssohn
Berlioz
Liszt
Ravel
Debussy
Chopin
Alkan
Medtner
Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky
Skalkottas
Bartók
Janáček
R. Strauss
Korngold
Zemlinsky
Schreker
Schmidt
Bruckner
Mahler
Wagner
Zelenka
Prokofiev
Mussorgsky
Walton
Vaughan Williams
Elgar
Sibelius
Nielsen
Gluck
Messiaen
Poulenc
Salieri
Puccini
Donizetti
Vivaldi
Hummel
Szymanowski
Saint-Saëns
Scriabin
Dvořák
Rachmaninov
Respighi
Grieg
Langgaard
Rimsky-Korsakov
Foulds
Hindemith
Honegger
Lili Boulanger
Shostakovich
Weber
Britten
Albéniz
Chabrier
Vierne
Busoni
Schoenberg
Boccherini
Händel
Fauré
Charpentier
Lully
Monteverdi
Martinů
Schmitt
Bizet
Satie
Rossini
Cherubini
Verdi
Bellini
Offenbach
Henselt
Gade
Bruch
Leclair
Boito
Widor
Scharwenka (F. X.)
Delalande
Caldara
Granados
de Falla
Paderewski
Mascagni
Leoncavallo
Berg
Dukas
Kalinnikov
Chausson
Litolff
Bantock


OK, that's 100.



And then there's...

Enescu
Glazunov
Dohnányi
Balakirev
Karl Orff
d'Albert
Tovey
Delius
Bloch
Guilmant
Dupré
Schoeck
Lalo
F. Martin
Sorabji
d'Indy
Mompou
Ligeti
de Séverac
Clementi
Scarlatti
Tartini
H. Brian
...

Ah, so much music!


Last, but not least, the quintessential bonus party option: the Strauss clan 🍾

Have a great weekend, everyone! 🥂

[vandermolen]

Cool list, foxandpeng. Also, there's nothing ignorant about your choices or anything else you post about. You're a very knowledgeable person and you should give yourself more credit. Classical music isn't a popularity contest. It involves each of us figuring out what composers we like and hopefully getting emotional/intellectual fulfillment from the music. That's it. A delightful bonus is coming to a place like GMG where we can talk ad nauseam about these composers that we love. Sharing one's passion is never ignorant and you've done this on this forum since day one. Keep it up, good sir!

Totally agree 

[vandermolen]

There's nothing ignorant about you, foxandpeng. Please stop putting yourself down like that. If anything you're one of the more interesting and enjoyable posters on the forum.

Absolutely!

[vandermolen]

The fact that the 5th is vandermolen's favorite doesn't mean it's the GMG favorite. 

For me it's the 3rd hands down, followed by the 2nd, 6th and 8th.

LOL Cesar. But I thought that I was 'The Voice of GMG Forum' 

3 and 5 are my favourites but I also like 2 and the beautiful slow movement of 8.

[Mirror Image]

What the heck, it's Saturday, let's give this a try.

Bach
Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Brahms
Schumann
Mendelssohn
Berlioz
Liszt
Ravel
Debussy
Chopin
Alkan
Medtner
Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky
Skalkottas
Bartók
Janáček
R. Strauss
Korngold
Zemlinsky
Schreker
Schmidt
Bruckner
Mahler
Wagner
Zelenka
Prokofiev
Mussorgsky
Walton
Vaughan Williams
Elgar
Sibelius
Nielsen
Gluck
Messiaen
Poulenc
Salieri
Puccini
Donizetti
Vivaldi
Hummel
Szymanowski
Saint-Saëns
Scriabin
Dvořák
Rachmaninov
Respighi
Grieg
Langgaard
Rimsky-Korsakov
Foulds
Hindemith
Honegger
Lili Boulanger
Shostakovich
Weber
Britten
Albéniz
Chabrier
Vierne
Busoni
Schoenberg
Boccherini
Händel
Fauré
Charpentier
Lully
Monteverdi
Martinů
Schmitt
Bizet
Satie
Rossini
Cherubini
Verdi
Bellini
Offenbach
Henselt
Gade
Bruch
Leclair
Boito
Widor
Scharwenka (F. X.)
Delalande
Caldara
Granados
de Falla
Paderewski
Mascagni
Leoncavallo
Berg
Dukas
Kalinnikov
Chausson
Litolff
Bantock


OK, that's 100.



And then there's...

Enescu
Glazunov
Dohnányi
Balakirev
Karl Orff
d'Albert
Tovey
Delius
Bloch
Guilmant
Dupré
Schoeck
Lalo
F. Martin
Sorabji
d'Indy
Mompou
Ligeti
de Séverac
Clementi
Scarlatti
Tartini
H. Brian
...

Ah, so much music!


Last, but not least, the quintessential bonus party option: the Strauss clan 🍾

Have a great weekend, everyone! 🥂

Nice list, Wanderer. Is there any kind order to it or is it just random?

[Florestan]

Let's see...

Top 3

Mozart
Schubert
Chopin

Then, by country, otomh

Italy: Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini, Albinoni, Marcello (both brothers), Rossini, Paganini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini. Respighi, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Cimarosa, Bazzini

Russia: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Arensky, Lyadov, Medtner, Bortkiewicz, Prokofiev, Shostakovich

France (incl. active in France): Rameau, Viotti, Berlioz, Chopin, Henri Herz, Thalberg, Liszt, Gounod, Auber, Adam, Thomas, Bizet, Massenet, Faure, Saint-Saena, Alkan, Poulenc, Francaix, Milhaud, Debussy, Ravel, Reynaldo Hahn, Onslow, Emile Waldteufel, Cecile Chaminade

Spain (incl. active in Spain): D. Scarlatti, Boccherini, Albeniz, Granados, Falla, Turina, Rodrigo, Mompou, Manuel Blasco de Nebra, Soler

England/UK (incl. active in England/UK): Bax, Bowen, Ireland, Clementi, Field, Sullivan, Cyril Scott (mostly piano music)

Scandinavia (incl. Finland): Sibelius, Grieg, Palmgren, Melartin, Petterson-Berger (mostly piano music), Stenhammar, Enna, Gade, Tellefsen

Miscellaneous nations: Dvorak, Smetana, Fibich, Bartok, Enescu, Blagoje Bersa

and finally

Austria-Germany: Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, R. Strauss, the Viennese Strauss family, JS Bach, CPE Bach, JChr Bach, CM von Weber, Spohr, Raff, Hugo Wolf, Krommer, Myslivecek, Kozeluch, Dittersdorf, Lehar, Kalman, Moritz Moszkowski, Hummel

[vandermolen]

Let's see...

Top 3

Mozart
Schubert
Chopin

Then, by country, otomh

Italy: Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini, Albinoni, Marcello (both brothers), Rossini, Paganini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini. Respighi, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Cimarosa, Bazzini

Russia: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Arensky, Lyadov, Medtner, Bortkiewicz, Prokofiev, Shostakovich

France (incl. active in France): Rameau, Viotti, Berlioz, Chopin, Henri Herz, Thalberg, Liszt, Gounod, Auber, Adam, Thomas, Bizet, Massenet, Faure, Saint-Saena, Alkan, Poulenc, Francaix, Milhaud, Debussy, Ravel, Reynaldo Hahn, Onslow, Emile Waldteufel, Cecile Chaminade

Spain (incl. active in Spain): D. Scarlatti, Boccherini, Albeniz, Granados, Falla, Turina, Rodrigo, Mompou, Manuel Blasco de Nebra, Soler

England/UK (incl. active in England/UK): Bax, Bowen, Ireland, Clementi, Field, Sullivan, Cyril Scott (mostly piano music)

Scandinavia (incl. Finland): Sibelius, Grieg, Palmgren, Melartin, Petterson-Berger (mostly piano music), Stenhammar, Enna, Gade, Tellefsen

Miscellaneous nations: Dvorak, Smetana, Fibich, Bartok, Enescu, Blagoje Bersa

and finally

Austria-Germany: Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, R. Strauss, the Viennese Strauss family, JS Bach, CPE Bach, JChr Bach, CM von Weber, Spohr, Raff, Hugo Wolf, Krommer, Myslivecek, Kozeluch, Dittersdorf, Lehar, Kalman, Moritz Moszkowski, Hummel

Interesting list Andrei. Nice to see Cyril Scott included.

[foxandpeng]

Thanks all for your generous warmth.

The next 100 composers should be fairly easy to find from all the great lists shared here!

[Madiel]

Let's see...

Top 3

Mozart
Schubert
Chopin

Then, by country, otomh

Italy: Vivaldi, Locatelli, Tartini, Albinoni, Marcello (both brothers), Rossini, Paganini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini. Respighi, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Cimarosa, Bazzini

Russia: Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Arensky, Lyadov, Medtner, Bortkiewicz, Prokofiev, Shostakovich

France (incl. active in France): Rameau, Viotti, Berlioz, Chopin, Henri Herz, Thalberg, Liszt, Gounod, Auber, Adam, Thomas, Bizet, Massenet, Faure, Saint-Saena, Alkan, Poulenc, Francaix, Milhaud, Debussy, Ravel, Reynaldo Hahn, Onslow, Emile Waldteufel, Cecile Chaminade

Spain (incl. active in Spain): D. Scarlatti, Boccherini, Albeniz, Granados, Falla, Turina, Rodrigo, Mompou, Manuel Blasco de Nebra, Soler

England/UK (incl. active in England/UK): Bax, Bowen, Ireland, Clementi, Field, Sullivan, Cyril Scott (mostly piano music)

Scandinavia (incl. Finland): Sibelius, Grieg, Palmgren, Melartin, Petterson-Berger (mostly piano music), Stenhammar, Enna, Gade, Tellefsen

Miscellaneous nations: Dvorak, Smetana, Fibich, Bartok, Enescu, Blagoje Bersa

and finally

Austria-Germany: Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, R. Strauss, the Viennese Strauss family, JS Bach, CPE Bach, JChr Bach, CM von Weber, Spohr, Raff, Hugo Wolf, Krommer, Myslivecek, Kozeluch, Dittersdorf, Lehar, Kalman, Moritz Moszkowski, Hummel

The biggest news here is that you live in a miscellaneous nation.