Favourite composer?

[mussorgsky]

 

[49410enrique]

none of the above

[thalbergmad]

It has been ages since we have had one of these.

Must be at least a week.

Thal

[roseamelia]

I like Bach the best;D;D and Beethovens music.

[49410enrique]

this one could perusuade me to vote beethoven....

[j_menz]

After that, I needed a Fifth of Scotch!!

[enjru]

What does "your favourite composer" mean? I don't think it means "the composer who wrote your favourite piece of music", or does it? Does it mean "the composer who wrote the most number of musical compositions that you appreciate", even though maybe not a single one of these musical compositions would make it into your list of top 20 favourite compositions? Perhaps it should mean "the composer who wrote the most number of musical compositions that are counted in your list of top 20 favorite compositions of all time"? Or does it mean "the composer whose personal life choices, ethics, morals and values you find most inspiring"? Or even "the composer whose looks you fancy the most"?

[gn622]

What does "your favourite composer" mean? I don't think it means "the composer who wrote your favourite piece of music", or does it? Does it mean "the composer who wrote the most number of musical compositions that you appreciate", even though maybe not a single one of these musical compositions would make it into your list of top 20 favourite compositions? Perhaps it should mean "the composer who wrote the most number of musical compositions that are counted in your list of top 20 favorite compositions of all time"? Or does it mean "the composer whose personal life choices, ethics, morals and values you find most inspiring"? Or even "the composer whose looks you fancy the most"?

I'm sorry but this is a ridiculous question, it simply means the composer who you like to listen his work the most. 

[slobone]

Favorite composer to play -- without any question, Bach. I never get bored with him, even after practicing the same piece a zillion times. Second place, Chopin.

To listen to? Well I rarely listen to classical music, but when I do, I prefer opera. So Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Janacek, Wagner, Strauss.

[stoudemirestat]

Liszt. He wrote HUNDREDS of pieces I simply love, but to narrow it down to my absolute favourites...

Transcendetal Etude's 10-12.
Un Sospiro.
Vallée d'Obermann.
Les cloches de Genève: Nocturne.
Sonetto 104 del Petrarca.
Après une lecture de Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata.
Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este.
Ballade No. 2 in B minor.
Piano Sonata in B minor.
La lugubre gondola II.
Mephisto Waltz No. 1.
Réminiscences de Norma.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major.
Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos, ad salutarem undam (Both the organ version or Busoni's transcription for solo piano).
Les Préludes.
Eine Symphonie zu Dante's Divina Commedia.
Eine Faust-Symphonie.
Christus.

Then you have MANY other pieces that I simply LOVE, but not quite as much...

Transcendetal Etude's 3, 6, 9.
Sposalizio.
Sonetto 123 del Petrarca.
Tarantella.
Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este I: Thrénodie.
Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este II: Thrénodie.
Marche funèbre.
Romance in E Minor.
Ballade No. 1 in D flat.
Consolations 2, 3.
Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude.
Pensée des morts.
Funérailles.
Grosses Konzertsolo.
Mephisto Waltz No. 2.
Hungarian Rhapsodies  2, 12.
Réminiscences de Don Juan.
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat.
Totentanz. Paraphrase on Dies Irae.
Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo.
Orpheus.
Mazeppa (Symphonic Poem).
Psalm 137.
Ave verum corpus.

And in the next category down (still really like - love)

Wilde Jagd.
Paganini Etude's 1, 3.
La leggierezza.
Chapelle de Guillaume Tell.
Au lac de Wallenstadt.
Au bord d'une source.
Sonetto 47 del Petrarca.
Miserere, d’après Palestrina.
Andante lagrimoso.
Deux légendes.
Sarabande and Chaconne from Handel's opera Almira.
Mosonyis Grabgeleit.
Trauervorspiel und Trauermarsch.
En rêve. Nocturne.
Polonaise No. 2.
Hungarian Rhapsodies 1, 3, 5, 8.
Rhapsodie espagnole.
Hexaméron, Morceau de Concert.
Réminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor.
Les Adieux. Rêverie sur un motif de l'opéra Romeo et Juliette.
Illustrations de l'Africaine No. 1.
Song Book 1 No. 2. Song Book 2 No. 1.
Liebesträume. Drei Notturnos.
De Profundis.
Fantasie über ungarische Volksmelodien.
Malédiction.
Tristia.
Präludium und Fuge über das Thema BACH (Organ).
Héroïde funèbre.
Hunnenschlacht.
Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe.
Via Crucis.

And MANY more. (I made this post a huge Liszt appreciation post it seems). And of course, the hundreds of unsurpassed transcriptions...What a freakin' genius.

[patrickd]

From the above options, I would pick Bach and Chopin.

[roseamelia]

Favorite composer to play -- without any question, Bach. I never get bored with him, even after practicing the same piece a zillion times.

Bach is my favorite, I like his better than Beethoven but I like them both I just don't like Beethoven as much as Bach;D;D

[drexo]

Scriabin.

[beebert]

Two things I found(and still find) crazy when I saw this post. First of all, nobody has voted for Schubert, which I think is sad. Second, where is Brahms on the list?

[mussorgsky]

Two things I found(and still find) crazy when I saw this post. First of all, nobody has voted for Schubert, which I think is sad. Second, where is Brahms on the list?

Should I edit it and put Brahms in?

[redbaron]

Should I edit it and put Brahms in?

Definitely, and Sibelius too while you're at it 

[redbaron]

I'm sorry but this is a ridiculous question

Agreed. This site is rife with pedants who can't give a straight answer to a simple question.

[mussorgsky]

Come on, vote for SCHUBERT!

[stoudemirestat]

On a piano forum like this there will always be many composers who were great  away from the piano missing in polls like this, like Mahler and Wagner and Handel, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, etc etc etc. And also, Chopin will always come out on top, haha.

[mussorgsky]

On a piano forum like this there will always be many composers who were great  away from the piano missing in polls like this, like Mahler and Wagner and Handel, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, etc etc etc. And also, Chopin will always come out on top, haha.

I included just piano composers in this poll.

[mussorgsky]

I've included Joplin and Tchaikovsky, too.

[lucasq]

Beethoven and Bach.

[jimf]

What about Dvorak? (Mine is Dvorak, Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninoff!)

[redbaron]

Still no Sibelius...

One of the most important composers of the 20th century. He also wrote a wealth of wonderful and still largely ingored piano music...

[stoudemirestat]

Beethoven and Bach.

Don't you give us that highbrow, conformist Beethoven and Bach eye-roll. I may be taking this a tad too seriously and correct me if that wasn't your intention...I'm sick of that attitude though. You like who you want but don't think you know better because of your tastes, especially if there is a chance they are only tastes because of some kind of expert opinion.

I know I made many assumptions in that post, just getting something off my chest. Don't look too much into it, unless you are in fact guilty...

[williampiano]

I see Prokofiev on there now  , but its too late because I already voted before he was added.

A day or two ago I voted for Beethoven and Chopin!

[pianoplayjl]

I voted for Beethoven and Chopin but I would have loved to see more names being added on that list. Consider adding the option Others (please state). Other honorable mentions:

Lyapunov, Thalberg, Liszt, Alkan, Mendelssohn.

JL

[stoudemirestat]

I included just piano composers in this poll.

Fair enough. The thread title probably should be 'favourite piano composers' then. Regardless, if I was choosing my favourite piano composer....I would still pick Liszt.

Then Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninoff (mainly for the concerti). So many...

[lucasq]

Don't you give us that highbrow, conformist Beethoven and Bach eye-roll. I may be taking this a tad too seriously and correct me if that wasn't your intention...I'm sick of that attitude though. You like who you want but don't think you know better because of your tastes, especially if there is a chance they are only tastes because of some kind of expert opinion.

I know I made many assumptions in that post, just getting something off my chest. Don't look too much into it, unless you are in fact guilty...

Well, I did not expect your post.  

I still do not know much about classical music. (I started hearing about 8 months ago) So I still have a lot to hear and probably in the future I'll change my list of favorite composers. But for now, Bach and Beethoven just enchanted me more than others.

And sorry for the poor English, I'm Brazilian and I'm trying ..  

[stoudemirestat]

Well, I did not expect your post.  

I still do not know much about classical music. (I started hearing about 8 months ago) So I still have a lot to hear and probably in the future I'll change my list of favorite composers. But for now, Bach and Beethoven just enchanted me more than others.

And sorry for the poor English, I'm Brazilian and I'm trying ..  

Haha that's fine, sorry it was just bugging me from other places. Thanks for clarifying For sure they are two of the greats! I especially love Beethoven. Keep searching that classical music! You have many great experiences ahead of you

You're doing well

[lucasq]

Thanks.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I think it's pretty obvious who my favorite composer is.

*hint, look at my username*

[49410enrique]

I think it's pretty obvious who my favorite composer is.

*hint, look at my username*

_forever ?

[worov]

Plenty of composers are missing. Lots of my favourite are missing.

What happened to baroque and Renaissance composers ? Bach is the only one I see. Scarlatti ? Handel ? Couperin ? Rameau ? Soler ? Seixas ? Buxtehude ? Sweelinck ? Frescobaldi ? Froberger ? Purcell ? Blow ? Byrd ? Gibbons ?

Classical : Clementi, Haydn, Hummel, CPE Bach, Dussek.

Romantic repertoire : my favourite are Schumann, Mendelssohn, Granados, Grieg, John Field, Smetana, Chabrier and Fauré.

Modern : Prokofiev, Debussy. These are my favourite in your list. Where are Delius, Satie ? I don't see Shostakovich either. Bartok ? Bax ? Barber ? Gershwin ? Messiaen ? Poulenc ? Milhaud ?

What about atonal music ?

What about the minimalists ?

This is just on the top of my head. There are many more of course. As would say someone very famous on this board, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

[j_menz]

What about atonal music ?

What about the minimalists ?

Are they really anyone's favourites?

[thalbergmad]

What about atonal music ?

That really needs a seperate thread. Perhaps "favourite offensive trash" or "stupid random hammerings".

Nobody really likes it, they just think it impresses girls at masterclasses, fools judges at competitions and it gives some people a sense of superiority to write a 40 page essay on the thought process behind one bar.

Thal

[thorn]

That really needs a seperate thread. Perhaps "favourite offensive trash" or "stupid random hammerings".

Nobody really likes it, they just think it impresses girls at masterclasses, fools judges at competitions and it gives some people a sense of superiority to write a 40 page essay on the thought process behind one bar.

Thal

That's a bit ignorant...

Atonal music is a result of composers attempting to do something different. Like they've always done. Chopin, the "winner" of this little vote at the time of writing, did things differently to composers before him.

I will come back to the 'offensive trash' comment shortly.... but as for "stupid random hammerings", I take it you're saying this music is random because it doesn't have a key? Pretty much every other aspect of music has been stretched over the years, I really don't see what makes key any different? The first composer that springs to mind is Xenakis, whose Herma I wrote an essay on at university. There are fixed pitch classes in this that are organised mathematically to make logical sense to a listener. Obviously whether that objective was achieved depends on the listeners, but a mathematically formed series of pitches is what essentially gave birth to the harmonic series and the beginning of what we now know as key? I don't see why one is the "right way" and the other is "random".

The next point about fooling judges and "superiority to write a 40 page essay on the thought process". How about the 40 page essays that can and probably have been written about a single bar of a Beethoven Sonata? I think certain composers (need I even name them?) are automatically branded untouchable genuises through hundreds of years of dusty tradition. Do people believe Bach's music is genius because they have gone out and experienced it and made up their own minds, or do they believe so because they have had such views forced upon them since their first music lesson? And precisely because of this tradition, I don't think atonal music at piano competitions (or gladiator tournaments as I call them) would impress anyone.

I am pushed for time but happy to discuss this later, maybe not hi-jacking someone's thread? The last thing I will say is that music by nature can be quite pretentious. Whether the composer has written what is in their heart or whether they have written something for the sake of shock factor, you will get some stuffy academic attempting to analyse every note and say something ridiculously over the top about it. Like I have said, I think older composers are more prone to this than newer ones- I have always felt deeply sorry for the music of the old masters; they've been grabbed and mummified expected to stay as they're "supposed to be" when they could have had a much fuller, happier life.

[chopin1993]

Chopin & Rachmaninoff! 

[thalbergmad]

That's a bit ignorant...

Only a bit!!.

I had hoped for more than that.

A favourite composer thread deserves to be hijacked. There must be hundreds of the blasted things.

Thal

[49410enrique]

...A favourite composer thread deserves to be hijacked....

i like lift/open the fallboard to my piano with two hands and try to keep my wrists perfectly straight while standing on one leg with my toes pointed down. i heard this is how beethoven did it, but really fast.  is this the right way to do it technique wise?

chopin chopin chopin .

[rv]

Scriabin is my favorite composer (I already voted).
I'm glad he's among the most popular piano composers on this site, because I've seen his name not being included in top/favorite lists to the point where it becomes ridiculous.
(He was not included as an option in some (NY times?) poll of the greatest composers where you could choose from 50 composers. Also none of his works were included in a top 200 of favorite works of 20th century music, for which many people had voted.)

[black_keys]

                                  WHERE IS ALKAN   !!!!!!


And everyone vote for LISZT    

                                              
                                    
                                                                                
                                                                      
                                                                        
                                                                            
                            
                                

[roseamelia]

And everyone vote for LISZT     

                                                                     
                                                           
                                                                                         
                                                                                   
                                                                                   
                                                                                       
                                                 
                                                      that's cool looking.