One composer for the rest of your life

[danielekstrom]

If you had to play only one composer for the rest of your life, or else you would be immediately dropped into a pit of fairly hot lava and die slowly, who would you pick? And why? Note that you'll still be allowed to improve and compose your own pieces (but not on the theme of any other composer).

I'm going to have to get back you on this one.

[scherzo123]

If you had to play only one composer for the rest of your life, or else you would be immediately dropped into a pit of fairly hot lava and die slowly, who would you pick? And why? Note that you'll still be allowed to improve and compose your own pieces (but not on the theme of any other composer).

I'm going to have to get back you on this one.

VERY GOOD QUESTION! I'm undecided  , but I'm leaning on Chopin or Beethoven.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Rachmaninoff Forever!

[beebert]

For a healthy life: Bach

Otherwhise: Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin or Brahms

As you see, impossible to choose one.

[williampiano]

Oh man.... I would not want to live in a world where I am relegated to playing only ONE composer for the rest of my life!

I guess if I must choose one, it might have to be Ludwig van Beethoven. Scott Joplin would be a close second as I love ragtime.

[j_menz]

Looks like the lava for me.  

EDIT: No!! Wait!!  Liszt!  I forgot about the transcriptions! (odd, since I've been playing heaps of them lately)

[ajspiano]

No!! Wait!!  Liszt!  I forgot about the transcriptions!

If liszt's transcriptions qualify as liszt then my transcriptions of all composers qualify as me. All for one and one for all. I'll be a french musketeer that shoots quavers.

[j_menz]

If liszt's transcriptions qualify as liszt

There are a few exceptions (I'm not naming them, because I want to take them too) but his transcriptions are clearly Liszt. 

I'll be a french musketeer that shoots quavers.

Fancy dress party coming up?

[zezhyrule]

Probably Beethoven... I don't really know D:

[ajspiano]

Fancy dress party coming up?

I would consider that costume (and attending at all) if it was a baroque themed party with a live quartet. - That improvised fugues.

[j_menz]

I would consider that costume (and attending at all) if it was a baroque themed party with a live quartet. - That improvised fugues.

Indeed a live quartet. Dead quartets so spoil that party atmosphere.

I haven't played much ensemble work, but I'd have though trying to improvise a fugue across four different players would likely result in it being a dead trio and a live (but bruised) soloist at the end.

[ajspiano]

Indeed a live quartet. Dead quartets so spoil that party atmosphere.

Indeed, though I was thinking about the possibility that someone would think a CD player was adequate.

I haven't played much ensemble work, but I'd have though trying to improvise a fugue across four different players would likely result in it being a dead trio and a live (but bruised) soloist at the end.

Perhaps, the way I've been thinking about improvised inventions though I would suspect that its possible if you had sufficiently experienced players who knew each other well.

Granted my ideas are far simpler than a fugue but each voices next action (the way I've been doing it at least) is dependent on preceding/current actions of the other voice. Based on key points of harmony.. and they constantly feed off each other, never making independent choices.

Between players I don't think it could be strictly "free" improvisation, some predetermined structure would be required. And they'd need god-like ears.

If I ever see it happen I'll probably be so shocked that I won't live to tell anyone about it.

[pianoman53]

Beethoven, no question.

Not that he is my favorite composer, but he is, for me, the far most versatile. ... Maybe maybe Liszt, thanks to his transcriptions.

[forte88]

Probably Vivaldi, he was badass!

[liszt_forever]

Liszt of course!!

[j_menz]

Probably Vivaldi, he was badass!

What did Vivaldi write for keyboard?

[williampiano]

Looks like the lava for me.   

Yeah, I change my mind. It's the lava for me too   

wait... I can at least listen to other composers, right?

[ruvidoetostinato]

Bach

or

Beethoven

or

Mozart

or

Ginastera

or

Rachmaninoff

or

Skryabin

OMG CANT DECIDE.

[m1469]

Bach.  Because Bach.

[austinarg]

He's not my favourite composer, but I'll say Kapustin. Why? Because there is not a single composition of his that I don't like.

[patrickd]

Brahms or Medtner.

[perprocrastinate]

He's not my favourite composer, but I'll say Kapustin. Why? Because there is not a single composition of his that I don't like.

Clever reasoning. I don't know about me, though. Quantity/variation vs. Quality..Baroque vs. Romantic Era..

Gah.

[chopin2015]

Chopin then Ravel then Scarlatti

[emrysmerlin]

Mozart

or

Bach, mainly because I'll never get bored listening to him.
But then I might as well play some Boulez...
Bach's fugues are one of the best things to have ever happened to music and that's what I chose him for.

If I had better fingers I would've chosen Chopin...or Liszt for that matter.

[momoji]

LISZT!!! but hes lacking of piano concertos. So probably not i love playing piano concertos.

[forte88]

What did Vivaldi write for keyboard?

Was that the question? I'd love to play the violin

[49410enrique]

1. JS Bach.

very close 1st and 2nd Runner's Up. In the case the winner or 1st runner up cannot fulfill their duties, the next steps in.

Kapustin.

Scriabin.

Honorable mention-
Piazzolla

[evitaevita]

It's impossible to choose only one. The fact that I prefer some composers than others doesn't mean that I could live in a world where I would listen to only one composer. Each one is great in his own manner. Each one has to give us different things.

For a healthy life: Bach

Agree!

Otherwhise: Schubert, Beethoven, Chopin or Brahms

Yes, and I would add Mozart and Rachmaninov.

So,... I would decide...
Mozart!
or...
Beethoven!
or...
Chopin!...
or...
I would be immediately dropped into a pit of fairly hot lava and die slowly! 

[lloyd_cdb]

Playing, listening to, or both?

Playing : Schubert.  As others have said, not necessarily my favorite, but decided based on the sheer quantity and varied repertoire. I'd say Bach, but I'm not sure I could handle having no romantic pieces.

Listening to: Lava pit.

[tdawe]

Tiebreaker between Chopin and Beethoven. For piano music Chopin is my clear favourite, however Beethoven not only wrote brilliantly for piano but a myriad of genres..

[Derek]

As I seem to keep gravitating back to playing and listening to him more than any other I'd say Bach. He's got everything: big bombastic forms, small intimate forms, really complex and also very simple. He's got catchy, he's got dense, he's got fast and slow and everything in between. He even has stuff for people who like to sometimes hear something harmonically ambiguous or highly chromatic. He pretty much has and does everything----albeit within the baroque style. I started out loving classical music at age 13 with a cd by Bach, I wouldn't mind being stranded somewhere with just that cd.

[mozartk365]

Mozart

[thesuineg]

Probably really slow mozart.Like really really slow. Maybe Bach or those two old guys that gould obsessed over. gibbons i think was one of them?

lol schumann. you'll go crazy in about half a month
naw chopin doesn't share an infinite quality of beethoven. i can't beleive you can't decide between the two.

[mahlermaniac]

I'd hate to give up all the other composers, but it isn't hard to decide. Actually in spite of my user name, it's not Mahler I'd pick (whoa is me I'd miss him!!!)

I would pick Brahms. He has high quality music in pretty much every subgenre. German Requiem is amazing, then you have his wonderful piano concertos, violin, cello & clarinet sonatas. The wealth of other chamber music, piano works. Yes, I'd be ok if I had nobody but Brahms.

[vsrinivasa]

Probably Ravel. His music is so beautiful, and he has at least one piece for each instrument I play. If not Ravel, then Debussy, for similar reasons. However, I just would get bored of Debussy a bit more quickly.

[rao217]

Yeesh what a choice. I love Beethoven's pieces musically, but sometimes Chopin is just so much fun to play! Nothing Beethoven composed is really quite as flashy as Chopin's more advanced pieces--even though they're equally difficult.

I would proooobably go with Beethoven, though, simply because I feel like my love of his music would trump my love for Chopin's pianistic style. It would still hurt to never be able to attempt some of the other ballades or whatnot.

[onwan]

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[unholeee]

whomever had a vast repertoire.

[p2u_]

If you had to play only one composer for the rest of your life, or else you would be immediately dropped into a pit of fairly hot lava and die slowly, who would you pick?

Schubert, because of the singing lines, the purity, the emotional truth and the tenderness in his music.

Paul

[ladychopin]

Chopin.
because he wrote for himself.
because i feel like I understand his music more then I understand others's.
because he is honest.
because he pinches my heart.
because I can't pass a day without listening to him music.

and because he is better the rach sorry rachmaninoff forever, I had to  

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Chopin.
because he wrote for himself.
because i feel like I understand his music more then I understand others's.
because he is honest.
because he pinches my heart.
because I can't pass a day without listening to him music.

and because he is better the rach sorry rachmaninoff forever, I had to  

Well I actually like Chopin, so I won't complain.

Now if you freaking said Mozart or Bach, then we would have a problem.

[j_menz]

Now if you freaking said Mozart or Bach, then we would have a problem.

If you would object to either, you already do.

[outin]

If you would object to either, you already do.

Me and my pal R-4 are quite a problematic pair

But I just decided that Chopin sucks and I am going to cut him off the list of my favorite composers for good! My hands absolutely cannot handle his stuff, not even a tiny prelude...the fingerings are sadistic and one gets nerve damage after just trying to learn couple of bars   

[ajspiano]

the fingerings are sadistic and one gets nerve damage after just trying to learn couple of bars   

I hate to think how you must be using your fingers/hands... ?!?!!

[outin]

I hate to think how you must be using your fingers/hands... ?!?!!

Don't worry, I just find it almost impossible not to get tense with so much to do with 4th and 5th while working at my maximum reach. It's almost a good thing that I have a nerve problem in my neck at the moment, because I get a warning immediately if I do tense (tingling). It's partly because of my piano, worked well at my teachers, but when I started at home to even get a sound out of the keys required much more from the fingers...

[ladychopin]

Chopin wrote his music to be comfort to the hands! I can't understand you...
That are Liszt Schumann and schubert who wrote their music in weird and not pianist way!
If the problem is that you have small hands so you should complain on alot of composers such as Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and many more...
I can reach the 4th I mean do to fa on the next octave and I swear I didn't had a moment the my hads weren't relaxed! Not as Bartok who make my hands sometimes to be lock

[outin]

Chopin wrote his music to be comfort to the hands! I can't understand you...

He wrote it for a different instrument and obviously not for MY hands

That are Liszt Schumann and schubert who wrote their music in weird and not pianist way!
If the problem is that you have small hands so you should complain on alot of composers such as Rachmaninov and Shostakovich and many more...
I can reach the 4th I mean do to fa on the next octave and I swear I didn't had a moment the my hads weren't relaxed! Not as Bartok who make my hands sometimes to be lock

I am not that interested in playing Rach really and he never was on my favorite composers list anyway...

But lets put things into perspective here...I cannot properly play an octave with my right hand, so what is normal for you is quite a strech for me...

Honestly I am just not used to spending two hours on a couple of bars just trying to find a way to play something with proper sound and without tension... and Fred's music is hard to read also

[stoudemirestat]

Chopin wrote his music to be comfort to the hands! I can't understand you...

This isn't true. In fact of the other three names you mention, Liszt is far more pianistic (fits more under the hands) than Chopin is. Chopin is brutal in forcing your hands in whatever necessary position.

[ladychopin]

This isn't true. In fact of the other three names you mention, Liszt is far more pianistic (fits more under the hands) than Chopin is. Chopin is brutal in forcing your hands in whatever necessary position.

can you please give an example?
because, well, you are wrong 

[the89thkey]

I don't think anyone is in doubt about my answer. Must I say it? All right...
RACHMANINOV
and no one else!