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Topic: Favourite composers  (Read 3884 times)

Offline nightwindsonata

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Re: Favourite composers
Reply #50 on: August 20, 2021, 01:16:46 AM
I personally love Liszt, Rachmaninov, Chopin. But a lot of stuff is kinda hit or miss for me personally, like I love Hungarian rhapsody’s no 2/6/15 but I despise the transcendental etudes. Same with Chopin I love most of the etudes, ballade in g minor, some preludes are great but I don’t like his nocturnes. Rachmaninov to I love concerto’s no 1/3, etude tableaux op 39 no 6, prelude in g minor, but a lot of his other stuff is a bit to overly complicated for me. I also love Beethoven sonata 14 and violin sonata no 9, but I don’t put him in my list of favorites because a lot of his other stuff I just don’t like that much. Also with Prokofiev I love the toccata op 11, most of suggestion diabolique, and concerto no 2 if I’m in the mood for some real complicated stuff, but I don’t rate him as one of my favorites as well as with Beethoven most of his other things are just not my thing. So I’m interested, you say you really like Rachmaninov do you like all his pieces (or most of them it seems impossible to me to like every single thing a composer wrote but that’s just me), or is it just specific pieces that are so good that your ate him as your favorite as your favorite piece might be written by him?

I have a slightly different perspective than most. As someone who has studied both composition and music theory extensively, I appreciate classical music in a much different way than most people. Even if I don't necessarily fall head-over-heels in love with everything a composer has written, I can usually see the elements they were manipulating in each piece and recognize the genius of it. So, in this way, I can often find things to appreciate and enjoy (since these composers were expert craftsmen, and nearly everything they wrote reaches a standard that I can only hope to attain). One has to do this when one wants to be a professional musician, since eventually a professional (as opposed to an amateur) has to learn things that they may or may not enjoy to the fullest, in the sense that an amateur musician can focus on the things they want. I personally love the style of Rachmaninoff, and their complexity means that I can come back to them over and over again and find new things to appreciate, something that you don't find with every composer, even masters. I've been listening to Rach 2 a lot lately, since it's on my list of repertoire to learn in the near future, after I finish my graduate school applications.
1st-year Master's Program:
- Ravel Piano Concerto
- Liszt Ricordanza
- Liszt 3 Liebestraums
- Liszt 3 Sonnets

- Rhapsody in Blue
- Dante Sonata
- Schubert Sonata D.780
- Mozart Piano Quartet in Gm

Offline thorn

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Re: Favourite composers
Reply #51 on: August 20, 2021, 12:11:33 PM
I have a slightly different perspective than most. As someone who has studied both composition and music theory extensively, I appreciate classical music in a much different way than most people. Even if I don't necessarily fall head-over-heels in love with everything a composer has written, I can usually see the elements they were manipulating in each piece and recognize the genius of it. So, in this way, I can often find things to appreciate and enjoy (since these composers were expert craftsmen, and nearly everything they wrote reaches a standard that I can only hope to attain). One has to do this when one wants to be a professional musician, since eventually a professional (as opposed to an amateur) has to learn things that they may or may not enjoy to the fullest, in the sense that an amateur musician can focus on the things they want. I personally love the style of Rachmaninoff, and their complexity means that I can come back to them over and over again and find new things to appreciate, something that you don't find with every composer, even masters. I've been listening to Rach 2 a lot lately, since it's on my list of repertoire to learn in the near future, after I finish my graduate school applications.

I'm from a similar background/have a similar perspective. I've always been particularly fond of Liszt in this respect because his compositional process is more obvious than most- many earlier versions of his works have been published/recorded and I never grow tired of comparing them. That being said I'm very picky about the Liszt I choose to learn, so there seems to be a difference in what my composer brain likes vs. what my pianist brain likes...

Offline musikalischer_wirbelwind_280

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Re: Favourite composers
Reply #52 on: August 21, 2021, 03:15:01 AM
I still find it strange though, if the intended pronunciation is more like an "ff" than a "v". Aren't we the most interested in saying the name correctly, after all? :P

If you're aiming for a phonetically faithful transliteration, it definitely makes a lot more sense to write it with "ff". Tricky business, transliteration, on that we can agree!  ;)

Is it?  I dine regularly at the Cholmondeleys, upon their luxury yacht, and have acquaintances among the Featherstonehaughs and the Rothschilds, the latter both pronunciations.

I think they latter have rather small hands,.

Now, why do I find it hard to believe that last bit about the latter's "rather small" hands, old chap?

Language transcription is a funny beast. We could also talk about the letter x as being 'kh' rather than 'ch'. Personally I think it's easiest to just honour the preferred spelling of the man himself: 'Rachmaninoff'.

If you think Russian is bad, go and look at Korean in its many revisions  ::)

Ah, yes, "ch", now that's another tricky one!
Regarding Korean transliteration, I'll just say that it might be one of the things that made me realise the most clearly the need to master the IPA if you're serious about pronouncing a language correctly..or was it Abkhaz?  ;D

As for the OP's subject, well, like I said on another post, I hate having to limit myself when it comes to this sort of things, but I admit it's rather tempting to mention these here, in no particular order:

• Frederic Mompou
• Edvard Grieg
• Walter Niemann
• Isaac Albéniz
• Frédéric Chopin
• Leoš Janáček

Offline joe000

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Re: Favourite composers
Reply #53 on: August 22, 2021, 12:51:50 AM
Schubert, definitely. Sad to see how underrated he is compared to the likes of Chopin and Beethoven.

JOE

Offline krncandi

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Re: Favourite composers
Reply #54 on: April 07, 2022, 06:41:08 PM
I love every composer out there... except I'm very selective with the 21st century composers. But I'd say the ones that I adore the most are Rachmaninoff, Medtner, Granados, Albeniz, Lutoslawski, Hindemith, Toru Takemitsu, Ibert, Janacek, Khachaturian, Debussy, Ravel, Kapustin, Muczynski, Scriabin, Myaskovsky, Roslavets, Bartok, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

Offline krncandi

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Re: Favourite composers
Reply #55 on: April 07, 2022, 06:42:46 PM
Oh! And I love Faure, Milhaud, Satie, and Poulenc as well  ;D
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