Most recognizable composer

[Kapellmeister27]

Who do you all think are the most recognizable composers from differetn periods.
By recognizable, I mean if you were to hear one of their works that you had never heard before, you could sat "oh, that's _____" just by their harmonies, melodies, moods, etc.

my picks:

Baroque:Vivaldi
Classical:Mozart
Romantic:Liszt
20th Cent:Bartok

[Skeptopotamus]

scarlatti
haydn
brahms
debussy

[SteinwayTony]

Methinks you can ultimately forget about "oh, that's __" when it comes to 20th century (and beyond) music, with the possible exception of impressionism. 

[lenny]

yes, bartok is quite unique because of his folk melody and harmonic spacing

i also think chopin has to be the most recognisable piano composer in the romantic era

scriabin is also pretty unique

[BoliverAllmon]

bach
mozart
chopin
kenny g LOL

[presto agitato]

Baroque: Vivaldi
Classical: Hayd and Beethoven
Romantic: Chopin
20th Cent: Frank Zappa

[Skeptopotamus]

scriabin sounds too much like rachmaninov to me, and there were quite a few lesser known composers that you would mistake for bartok very quickly.

[chopiabin]

YOU THINK SCRIABIN SOUNDS LIKE RACHMANINOV? What have you been listening to? Certainly not any of the sonatas, orchestral pieces, or most of the etudes......

[apion]

Who do you all think are the most recognizable composers from differetn periods.
By recognizable, I mean if you were to hear one of their works that you had never heard before, you could sat "oh, that's _____" just by their harmonies, melodies, moods, etc.

Mussorgsky.  I'd recognize his piano music anywhere.

[dinosaurtales]

Methinks you can ultimately forget about "oh, that's __" when it comes to 20th century (and beyond) music, with the possible exception of impressionism. 

I think you are right - just too much difference from composer to composer.  my guess is that if you were familiar with a 20th century composer's music you could recognize it without much trouble.  Now, for the classical - I am amazed at how many of you guys are listing Haydn and Mozart.  The music was soooooo  structured during much of their livelihoods that I would guess it would be difficult to hear a large percentage of the music and figure out which of them wrote it. Even early Beethoven falls into this category.  That said, I woiuld list Beethoven.  his music is a little more distinct toi me for a classical composer, even if he did bridge the gap a bit. 

[SteinwayTony]

YOU THINK SCRIABIN SOUNDS LIKE RACHMANINOV? What have you been listening to? Certainly not any of the sonatas, orchestral pieces, or most of the etudes......

Take that with a grain of salt.  This is the same person who hates Brahms' piano music. 

[SteinwayTony]

yes, bartok is quite unique because of his folk melody and harmonic spacing

i also think chopin has to be the most recognisable piano composer in the romantic era

scriabin is also pretty unique

Given the fact that you haven't heard either of the pieces, you couldn't tell a Bartok piece from a late Scriabin prelude or etude.  Another worthy (but failed) attempt at contradicting any opinion I express, presumably because of Lenny's personal vendetta against me.  Maybe next time.

[BoliverAllmon]

now now children.

[Nightscape]

If we were talking about recognition from the average person.... then my votes are for the following:

Baroque:  Tough one.  Either Bach or Vivaldi.

Classical:  Again, tough.  Mozart has many famous melodies, but so does Beethoven (if we consider Beethoven "classical" here.)

Romantic:  This is the easy one.  Definately Tchaikovsky.  Think of "Sleeping Beauty", "The Nutcracker", "Romeo and Juliet", and "Swan Lake".  Lots of recognizable tunes here.

Impressionistic: Probably Debussy.  The impressionists aren't really that popular with the public, save for a few pieces like "Clair de Lune" and "Bolero".

20th Century: Hmm..... I want to say Copland here.  Everyone knows the Hoe-down from Rodeo, and I'm sure a lot of people have heard "Fanfare for the common man" and "Lincoln Portrait".

[lenny]

Given the fact that you haven't heard either of the pieces, you couldn't tell a Bartok piece from a late Scriabin prelude or etude.  Another worthy (but failed) attempt at contradicting any opinion I express, presumably because of Lenny's personal vendetta against me.  Maybe next time.

i think i could...

[Ludwig Van Rachabji]

Baroque - Vivaldi
Classical - Mozart
Romantic - Chopin
20th Century - Debussy (or Sorabji)

Original, I know.

[steinwayguy]

Baroque- Vivaldi
Classical- Haydn
Romantic- Brahms
20th Century- Boulez