Classical Composers

M  o  z  a  r  t !!!!!!!!!

Lozlan wrote: Bach.  For sheer perfection of form.

Agreed! 

A lot of composers I have heard of, but none I know really well.  Grieg gets my vote for being part of an early childhood memory.

The T wrote: presdoug wrote: Lynx33 wrote: presdoug wrote: my three favourite composers are missing- 1) Anton Bruckner-to really live life is to hear his symphonies 2) Hector Berlioz-a really important link between the early and late romantics, and ahead of his time and redefined what an orchestra could do 3) Richard Strauss-the greatest composer of the twentieth century-Elgar was right about him-the musical genius of his day           i do relate to your list, though, as i listen to about 45 different classical music composers in total, some of which are already listed you're quite right, Bruckner, Berlioz, R. Strauss, Elgar are great missing ones, due to lack of space. and of course, Mahler as well, how could I forget him!. And you're right too that Bruckner symph's are to be heard just like his masses, I have the symphonies with Klemperer, Karajan and Jochum as well, I think Jochum is the best at them. Berlioz's Te Deum and Requiem is also immortal. From Strauss my favourite is op. 28 and Metamorphosen, but he has many great works. As for Elgar, though he also wrote many huge musics, we can never forget his e-minor cello concertos championed by J. Du Pré, Casals, Fournier etc. i love Klemperer's, Karajan's , and Jochum's Bruckner as well, though my favourite Bruckner is done by Bruno Walter (Walter also does my favourite R. Strauss and Mahler) i love my Elgar done with Sir John Barbirolli-magnificent! I love the Berlioz Te Deum and Requiem very much (with Sir Thomas Beecham) and the Berlioz symphonies are wonderfull as well-for me, R. Strauss's tone poems are works of genius, especially Ein Heldenleben, which i consider to be just about the greatest musical work done by anybody (with Mengelberg or Beecham preferred) Fantastic. As you can see in my signature, Bruckner is one of my favorite masters. I would point you in the direction of two of the greatest Brucknerians ever: Georg Tintner and Gunter Wand. The former recorded all his symphonies including Die Nullte and the Study Symphony (00) and in many cases chose not the typical version of the works (we all know how historians have had a field day with Bruckner's revised editions of his works). His cycle is superb, though in individual numbers there might be better recordings. Gunter Wand is a consumate Brucknerian, probably the greatest ever. His accounts of 3, 4, 5 and 7 are among the best. For the 7th, I choose Karajan's last recording in DG with the Wiener Philarmoniker, with a magnificent adagio (using the cymbal crash). For the 8th I chose Karajan again. The ninth has strange proponents like Carlo MAria Giulini, a master performance, though I just acquired Bruno Walter's. I've yet to hear it though.  For Strauss the answer is clear: Karajan or Solti. Bernstein has a great Don Quixote though.  Berlioz is great but for me it's the Fantastique and the Requiem; his other symphonies leave me cold. Sir Colin Davis' Fantastique is good, though I've yet to find the perfect one.  But my towering composer is and will always be Bach. I have almost 40 cds of works of his. I just finished listening to St Matthew Passion with Chailly and the Gewandhaus Leipzig, good but failed in the crucial choruses; I have at least 3 versions of most of the works I have. Mozart is another great, with his Requiem and his 41st symphony as my favorites. Beethoven's symphonies are the greatest achievement in the form, Karajan's cycle is my choice (though Toscanini is amazing and quite necessary if you can stand mono). Shostakovich is the greatest symphonist since Bruckner; it's obvious the Symphony is my preferred form. I like concertos and sonatas and other kind of works but the Symphony is and always will be my musical love.

We have talked about Brucker and R. Strauss, then let's talk about Bach. I have Klemperer's St. Matthew with the PO and PO.Ch., which is divine, Chailly is too blood-worm. You can hear Solti's in the film Casino, it's a bit pale. I am rather a Bach-keyboard ethuisiast. There have been many words on keyboardists, orgonists, pianists playing Bach music, I have so many recordings selected of course by professionalism, and after hearing Gould, Tureck, S. Richter, K. Richter, Rosen, Yudina, Rübsam, Schnabel and so on, the best UNDOUBTEDLY  is Wanda Landowska, though I like the others as well. It's a great pity that she didn't record as many Bach works as Glenn Gould did, who is one one of the greatest as well. I don't really like new-comers in the Bach-Keyboard-Universe for example Angela Hewitt or Schiff, sounding colourless to me.Of course Bach's concertos for 1-2-3 pianos-cembalos are also great, solo cello and violin works, and his lure pieces, contrapoint pieces (M. Opfer), and organ and church music of his are also great, but I stick to solo piano compositions of his suites, toccatas, partitas, variations,  etc

Lynx33 wrote: The T wrote: presdoug wrote: Lynx33 wrote: presdoug wrote: my three favourite composers are missing- 1) Anton Bruckner-to really live life is to hear his symphonies 2) Hector Berlioz-a really important link between the early and late romantics, and ahead of his time and redefined what an orchestra could do 3) Richard Strauss-the greatest composer of the twentieth century-Elgar was right about him-the musical genius of his day           i do relate to your list, though, as i listen to about 45 different classical music composers in total, some of which are already listed you're quite right, Bruckner, Berlioz, R. Strauss, Elgar are great missing ones, due to lack of space. and of course, Mahler as well, how could I forget him!. And you're right too that Bruckner symph's are to be heard just like his masses, I have the symphonies with Klemperer, Karajan and Jochum as well, I think Jochum is the best at them. Berlioz's Te Deum and Requiem is also immortal. From Strauss my favourite is op. 28 and Metamorphosen, but he has many great works. As for Elgar, though he also wrote many huge musics, we can never forget his e-minor cello concertos championed by J. Du Pré, Casals, Fournier etc. i love Klemperer's, Karajan's , and Jochum's Bruckner as well, though my favourite Bruckner is done by Bruno Walter (Walter also does my favourite R. Strauss and Mahler) i love my Elgar done with Sir John Barbirolli-magnificent! I love the Berlioz Te Deum and Requiem very much (with Sir Thomas Beecham) and the Berlioz symphonies are wonderfull as well-for me, R. Strauss's tone poems are works of genius, especially Ein Heldenleben, which i consider to be just about the greatest musical work done by anybody (with Mengelberg or Beecham preferred) Fantastic. As you can see in my signature, Bruckner is one of my favorite masters. I would point you in the direction of two of the greatest Brucknerians ever: Georg Tintner and Gunter Wand. The former recorded all his symphonies including Die Nullte and the Study Symphony (00) and in many cases chose not the typical version of the works (we all know how historians have had a field day with Bruckner's revised editions of his works). His cycle is superb, though in individual numbers there might be better recordings. Gunter Wand is a consumate Brucknerian, probably the greatest ever. His accounts of 3, 4, 5 and 7 are among the best. For the 7th, I choose Karajan's last recording in DG with the Wiener Philarmoniker, with a magnificent adagio (using the cymbal crash). For the 8th I chose Karajan again. The ninth has strange proponents like Carlo MAria Giulini, a master performance, though I just acquired Bruno Walter's. I've yet to hear it though.  For Strauss the answer is clear: Karajan or Solti. Bernstein has a great Don Quixote though.  Berlioz is great but for me it's the Fantastique and the Requiem; his other symphonies leave me cold. Sir Colin Davis' Fantastique is good, though I've yet to find the perfect one.  But my towering composer is and will always be Bach. I have almost 40 cds of works of his. I just finished listening to St Matthew Passion with Chailly and the Gewandhaus Leipzig, good but failed in the crucial choruses; I have at least 3 versions of most of the works I have. Mozart is another great, with his Requiem and his 41st symphony as my favorites. Beethoven's symphonies are the greatest achievement in the form, Karajan's cycle is my choice (though Toscanini is amazing and quite necessary if you can stand mono). Shostakovich is the greatest symphonist since Bruckner; it's obvious the Symphony is my preferred form. I like concertos and sonatas and other kind of works but the Symphony is and always will be my musical love.   We have talked about Brucker and R. Strauss, then let's talk about Bach. I have Klemperer's St. Matthew with the PO and PO.Ch., which is divine, Chailly is too blood-worm. You can hear Solti's in the film Casino, it's a bit pale. I am rather a Bach-keyboard ethuisiast. There have been many words on keyboardists, orgonists, pianists playing Bach music, I have so many recordings selected of course by professionalism, and after hearing Gould, Tureck, S. Richter, K. Richter, Rosen, Yudina, Rübsam, Schnabel and so on, the best UNDOUBTEDLY  is Wanda Landowska, though I like the others as well. It's a great pity that she didn't record as many Bach works as Glenn Gould did, who is one one of the greatest as well. I don't really like new-comers in the Bach-Keyboard-Universe for example Angela Hewitt or Schiff, sounding colourless to me.Of course Bach's concertos for 1-2-3 pianos-cembalos are also great, solo cello and violin works, and his lure pieces, contrapoint pieces (M. Opfer), and organ and church music of his are also great, but I stick to solo piano compositions of his suites, toccatas, partitas, variations,  etc

i like the Bach organ works done by Walter Kraft, and Gould's Goldberg Variations (1981) also like Ferrucio Busoni's transcriptions of Bach works with german pianist Peter Rosel

From the list, Shostakovich

Although my favorite is actually either Mahler or Dvorak.

Dmitri Shostakovitch is my favorite composer. I own just about everything he has done. I love his first symphony and all of his string quartets.

Lynx33 wrote: The T wrote: presdoug wrote: Lynx33 wrote: presdoug wrote: my three favourite composers are missing- 1) Anton Bruckner-to really live life is to hear his symphonies 2) Hector Berlioz-a really important link between the early and late romantics, and ahead of his time and redefined what an orchestra could do 3) Richard Strauss-the greatest composer of the twentieth century-Elgar was right about him-the musical genius of his day           i do relate to your list, though, as i listen to about 45 different classical music composers in total, some of which are already listed you're quite right, Bruckner, Berlioz, R. Strauss, Elgar are great missing ones, due to lack of space. and of course, Mahler as well, how could I forget him!. And you're right too that Bruckner symph's are to be heard just like his masses, I have the symphonies with Klemperer, Karajan and Jochum as well, I think Jochum is the best at them. Berlioz's Te Deum and Requiem is also immortal. From Strauss my favourite is op. 28 and Metamorphosen, but he has many great works. As for Elgar, though he also wrote many huge musics, we can never forget his e-minor cello concertos championed by J. Du Pré, Casals, Fournier etc. i love Klemperer's, Karajan's , and Jochum's Bruckner as well, though my favourite Bruckner is done by Bruno Walter (Walter also does my favourite R. Strauss and Mahler) i love my Elgar done with Sir John Barbirolli-magnificent! I love the Berlioz Te Deum and Requiem very much (with Sir Thomas Beecham) and the Berlioz symphonies are wonderfull as well-for me, R. Strauss's tone poems are works of genius, especially Ein Heldenleben, which i consider to be just about the greatest musical work done by anybody (with Mengelberg or Beecham preferred) Fantastic. As you can see in my signature, Bruckner is one of my favorite masters. I would point you in the direction of two of the greatest Brucknerians ever: Georg Tintner and Gunter Wand. The former recorded all his symphonies including Die Nullte and the Study Symphony (00) and in many cases chose not the typical version of the works (we all know how historians have had a field day with Bruckner's revised editions of his works). His cycle is superb, though in individual numbers there might be better recordings. Gunter Wand is a consumate Brucknerian, probably the greatest ever. His accounts of 3, 4, 5 and 7 are among the best. For the 7th, I choose Karajan's last recording in DG with the Wiener Philarmoniker, with a magnificent adagio (using the cymbal crash). For the 8th I chose Karajan again. The ninth has strange proponents like Carlo MAria Giulini, a master performance, though I just acquired Bruno Walter's. I've yet to hear it though.  For Strauss the answer is clear: Karajan or Solti. Bernstein has a great Don Quixote though.  Berlioz is great but for me it's the Fantastique and the Requiem; his other symphonies leave me cold. Sir Colin Davis' Fantastique is good, though I've yet to find the perfect one.  But my towering composer is and will always be Bach. I have almost 40 cds of works of his. I just finished listening to St Matthew Passion with Chailly and the Gewandhaus Leipzig, good but failed in the crucial choruses; I have at least 3 versions of most of the works I have. Mozart is another great, with his Requiem and his 41st symphony as my favorites. Beethoven's symphonies are the greatest achievement in the form, Karajan's cycle is my choice (though Toscanini is amazing and quite necessary if you can stand mono). Shostakovich is the greatest symphonist since Bruckner; it's obvious the Symphony is my preferred form. I like concertos and sonatas and other kind of works but the Symphony is and always will be my musical love.   We have talked about Brucker and R. Strauss, then let's talk about Bach. I have Klemperer's St. Matthew with the PO and PO.Ch., which is divine, Chailly is too blood-worm. You can hear Solti's in the film Casino, it's a bit pale. I am rather a Bach-keyboard ethuisiast. There have been many words on keyboardists, orgonists, pianists playing Bach music, I have so many recordings selected of course by professionalism, and after hearing Gould, Tureck, S. Richter, K. Richter, Rosen, Yudina, Rübsam, Schnabel and so on, the best UNDOUBTEDLY  is Wanda Landowska, though I like the others as well. It's a great pity that she didn't record as many Bach works as Glenn Gould did, who is one one of the greatest as well. I don't really like new-comers in the Bach-Keyboard-Universe for example Angela Hewitt or Schiff, sounding colourless to me.Of course Bach's concertos for 1-2-3 pianos-cembalos are also great, solo cello and violin works, and his lure pieces, contrapoint pieces (M. Opfer), and organ and church music of his are also great, but I stick to solo piano compositions of his suites, toccatas, partitas, variations,  etc

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN is my prefered one. The perfect combination between pompous and melodic is superb. 5º, 7º, 8º and 9º symphonies are stunning. Some pieces as the Victory of Wellington are really great too.

Johnnytuba wrote: To me, Mahler, who is a major composer missing from this poll, is king.  In his stead, I will choose Brahms for his generous usage of lush major 6th chords in his Symphonies.  Brahms 3rd is simply the best of his 4.

Man, i love Mahler, especially the symphony recordings with conductors Bruno Walter and the overlooked F. Charles Adler-my fave Mahler works are symphonies 1,3, 4 and 6
         i can really appreciate Brahms when i am in the mood-all four symphonies are striking-you should hear them done by conductor Felix Weingartner-superb!