Favorite Composer?

[SteveR2021]

Chopin. I'm new to this particular forum. Looking forward to discovering some great classical music.

 

[navybig]

Chopin is great as is Bach, but noone beats Beethoven

 

[The Theory]

Steve Reich. yeah buddy!

 

[tamtam92]

As a pianist i prefer Chopin, Mendelssohn, but i like to listen to most of the 19th century composers.

 

[MusicalProgrammer]

Ives, Mahler, and Shostakovich, depending on my mood.

 

[natalia_159357]

I like Mozart..

 

[Bonifatius]

Hi

Bach is definitely top of the list!

There are some arias that just make me cry. We've just done the St. Matthews passion - and the aria for solo violin and alto is divine: Erbarme dich um meiner Zähren willen (Have mercy for my tears' sake) or the wonderful wonderful bass aria towards the end: "Mache dich, mein Herze, rein, ich will Jesum selbst begraben" (purify yourself, my heart, I want to bury Jesu myself - sorry this is a rough translation but I do not know whith which wording these pieces are popular in English!)

Or at the moment after the death of our Lord Bach puts the choral:

Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden,
so scheide nicht von mir.
Wenn ich den Tod soll leiden,
so tritt du dann herfür.
Wenn mir am allerbängsten
wird um das Herze sein,
so reiß mich aus den Ängsten
kraft deiner Angst und Pein.

This is one of the deepest consolations for the dying one can think of!


Bach's music just is a cosmos in which I always discover new planets

Followed (as far as choral music is concerned) by Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz.

Orchestral music: Brahms and Mahler.
Opera: Wagner

Absolute dislike: Bruckner and Strauß (except his motets, they are great)

 

[Dikki]

Of those you listed, I chose Bach.....If you would have told me ten years ago - or even five - that I would be typing those words, I wouldn't have believed you. Has anyone else found that they appreciate Bach more and more the older you get?

Other favorites not on your poll include Puccini and Brahms.

For me it was the other way round: I started out with Bach, but the older I got, the more I realised my taste changed. Bach is very much in a European tradition, using much melody that was available at the time. I got bored with it and wanted more.
What I like and find in a lot of late romantic composers is the use of remnant of traditional melodies from other cultures. Like Bartok in his violin quartets. I think it is much more developped than Bach.
Though I realise I challenge a lot of you with this.
(I still like Bach)

 

[jazzbird]

For me it was the other way round: I started out with Bach, but the older I got, the more I realised my taste changed. Bach is very much in a European tradition, using much melody that was available at the time. I got bored with it and wanted more.
What I like and find in a lot of late romantic composers is the use of remnant of traditional melodies from other cultures. Like Bartok in his violin quartets. I think it is much more developped than Bach.
Though I realise I challenge a lot of you with this.
(I still like Bach)

Interesting. I agree with you about Bartok. I do not know his music all that well, but whenever I do hear him, I think, I've got to get to know him better. For me, I found the Romantics easy to love from the beginning. I really connected with the passion and emotion. I found Bach to be too orderly and dry - clinical in a way. But now, I am really beginning to appreciate that order. Everything has its perfect place in his music. For me, I suppose it largely depends on my mood. Lately, I seem to be listening to more of the old stuff like Bach and Monteverdi. Though a couple weeks ago I did listen to Mahler's 5th three times in a row on a long car ride down to Indiana! That was fun, my speakers were practically vibrating the whole car.

 

[Dikki]

Though a couple weeks ago I did listen to Mahler's 5th three times in a row on a long car ride down to Indiana! That was fun, my speakers were practically vibrating the whole car.

Here was I thinking they only use moving ghettoblasters for less serious things like pop music or whatever. Most music has an effect on the driving skills of the listener: people tend to feel less cautious while listening to rough music. Their emotion gets the better of their driving. I wonder if Mahler has the same effect...

 

[Faith In God]

I just noticed that Mozart isn't on the list. Ooooh...

 

[YWGWYS]

Or at the moment after the death of our Lord Bach puts the choral:

Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden,
so scheide nicht von mir.
Wenn ich den Tod soll leiden,
so tritt du dann herfür.
Wenn mir am allerbängsten
wird um das Herze sein,
so reiß mich aus den Ängsten
kraft deiner Angst und Pein.

This is one of the deepest consolations for the dying one can think of!

i doubt, though, that bach wrote the words.

 

[Bonifatius]

i doubt, though, that bach wrote the words.

Hi,

you're right. The words are from a hymn by Paul Gerhardt "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" which goes back to a hymn by Bernhard of Clairvaux and meditates the wounds of Jesus.

Verses from the choral by Gerhardt come about 10 times or so during St. Matthew's passion.

Greetz
Tom

 

[Bushidomaster]

I choose Handel because I think composer such as Beethoven are strongly overrated.

 

[NIMBYatheist42!!!]

I like Brahms/Vivaldi.
I can't believe Vivaldi wasn't here! I mean, why wouldn't he be! If Tchaikovsky wasn't here, I'd understand, but why not Vivaldi. Brahms isn't really well known, so I get that.

 

[theZealot]

Man, you left some good composers out!!!
I would get it if you left Tchaikovsky out!!! After all, he was a homosexual...


Feel the Zeal!!!

 

[Dream]

I really enjoy Edvard Grieg, Beethoven, Chopen, and Bach.

 

[Faith In God]

I really enjoy Edvard Grieg, Beethoven, Chopen, and Bach.

Yeah, that's what I thought when I heard how ChopIn is pronounced.

Some of his stuff is kind of dry, and some is so intense...

 

[Maxster211]

I go with Beethoven.
A: Because he has awsome songs
B: Because I can play one of his songs on my guitar

 

[Lucretius]

Rachmaninov rules, I have most of his music.

Also, Franz Liszt — the Liebestraum is my favorite single piece. It's romantic and I enjoy it best when played by an orchestra.