Classical composers. Who for you are the best?

crimson, although the 'bitty' nature of Classic FM annoys me because usually when I'm enjoying a piece, it ends. Good for short trips in the car though. If you like the sound of an extract on CFM, you can download the whole thing from a variety of sites. At one time you could go to a record shop and listen to a disc in a little booth, but I don't know if these exist in the digital age.

There's a whole world of classical music waiting for me out there. Could any non technophob'y people put some links up for their favourite stuff [or is it too long being classical; I'm only used to 5 minute utube things]. I do watch [or should I say listen to] the proms sometimes, but nothing reaches out to me. What does interest me is why music falls into two categories; the iambic pentameter stuff and the disjointed stuff [Stravinsky I guess?]. Why do we sometimes enjoy music that does wrong foot us? I don't like jazz I'm afraid, or opera [I have tried with opera]. Bit like modern art; it's easy to like something that the eye understands straight away [Constable] but very subjective if it's modern [Picasso/Rothko]. Am I making any sort of sense? Probably not; late night ramblings continuing. No excuse at 11 in the morning.

jeni only just noticed you sneaking Enya in there.

Good one and, I think, our only female on these lists

Can anyone put up a female fave five??

nelliemoser, surely blasphemy is exactly what this thread is all about![devil emoticon]

I'm adding to my didn't-quite-make-the-cut list:

William Walton (greatly underrated imo, thank you artygran)
and
Scarlatti
Piazzola
Manuel de Falla
Saint-Saens
Monteverdi

and all that early stuff whenever played, conducted or recorded by the wonderful Jordi Savall.

but please add to the rejected no-nos, my ultimate dislike:

Carmen by Bizet. Horrible French mash-up of Spain, vile vulgar big-tunes. Makes Andrew Lloyd Webber sound like Montiverdi!

It was agony leaving out

Schubert
Tchaikovsky
Bruckner
Mahler
Prokofiev
Gershwin
Copeland
Glass
Reich
Bach
and Britten (especially my much cherished CD of Britten conducting Bach!)

but needs must!

A bit like the Bible and Shakespeare on Desert Island Discs, I took it for granted that Puccini and Verdi were "Givens" .

Oh and the no-can-do's/I-don't-gets, in addition to

Brahms
I need to include
Elgar
and, sorry,
Debussy
and Yes
Wagner (except I did enjoy Rienzi at ENO long, long ago, but his music seems all downhill from there and Yes his repulsive racist and anti-semitic views do matter)

and, of course,

Schoenberg
Berg
Webern
(interesting that, as far as I remember, nobody has yet included any of that caterwauling Vienna three in their "fave fives" )

and Jazz, post-Louis Armstrong, natch Satch
[this is where I need a devil emoticon! ^see thread elsewhere^]

Can anyone suggest why I like Haydn more than Mozart?

I do recognise that Mozart has a much broader range. He wrote great operas, Haydn didn't write any for example. But a Mozart string quartet e.g. the Quartet in F major, K 590, the Prussian often sounds fraught and quite hard work (not always what I want!) But Haydn I find bliss.

Mozart vocal music is heavenly, like Deedaa I love Don Giovanni and the Requiem, also Cosi and the Magic Flute. But then there's Haydn's Nelson Mass.

Yes it is personal choice and it's possible for both to exist side-by-side, but there must be more to say than that. Any devoted Mozart buff want to post a reply??

btw Mishap I agree totally about Beethoven's "big stuff". "Pots & pans" is a great description, I shall cherish that. But his string quartets and chamber music are entirely another matter?

crimson

We don't work within the constraints of numerical parameters on gransnet....we're in cyberspace now y'know.....

Some people can't count to five

artygtran I know what you mean about the Lark & Tallis but I have to forgive the overworking when I hear them and the Tallis was the first classical record I ever bought so I have a bit of a soft spot for it. Do like his symphonies as well. Just realised I completely forgot Vivaldi ... how did that happen? I love the Gloria and can't resist the whole Venetian connection.

Nelliemoser I just got tickets for a performance of The Armed Man, conductor Jenkins himself, at The Royal Albert Hall. It isn't until next April but two thirds sold out already.

Pity your choral society's performance is "up North". I live in the South East. Where up North? I have a daughter who lives in Manchester.

pettalus The choral society I belong to. (As a newcomer in the 2nd Altos) Is doing a performance of Jenkin's latest work the Peacemakers in November. Its "up north".
I did a voices for hospices "come and sing" performance of The Armed Man about 4 years ago and that was a great experience. Its hard to properly hear what the Peacemakers will sound like as a complete perfomance, as we are still rehearsing it in bits.

I tried to "get" Phillip Glass and eventually gave away the CD I bought to a charity shop. Should have tried harder really. My piano teacher has never quite forgiven me for saying I found the Mozart symphonies dreary (but I redeemed myself because I like the operas and his sacred music - especially the Mass in C Minor). Deeda I wish Lark and Thomas Tallis had not been overworked in the VW repertoire. The Norfolk Rhapsodies and In the Fen Country are sublime but not often heard unfortunately.

Difficult to pick just five:

Elgar
Parry
Mozart
Brahms
Ravel

And to throw a modern composer into the mix....Karl Jenkins because I love his Requiem.

Byrd
Purcell
Bach
Carl Jenkins
Bonporti

I am really struggling. Only five? Bach and Mozart without question. Do I include César Frank – not sure. Debussy is fun but is he top class? Nope – still struggling. Vivaldi? Albinoni– wonderful oboe concertos. Can't do it. Too restricting. Can I have my top 597 instead?

Byrd
Tavern er
Palestrina
Verdi
Puccini
Motzart
Enya

I either love or loathe Stravinsky; can I do both?

One of my favourite pieces of music is The Pilgimage to Santiago' by Phil Pickett. Was sitting in the car one night and came upon Classic FM which I never listen to. Happened to have a pen and paper next to me and when some of this music came on I wrote it down; I was bowled over by it. A friend who worked at the Library got me the cd and I copied it onto tape . Still play it now.

Mozart
Beethoven
Elgar
Puccini
Delius.

Never got Mozart till I was involved with a production of Don Giovanni and then one of Amadeus. If I was limited to one piece of music it would have to be The Requiem.
Have to have Elgar for the Cello Concerto, Beethoven is obviously a given, can't imagine life without dollops of Puccini and I do love Delius. Sadly it leaves no room for Vaughan Williams, so no Lark Ascending or Thomas Tallis
I remember our music teacher at school saying that Haydn & Mozart were classical composers and ones who came after were romantics.

Sorry - can't do 5!

Byrd, Taverner,Tallis, Purcell
Handel, Bach, Mozart
Whitacre, Rutter and
not forgetting the amazing music of Wagner - could sit through The Ring again and again and as for Parsifal.....[oh bliss emoticon]

and Mahler.

Puccini, Puccini, Puccini then Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Shostakovich, Bizet, Bach ,Rachmaninov and a lot of others but am not that well up on classical music to identify them.

Oh dear - I love oratorio and chamber music as well as big orchestral pieces, particularly concerti and some opera. Difficult to choose since few composers do all these equally well!

OK, but tomorrow the list might be quite different:

Schubert
Mozart
Handel
Beethoven
Shostakovich

And going back a good few posts, I don't find Mozart an unavoidable choice! There are, of course, wonderful things in Mozart but generally I prefer Haydn.

Unfortunately Beethoven does not do it for me, even though my passion is classical music. There are moments in his writing that are simply sublime; but for me there is far too much of the Germanic ponderoursness - what a friend used to call "Beethoven crashing about with the pots and pans." His writing for voice is not good as it does not sit comfortably in any voice - he understood the limitations and possibilities of instruments better than the human voice.

And I do find it very tiresome when he ends pieces with repetitive crashing chords and sit thinking "Oh, for goodness sake, get it over with!"