Who Are Your Favourite Classical Composers?

Pretty much the same for me. ,

I used to just like Russians : Stravinsky, Prokoffiev, a bit of Shotakovich. And Harrison Birtwistle. (Still the greatest living UK composer.)

Now it's almost entirely Debussey, Ravel, Satie. I can't listen to / appreciate anything before them. It's all so constrained and samey.

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Hi, Geoff. Stick around, why don't you? This is what we think... sometimes.

Apart from feldman, Xenakis' electronic pieces, I also like Iancu dumitrescu.

There are so many that I like... My favorites would probably be Howells, Poulenc, Palestrina, Bach, Brahms, Verdi, Britten, and Beethoven. I also like Mozart, Palestrina, Ockeghem, Janacek, Part, Martin, Tavener, Stravinsky, Ravel, Zorn, Ives, Reich (what little I've heard), Puccini, Menotti, Bizet, Scarlotti, Debussy, Hayden, Byrd, Schutz, Josquin de Prez, Lotti, Nystadt, etc, etc...

I listen to very little classical music, however my favorites would be Bach, Weiss (fantastic baroque lute composer), Handel (for "Messiah"), maybe a bit of Scarlatti and some Spanish composers whose names I don't even know; but that's already a bit of a stretch.

Not much else before the 20th Century. Maybe Tchaikovksy, which doesn't fit my general taste. Satie, definitely. Varese, Lou Harrison, some Cage, Reich, probably Stockhausen although I haven't heard his music for a long time, maybe Frederic Rzewski for his more minimalist works.

edward grieg's "sigurd jorsalfar" - magnificent

oh and satie

I listen to very little classical but I think I've liked every Bach song I've heard ever. Seriously. Is there an easy way to get into classical music? (Where's the canon when you need it?!)

the canon is in tchaikovsky's 1812 overture!

*tumbleweed rolls by*

The way I got into classical music was via choral singing. This is generally only a viable option if you can sing; you can also try those budget compilations of famous composers (Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Verdi, etc).

Is there an easy way to get into classical music?

Maybe the easiest way is to turn on the classical radio station, and just leave it there for a while. It's an untested theory, because I got into classical from hearing my mom play it in the house, and by majoring in music. However, that is the way I got into pop and rock music, so my bet is on it working for classical too.

I should add that it was easy for me to get into the music because I actually liked a lot of what I heard -- that goes for pop, rock and classical.

i didn't listen to a shred of modern music until i was seventeen. i was bullied a lot at school and because my major bully was a morrisey obsessive i equated all modern music with evil little gits

thusly i only ONLY listened to classical music and jazz (and novelty songs) from the age of seven to seventeen. and though it made me a freaky sod, i have no complaints. i adore classical music and it's just hard for me to explain why - mainly because it was a solace - like jazz - from the rest of my life which wasn't exactly happy. it's just so intrinsically part of me i have never really bothered to question *why* - it just is. my tastes have broadened since then, but those two genres will always be the abiding cornerstones of my musical taste and in fact my life. i hate dance music for the most because i have never felt at ease with dancing in public places. maybe that introverted attitude is due to my love of those genres first and foremost

or alternatively maybe i'm talking out my arse and haven't thought this through very well...

i was bullied a lot at school and because my major bully was a morrisey obsessive

That would be disorienting. Fortunately, the kids who picked on me were into Led Zep and Black Sabbath. (And if they are out there and know who I am, if you ever mess with me again I will literally kill you. And then I will go home and listen to KMFDM.)

I can second the leave-the-radio-on method. After decades spent listening to basically anything but classical, I've been finding myself more and more interested. Getting recommendations from friends and trying out stuff (anything, everything) from the local public library got me started, but just hearing something I liked on the radio and waiting for the announcer to tell what it is has proven the most worthwhile avenue of discovery (if only for my serendipitously stumbling across Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20). You hear it, it catches your attention, you like it, you check it out, plus whatever else that person may have composed. And the classical radio station here sort of sucks, so imagine what could happen if you have access to a really good one.

I came to CM via rock/indie/electronic, so I still have a lot of enthusiasm for Reich, Riley, and other pop-parallel modern composers. And truth be told, most of the stuff I really respond to has at least one foot in the 20th century, including Debussy, Bartok, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Ives, Varese, Feldman, some Kagel, some Gubaidulina. But Bach (esp. keyboard music and cello sonatas), Haydn (esp. London symphonies and string quartets), and Beethoven (almost everything I've heard) have also become favorites.

I have tried the radio option, but it doesn't work too well because a) the songs are long and b) there don't seem to be many times when I can listen to the radio so I often want to listen to the latest music. I would actually like to get some albums by some of the more famous composers, but then there's that problem of which symphony, which conductor, etc. There's just too much variety (hence the need for a canon of albums, not just composers). And Mark S = funny despite tumbleweeds

Dan suggested budget compilations. Will anything do? I would like to buy a compilation album, but then I don't want to find out some time next week that's there a much better compilation I could've bought.

once you get any idea at all what to do, vinnie, poke around by buying some shit on naxos - at least decent (often better) recordings, cheap, good coverage of the standard repertoire plus some less famous things.

Vinnie, I'd recommend picking up one or two of the cheap discs on a label like Naxos. If you're fond of Bach, a good place to start might be a disc of his organ music. The first classical recording I ever bought for myself was a tape on the Vox Allegro, played by Walter Kraft, that had Bach's most famous piece, the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. I picked up a copy of my own after hearing it at a friend's house; it was the first time I really realized how much good stuff was going on in Bach.

Generally, the musicianship in classical music is at a high enough level that just about anything you get is going to be at least OK, and the issue of what discs are "best" is a highly subjective one. There are a few dogs out there, but the odds are generally in your favor. If you stick with relatively famous, mainstream conductors (Toscanini, von Karajan, Stokowski, Bernstein) and performers (Glenn Gould, Rostropovich, Isaac Stern), you're not likely to get a bad disc.

The key is getting a stronger sense of what you like stylistically and in terms of instrumentation and time period -- so that, for instance, if you know can't stand dissonance and modernism then you can stay away from Webern and Boulez, and if you know you love piano music then you probably will enjoy at least some of Beethoven's most famous sonatas like the "Moonlight" and the "Appassionatta". I'm a big fan, by the way, of starting at the beginning and working forward -- not that you need to necessarily begin with Gregorian chant, but there is a lot of value to moving forwards in time and hearing the new things that each generation brought to the table. On the other hand, I think Beethoven's late quartets might be more striking after hearing some modern music for string quartet, in that the similarity really leaps out at you and it becomes apparent just how far forward Beethoven was looking...

No no no -

To get into classical music, don't for god's sake buy Bach's organ music - buy his _cello sonatas_. Some of the most moving pieces of music on the planet. Ever. Play after dinner, and try to pay attention if you can - *good* classical works worst as background music. It's only the silly 'pretty' stuff that makes for muzak.

(Yo Yo Ma and Rostropovich are the recommended performers.)

I love Bach's "Musical Offering" - Philips has a nice two-disc set of that and the Art of Fugue (which I never listen to but it would pay to) with, I think, Neville Mariner and the Academy of St. Martin's-in-the-Field. I think the arrangements for the Offering are left undetermined in the score, at least some of the time, so there's some discretion in what the peformers choose; I like what they chose on the Philips set, though I'm sure there are conventional and traditional choices involved in lots of it.

don't for god's sake buy Bach's organ music - buy his _cello sonatas_.

The cello sonatas are great pieces, but I have a feeling that a lot of people who come into classical music via rock or pop would find the organ music more immediately accessible. That was my experience, anyway -- I could hear the connection (between rock and Bach) quite easily, and the format did an end-run around my semi-conscious prejudice that classical music would be stiff, precious, etc., like hired string quartets in bad movies. On the other hand, there's a lot of Bach organ stuff that's a little dull, so it's hard to say. Still, I've heard the Toccata and Fugue a billion times and it still feels exciting and fresh.

*good* classical works worst as background music

Somehow I think Satie would disagree -- and actually, there's a lot of good classical music that I find works as ambient music ("music that rewards but does not demand close attention"). But of course your point is well taken that a pretty big percentage of the best classical works have, among other things, too much dynamic contrast to be easily ignored.

And my favorite classical composers, btw, are Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Bruckner, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, Scriabin, Ives, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Stravinsky, Bartok, Hindemith, Morton Feldman, Takemitsu, George Crumb, and Elliott Carter. There are a bunch of other folks I enjoy but haven't heard that much by, like George Perle, Otto Luening, Erwin Schulhoff, and Maurice Delage.

bach organ music maybe sounds dud today becuz it's mostly not being played on bach-era organs? (i don't know this, i'm guessing) => yo yo ma playing bach is nice, but it surely adds a whole lotta stuff which is 19th-century back projection

" Hi, Geoff. Stick around, why don't you? This is what we think... sometimes.

-- Jeff W (cworrell@ukonline.co.uk), May 29, 2002."

Cheers! Thanks for that link.

QUOTE FROM DLEONE Maybe the easiest way is to turn on the classical radio station, and just leave it there for a while. It's an untested theory, because I got into classical from hearing my mom play it in the house, and by majoring in music. However, that is the way I got into pop and rock music, so my bet is on it working for classical too.

-- dleone (d_leone@hotmail.com), May 29, 2002.

Hey Dominique,

I guess your answer on how to get into classical music really depends upon the quality of the classical radio station, here in New Zealand, the classical radio station tends to play more traditional classical music, and normally if you turn it on you'll hear mostly orchestrated music, rather than chamber, quartet or duo.

My advise to get into Jazz, is to maybe start listening to Chamber music or solo piano, this form of classical in my opinion is simplier to get into, recommendations include Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Debussy, Satie amongst others, it was these composers and more modern 20th Century composers that first got me seriously interested in Classical, although previously I had enjoyed Bach, Beethoven and a few of the 'major' composers.

I guess the negative association people have with classical music normally stems from the controlling manner of the 'big' composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Vivaldi. This often gives a beginner the impression that classical music can be a bit too 'excessivly overdone' and 'stuffy' yet this is a misconception. Classical music is more variable than most people think.

I guess your answer on how to get into classical music really depends upon the quality of the classical radio station

G! Yes, the quality can be a factor, though someone who wasn't into classical music yet might not have such a discrimating ear for even known what they did or didn't like yet. The classical station here is quite conservative -- nevertheless, Beethoven's 6th sounds great on any station.

I have always equated listening to classical music on the radio with listening to classic rock on the radio. In both cases, you're getting tried and true canonical works, that appeal to a broad group of a listeners, and whose main purpose is probably more in helping rush hour traffic more enjoyable than enlightening listeners. However, there is no rule to say that someone might not be enlightened, and certainly you can dig deeper into the music outside of the radio if you're interested enough.

"for even knowing" -- They say listening to classical music makes your smarter, and they lie about it.

I agree that Bach's cello works aren't necessarily very accessible. A friend loaned me a copy, and while I was impressed, I didn't find them very enjoyable. I would think that coming from rock to Bach, the keyboard music (but not organ music) would be a good entree. Goldberg Variations and Partitas, in particular.

Naxos is great! I really needed some site where I could just listen to a bunch of clips and decide what I liked and Naxos does that exactly. I already found a couple CDs I want to get. Thanks to Josh and Phil for the recommend and I'll probably end up listening to some of the Bach's organ music AND cello music soon. :)

"To Naxos? Yes, we'll take you to Naxos,
Cum' along lad."

--E.L.P.

I finally got around to buying Varese's Ionisation/Ameriques/Density 21.5/Offrandes/Arcana/Octandre/Integrales, conducted by Piere Boulez (the old recording he did, the way it's supposed to be), and I still rather like this stuff. "Arcana" and "Integrales" are my favorites, though I like just about everything else to some extent. I seem to be hearing a Spanish tinge in "Ameriques," which would actually make some sense if it is partly inspired by the (European) discovery of the Americas.

BApababa! BApababa!

Mozart, Brahms, Schubert, Bach, Händel

A&E put Mozart above Bach on their list of the 100 most influential people of the past millenium, and I was all like, "WTF, how! EQUAL TEMPERMENT OWNS YOU, BITCH"

Mozart, Webern, Schubert, Purcell, Beethoven, Monteverdi, Schoenberg, Brahms, Handel, Stravinsky, Ives, Corelli, Messiaen, Haydn, Shostakovich, Bach, Mahler, Byrd, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Bartok, some Wagner, Sibelius, Chopin.

And these i don't 'get' yet (i prefer to say that than i don't like them because i've learnt from experience how my taste changes):
Debussy, Britten, Verdi, Bruckner, Scriabin, Vivaldi, Ravel, Glass, Rachmaninov, all Spanish composers, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Schumann, Varese, Berg, Mendelssohn.

If anyone wants to tell me what their personal favourite works are by these composers i'd be interested. I'd like to share a recommendation of my own, it's the 4-cd set of the Busch Quartet on EMI (7243 5 65308 2 9), with performances of Beethoven's string quartets nos 1, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16, plus some other pieces by him and Schubert. Recorded in the 1930s but beautifully remastered. Amazing stuff, the best performances of the Beethoven quartets i've ever heard, and i'm sure the best out there. (i have lots of recordings of the string quartets). You won't hear ensemble playing like this today.

i like what little of rodrigo and falla i have heard. i really advise you to pick up London 430 703-2. Its "concierto de aranjuez", "el amor brujo" and "noches en los jardines de espana". its a great performance, penguin rosette and all, and you should be able to get it for less than $10US. if you like jazz, you can get the miles davis album "sketches of spain" as a comparison. i especially like the moments in the adagio from "concierto" when the guitar is building towards the re-entry of the orchestra.

i only have about 20 discs so i really cant say who i like the most. i love bach's partiras and sonatas for solo violin and for cello. that is all i have by him though! i like shostakovich, and the late string quartets by beethoven. i got mahler's 5th recently and am still digesting. same for messiaen's quartet for the end of time.

I suggest having parents/grandparents with extensive love of classical music. I also suggest stealing all the records they have packed away in the attic/basement.

i used to listen to '4tet for the end of time' heaps, particularly side one, and i liked it so much i left listening to side two for a month or two (the final conclusion, wrap-up, final movement, whatever it's called), figuring there'd be more, double, ..?

since side two merely mingled the threads from side one together, it was actually seemingly boring when i heard it, and i subsequently realised i'd tried too hard to get into the whole thing, and that i was well sick of the whole thing

so i say beware of '4tet for the end of time' -- listen to it too often and you'll get sick of it

lot's of subsequent classical music listening since has convinced me that it's name itself is somewhat misleading, having more to do with the circumstances under which it was written than representing any final take on music or representing anything monumental in musical developement, as messiaen himself having survived the vividly evoked ultra-depressing circumstances went on to prove with his music anyway

so now i listen to it once every couple of years (might go and listen to it now)

right now i like some music by stefan wolpe a lot, some not at all, just like i feel about charles wuorinen, roger sessions, elliot carter (the usual suspects) -- mel powell is a recent discovery, and like the spectacular donald martino, i wish there was more music out there by these guys

i haven't the time for most morton feldman, hate most (later) john cage, but i think the music of fellow nyc scenester earle brown is subtle, concise and very seductive

oh, some of messiaen's subsequent quasi-mystical music i listen to occasionally, having learnt my lesson

i even like some stuff by his protégé pierre boulez

as far as classical classical goes, mozart, beethoven and haydn are inevitable as picks. most particularly, i harbor an intense love for beethoven's late quartets--some of the sole pieces truly deserving of unconditional obsession.

i can't say the romantics do too much for me, though schubert & brahms count as 2 major exceptions. wagner simultaneously appals and exhilarates me, but the former sentiment generally prevails.

the 20th century fascinates me most. the 2nd viennese school is brilliant full-stop, though i tend to think their earlier works are often best. berg is probably my favorite of the three, having held fast to the romantic spirit 'n' all.

debussy, ravel & fauré are all classic, of course.

as far as the russians go, stravinsky never did too much for me, and prokofiev only in parts. shostakovich, however, is my pick for best of the century. nothing speaks to me like his cycle of 15 quartets or his best symphonies (1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, 10th, 14th & 15th).

bartók is another obsession of mine. the piano works, concertos & quartets are all incredible. some of his eastern european contemporaries are interesting as well: kodály, szymanowski, janácek, martinu.

in terms of the second half of the century: ligeti, carter, schnittke, feldman, rihm, scelsi, lutoslawski, kurtág=all classic. i love some of the minimalists' works, but am disappointed more often than not. also, pärt and górecki are quite excellent when they don't approach new age approximations.

if i were to reduce my tastes to 5 composers, i would likely say: beethoven, shostakovich, bartók, debussy, schnittke.

i've hardly heard enough, though.

i like shostakovich a lot. i need to figure out which is my next purchase. i get too obsessed picking out the best recordings, so it always takes me a while. i have the first 3 volumes of the Eder quartet's six disc complete cycle of the string quartets on naxos, and then the original recordings by oistrakh and rostropovich of the first violin and cello concertos. i dont know where to go next. there doesnt seem to be much consensus on the symphonies (there isnt on the quartets either, but after comparing emerson's 8th and eder's 8th, i decided to go for the latter, naxos' prices being an incidental bonus).

as for bartok, i have the Takacs quartet cycle, and the next disc will probably be reiner's recordings of the concerto for orchestra.

with messaien, i have been giving it some time, not forcing it, etc. i just try and make sure i put it on once every couple of weeks. if i like it, it will hit me eventually. i might try the catalog de oiseaux too, just because its easier to become familiar with a composer with solo works i think.

the beethoven quartet were closely associated with shostakovich throughout his lifetime and premiered most of his quartets. as it stands, their recordings are probably the most definitive, but i often find their interpretations to be a tad one-dimensional, actually.

the borodin quartet were also associated with shostakovich, and have recorded the cycle twice. the earliest one stops at the 13th quartet (as shostakovich had not yet composed the last two) and is closer to the beethoven quartet in spirit. the second one (recorded between the late 70's and early 80's) is possibly my favorite of all the sets i've heard. it captures the man's despair and values dissonance, but imbues the music with far more emotion than any other quartet i've heard. unfortunately, it's out of print, but soulseek does marvels.

as far as the symphonies go, anything you can find by mravinsky is generally excellent, if you can deal with the sound quality. whoever premiered the symphony is bound to be definitive more often than not.

concerning bartok, the takacs cycle is by far the best i've heard. i can't imagine anything better. same goes for reiner's recordings of the concerto for orchestra and music for strings, percussion and celesta.

messiaen is another one of those composers i *should* really love in theory, but who doesn't cut it in practice. "quatuor pour la fin du temps" is surely great, though.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the Fitzwilliam quartet, surely their Shostakovich cycle on Decca is the classic set (i thought they were the composer 'sanctioned' recordings?). It's on my 'to buy' list.

I have the Bernard Haitink symphonies cycle (also on Decca) and i like that just fine. Excellent versions of the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 13th and especially the 15th. I want to get Rattle's 4th, however, which i've heard and loved instantly. Btw, i would add the 6th and 9th to your list of his best. The 6th in particular is a work of brilliance.

the fitzwilliam quartet plays the best western shostakovich i've heard. however, they supplants neither the borodin or beethoven quartets, as far as i'm concerned.

haitink's 15th is indeed excellent (especially when paired with "from jewish folk poetry"), and many of the other performances are as well. his 14th is horrible, though.

for the 5th, mravinsky is unbeatable... if you can deal with the sound quality. same for the 10th, but i return to karajan's 1981 performance most often (you can actually hear the orchestral power properly). solti's 13th and barshai's 14th are the best i've heard.

as far as the others go, i don't have any specific favorites. but you're right, haitink is usually a good bet. and barshai's complete cycle is as well.

i am not at the point where i can afford to get alternate recordings of favorite pieces, but i really do like the Eder for Shost.. i made the mistake, when i started getting into classical, of assuming that budget recordings were somehow of lower quality.

a friend advises me to pick up rostropovich's version of Shost.'s 8th. how is it? also, has anyone heard Gergiev's 7th? (i love his "rite of spring", but am less impressed with his version of Tchaikovsky's 6th, though that may be because i am less impressed with the symphony itself, which used to be my favorite back when i had only heard three symphonies; tchaikovsky's 4th and 6th, and beethoven's 5th).

is there anylove towards rautavaara? i have the naxos disc with canticus arcticus, piano concerto 1, and symphony no 3 and i like it a lot.

"is there anylove towards rautavaara? i have the naxos disc with canticus arcticus, piano concerto 1, and symphony no 3 and i like it a lot."

Yes, a few months ago I got some sort of Rautavaara "best of" which has canticus arcticus I think this is a fantastic, mysterious piece. And there's plenty of other good stufff on it too. I'm now really interested in him and am going to invest in more.

The Fall. I love "The Classical!"

sorry.