# I Can't Choose favorites In Classical Music



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

When people ask me who my favorite composer is, I always tell them that I love or at least ;like so many works by so many composers I can't say which one is my favorite . It's the same thing with conductors, instrumentalists, orchestras, chamber ensembles etc .
There are so many I admire it's impossible to choose a favorite in any category . Ditto recordings . My favoirite recordings of the Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky or whatever symphonies? Impossible to say .
There are so many outstanding ones . No one musician has a monopoly on the "right" way to perform any given work .
I like some composers more thna others , and prefer certain works by the same composer to others, but favorites ? Hard to say .
I've noticed one thing about recordngs which I've been aware of for a long time. The first recording of a work you hear will tend to become your favorite,because you get accustomed to the way this or that conductor , pianist,violinist, etc interprets the music . Then when you hear other recordings, something may just not seem "right" about them, usualy the tempi. They may seem either too fast or too slow . But if you continue listening to the other recordings, you can get accustomed to the way other musicians conceive the work . 
I have difficulty picking favorites in other things, too . Favorite color ? All colors are wonderful . How can I choose a favorite one ? 
Favorite food, drink, film, television program , book, magazine etc? Again, I just can't choose favorites .
It's like a mother with a dozen children. How does she choose a favorite among them ?


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

superhorn said:


> .It's like a mother with a dozen children. How does she choose a favorite among them ?


That's easy! You throw a dart at them and whichever one it sticks...


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## Lenfer (Aug 15, 2011)

Mothers always have a favorite... 

*Super* you are like me you can't pin down a favorite and this makes us the lucky ones. Some people go through phases of being devoted to one composer and or period of music, some people live, eat and breathe one composer and spend the biggest majority of their time listening to and talking about said composer.

I don't think I could cope with either and I'm much happier with my pick and mix of whatever takes my fancy that day. So I wouldn't see this as a problem rather a blessing. Just do what I do when asked about music and give a loose outline of how you feel about music at the time, no one will keep score.


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## Very Senior Member (Jul 16, 2009)

superhorn said:


> I have difficulty picking favorites in other things, too . Favorite color ? All colors are wonderful . How can I choose a favorite one ?
> Favorite food, drink, film, television program , book, magazine etc? Again, I just can't choose favorites .


This would seem to be the root of your problem: you don't have favourites for many things, not just music.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

Lenfer said:


> Mothers always have a favorite...


It's true, and in a quite and honest moment, they'll admit it.

As far as composer are concerned, I'd have a difficult time picking an overall favourite, too. I find it easier, though, to pick a favourite from one particular period. For instance, during the time between Beethoven and Wagner, I'd choose Mendelssohn. As for the second half of the 19th century, it'd be Brahms. But it would be hard for me to compare Mendelssohn and Brahms and pick a favourite of the two. Even though there's not even a big time gap between them, I already feel it's apples and oranges. Not to mention trying to compare Bach, as my favourite baroque composer, and Brahms.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

It must be great not to have a favourite composer. It would make you listen to a variety of music rather than mainly one composer.


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> It must be great not to have a favourite composer. It would make you listen to a variety of music rather than mainly one composer.


Oh yes, and I wonder which composer is your favourite? 

In reply to the OP, my favourite composer constantly changes, I can never stick to one, and if someone asks me which is my favourite I usually give at least three! But my favourite colour is red. Always has been, always will be.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

MaestroViolinist said:


> Oh yes, and I wonder which composer is your favourite?
> 
> In reply to the OP, my favourite composer constantly changes, I can never stick to one, and if someone asks me which is my favourite I usually give at least three! But my favourite colour is red. Always has been, always will be.


I like red. Red stands for communism.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> It must be great not to have a favourite composer. It would make you listen to a variety of music rather than mainly one composer.


You speak from experience. Isn't it about time you listened to something other than Ligeti.


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## Jem (Aug 1, 2012)

I always give three. It's been Mahler, Shostakovich and Beethoven for a while though now...


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

superhorn said:


> When people ask me who my favorite composer is, I always tell them that I love or at least ;like so many works by so many composers I can't say which one is my favorite . It's the same thing with conductors, instrumentalists, orchestras, chamber ensembles etc .
> There are so many I admire it's impossible to choose a favorite in any category . Ditto recordings . My favoirite recordings of the Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky or whatever symphonies? Impossible to say .
> There are so many outstanding ones . No one musician has a monopoly on the "right" way to perform any given work .
> I like some composers more thna others , and prefer certain works by the same composer to others, but favorites ? Hard to say .
> ...


superhorn, you have no need to choose at all. You have categorically recognised yourself as the Ultimate Zen Guru*. Only lesser listeners choose favourites, so please leave that arduous task to the rest of us.

* see poll results: http://www.talkclassical.com/classical-music-discussion/poll-593-a.html


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

bigshot said:


> That's easy! You throw a dart at them and whichever one it sticks...


I did that and got arrested for child abuse.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I picked "ultimate Zen Guru" as a joke, basically . Over the years since I was a teenager, I've heard an enormous variety of classical works of all genres . Yet, there's still so much I haven't heard and want to .
We're incredibly fortunate, or cursed, to have such a staggering variety of classical music available to us on CD, and more and more on DVD . 
I still haven't heard all 27 Myaskovsky symphonies . I've heard recordings, on CD and Lp , of probably over 500 different operas, ranging from Monteverdi to contemporary composers, and that doesn't count the operas I've heard multiple recordings of , yet there are still so many obscure operas I haven't heard on CD or seen on DVD . 
There are CDs of a lot of obscure composers I had never heard of before. And if I haven't heard of a composer, he or she is REALLY obscure . 
It''s frustrating to have so many interesting rarities available to us on CD ,and not to be able to hear all of them. If only I had the money , the time to listen, and the space to store everything ! I'd have a Pentagon-sized CD and DVD collection !


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