# Your favorite musician



## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Please, name your favorite musician. Let's limit it to 20th -21st century. It can be anyone: performer, composer, conductor,etc
First I wanted to ask you to name all time favorite musician but I think that would be too difficult to choose.

I'm curious to know


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Gustav Leonhardt


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Classical guitarist David Russell


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Think you all know that mine is Joshua Bell!! Love him to bits!


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## Armanvd (Jan 17, 2017)

Igor Stravinsky


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Barbara Hannigan - Soprano, conductor, dancer. "She is one of the great musicians of our time." - Simon Rattle


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Leonard Bernstein. All-around great musician. Brilliant conductor, composer and educator.


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## jailhouse (Sep 2, 2016)

probably Messiaen if we're talking classical music


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## Schumanniac (Dec 11, 2016)

Jacqueline du pre.

Her playing is just so powerful when called for, the tenderness heart-wrenching and raw. Theres no restraint there, just something pure and primal, the boldness to interpret and own a piece rather than playing it at percieved perfection. If she had been able to continue playing until +50 years, not stopping at 27, she would've been the cellist unparraleled in my world.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

My daughter. Well, she's not really a professional musician but she does practice piano so that counts 

There are so many musicians I love in 20 and this century, there is no way I can come up with a single one.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Jacqueline Du Pre in a heartbeat as instrumentalist. She was a key figure in my discovery of this music and remains one of my favourite musicians. She played from her heart and soul.

I could try and work around the limit and go into categories but ultimately Du Pre is the first name which comes to mind.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

impossible - 

you would need to break it into categories - such as - 

favorite concert soloist - violinist, pianist, cellist, etc, etc
favorite orchestra performer
favorite chamber musician
favorite on your own instrument
favorite with whom you've performed
overall greatest

and so forth......


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

Sir Colin Davis, conductor. I liked every work that he interpreted, two works particularly -- Requiems of Mozart and Berlioz. Superb artist in any aspect.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

helenora said:


> Please, name your favorite musician. Let's limit it to 20th -21st century. It can be anyone: performer, composer, conductor,etc


Not much of a limit. The 20th century produced thousands of amazing artists and musicians. And there are hundreds of great musicians making contributions today. Okay, a handful from the 20th century: Bernstein, Boulez, Zappa, Miles Davis, Gould, Bill Evans, Martha Argerich, Janet Baker.

21st: Aimard, Frank Peter Zimmerman, Arditti Quartet, Emerson Quartet


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Bettina said:


> Leonard Bernstein. All-around great musician. Brilliant conductor, composer and educator.


Seconded, and for those same reasons. Not just as a musician, either - Bernstein was one of my favourite _people_ of the 20th century. The man was a phenomenon.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

My wife and my son - both professional musicians


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Yes Bernstein was great. Favorite though? Impossible question for me to answer. 

I'll just mention Herreweghe, because I'm in love with his recording of the Bach St. Matthew Passion I just picked up.


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

jailhouse said:


> probably Messiaen if we're talking classical music


yes, sure I'm talking about classical music.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

How about Rachmaninoff? Enormously popular composer. Probably among top five pianists, ever. Highly praised conductor. Perfect pitch. Alleged to have photographic memory and wizard sight-reading skills. Began second career as virtuoso pianist at age 45, when some pianists might be ending theirs.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Think I'll go with Arthur Rubinstein.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Let's think for one nano second....Renée Fleming.:angel:


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Pugg said:


> Let's think for one nano second....Renée Fleming.:angel:


yes, I do understand :wave:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

helenora said:


> yes, I do understand :wave:


Unbreakable bond, with a bit of luck I am going to New York at her final curtain call.


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Pugg said:


> Unbreakable bond, with a bit of luck I am going to New York at her final curtain call.


wow! when is this memorable event?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

helenora said:


> wow! when is this memorable event?


Coming May, I hope it will be on the May 13th, that's the last one but any date will do.


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## lluissineu (Dec 27, 2016)

I agree with most of the posts = incapable to choose one.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I couldn't compare performers to composers and pick a "favorite," unless "favorite" refers to a personal liking, in which case my favorite musician is me (isn't honesty appalling?).

Eliminating composers from consideration, my favorite musician, with respect to musical integrity and depth, is either Wilhelm Furtwangler or Maria Callas.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Following Woodduck's example and setting aside composers, I recall seeing a lengthy interview/biography of Arthur Rubenstein (previously mentioned by CypressWillow) and thinking what a great life and career he had: long and fulfilling life, rich emotionally and professionally, loads of friends and honors, and with a gift for some self-analysis and even soul-searching. He remarked that he started out as the hot kid on the block, loads of technique, praised by all and sundry--and then allowed himself to become complacent and lazy and self-satisfied. Then he heard Horowitz. Horowitz evidently completely shook Rubenstein's view of himself; he realized that he had let his talents decay, and threw himself into a program of dedicated practice and rigor that did bring him very close to the top of his profession and kept him there for the rest of his long career.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Past - Leonard Bernstein
Present - Hilary Hahn


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Composer/Musician - Bela Bartok because he is my selection for greatest composer since Beethoven (sorry Ligeti).

If were talking strictly non-composer/musician that would have to be Glenn Gould, who not only was a sublime pianist but a wonderful music thinker/philosopher and wasn't afraid to experiment as an artist in his own right. 

(And yes I'm well aware he composed a few things but hardly enough to be taken seriously as a true composer, although I do confess I'm quite a fan of his string quartet)


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

Otto Klemperer. So intense, serious, dedicated, and often overlooked because he wasn't ostentatious.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Olias said:


> Past - Leonard Bernstein
> Present - Hilary Hahn


That would be my one from the past also.


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## OldFashionedGirl (Jul 21, 2013)

Mstislav Rostropovich. I admire him not just as musician, but also as a human being.


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## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

Itzhak Perlman - despite of what is going against him physically, he has accomplished so much that most musician that is physically fit. Also, he is very personable with great character!


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## JB Lully (Feb 8, 2017)

Lately, Mikhail Pletnev.


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

pcnog11 said:


> Itzhak Perlman - despite of what is going against him physically, he has accomplished so much that most musician that is physically fit. Also, he is very personable with great character!


What do you mean 


> despite of what is going against him physically


?


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Perlman is currently 71, so his body won't let him play like it did in his prime. However, from what I hear from a coworker who saw him last month, he still puts on a great concert.

My favorite classical musician is Murray Perahia.


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