# For which composer are you the Ideal Listener?



## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Is there a particular composer whose every note sinks deeply into your heart? Even if he or she isn't necessarily your 'favorite,' nevertheless they have the power to stop you in your tracks and you are owned by the piece until it's over? 

I have one such, and I like to think that he had an ideal listener in mind and that I am that person, totally receptive to the universe that he was creating with every piece. Someone who could never be indifferent, or bored, or unable to surrender to the music itself, even 'the spaces between the notes.'
Please tell me if there is one such for you, and how your relationship with their music is unique.

Oh, in my case, it's Chopin!


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I would say all composers from the great 18th century would fine me as their ideal listener.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Dvorak, Korsakov, Schumann, Sibelius, Mussorgsky and even Ippolitov-Ivanov and a few others.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

ArtMusic said:


> I would say all composers from the great 18th century would fine me as their ideal listener.


Their Oboe Concerti!


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## Chromatose (Jan 18, 2016)

I'd say I'm Scriabin's ideal listener. What a composer!


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

CypressWillow said:


> Is there a particular composer whose every note sinks deeply into your heart? *Even if he or she isn't necessarily your 'favorite*,' nevertheless they have the power to stop you in your tracks and you are owned by the piece until it's over?
> ...


I would be very surprised if such composer isn't one of my fav indeed! This post is the perfect definition of "favorite composer" imo.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I would say that, for me, the composers who most often move me are--in no order--Brahms, Prokofiev, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Ravel. There are many runners-up, too numerous to mention.


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## Stavrogin (Apr 20, 2014)

I think I get where you're coming from, OP.

Prokofiev is one of my favourite composer (or maybe even THE), but I am not his ideal listener as you put it.
I have to put myself to listening to his works with a little focus, and only then I am so pleasantly overwhelmed.

For others, on the contrary, their notes naturally sink in and own me, when they reach me. It's the case for me of Giya Kancheli or Arvo Part, whom I often mention in here, but I wouldn't say they're in my Top 5 composers list.


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## Mal (Jan 1, 2016)

I'm not an ideal listener. That said, what went well in the last few weeks:

Haydn, Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, Sibelius, Brahms, Satie

What didn't:

Bruckner (I blame Karajan or DG engineers ), Verdi (apart from some highlights!)


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## Iean (Nov 17, 2015)

Johann Sebastian Bach:angel:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Takemitsu. Not on the shortlist of favourites (he would come in somewhere in the #10-20 range) but every time I hear something he composed, I like it.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Iean said:


> Johann Sebastian Bach:angel:


Me too, Iean!


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## Rhombic (Oct 28, 2013)

As some of you may already know, Myaskovsky and potentially Prokofiev. Actually, the Mighty Handful too (especially symphonic works), as well as the -sometimes dreaded- Belyayev circle. Even Lyapunov.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Probably Haydn. His music just fits my general disposition, I think . Or Rimsky-Korsakov/Telemann, I tend to 'naturally' like their music as well.


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## EarthBoundRules (Sep 25, 2011)

I really identify with the music of Berlioz. He may not be my favourite composer, but he's the most personal for me.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I think I have the ability to become an ideal listener of just about any composer—once I start loving their œuvre—so I'd say I am the ideal listener of my favourite composers.


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

Three names come to mind: Schubert, Bartók and Debussy.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

It's as if the composer is performing a just-completed piece for one person after another, searching for a particular quality of responsiveness. Not looking for "oh, that's nice" or "yes, I like this." Something more along the lines of "A hush has come over the universe, this is all the sound that exists, could anything be more beautiful?!" As if the listener has been grabbed by the lapels and been brought face-to-face with the very soul of the composer, no escape is possible. 
A bit over the top, I know. Words aren't adequate (at least for me) to describe the experience of just knowing THIS IS IT! Yeah, I think that's really what I'm asking: who is your This Is It composer? And can you describe what you are thinking/feeling when you hear their music? 
I think Stavrogin and EarthBoundRules are doing this.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

I would say I am a _good_ listener for many composers, from Bach to Sibelius. However, there is only one who I always listen to, silent and in awe - both to his music and to his words. He may lead me wherever he wants to - and I will follow. And since he has already led me to some good places, I fully trust him. Yes, that Wagner guy


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Ah, exactly, SiegendesLicht. Well said.

:tiphat:


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I'm the ideal listener for a few composers: Mahler, Chopin, Bach, and Medtner. :cheers:


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## Klassic (Dec 19, 2015)

Pettersson because I know what his music demands from the listener. Pettersson wrote out of his angst. Pettersson is not happy-life-music, it is Schopenhauer embodied in sound.

_O yes, and by the way, all those who are the ideal listeners for Mahler are equally so for Pettersson. These composers have a very important attribute in common: they both infused their experience of life into their music._


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

It's Bach and Scriabin for the Bulldog.


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## Ialsop (Jan 24, 2016)

DEFINITELY Dmitri Shostakovich!!! 

I LOVE everything from that guy.


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