# Top 10 Composers Of String Quartets?



## Guest

Post 'em.

The string quartet is one of the few genres (well, basically just that and opera) that I struggle to enjoy in classical music. I'm assuming lists would include Beethoven, Schubert, Bartok, Shostakovich, etc....after all, I can enjoy those ones


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## Mahlerian

A chronological list of 10 of the best (I apologize for the lack of Romantic repertoire, but I'm not as familiar with it):

Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Debussy (only one, but it's excellent)
Schoenberg (all _five_ of them)
Bartok
Shostakovich
Carter
Ligeti


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## ptr

My list is very similar to Mahlerian's! But I would trade Debussy for a more predictable Schumann and Carter for Sofía Gubaidulina and I'd bump Ligeti in favour of Wolfgang Rihm, all because of personal preferences!

/ptr


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## Art Rock

Roughly chronological:

Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Mendelssohn
Dvorak
Bruch
Shostakovich
Villa-Lobos
Gubaidulina

The Bartok set and the Brahms SQ's never appealed that much to me.


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## Blancrocher

If you can't get enough string quartets, I'd recommend looking into (or hearing into?) the amazing melodies of Brahms, Smetana, Borodin, Dvorak, and Nielsen. I wouldn't change Mahlerian's top-10 list, though.

Unless I change my mind after hearing Gubaidulina! Thanks for the tip, ptr.


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## ptr

double post mod please remove!


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## Kleinzeit

Yes, the only change I'd make in Mahlerian's list is Schumann for Debussy.

I'd put up for an alternate ten: *Villa-Lobos*-- whatever a goldbricker he may have been with his symphonies, the SQs are from the heart and mind.

Same goes for *Martinů*.

*Smetana*'s two are deeply moving, as are *Janáček*'s.

Four I started listening to this summer: *Cherubini*, *Hindemith*, *Reger*, *Zemlinsky*. *Prokofiev*'s two are wild.

Voces Intimae Op. 56 is the one of my beloved Sibelius, but he'd be on a third list of ten. So to make this ten-- *Morton Feldman*'s two. The 2nd is like a St. Bernard of sound. It eventually sniffs you out in the blizzard, and it's got a cask of brandy.


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## Guest

A _klassik_ Kleinzeit post. Love it.


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## Guest

I ain't gonna touch Mahlerian's post (#2 above).


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## Kleinzeit

Of course I always forget one, and of course it's one that's on pretty heavy rotation.
The four by *Xenakis*-- the statistical ST-4/1.080262, Tetora, Ergma: tribute to the paintings of Mondrian, and Tetras. These sounds push me to _live_, whether it's to dig a hole or think a whole.

But nominating these opens up a whole 'nother decision tree-- Crumb, Saariaho, Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Dusapin, Birtwistle, Nancarrow...and Dutilleux...and the other one I'm forgetting. 
So I'm splitting.


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## Guest

Kleinzeit said:


> Of course I always forget one, and of course it's one that's on pretty heavy rotation.
> The four by *Xenakis*-- the statistical ST-4/1.080262, Tetora, Ergma: tribute to the paintings of Mondrian, and Tetras. These sounds push me to _live_, whether it's to dig a hole or think a whole.
> 
> But nominating these opens up a whole 'nother decision tree-- Crumb, Saariaho, Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, Dusapin, Birtwistle, Nancarrow...and Dutilleux...*and the other one I'm forgetting*.
> So I'm splitting.


Dear Kleinzeit, I hope by 'the other one' you aren't thinking of Philip Glass's attempts in the genre. Please, not him.


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## Kleinzeit

TalkingHead said:


> Dear Kleinzeit, I hope by 'the other one' you aren't thinking of Philip Glass's attempts in the genre. Please, not him.


I assure you, I assure you. It never even crossed my mind.

Nice guy though. He summers on Cape Breton Island. He was a kind of unofficial 'composer-in-residence' at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design when I was there. We sat together on a flight to NYC as the 1991 Gulf War was beginning, and he had a lot of thoughtful things to say. There was heavy turbulence at one point, and we were both ostentatiously cool about it. But I thought, "if we go down, this'll make a cool obit". So it was a win-win.

But naw.


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## Klavierspieler

Hmmm... I'm not sure I'm familiar with that many String Quartets, but I'll do my best.

Beethoven
Janacek
Schumann
Shostakovich
Bartok
Hindemith
Britten
Schubert
Smetana
Novak

There! I made it! 

Honorable mentions to Faure, Berg, and Webern.


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## DrKilroy

Nobody mentioned Ravel yet. Isn't his SQ great?  

Best regards, Dr


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## Kleinzeit

Oh man! You're right. Fauré! Berg! Webern! Ravel! 
Borodin!
Kokkonen, Sallinen, Nørgård, Nordgren.

...lists, schmlists.


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## Guest

Kleinzeit said:


> I assure you, I assure you. It never even crossed my mind.
> 
> Nice guy though. He summers on Cape Breton Island. He was a kind of unofficial 'composer-in-residence' at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design when I was there. We sat together on a flight to NYC as the 1991 Gulf War was beginning, and he had a lot of thoughtful things to say. There was heavy turbulence at one point, and we were both ostentatiously cool about it. But I thought, "if we go down, this'll make a cool obit". So it was a win-win.
> 
> But naw.


Fair 'nuff, mon Maître.
I thought for a moment I could tie in Stockhausen's attempts in the genre (the one to be played in a helicopter, or 4 separate helicopters, I can't recall) : going down in flames with _him_ would surely be the 'mother-of-all-obits'. Anyways, I also got to have a little chat with my dear Karlheinz at a press conference some years ago; a thoroughly lovely chap, but as mad as a hatter.


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## Kleinzeit

TalkingHead said:


> Fair 'nuff, mon Maître.
> I thought for a moment I could tie in Stockhausen's attempts in the genre (the one to be played in a helicopter, or 4 separate helicopters, I can't recall) : going down in flames with _him_ would surely be the 'mother-of-all-obits'. Anyways, I also got to have a little chat with my dear Karlheinz at a press conference some years ago; a thoroughly lovely chap, but as mad as a hatter.


As it is, one of Stockhausen's relatives (I'm the internet soul of discretion) attended NSCAD with me in the 90s. They never brought up the connection, of course. Impeccable breeding.


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## Ondine

Dvorak
Martinu
Nielsen
Bartok
Mozart
Haydn
Schostakovich
Bruch
Brahms
and I like Phillip Glass' ones.


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## Itullian

Beethoven
Haydn
Mozart
Brahms
Schumann
Taneyev
Villa Lobos
Dvorak
Spohr so many 
Robert Simpson
Miaskovsky


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## jurianbai

Most have been mentioned. 

Mendelssohn's all six+1 quartet + 1 octet 
the Russians string quartets : Myaskovsky, Sergey taneyev, Shebalin
Sibelius
Janacek
Smetana
Max Bruch
Saint Saens
and so many more.... spanning the era from Classical to this date.


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## Guest

Nah, it goes this way : *Haydn* (with *Mozart* coming on strong), then *Beethoven* stomping over anything that moves. Next up on the track (though the race is over) is *Schubert*. There follows a pause whilst a bunch of pianists without the slightest clue how a string instrument works faff around (with even *Bruckner* having a go at a string quintet) until we reach *Bartok* who writes 6 of the ******** in the true idiom, with *Shostakovitch* offering _second olive pressings_ [copyright P Boulez]. After that, the only composer able to write a veritable string quartet is *Ligeti*.
This is the history of the string quartet offered by TalkingHead.


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## Guest

I see that my master (*Kleinzeit*) has deigned to give me a 'like'. This is positive news for me. I tell you, I try to write like this guy (he reminds me of James Ellroy) but the difference is he (Klein) has talent and _I_ don't. May he and his house be damned, may locusts consume his garden vegetables ...


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## Kleinzeit

Kasa de Klenzeit, 5 Spt.









he thrives in these conditions


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## Avey

Mahlerian said:


> Debussy (only one, but it's excellent)


I'd go one further: that _andantino_ alone puts him in my list.


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## Guest

And you know what, Avey, it's a doddle to play, but a mutahfu**a to get right.


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## peeyaj

*1. Beethoven

2. Schubert

3. Haydn

4. Bartok

5. Mozart

6. Shostakovich

7. Dvorak

8. Mendelssohn

9.?

10. ?*


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## violadude

Klavierspieler said:


> Hmmm... I'm not sure I'm familiar with that many String Quartets, but I'll do my best.
> 
> Beethoven
> Janacek
> Schumann
> Shostakovich
> Bartok
> Hindemith
> Britten
> Schubert
> Smetana
> Novak
> 
> There! I made it!
> 
> Honorable mentions to Faure, Berg, and Webern.


You just mentioned a bunch that I was going to mention because I thought no one else would :O

Janacek, Britten and Hindemith deserve more props for their quartet writing.


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## violadude

I guess my list would be: 

Haydn 
Mozart 
Beethoven
Bartok
Shostakovich
Per Norgard
Schoenberg
Berg
Gubaidulina
Carter

And since this is a thread for the purpose of recommendation, I will make another list of 10, not necessarily my favorites (though some are very close), but ones that haven't been mentioned that I think are worth listening to.

Ahmed Saygun ( 3 & 1/2 Bartok-esque with Central Asian influences)

Witold Lutoslawski (Only one, but it's pretty epic if you like his aleatoric style)

Max Reger (6, these are good and meaty quartets but extremely dense with counterpoint and can get sort of academic, iono if you're into that sort of thing or not)

Gyorgy Kurtag (Multiple pieces for string quartet, but only one official "String Quartet" if ya know what I'm saying. Very similar to Webern in brevity and concentration, but with the Hungarian fire reminiscent of Bartok and Ligeti's 1st quartet)

Quincy Porter (A prolific American composer that hardly anyone cares about anymore. I have his 9 string quartets and, while they aren't the MOST brilliant things ever, I found them to be very enjoyable and chalk full of fun musical surprises)

Alfred Schnittke (Mostly known for his orchestral music and his other chamber pieces, especially the Piano Quintet. But he wrote 4 solid quartets that I very much like. Be warned though that, even if you are a fan of Schnittke, his first quartet is a very early work of his that was written back when he was experimenting with serialism)

Szymanowski (Wrote 2 awesome quartets. Very folk influenced and quite Bartokian. I'm referencing Bartok a lot, but he basically became one of the huge models for string quartet writing of the 20th century, especially for those composers interested in folk music as well)

Peter Maxwell-Davies (I believe he has written earlier quartets, but I'm referencing his recent series of 10 "Naxos" quartets. The only series of classical pieces I am aware of that is dedicated to a record label, these 10 quartets explore a strikingly broad range of expression and 21st century string writing techniques. They are quite complex sometimes, but they aren't as complex as Carter's quartets I would say. And they aren't "sound experiment" quartets, like those of Penderecki and Xenakis)

Gorecki (If you like the slow moving, long epic buildup style of his "Symphony of Sorrows" then his string quartets are pretty much that, in quartet form, especially the 3rd string quartet. There are some fast minimalism moments in these too, which can either be really effective or really mind numbing depending on what mood you are in)

Korngold (He is mostly known for his movie scores, his violin concerto and possibly his symphony too. But he also wrote 3 string quartets that are quite enjoyable. They reek of German expressionism, very similar to Berg or early Schoenberg, which is probably why I like them so much. The 2nd is known for its gracefulness and breezy Vienneseness)


EDIT: I just realized that someone had already mentioned Reger. So my list of composers that people haven't mentioned yet is only semi-accurate now, but meh. 

In other news, I definitely second the Tanayev recommendation as well. Taneyev needs more love! His string quartets are great, especially once you hit #1. (Confused? Taneyev wrote SQ #7-9 before #1, and they are sort of meh, but his writing gets considerably better starting with #1 and ending with the brilliant #6).


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## Schumann

_Random Order_

Mozart
Beethoven
Schumann
Grieg
Haydn
Mendelssohn
Schubert
Dvorak
Prokofiev
Tchaikovsky


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## Delicious Manager

I'll bite. My alphabetical list:

Bartók
Beethoven
Britten
Haydn
Holmboe
Janáček
Mozart
Schubert
Shostakovich
Robert Simpson

I would add the names of those composers who wrote only one (but important) string quartet:

Debussy
Dutilleux
Lutosławski
Ravel
Sibelius (well, one 'mature' one)
Verdi


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## Kleinzeit

Holmboe!

You always forget the good ones!

World so big


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## Delicious Manager

Kleinzeit said:


> View attachment 24302
> 
> 
> Holmboe!
> 
> You always forget the good ones!
> 
> World so big


Yet, hardly anyone knows this most impressive series of 21 quartets.


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## Kleinzeit

Delicious Manager said:


> Yet, hardly anyone knows this most impressive series of 21 quartets.











The whole body of work! Like Sibelius, above all genuine, authentic. If we can use old-school words like that without falling into unexamined naffness.









And he even inspired this laptop mashup tribute record last year. It's really, really terrible. (though the 2nd disc is of the chunks played straight). But at least someone is digging his mine.


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## Rangstrom

1. Schubert
2. Haydn
3. Beethoven
4. Shostakovich
5. Bartok
6. Dvorak
7. Janacek
8. Taneyev
9. Spohr
10 Holmboe/Simpson/Maiskovsky (sorry--too close to call)

And since I have more string quartets in my collection than any other genre, I have to at least note the following (all composed multiple sqs worth exploring): Stenhammar, Xenakis, Herzogenberg, Rochberg, Milhaud, Cherubini, Gyrowetz, Hummel, Onslow, Arriaga, Zemlinsky, Bridge, Bloch, Rosenberg, Tippett, Coates....


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## Kleinzeit

Coates!









really interesting, school-of-Xenakis immersion sound-contraptions.


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## SuperTonic

What does everyone think of Boccherini's quartets? I've been curious to check them out but haven't gotten around to it yet. According to wikipedia he was a prolific composer of chamber music in general, with nearly a hundred quartets alone.

I vaguely seem to recall hearing a Boccerini chamber piece that had castanets in it on the radio, but I may be mistaken, and it may not even have been a quartet.


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## HaydnBearstheClock

SuperTonic said:


> What does everyone think of Boccherini's quartets? I've been curious to check them out but haven't gotten around to it yet. According to wikipedia he was a prolific composer of chamber music in general, with nearly a hundred quartets alone.
> 
> I vaguely seem to recall hearing a Boccerini chamber piece that had castanets in it on the radio, but I may be mistaken, and it may not even have been a quartet.


Boccherini's quartets are good - try his quartet in C minor, can't remember the number of it though. His quintets have nice melodies and 'jumpy' rhythms.


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## Avey

Surprised by the few mentions of Mendelssohn. As far as the major composers go -- romantic or not -- F. shined in the chamber realm. Particularly, in those 7 s.q., I have not seen any more efficient use of time -- no prolonged themes, no idle development, no forced dynamics -- in producing such evocative and sentimental music. And the contrast between works, such as Eb to Fm, is extraordinary. It appears these came so easy to him, knowing exactly what each and every piece, movement was going to sound like. 

I don't have a list, but I'm certain he'd be in TOP 10, at least!


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## Beethoven10

Janacek! I know there's only 2, but man they are gooduns. Ligeti too is great. 
Further back I'd say Schubert is my top (15, 14, 13, Quartettsatz), and then Beethoven close behind.


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## Kleinzeit

Mendelssohn!

Quite by coincidence, yesterday I ordered a 3-disc set of his SQ 1-6 by the Cherubinis on EMI. I know-- perhaps not the top ultimate best, but it's the one I can afford.


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## JCarmel

*Just* been listening to Mendelssohn's.....this set, actually

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn...ubini-Quartet/dp/B000UZ4EVG/ref=pd_sim_m_h__3


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## Kleinzeit

JCarmel said:


> *Just* been listening to Mendelssohn's.....this set, actually
> 
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mendelssohn...ubini-Quartet/dp/B000UZ4EVG/ref=pd_sim_m_h__3


Oy! That's the one I sent for, me!


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## quack

Cambini!

<insert 18thC facepalm>

No I haven't heard of any of Giuseppe Cambini's quartets but he wrote a gross amount of them, 144 apparently, playing along side Manfredini, Boccherini and Nardini so I thought he deserved a mention.

Ok I suppose my list of favourites might be:

*Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Reger, Bartok, Milhaud, Shostakovich, Rihm, Ropartz, Hindemith*

and some honourable mentions, because it is the fashionable thing these days:

*Henze, Scelsi, Weinberg, Glazunov, Krenck*

I wasn't sure about Hindemith at the end, he may have to fight it out with Henze, but I don't fancy Henze's chances Hindey is a brawler. I feel bad about leaving off Beethoven but i've always been more interested in the modern repertoire, a lot of the classical era, and even romantic has a clockwork regularity to it, I like the busted clock of 20thC. I wasn't sure that the first two classical types would make it but both of their sets have really grown on me recently, Schubert especially with quite a range of ideas lurking beneath the beautiful tunes. Also i'd agree Debussy deserves his honourable mention as his single one is quite amazing as is Dutilleux's.

One thing I was surprised about was Tchaikovsky not appearing more often, and he seemingly doesn't have that many people recording his three, I really need to take nother listen to them.


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## Kleinzeit

Just been listening to this set by the Danish Quartet. Hindemith like a big complicated dependable machine doing many things, throwing off enormous warmth if not great heat. (great heat is the 1920s Kammermusik)


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## worov

Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, Shostakovich, Villa-Lobos (my favorite), Martinu, Janacek, Prokofiev, Carter.

EDIT : I forgot Gorecki, Hovhaness, Glass, Rihm, Debussy, Ravel, Britten and dozens of others.


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## AClockworkOrange

I cannot make ten at present but from what I have heard, I would pick -in no order - 
- Britten
- Mendelssohn
- Beethoven
- Shostakovich
- Dvorak 
- Schubert (Death & the Maiden is superb)


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## TurnaboutVox

Ah, someone has mentioned Bridge as a contender before me. I can, of course, only list what I know, and compared to some of you I haven't gone much beyond the beaten path...

My list:

Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven (uber alles)
Schubert
Dvorak
Martinu
Webern
Berg
Hindemith
Bartok

but I'm also very fond of quartets by:

Mendelssohn
Schumann
Reger
Debussy
Ravel
Bridge
Sibelius
Nielsen
Schoenberg
Shostakovich
Ligeti
Dutilleux
Simpson
Carter


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## Dustin

1. Beethoven
2. Schubert
3. Haydn
4. Dvorak 
5. Mozart
6. Mendelssohn
7. Shostakovich
8. Bartok
9. Cherubini
10. Boccherini String Quintets (I know it's cheating)

This order is not set in stone but it's somewhat close.


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## Rhombic

Beethoven.
Borodin.
Haydn.
Dvorak.
Mendelssohn.
Hindemith.
Bartok.
Taneyev.
Miaskovsky.
Schumann.


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## Celloissimo

My personal ten would be, in no particular order

Haydn
Shostakovich
Webern
Bartok
Ravel (only one but it's one of my favorites)
Dvorak
Beethoven
Schubert
Prokofiev
Mozart


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## Chrythes

Since a lot of these lists are very different and on the verge of being a list of composers that composed "competent" chamber music I would add Pizzetti - only 2 string quartets, but they are very lyrical and not over the top. So far I haven't had the luck of finding a composer the could achieve this without being too banal, cliched or over dramatic. 
Also a notable mention is Prokofiev - I prefer his first string quartet to the second one, but both are worth listening to, especially since they are so unjustifiably obscure.


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## KenOC

From a week-long voting game on another forum, just completed:

1 - Ludwig van Beethoven
2 - Joseph Haydn
3 - Dmitri Shostakovich
4 - Béla Bartók
5 - Antonín Dvorák
6 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
7 - Franz Schubert
8 - Sergei Prokofiev
9 - Leoš Janáček
10 - Bohuslav Martinù


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## Vaneyes

Impossible, I quit the exercise when I got to twenty-five with no eliminations.


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## Keith

Roughly chronological, I'd say:

1. Haydn
2. Mozart
3. Beethoven
4. Shostakovich
5. Dvorak
6. Mendelssohn
7. Schubert
8. Boccherini
9. Brahms
10. Bartok


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## Avey

KenOC said:


> From a week-long voting game on another forum, just completed:
> 
> 1 - Ludwig van Beethoven
> 2 - Joseph Haydn
> 3 - Dmitri Shostakovich
> 4 - Béla Bartók
> 5 - Antonín Dvorák
> 6 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
> 7 - Franz Schubert
> 8 - Sergei Prokofiev
> 9 - Leoš Janáček
> 10 - Bohuslav Martinù


I am now pondering what valuable information you have brought from _this _forum to the _other_ forum. Do they know our ranks? Do they know our preferences? Do they call _us_ the _other_ forum?

Serious questions.


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## Blake

Avey said:


> I am now pondering what valuable information you have brought from _this _forum to the _other_ forum. Do they know our ranks? Do they know our preferences? Do they call _us_ the _other_ forum?
> 
> Serious questions.


Shouldn't matter. There is no Mendelssohn in that list. They loose 20 intelligence points.


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## Blake

Kleinzeit said:


> View attachment 24447
> 
> 
> Mendelssohn!
> 
> Quite by coincidence, yesterday I ordered a 3-disc set of his SQ 1-6 by the Cherubinis on EMI. I know-- perhaps not the top ultimate best, but it's the one I can afford.


You can get the mp3 version of Pacifica's Quartet cycle on Amazon for $10. It's glorious.

http://www.amazon.com/Mendelssohn-The-Complete-String-Quartets/dp/B003H0ZBJU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386046224&sr=8-2&keywords=mendelssohn+pacifica


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## KenOC

Avey said:


> I am now pondering what valuable information you have brought from _this _forum to the _other_ forum. Do they know our ranks? Do they know our preferences? Do they call _us_ the _other_ forum?
> 
> Serious questions.


Serious answer. For technical reasons, this forum (fine as it is otherwise) doesn't support decent polls to determine rank order. On the "other" forum, it may take three to six days to build a voting list or 30-60 candidates, and up to two to for weeks to determine the order of results via progressive eliminations. However, there are fewer active forum members. If we could do that kind of voting here, it would be quite exciting.

BTW the "other" forum does not support a lot of things found in this forum. There are no in-line pictures or even live links, for instance, except to the sponsoring retailer's products. Very primitive.

There are several members here who are active on both fora.


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## HaydnBearstheClock

KenOC said:


> Serious answer. For technical reasons, this forum (fine as it is otherwise) doesn't support decent polls to determine rank order. On the "other" forum, it may take three to six days to build a voting list or 30-60 candidates, and up to two to for weeks to determine the order of results via progressive eliminations. However, there are fewer active forum members. If we could do that kind of voting here, it would be quite exciting.
> 
> BTW the "other" forum does not support a lot of things found in this forum. There are no in-line pictures or even live links, for instance, except to the sponsoring retailer's products. Very primitive.
> 
> There are several members here who are active on both fora.


Whoa, it's all secret like CIA or KGB .


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## violadude

Keith said:


> Roughly chronological, I'd say:
> 
> 1. Haydn
> 2. Mozart
> 3. Beethoven
> 4. Shostakovich
> 5. Dvorak
> 6. Mendelssohn
> 7. Schubert
> 8. Boccherini
> 9. Brahms
> 10. Bartok


When you said roughly chronological, you weren't kidding about the roughly part...


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## ScipioAfricanus

Brahms seems distinctly absent from the list of many.
Here are mine
Haydn
Mozart
Beethoven
Schubert
Schumann
Mendelssohn
Cherubini
Dvorak
Brahms
Volkmann


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## mwd

I was begining to think Boridin was to be overlooked. Can't add more as it's a genre I am only just begining to appreciate.
Thanks for much interesting comment from the site in general.
Happy Christmas to the moderators and everyone who posts.

MWD.


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## mwd

I was begining to think Borodin was to be overlooked. Can't add more as it's a genre I am only just begining to appreciate.
Thanks for much interesting comment from the site in general.
Happy Christmas to the moderators and everyone who posts.

MWD.


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## dbcrow

Thanks for Hindemith to everyone who's mentioned him. His six (or seven, depending on how you count) are wonderful. 

Not sure he would be in the Top 10 (a rather fatuous, though undeniably fun, exercise) of all time, but I would put him in a 20th Century Top 10: Malipiero. 

There are some great American composers being overlooked: Walter Piston, David Post, and Aaron Jay Kernis. For Latin Americans, I would add Ginastera and Brouwer.


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## csacks

Just to add a name which has not been mentioned: Juan Crisostomo Arriaga, from Spain. He wrote 3 SQ. Close your eyes and Mozart is there. 
Can not mention 10 now, but Schubert´s Death and the Maiden is my favorite. 
Do let me say that so many of those already mentioned are new to me, this is going to be expensive!!!!


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## elgar's ghost

Just for jolly I'd like to bend the rules a bit and offer two lists - for composers of three or more and for those who only managed one or two:

List one:

Haydn (middle-late)
Beethoven
Schubert (late)
Dvorak (middle-late)
Schoenberg
Bartok
Hindemith
Shostakovich
Tippett
Simpson (although I admit to not having heard four of his fifteen)

This list was especially difficult, causing much brow-furrowing and crossing-out. Even now it may not be definitive. Mozart, Britten, Schnittke, Zemlinsky, Korngold and Rawsthorne are among the names which sadly miss the cut.



List two:

Smetana
Debussy
Ravel
Berg
Ives
Janacek
Prokofiev
Ibert
Walton
Ades


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## hpowders

Beethoven then Bartok then Haydn.


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## AClockworkOrange

AClockworkOrange said:


> I cannot make ten at present but from what I have heard, I would pick -in no order -
> - Britten
> - Mendelssohn
> - Beethoven
> - Shostakovich
> - Dvorak
> - Schubert (Death & the Maiden is superb)


I'd just like to round out my list to 10 by adding:
- Saint-Saens
- Bax
- Mozart
- Bridge

I still have some gaps I need to work on but this is a list I happy with for now.


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