# 2021: year of which composers?



## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Who were your top few composers last year, in terms of listening time and/or major new discoveries?

Mine were
Haydn, Ferneyhough in terms of listening 

Major discoveries for me, in terms of getting to know their music, were Bacewitz and Radelescu


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

My main discovery was Weinberg - he had been on my 'to explore' list for a few years, and in 2021 I finally managed to find time to listen to him extensively.

For the rest, I was mainly playing a few new CD's bought throughout the year, as well as many old CD's by composers starting with R and S (to Sch). There were a few that went up in my appreciation as a result of the extended listenings, in particular Reger, Reinecke, Schnittke, Schoenberg and Schumann.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Mahler, Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and now Nielsen for me.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

For me it was Brahms.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Listening: Bernstein, Mahler, Shostakovich, and opera Verdi, Wagner, and Mozart mostly.

Major new discoveries: Alphons Diepenbrock, Hans Gál, and Einojuhani Rautavaara.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Red Terror said:


> For me it was Brahms, who I place above Mozart.


Yeah, I spent alot of time listening to Staier and Faust's recordings of Brahms chamber music. Moving past Zukerman, Ma, Perlman and Ax. Love the performances on the period pianos as well.

For me, it's been more about "new" performers rather than composers. I _have_ been listening to a lot more Sibelius though.


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## Bwv 1080 (Dec 31, 2018)

Red Terror said:


> Brahms, who I place above Mozart.


I do as well, at least alphabetically


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

I`ve listened to at least a work by Brahms every single day of the previous year, but it`s not specific to 2021 and has been going on for a few years now. Other than Brahms I`ve listened to a lot of Xenakis this year and Ferneyhough also constituted a decent portion of my listening-time.

The biggest discovery of 2021 was Sándor Veress for me. The name was not unbeknownst to me but I don`t think I had the opportunity to do an extensive listening before 2021. It was also a year of Dutch composers for me and I got acquainted with some wonderful composers such as Rudolf Escher, Willem Pijper and Matthijs Vermeulen.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Bwv 1080 said:


> I do as well, at least alphabetically


Which is why Albinioni and Thorvald Aagaard are the greatest composers who ever lived.


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## KevinJS (Sep 24, 2021)

Without a doubt it was Mahler. 

The odd thing is that I was exposed to his work years ago but it left me for dead. This time round it got my attention.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

I did not listen to much (new) classical music in 2021. My major musical discoveries were mostly in popular Brazilian music.


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## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

C.P.E. Bach is perhaps THE great undiscovered master. 2021 was the year I fully grasped his music. The C.P.E. Bach Edition on Hanssler (available on YouTube) helped greatly in that discovery.


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## bz3 (Oct 15, 2015)

Top 3 for listening last year: Wagner, Sibelius, Stravinsky.

Discoveries: perhaps Schmidt, or maybe Verdi. Not that I was unfamiliar with either but I got a bit more into both.

For 2022: More Verdi, more bel canto, more Classical-era composers not named Mozart, Beethoven, or Haydn. Gluck being top of that list.


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## John Zito (Sep 11, 2021)

Ravel is my perennial favorite, and this year I read Roger Nichols' biography, got around to the _Introduction and Allegro_ and the songs (_Shéhérazade_, Mallarmé songs, _Don Quichotte à Dulcinée_, etc), and spent a lot of time listening to the Piano Trio. In 2022 I suppose I'll finally dig into _Histoires naturelles_ and _L'heure espagnole_, and by then I'll have familiarized myself with all of the major, mature works.

Otherwise, 2021 was the year of Schubert and Szymanowski. Listened to a lot of Kempff in the former and Rattle in the latter.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

In 2021, I listened to several bagatelles (home recordings), cantatas and other works of Valentin Silvestrov.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

In 2021 I mostly bought opera recordings by Wagner, Verdi, and Mussorgsky. And I picked up several Takemitsu CDs.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Most listened to composers of 2021 (in no particular order): Strauss, Mahler, Sibelius, Bartók, Dvořák, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Martinů, Schoenberg, Berg

New discoveries: Tansman


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

I'm going to go all into Messiaen and Ligeti this year, I think. Gotta get more 20th centruy done.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Had to check my spotify list of 2021. Seems my most played composers were Dvorak, Mendelssohn, JS Bach, Schumann, Mozart and Piazzolla. I can even remember it. It's been Mozart all Christmas here.


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## FrankinUsa (Aug 3, 2021)

I can’t say that there were any new discoveries that entered my listening time. 
At the beginnings of 2021 I was still on a big Mahler kick which had been going on for a couple of years. I think that in the Spring I returned to more listening of the major composers from Haydn/Mozart thru Brahms. I tried to listen to more chamber music. I did a concentrated marathon of all the Beethoven string quartets/piano sonata and got that done. I tried to listen to more Shostakovich,Stravinsky/Bartok. I started to look through the CDs I own and listen to things that I had not listened in years. I think that a good representation of my Classical listening in 2021.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

Continued admiration and love for Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak.

A growing appreciation for Shostakovich and Sibelius. I had till fairly recently avoided them due to my allergy to most 20th century classical music, but I have come to appreciate their music much more.


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