# Which composer do you return to the most?



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

If you are like me, you listen to SOMETHING every day of your life. If a day goes by without music, I feel empty.

I have any number of favorite composers, and I suppose I listen to my favorites more than composers I would not consider a favorite. But who do I listen to THE MOST? In other words, who do I return to the most?

For me, Sibelius. I probably listen to more Sibelius than any other composer. I never tire of hearing a symphony or a tone poem. He definitely takes the cake for me.

What about y'all...YOUR most listened to (and you never get tired of) composer?


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Sibelius. Absolutely Sibelius. Mahler to a lesser degree, as there are days when I'm just way too overwhelmed to be able to listen to any more Mahler.

I'll just leave it at Sibelius.

(Ah! Post #1111!)


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Of course, I listen to a lot of Ifukube too (just as you do with Mahler, Violist), but you know I mean. Maestro Sibelius is always finding his way back into my CD player. Can't keep him out.


----------



## Edmond-Dantes (Mar 20, 2009)

Ah, chopin. =D I love his works and I seem to be able to enjoy them no matter what mood I'm in.


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I tend to have alot of variety, I don't concentrate on one composer as such, but hardly a week goes by that I haven't listened to some *Bartok*. His music seemed to sum up everything about living in the C20th & it still sounds fresh and new today. In particular, I never tire of listening to his _Piano Concerto No. 1_ & the _Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta_. They seem to offer new insights whenever I listen to them.


----------



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

This is a great discussion.

I think I always return to Ravel. Everybody I'm sure is tired of hearing me talking about him, but it's the truth. Something about his music speaks to my heart like no other. I would be lost if I didn't have his music to turn to.


----------



## confuoco (Feb 8, 2008)

It is periodical, but generally I leisten to *Brahms* the most. With his 121 opuses of high quality and standard he is very good resource of musical pleasure.


----------



## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Over a lifetime: Elgar. He's always been there as a kind of backbone to my listening, but there are shorter periods when others become the flavour of the moment and apparently replace him. So, Wagner had a year or two of central importance; Vaughan Williams, too; Massenet and the later C19th French opera composers. At the moment Handel is swamping my listening in a way that has little precedent, and I'm not sure where that might take me. 
But always I go back to Elgar.


----------



## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

Debussy, Brahms and RVW are my safe havens.


----------



## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

WTCI+II by one John Bach... even though saying it makes me sound like Ebenezer Prout.


----------



## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

Safe havens: that's the word, post-minimalist. Music that absolutely never makes you wonder whether you like it or if it's good music at all. For me, that would be Schumann, late Liszt, Vaughan Williams, and Shostakovich.

But THE MOST... definitely Beethoven.


----------



## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

I certainly cannot make it through a day without music. I find Mahler and Bach are the two I return to without a doubt. I would also say Beethoven's piano sonatas are the most listened to beside Bach's piano and cello music.

Jim


----------



## tenor02 (Jan 4, 2008)

beethoven, closely followed by mozart and chopin. it really just depends on the day and what mood im in. oh, somehow i always mannage to fit in some whitacre


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

So far - Mozart. His style is so delightful, light and gentle that I can listen to him anytime, no matter what is my actual mood.


----------



## Margaret (Mar 16, 2009)

Bach. The music I've listened to most in my life are his cello suites. And, since last year, when I found all the solo violin pieces performed on the cello that's fast becoming one of my favorites as well. I suspect it will end up being one of those rare lifetime favorites.



Mirror Image said:


> This is a great discussion.


I also really like this thread topic.


----------



## Bach (Jun 2, 2008)

Beethoven and Bach. The only two composers to which one can devote a lifetime and only touch upon the surface their divine depth.


----------



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

I also return to Sibelius quite a bit. I just love his musical style. It's so his own that it only takes a few measures to say that's Sibelius.

Other composers I also return to quite a lot besides Ravel and Sibelius: Bruckner, Mahler, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Debussy, Nielsen, and Mendelssohn.


----------



## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Mozart and Richard Strauss


----------



## Edmond-Dantes (Mar 20, 2009)

OH, Chopin is closely fallowed by Debussy by the way.


----------



## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

Giuseppe Verdi, he was my gateway to the rest of the classical music world and I'm quite intimately familiar with all his operas and other works, so it's hard for me not to listen to one piece his at least once a day.


----------



## David C Coleman (Nov 23, 2007)

Mozart. He's like a backbone that all the others seem to spring out from..


----------



## confuoco (Feb 8, 2008)

Mirror Image said:


> It's so his own that it only takes a few measures to say that's Sibelius.


This is the benchmark of a great composer.


----------



## Enkhbat (Jan 28, 2009)

*claude debussy*


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Bach said:


> Beethoven and Bach. The only two composers to which one can devote a lifetime and only touch upon the surface their divine depth.


I hate to sound like a broken record, but I must be honest and say Beethoven and Bach too. I've been on a Beethoven binge for the last decade that will probably never end, but when I look at my life as a whole it has been Bach that I always return to.

The rest of the composers have individual pieces I return to over and over, such as the Tallis Fantasia, or Schumann's piano concerto.

There are a couple of musicians in the pop world I return to in the same way also.


----------



## classidaho (May 5, 2009)

Hayden!, for Opera, Rossini. Both uplift my spirit!


----------



## Metalheadwholovesclasical (Mar 15, 2008)

The composer I listen to everyday is Beethoven. His music has so much more power, intensity and emotion than any other composer I have listened to. He connects to me more than any other composer I know. Especially the 4th Movement of his Pastoral (spelling?)


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Metalheadwholovesclasical said:


> The composer I listen to everyday is Beethoven. His music has so much more power, intensity and emotion than any other composer I have listened to. He connects to me more than any other composer I know. Especially the 4th Movement of his Pastoral (spelling?)


I revisted the 4th and 5th of Beethoven today. Is there more moving music that the final movement of the 5th?


----------



## mueske (Jan 14, 2009)

Tapkaara said:


> I revisted the 4th and 5th of Beethoven today. Is there more moving music that the final movement of the 5th?


The final movement of the ninth? Or perhaps the third movement of the 15th string quartet? The hammerklavier sonate?

With Beethoven the list is almost endless.

Saying that, it's obvious that Beethoven is the composer I return to most often. There might be days where I do not listen to his music at all, but in the end, I'll always fall back on Beethoven.


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Tapkaara said:


> Is there more moving music that the final movement of the 5th?


Plenty; pretty much the whole third symphony, the allegretto of the seventh, some of the ninth (which I still haven't warmed up to), much of his piano sonatas, string quartets...

Fact is I've never warmed up to Beethoven's fifth at all, and by all means I should know that one better than anything Beethoven ever wrote (other than the "Eyeglasses" duet, but that's something else entirely...), since I've performed the whole thing twice. I just tire of it more easily than a lot of Beethoven's other output. It's an enigma to me how it got to be so popular among everybody...


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Tapkaara said:


> I revisted the 4th and 5th of Beethoven today. Is there more moving music that the final movement of the 5th?


This was a rhetorical question, guys...! Obviously, there is PLENTY of music beyond the 5th that is as wonderful and uplifting..,!


----------



## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

Tapkaara said:


> This was a rhetorical question, guys...! Obviously, there is PLENTY of music beyond the 5th that is as wonderful and uplifting..,!


Then we'll just have to expect that whenever you open your mouth now, Tapkaara.


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

airad2 said:


> Then we'll just have to expect that whenever you open your mouth now, Tapkaara.


You are only now beginning to expect that?


----------



## JustAFan (May 5, 2009)

Bach - works for either solo string or kybd, hard to go wrong with a concerto, Art of Fugue, Musical Offering...


----------



## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Always Igor!


----------



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

I have given this thread some more serious thought. I always return to the following at some point or another:

Ravel, Mahler, Bruckner, Sibelius, Delius, Hindemith, Debussy, Stravinsky, Nielsen, Vaughan Williams, Bax, Bartok, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky.


----------



## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Brahms
Mozart
Sibelius


----------



## FrankE (Jan 13, 2021)

Wagner, W.R., 
Bach, J.S.
Händel, G.F. 
Haydn, F. J.
Mozart, J.C.W.T. (less so recently)
Mainly the top two though, by a country kilometre and Wagner by a long shot..


----------



## 1846 (Sep 1, 2021)

Mozart. (Apparently your software doesn't like one word answers, so this extra chatter is to satisfy the 15 character rule.)


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Peobably like most, I go through pfases.

Originally it was Stravinsky and Bartok.

More recently, Elliott Carter and Charles Wuorinen.

Lately, Harrison Birtwhistle is creeping up in my rotation a bit.


----------



## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Haydn Symphonies
Mozart Operas
Beethoven everything
Dvorak Symphonies, Concertos, and Chamber Music


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Mozart/ Beethoven/ Brahms/ Haydn etc etc


----------



## Livly_Station (Jan 8, 2014)

Over the last decade, Bach and Beethoven the most.


----------



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

As duty, the warhorses, especially Bach and Beethoven. 

For pleasure, no composer in particular. I usually get more pleasure from trying new things than from returning to things I know already.


----------



## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

With most top favorites, like Beethoven, I don't feel like "returning" as I am never away from them. "Returning" applies better to the next tier, say Dvorak or Handel, where I have "binges" but also long period when I hardly listen to them.


----------



## FrankE (Jan 13, 2021)

If I could find a way to shuffle play whole albums and multi disk suites I'd probably mix things up a bit more. 
Unfortunately control devices for UPnP DNLA streamer / renderers, computer media players aren't set up for playing a complete classical work but more for pop songs. The streaming sites are the same.


----------



## Wilhelm Theophilus (Aug 8, 2020)

FrankE said:


> Wagner, W.R.,
> Bach, J.S.
> Händel, G.F.
> Haydn, F. J.
> ...


one glaring omission?


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bach, Mahler, Brahms, Schubert, Shostakovich, Sibelius. And many others, but these stand out for me.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Right now: Verdi. 

In the past it has been Bach, Satie, Schumann, Debussy, and Brahms. I often focus on a composer for relatively short periods (a few days to a couple of weeks) and then move on.


----------



## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

Art Rock said:


> Bach, Mahler, Brahms, Schubert, Shostakovich, Sibelius. And many others, but these stand out for me.


Composer. singular. 
*I don't believe it.* 6 + others, c'mon Arty make a commitment 

for me it just has to be LvB.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Fine. Bach it is then.

:tiphat:


----------



## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Schubert , Shostakovich and Beethoven


----------



## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

_Blah blah blah minimum post length blah blah _Mozart.


----------



## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

JJ Froberger, JS Bach, L/F Couperin, Marc Charpentier, Henry Purcell, O Lassus, Buxtehude and JP Rameau`s harpsichord suites, I can never get tired of Rameau`s harpsichord music.


----------



## Endeavour (Sep 9, 2021)

Hmm...I don't think I could say one specific composer. I think I listen to my favorites pretty equally so I would say Bach, Beethoven, Mahler & Mozart.


----------



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Probably Mozart overall, but my usual playlists are very varied and include diverse names. I think that I hear about five or six composers per day when I'm not in a migraine crisis (which tends to happen about twice a week).


----------



## AaronSF (Sep 5, 2021)

I listen to such a wide variety of composers, but I suppose Brahms is who I always come back to, especially for his chamber and piano music.


----------



## FrankE (Jan 13, 2021)

Wilhelm Theophilus said:


> one glaring omission?


Or four extraneous listings.


----------



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Charles Koechlin
+ 
soundtracks by Alex North


----------



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Bach
Beethoven
Bruckner
Dvorak
Mendelssohn
Haydn
Brahms

I tend to return to Modernist composers from time to time, but in spurts.


----------



## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

ORigel said:


> Bach
> Beethoven
> Bruckner
> Dvorak
> ...


Which *composer* do you return to the most?


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I listen to quite a variety of music, sometimes staying with one composers for a while and then moving on again. Often I like sharp contrasts between one piece and the next one (such as Brahms to Josquin). As for returning to a composer - I do always go back again and again to nearly all music I have enjoyed. I know when I'm ready.


----------



## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Bruckner.
To me he's one of the few composers who keeps surprising me, no matter how often I listen to his music. Every new recording seems to offer new insights - not only in his music but in music in general, maybe in life itself too.


----------



## sibylla (Jun 13, 2021)

Bach,


----------



## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Mahler.................


----------



## Eriks (Oct 10, 2021)

Bach, especially instrumental (keyboard, violin, cello) and cantatas.


----------

