# Greetings, asking for your opinion



## kratos (Feb 24, 2009)

First of all I'd like to say hello to everyone over here. This is my first post and my English is not so good as it should be (I'm from Madrid, Spain), but I'm trying to improve it a bit every day.

Thinking about the matter of "the best composer" thread, I should say that my favourite composers are depending on the style:
- Chamber music: Brahms, I've never heard such beautiful music in another composer works.
- Symphonic: Beethoven, I think I shouldn´t tell anybody why 
- Concertos: Bach. Baroque music is totally diferent to anything I've listen of later periods, and nobody can compare in that age with what Bach wrote.

I've got a lot of composers to hear, nowadays I'm trying Mähler, Sibelius, Debussy,...but at the moment nobody liked me more than the other three.

I know maybe you're tired of discussing about kind of that before, my only intentions were to say hello, and also to re-open a good discussion in other way.


----------



## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Hola Kratos y bienvenido!. Por aquí hay un montón de fanáticos y tendrás acceso a mucha información (aunque no estarás de acuerdo con todo). Saludos desde el culo del mundo, mirando al Sur.


----------



## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

hi! 
your favorites are fine choices.
beethoven is a great place to start. in him, i can listen back into the classic period and forward into the later eras.

dj


----------



## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Welcome to Talk Classical, Kratos.

You're English is just fine ... we aren't that particular here as we have members from virtually every walk of life. 

We hope you will have a good time here.


----------



## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

Hi Kratos, anyone with Francis Bacon on his avatar is welcome here!
Cheers
FC


----------



## xJuanx (Feb 24, 2009)

taneyev said:


> hola kratos y bienvenido!. Por aquí hay un montón de fanáticos y tendrás acceso a mucha información (aunque no estarás de acuerdo con todo). Saludos desde el culo del mundo, mirando al sur.


de que parte de sudamerica sos?


----------



## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

I'm not going to suggest anything form the Classical or Baroque period other than to check out some Haydn, in particular Haydn's "London" Symphonies. Those are always enjoyable.

As for Beethoven and Brahms, this is really hit and miss, because both composers I'm very lukewarm about. I like Beethoven's concertos, but am not too crazy about his symphonies, because they quite frankly don't hit me emotionally. For Brahms, I would check out all of his symphonies. You really can't go wrong as long as the conductor and orchestra know the repertoire. Karajan and Bohm are both safe bets.

Now on to Mahler, he's still a composer I'm getting into that I haven't really dove headfirst into yet, but I just ordered his complete symphonies with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic, which is always a safe bet, but of course there have been so many other conductors that have tackled Mahler's work that it's a pretty wide open market.

Sibelius, is one of my absolute favorite composers. I like his symphonies, his violin concerto, and his tone poems, which he's viewed as an innovator of the tone poem, so it's only fitting that they're quite special. I would check out the 7-disc box set on Deutsche Grammophon by Neeme Jarvi and the Gothenburg Symphony. Beautiful renditions of Sibelius' symphonies and many of his tone poems. Sir Colin Davis and the Boston Symphony Orchestra also did a noteworthy cycle of Sibelius' symphonies that are definitely worth checking out.

Debussy is quite easy for me. Jean Martinon, hands down, the best Debussy, and Ravel for that matter, conductor there was. Absolutely amazing. Check out the 8-disc box set on EMI called Debussy, Ravel: Orchestral Works. You can't miss it. It's a green box set. That's the ultimate collection. Some people will argue that Boulez did some of the best Debussy and Ravel work, but I don't think so. I've heard most of his interpretations and I'm not overall satisfied with the results he yields.

Good luck and happy listening.


----------



## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

xJuanx said:


> de que parte de sudamerica sos?


Como dije, del culo del mundo: Buenos Aires.


----------



## xJuanx (Feb 24, 2009)

Taneyev said:


> Como dije, del culo del mundo: Buenos Aires.


Uhh yo de Montevideo! Del otro lado del charco, pero igual el mes que viene me voy a vivir ahi. Bueno ya no tiene nada que ver esto con el topic pero igual jaja.


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

kratos said:


> Chamber music: Brahms, I've never heard such beautiful music in another composer works.
> - Symphonic: Beethoven, I think I shouldn´t tell anybody why
> - Concertos: Bach. Baroque music is totally diferent to anything I've listen of later periods, and nobody can compare in that age with what Bach wrote.


If you like Brahms' chamber music, you will probably also enjoy Haydn's late quartets, esp. the Emperor Quartet. Also check out some of his symphonies and concertos. If you like Beethoven symphonies, you may also like Schubert and Dvorak. As for concertos, Mozart wrote some very fine ones.


----------



## kratos (Feb 24, 2009)

JTech82 said:


> Now on to Mahler, he's still a composer I'm getting into that I haven't really dove headfirst into yet, but I just ordered his complete symphonies with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic, which is always a safe bet, but of course there have been so many other conductors that have tackled Mahler's work that it's a pretty wide open market.


I got Abbado's 5th Symphonie, he's a conductor I use to like and I'm not regretting of getting it



JTech82 said:


> Sibelius, is one of my absolute favorite composers. I like his symphonies, his violin concerto, and his tone poems, which he's viewed as an innovator of the tone poem, so it's only fitting that they're quite special. I would check out the 7-disc box set on Deutsche Grammophon by Neeme Jarvi and the Gothenburg Symphony. Beautiful renditions of Sibelius' symphonies and many of his tone poems. Sir Colin Davis and the Boston Symphony Orchestra also did a noteworthy cycle of Sibelius' symphonies that are definitely worth checking out.


I will try the poems, I only have a 1971 Danish version of the 5th, and the last movement is one of the greatest thing I've ever heard in the symphonic world. Besides I've got a Finish girlfriend, for them Sibelius was kind of national hero, so I'm two times interested on his works...



JTech82 said:


> Debussy is quite easy for me. Jean Martinon, hands down, the best Debussy, and Ravel for that matter, conductor there was. Absolutely amazing. Check out the 8-disc box set on EMI called Debussy, Ravel: Orchestral Works. You can't miss it. It's a green box set. That's the ultimate collection. Some people will argue that Boulez did some of the best Debussy and Ravel work, but I don't think so. I've heard most of his interpretations and I'm not overall satisfied with the results he yields.


I'll try that collection, and I will tell you...



JTech82 said:


> If you like Brahms' chamber music, you will probably also enjoy Haydn's late quartets, esp. the Emperor Quartet.


I had no idea about Haydn was comparable to Brahms in any case, but I haven´t listened Haydn stuff carefully, so I will.... The most beautiful Brahm's chamber work I've heard is Rubinstein's version of Quintet for piano, the second movement is just....(I need more English vocabulary, hehe)

Thanks all for your welcomes! 

PD -> Saludos a todos los castellanoparlantes desde bien lejos, jeje, disfrutad de lo que os queda de verano!!


----------



## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

xJuanx said:


> Uhh yo de Montevideo! Del otro lado del charco, pero igual el mes que viene me voy a vivir ahi. Bueno ya no tiene nada que ver esto con el topic pero igual jaja.


Juan lo pensaste bien? Estás seguro? "cuando desate el paquete, y manye que se ensartó!"


----------



## xJuanx (Feb 24, 2009)

Taneyev said:


> Juan lo pensaste bien? Estás seguro? "cuando desate el paquete, y manye que se ensartó!"


Sí! Es más voy este lunes a anotarme en la U.B.A y todo. Es una decisión tomada.


----------



## kratos (Feb 24, 2009)

post-minimalist said:


> Hi Kratos, anyone with Francis Bacon on his avatar is welcome here!
> Cheers
> FC


There's now an exposition in Museo del Prado here in Madrid, I went last weekend and it was like walking by somebody's nightmare.....superb!!


----------

