# classical composer that became a revelation to you in 2015



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

*Girolamo kapsberger*, this guys can play the theorbos like no one else, is skill is imagination ,like i said about this classical composer is music not just pretty but moving , at least from my perspective.

Than i heard *Luzzachi* madrigals on a fancy record i did not bought it shame on me, his madrigals are quite something to reckon whit

I purchased Codex Faenza that i quite like and discovered *guillaume de Machaut*, * Orlande de Lassus ''spiritual madrigals'' *i was shock how could it be that good, i were blowen away , this record show me full potencial of Lassus,a real good one and a naxos.

I could ain't name modernist maybe* Xu Shuya *for his nightmarish haunting '' nirvana'' symphony, quite clever and modern(china real deal in term of avant-).

And i could go on and on but these were my stand out for 2015, my best stand out


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

This is a great question. I can't remember 2015 well enough to answer it! 

For me it's Taverner. Although I'd heard some recordings of his music, I didn't love it until this year. Another would be Lopez, back when we did that listening month thing I think it was 2015. 

I know this is stupid, but in 2015 I listened to more Mahler than I had in the past, and he grew on me a bit. To lesser extents, also Ravel, Sibelius, Shostakovich, Haydn, Schubert, Beethoven, Byrd, Cage, Schumann, Prokofiev, Palestrina, Vivaldi, and Wagner. 

Some more composers that I'd rarely or never heard before 2015 include Weinberg, Bull, Lopez, JB Bach, Bliss, Finzi, Blow, Blasco de Nebra, Sweelink, Langaard, Flynn, Breville, Maderna, and Hoffmeister.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Revelation! Anna Thorvaldsdottir: the creator of the Icelandic landscape is back!! Also Orlando di Lasso entered my absolute favorites list.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

One for sure is Boulez.

As I said in another thread (there are so many on him in these sad days ) I already was somehow familiar with his music but never "got it" really. I had always found his works "pretty monotonous", as Stravinky once said of _Pli selon pli_, but now I find his music unimaginably exciting. 
Just an example, taken from _Pli selon pli:_ listen to the final part (Tombeau) with its big crescendo. Now it makes me shiver all the time....


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

*Rachmaninoff* I have to mention first. As I said on the Current Listening III thread, the majority of the music I listened to over the summer was his. It led me from Romantic to Modern (which I'm getting into now), and made me see classical music in a different way - as more than just melodies.

*Scriabin* makes second on my list, especially for Black Mass Sonata. I especially enjoy the Etudes Op.8, but the sonata opened up the world of atonality before I really knew what atonal even was.

I began to appreciate *Debussy*'s preludes and other short piano works. Children's Corner No. 1 (which I ended up teaching myself) sounds like heaven when played much faster than indicated and with a little rubato. I don't know who plays in the recording I have, but if I find out, I will post it.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

I fell in love with Debussy and Wagner's music in 2015. Both of them entered my personal top five favorites.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Where to start...

Mahler and Bruckner. 

Most modern composers that I listen to (Biggest ones are Messiaen, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Xenakis).

Basically every contemporary composer that I regularly listen to. (Grisey, Murail, Sciarrino, Chin, G.F. Haas, Andriessen, Reich, Gubaidulina, Dusapin, etc.) 

Many pre-Baroque ones (Perotin, Leonin, Machaut, Palestrina, Byrd, Tallis, Marenzio, Gesualdo)

Interestingly one of my last great discoveries of 2015 was Boulez back in November. Before that I had only heard the Piano Sonata No. 2 and bits of Le marteau and I didn't like him at all.


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Two big composer revelations for me last year: Sibelius and Zelenka. I had previously only listened to Sibelius 1st and even then had not given it the attention it deserved. I rectified this last year by going through the complete Berglund/Bournemouth cycle and now I hunger for more!

Zelenka is the overlooked jewel of Baroque music. The trio sonatas and masses are wonderful, as high a quality as Telemann or Bach. I wish there were more recordings of his work.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I am starting to explore more of Ginastera 

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/wi/Ginastera


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

Bruckner and Janáček were barely familiar to me before '14-'15. Debussy and Eisler were known to me for decades, but only by a very few pieces. Actually, Stravinsky is another that I knew only by his ballets, but I spent a lot of time in '15 getting to know more of his œuvre, in particular, his vocal works.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Schoenberg. I found out I loved his Piano Concerto and liked his Violin Concerto. Didn't think it was possible.


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2016)

Given how much exploration and discovery I've been doing basically every year, I had to go check some stats in order to really get an answer on this one. 

Of composers that I spent a significant time with in 2015, the composers with the highest ratio of time-spent-in-2015 to time-spent-overall included John Cage, Helmut Lachenmann, Francisco Lopez, Alvin Lucier, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, and many many others


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## Faustian (Feb 8, 2015)

Before last year most of my baroque listening had been to the big three; Bach, Haydn, and Vivaldi. However in 2015 I listened to a lot more by other baroque composers, and three that were a particular revelation to me were Rameau, Francois Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I didn't investigate many previously-unheard composers in 2015 - in fact, Michael Daugherty may have been the only one but I was taken in by his take on the campy, pop-art side of American culture, especially with _What's That Spell?_ for "two Barbie sopranos" and chamber orchestra and _La Tombeau de Liberace_, a concertante work for piano and orchestra. Both from his _American Icons_ album pictured below. Another work in similar entertaining vein is the opera _Jackie O_. Critics deride his music for being shallow and exploitative but I think it's a total hoot, so there.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Giacinto Scelsi surprised me this year. I also discovered that Debussy's Pelleas isn't as boring as I thought it was.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

elgars ghost said:


> . Critics deride his music for being shallow and exploitative but I think it's a total hoot, so there.


Thanks for the assessment. I have his Naxos box set and haven't dived in too deeply, but if I go in thinking "total hoot," I might jump in again.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> Thanks for the assessment. I have his Naxos box set and haven't dived in too deeply, but if I go in thinking "total hoot," I might jump in again.


I'd be interested in what you think, Manxie, positive or negative. MD's work isn't often mentioned around here.


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## anthonycwein (Jan 20, 2016)

I've been enjoying a lot of shostakovich's lighter works so far this year.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Jean-Philippe Rameau

He's now solidly among my favorite composers--Marcelle Meyer playing his keyboard works being my favorite addiction. I look forward to further revelations about the Rameau discography in 2016!


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Still high on Gyorgy Kurtag.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

Pugg said:


> I am starting to explore more of Ginastera
> 
> http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/wi/Ginastera


Same here, I learned about him this year. His 'modernist' side and colorful orchestration are pretty striking.



Blancrocher said:


> Jean-Philippe Rameau
> 
> He's now solidly among my favorite composers--Marcelle Meyer playing his keyboard works being my favorite addiction. I look forward to further revelations about the Rameau discography in 2016!


What is this? He's also one of 2015 'finds', even though I had heard his music before, it wasn't anything that made me go "whoa", but I love his keyboard suite in A minor.


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## nbergeron (Dec 30, 2015)

I'm discovering that I actually like Haydn, whose music I've always found "pretty" and uninteresting. Bach, whom I've always liked, is also taking up more and more of my listening time. At the same time I'm less interested in the Romantics. 2016 could be the year I fully transform into a baroque fan.


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