# My 110 favorite composers (and yours too if you want)



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I tried to limit it to just 100, but couldn't quite do it. My list is a little bias in favor of the 20th/21st century, but what did you expect from me  The list is in order of approximate time, not ranked by most to least favorite. 

EDIT: Since St. Lukes made a 132 list, I'm going to add a couple more to mine.

1. Guillaume De Machaut
2. Perotin
3. Ockeghem
4. Josquin De Prez
5. Guillaume Dufay
6. Thomas Tallis
7. Orlando Gibbons
8. Orlando Di Lassus
9. William Byrd
10. William Lawes
11. Palestrina
12. Carlos Gesualdo 
13. Claudio Monteverdi
14. Jean Baptiste Lully
15. Henry Purcell
16. Arcangelo Corelli
17. Antonio Vivaldi
18. George Phillip Telemann
19. G.F. Handel
20. JS Bach
21. D. Scarlatti 
22. JC Bach
23. JCF Bach
24. CPE Bach
25. Joseph Martin Kraus
26. Jean-Phillipe Rameau
27. Joseph Haydn
28. Mozart
29. Beethoven
30. Franz Schubert
31. Hector Berlioz
32. Fredrick Chopin 
33. Robert Schumann
34. Franz Liszt
35. Johannes Brahms
36. Pytor Tchaikovsky
37. Richard Wagner
38. Rimsky-Korsokov
39. Modest Mussorgsky
40. Anton Bruckner
41. Richard Strauss
42. Gustav Mahler
43. Anton Arensky
44. Nikolai Medtner
45. Sergei Taneyev
46. Claude Debussy
47. Sergei Prokofiev
48. Arnold Schoenberg
49. Alban Berg
50. Anton Webern
51. Dmitri Shostakovich
52. Maurice Ravel
53. Francis Poulenc
54. Charles Ives
55. Jan Sibelius
56. Ture Rangstrom
57. Carl Nielson
58. Benjamin Britten
59. Edmund Rubbra
60. Igor Stravinksy
61. Alexander Scriabin
62. Gabriel Faure (I know he is out of place here, but I forgot him earlier and didnt feel like rewriting all the numbers)
63. Hugo Wolf (same here)
64. Edgard Varese
65. Paul Hindimith
66. Pierre Boulez
67. Olivier Messiaen 
68. Karl Amadeus Hartmann
69. Gyorgy Ligeti
70. Sophia Gubaidulina
71. Witold Lutoslawski
72. Alfred Schnittke
73. Per Norgard
74. Toru Takemitsu
75. Karlheinz Stockhausen
76. John Cage
77. Morton Feldman
78. Harry Partch
79. Meredith Monk
80. Henryk Gorecki
81. Iannis Xenakis
82. Johnathan Harvey
83. Hans Werner Henze
84. George Crumb
85. Luciano Berio
86. Luigi Nono
87. Elliot Carter
88. Steve Reich
89. John Adams
90. Wolfgang Rihm
91. Somei Satoh
92. Zeena Parkins
93. Ikue Mori
94. Julia Wolfe
95. Unsuk Chin
96. Takashi Yoshimatsu
97. Kevin Volans
98. Nico Muhly
99. Isang Yun
100. David Lang
101. Tristan Murail
102. Gerard Grisey
103. Peter Sculthorpe
104. Louis Andrreisen 
105. Peteris Vasks
106. Brain Ferneyhough
107. Misato Mochizuki
108. Toshio Hosokawa
109. Lief Sergstam
110. Henri Dutilleux (sorry, a little bit out of place again)
111. Aleksandra Vreblov
112. John Dowland
113. Peter Maxwell-Davies
114. Gyorgy Kurtag


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Oh geeze. I forgot Aleksandra Vreblov!


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Oh geeze. I forgot Aleksandra Vreblov!

Don't worry... everybody else will forget her as well.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Oh geeze. I forgot Aleksandra Vreblov!
> 
> Don't worry... everybody else will forget her as well.


 You never know!

Her music is really cool





Plus, her friends and family and everyone affected by her music wont forget her. Not a nice thing to say.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> You never know!
> 
> Her music is really cool
> 
> ...


Like music for some turkish soap operas.

Where did you find time to listen to all those composers? I even don't know majority of them and actualy I don't care to hear all possible composers that ever walked on the face of the Earth.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> and actualy I don't care to hear all possible composer that ever walked on the face of the Earth.


I do. I wish I could. But sadly I probably can't  Unless we are able to become immortal within my lifetime  Not likely though.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> I do. I wish I could. But sadly I probably can't  Unless we are able to become immortal within my lifetime  Not likely though.


I guess the best solution is to listen to music that you like. That's what I do and along with that I'm listening many other music styles to find something new again that I will like. But if there was in 18th century some composer that made 2 compositions in his life, why should I care!? 
Life is too short. Unless you're a musician and you have time for that, then it's probably good for personal and professional experience to hear wide range of all possible music.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> I guess the best solution is to listen to music that you like. That's what I do and along with that I'm listening many other music styles to find something new again that I will like. But if there was in 18th century some composer that made 2 compositions in his life, why should I care!?
> Life is too short. Unless you're a musician and you have time for that, then it's probably good for personal and professional experience to hear wide range of all possible music.


Ok lol

I am studying music composition in school actually.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

I've never heard aobut this Aleksandra Vrebalov...I see now that she's from Serbia.. our Croatian neighbours that we didn't like much through history  lol
Well, this is actualy mostly balkan folk, but more eastern folk historically based on turkish music since they conquered Serbia back then. She mixed that into some classical style, but it's still more folk to me than classical which isn't bad because many composers did that- Brahms, Dvorak, etc. 
It's not music that ever existed in Croatia even though some people here like that sound. I don't like balkan folk. Most of the time is truly disgusting to put it that way.
Of course... this is on higher level, but it doesn't impress me. I don't want to sound sexist, but I almost didn't hear in my whole life composition by woman that did impress me (in classical or pop music). 
Maybe 'Why' by Annie Lennox? Lol... that's it probably... I guess some songs from Enya, but she is too saccharine and simple for my taste most of the time. Also, her music lacks more depth IMO.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Why is everyone picking on Aleksandra Vreblov in this thread?  I mentioned 110 other composers too.


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## tommaso (Sep 11, 2012)

I´d agree on 1 to 21 and maybe 10 more from the rest as my favourite composers. Plus, of course, Albinoni, which you didn´t mention, same as John Dowland, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Astor Piazzolla, and Arvo Pärt.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> Why is everyone picking on Aleksandra Vreblov in this thread?  I mentioned 110 other composers too.


Probably because SHE IS A WOMAN :lol:


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Oh geeze. I forgot Aleksandra Vreblov!
> 
> Don't worry... everybody else will forget her as well.


Yay sexism.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

tommaso said:


> I´d agree on 1 to 21 and maybe 10 more from the rest as my favourite composers. Plus, of course, Albinoni, which you didn´t mention, same as John Dowland, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Astor Piazzolla, and Arvo Pärt.


Oh ya. I should have listed John Dowland too. The other composers you mentioned I would include on a list that I was trying my best to composers I really really like. Then again, why not at this point??


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

Where is Rachmaninoff? I'd put him in top 100.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Yay for underestimating and bashing female composers simply because they are female. How progressive.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Carpenoctem said:


> Where is Rachmaninoff? I'd put him in top 100.


Hmm...I'm trying to limit myself the best I can. >.<


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Anywho, nice list violadude ^^ Somebody has pretty diverse tastes :3 which is good for those wishing to call themselves music lovers.


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

violadude said:


> Hmm...I'm trying to limit myself the best I can. >.<


Well, tastes are different, you don't have to put him in your top 110 list if you don't like him.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Carpenoctem said:


> Well, tastes are different, you don't have to put him in your top 110 list if you don't like him.


I do like him!

But you see....I'm really trying to limit myself...lol And if I think about how many pieces I really really like by him, it's like...4 or 5


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

BurningDesire said:


> Anywho, nice list violadude ^^ Somebody has pretty diverse tastes :3 which is good for those wishing to call themselves music lovers.


Thank you


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

BurningDesire said:


> Yay for underestimating and bashing female composers simply because they are female. How progressive.


I simply never heard any female composer that would make me feel completely lost in greatness of compositions like many male composers did. I like female voices, female playing instruments.... but I simply didn't hear that great female composer... actualy, I did in pop music, but that's also really rare situation.
It's not sexism. It's only fact to me. It could be based also on other fact that there are simply not many female classic composers.


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

violadude said:


> I do like him!
> 
> But you see....I'm really trying to limit myself...lol And if I think about how many pieces I really really like by him, it's like...4 or 5


Well, he's not a "Top 10 composer" (if I really need to rate him) but I think he wrote beautiful piano concertos, his symphonies are also great. I also like his preludes for piano.



BurningDesire said:


> Yay for underestimating and bashing female composers simply because they are female. How progressive.


If there are so many good female composers, feel free to share their works with us.


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

nikola said:


> I simply never heard any female composer that would make me feel completely lost in greatness of compositions like many male composers did. I like female voices, female playing instruments.... but I simply didn't hear that great female composer... actualy, I did in pop music, but that's also really rare situation.
> It's not sexism. It's only fact to me. It could be based also on other fact that there are simply not many female classic composers.


You don't have to explain yourself, nothing you said was sexism, just facts.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I'm 50 years old, and I haven't listened to 110 composers. I can't keep up with you young whippersnappers!


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## tommaso (Sep 11, 2012)

Carpenoctem said:


> Where is Rachmaninoff? I'd put him in top 100.


True...but then, there are many others like Elgar, Dvorak, Grieg etc.

And some are included, I never heard one one remarkable piece of (e.g. Henze).

So, it´s completely subjective - as it should be, shouldn´t it ??


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## Carpenoctem (May 15, 2012)

tommaso said:


> True...but then, there are many others like Elgar, Dvorak, Grieg etc.
> 
> And some are included, I never heard one one remarkable piece of (e.g. Henze).
> 
> *So, it´s completely subjective - as it should be, shouldn´t it ??*


Read post #19 on this page.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Zeena Parkins is one that's new to me, the world needs more avant garde harpists, will have to check her out


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Carpenoctem said:


> If there are so many good female composers, feel free to share their works with us.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I could only hone my "favorites" down to 132... scanning through the Wiki lists of composers and comparing these against those composers I have the most music by... and listen to the most. There are some composers I quite like... and yet don't really have enough music by to really count them among my favorites. The first 20 are in order... from then on any order is really arbitrary.


1. J.S. Bach
2. W.A. Mozart
3. L.v. Beethoven
4. Richard Wagner
5. Franz Schubert
6. Joseph Haydn
7. Richard Strauss
8. Gustav Mahler
9. G.F. Handel
10. Johannes Brahms
11. Robert Schumann
12. Piotr Tchaikovsky
13. Anton Dvorak
14. Claude Debussy
15. Antonio Vivaldi
16. Claudio Monteverdi
17. Giuseppe Verdi
18. Dimitri Shostakovitch
19. Gabriel Faure
20. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber

21. Hildegard of Bingen
22. Pérotin
23. Léonin
24. Alfonso X El Sabio (attributed)
25. Guillaume Dufay
26. Johannes Ockeghem
27. Josquin des Prez
28. John Taverner
29. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
30. Orlande de Lassus
31. William Byrd
32. Carlo Gesualdo
33. John Dowland
34. Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
35. Heinrich Schütz
36. Dieterich Buxtehude
37. Arcangelo Corelli
38. Marin Marais
39. Henry Purcell
40. Jean-Baptiste Lully
41. Jan Dismas Zelenka
42. Alessandro Scarlatti
43. G.P. Telemann
44. Domenico Scarlatti
45. Sylvius Weiss
46. Jean-Philippe Rameau
47. Giuseppe Tartini
48. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
49. J.C. Bach
50. C.P.E. Bach
51. Christoph Willibald Gluck
52. Luigi Boccherini
53. Luigi Cherubini
54. Johann Nepomuk Hummel
55. Gaetano Donizetti
56. Vincenzo Bellini
57. Hecor Berlioz
58. Felix Mendelssohn
59. Frédéric Chopin
60. Franz Liszt
61. Jacques Offenbach
62. Johann Strauss II
63. Anton Bruckner
63. Alexander Borodin
64. Camille Saint-Saëns
65. Georges Bizet
66. Modeste Mussorgsky
67. Jules Massenet
68. Edvard Grieg
69. Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
70. Leoš Janáček
71. Giacomo Puccini
72. Hugo Wolf
73. Frederick Delius
74. Alexander Glazunov
75. Jean Sibelius
76. Erik Satie
77. Franz Lehár
78. Alexander Zemlinsky
79. Ralph Vaughan Williams
80. Alexander Scriabin
81. Sergei Rachmaninoff
82. Maurice Ravel
83. Alexander Gretchaninov
84. Charles Koechlin
85. Béla Bartók
86. Igor Stravinsky
87. Karol Szymanowski
88. Alban Berg
89. Heitor Villa-Lobos
90. Engelbert Humperdinck
91. Jacques Ibert
92. Frank Martin
93. Bohuslav Martinů
94. Sergei Prokofiev
95. Herbert Howells
96. Ernest John Moeran
97. Erich Korngold
98. Francis Poulenc
99. Aaron Copland
100. Ernst Krenek
101. Karl Amadeus Hartmann
102. Olivier Messiaen
103. Samuel Barber
104. Alan Hovhaness
105. Benjamin Britten
106. Witold Lutoslawski
107. Mieczysław Weinberg
108. Ned Rorem
109. Einojuhani Rautavaara
110. Henryk Górecki
111. Krzysztof Penderecki
112. Arvo Pärt
113. Philip Glass
114. valentin Silvestrov
115. William Bolcom
116. Toru Takemitsu
117. Joseph Schwantner
118. Pēteris Vasks
119. Tristan Murail
120. Daniel Catán
121. Pascal Dusapin
122. David Lang
123. Steve Reich
124. John Adams
125. James MacMillan
126. Erkki-Sven Tüür
127. Osvaldo Golijov
128. Jake Heggie
129. Peter Lieberson
130. Michael Daugherty
131. Toshio Hosokawa
132. Kaija Saariaho


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Yay sexism.

Yay stupidity.

And before you make another stupid comment, my retort has to do with your ignorant assumptions... not your gender. :tiphat:


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I simply never heard any female composer that would make me feel completely lost in greatness of compositions like many male composers did.

Hildegard of Bingen... who I'd probably rank as the greatest medieval composer. Then you might check out Chiara Cozzolani:

http://www.cozzolani.com/

:tiphat:


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## graaf (Dec 12, 2009)

nikola said:


> Like music for some turkish soap operas.
> 
> Where did you find time to listen to all those composers? I even don't know majority of them and actualy I don't care to hear all possible composers that ever walked on the face of the Earth.


The music posted there has a strong Hungarian influence, which should be more than obvious to someone from Croatia (I should know, I live nearby). The very name (Pannonia Boundless) suggests that, and the fact that Vrebalov is from northern part of Serbia (thus, close to Hungary) is one google search away.

But I would not attribute what you said to ignorance, but rather to your age - based on your posting habits (mistaking forum for a chat room, i.e. posting many small posts in short period of time), and the content of posts too, I'd guess that you are simply very young. So, live and learn! 

Wish you all the best,
graaf


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

graaf said:


> The music posted there has a strong Hungarian influence, which should be more than obvious to someone from Croatia (I should know, I live nearby). The very name (Pannonia Boundless) suggests that, and the fact that Vrebalov is from northern part of Serbia (thus, close to Hungary) is one google search away.
> 
> But I would not attribute what you said to ignorance, but rather to your age - based on your posting habits (mistaking forum for a chat room, i.e. posting many small posts in short period of time), and the content of posts too, I'd guess that you are simply very young. So, live and learn!
> 
> ...


Wow... what nice post about me  Yes, I'm very young... still fetus. 
This is GYPSY music and GYPSY music is also balkan music along with hungarian folk music which is mostly gypsy music. So, you can hear probably hungarian gypsy style and I can hear it along with serbian gypsy style. Unfortunately, I was listening to more Serbian music sometimes than I wanted to.
I can forgive you not only your ignorance, but your obsession with me, my posts, etc :*

You should also know that many gypsies came to Europe with Turkish conquerors


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


>


I must say that those are all examples why I don't like female music. Even though it's some experimental music I can't find anything much interesting in it, especially not on level of Dvorak, Beethoven, etc. 
It simply doesn't appeal to me.


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## graaf (Dec 12, 2009)

nikola said:


> Wow... what nice post about me  Yes, I'm very young... still fetus.
> This is GYPSY music and GYPSY music is also balkan music along with hungarian folk music which is mostly gypsy music. So, you can hear probably hungarian gypsy style and I can hear it along with serbian gypsy style. Unfortunately, I was listening to more Serbian music sometimes than I wanted to.
> I can forgive you not only your ignorance, but your obsession with me, my posts, etc :*


One post (this post being second) is hardly an obsession, but you did prove my point.

Also, what is wrong with gypsy music? Haydn was influenced by it, check this page, Brahms too, and even Beethoven (check the guy named János Bihari).

Anyway, want to keep it short, so...

best regards, 
graaf


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

You have a point? Good for you! 
Where and when did I say that there's something wrong with gypsy music? Even Johann Strauss took elements from their music style. Hungarian gypsy music is way better actualy than serbian gypsy music and that's my personal taste and personal opinion. There's nothing original, unique or personal or stunning there in this composition of this woman, even though it is kinda interesting. It's for sure not on level of Dvorak's string quartet #12. But I can't base my opinion on her only 1 composition, right?
I don't like many stuff even from greatest composers like Beethoven, but I can hardly believe that any female composer is capable of doing something like this:













And I don't base my opinion on sexism. I base it on my listening experience. It doesn't mean that I'm right, but I have right to my opinion, right? Unless someone proves me that I'm wrong and that there is out there some female composer who is able to compose something that is on level of those 3 compositions above, I have to stick to my opinion till then.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

nikola said:


> but I can hardly believe that any female composer is capable of doing something like this:


Sorry friend, but _that _is what I would call sexism. You do have the right to hold such an opinion, but it is a sexist one.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> but I can hardly believe that any female composer is capable of doing something like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ermm uh-huh....

And seriously, SABRE DANCE??? Female composers have kicked the crap out of Sabre Dance since the 12th century at least.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

BurningDesire said:


> Sorry friend, but _that _is what I would call sexism. You do have the right to hold such an opinion, but it is a sexist one.


This is not an argument. This is 'you are this, you are that'. Same like graaf. If you can't talk about music, but you can talk about me, you really lack any argument then.
Prove me that I'm wrong. Send me a link to composition of woman that is on same level or almost on same level like those compositions. Give me proof instead of accusing me for such nonsense. 
Even if I'm woman I would say exactly same thing.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> Ermm uh-huh....
> 
> And seriously, SABRE DANCE??? Female composers have kicked the crap out of Sabre Dance since the 12th century at least.


Give me a link.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> This is not an argument. This is 'you are this, you are that'. Same like graaf. If you can't talk about music, but you can talk about me, you really lack any argument then.
> Prove me that I'm wrong. Send me a link to composition of woman that is on same level or almost on same level like those compositions. Give me proof instead of accusing me for such nonsense.
> Even if I'm woman I would say exactly same thing.


It's one thing to say that you have never heard a piece by a female that you like as much as those compositions you listed. It's quite another to say that a female is not *capable* of writing something like that. The latter is definitely sexist.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> Give me a link.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

BurningDesire said:


> Yay sexism.


It's not necessarily sexism if he didn't even reference her damn gender (besides saying "her"). I mean come on. People will see oppression everywhere if they look for it.

My list is Aleksandra Vreblov 110 times, I hope that balances out the "sexism".


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


>


Ok, you actualy find this on same level with those compositions I posted above? 
This is not awful, but such bland liturgical music isn't anywhere near to some genius compositions I posted above. They made such church music through almost whole middle ages.

Actually, it's not sexist what I did say if it's true.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> Ok, you actualy find this on same level with those compositions I posted above?
> This is not awful, but such bland liturgical music isn't anywhere near to some genius compositions I posted above. They made such music through almost whole middle ages.
> 
> Actually, it's not sexist what I did say if it's true.


I definitely like it better than Sabre Dance.





 :tiphat:


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> I definitely like it better than Sabre Dance.


Well, that is your personal taste, but I wouldn't call it objective.
Sabre Dance has one catchy, yet brilliant and unique melody and it actualy became an all time classic. Even if it didn't, it's still great little composition. 
Those liturgical music is mostly going nowhere with it's everlasting yawning. 'Sabre Dance' has one strong and original melody line... inspired and unique. It doesn't have to be the most original composition ever and it isn't, but it's hard to beat even that with some liturgical music. Where is that talent for heaviness of emotions and for some unique melody line in women compositions? 
Look at how simply is choir part 'Ode to Joy' from Beethoven's 9th. It sounds like melody for little kids, yet it's still one of the most important melody in music history. Why is that? Simply because it is great melody no matter how simple or complex is. 
There are many levels of 'good' music, not only melody, but I mostly didn't find any of those levels in female compositions.

Listen to those, not music, but emotions in Mahler's Adagietto from 5th symph. Those sounds and emotions and sadness can simply pull your soul out of your body how strong it is.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Spelling Ms Vreb*a*lov's name right would be even better for the cause of feminism I shouldn't wonder.

Some beauty from the Kronos Quartet


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

nikola said:


> This is not an argument. This is 'you are this, you are that'. Same like graaf. If you can't talk about music, but you can talk about me, you really lack any argument then.
> Prove me that I'm wrong. Send me a link to composition of woman that is on same level or almost on same level like those compositions. Give me proof instead of accusing me for such nonsense.
> Even if I'm woman I would say exactly same thing.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

Ok, guys and girls. Why some atonal and experimental music? For what? Give me something BEAUTIFUL or 'BEAUTIFUL' for a change from woman composer.
For example, listen to this... it's not classical music, but almost... main melody starts at 1:30 ... and that is art, that is soul, those are emotions, originality, feelings ... that is something that words can't describe.. something that can bring me somewhere else, put tears in my eyes and make me believe that there is God out there and still love in some people on this world. And unfortunatelly, that is something I've never heard in compositions from women:





If that makes me sexist or if I don't understand enough beauty in some female cacophony music, I guess that's my problem and lack of hearing then.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

nikola said:


> Send me a link to composition of woman


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Couchie said:


>


XD that's horrible


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

violadude said:


> You never know!
> 
> Her music is really cool
> 
> ...


That video is AWESOME! How could anyone not like that???


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

nikola said:


> Ok, guys and girls. Why some atonal and experimental music? For what? Give me something BEAUTIFUL or 'BEAUTIFUL' for a change from woman composer.
> For example, listen to this... it's not classical music, but almost... main melody starts at 1:30 ... and that is art, that is soul, those are emotions, originality, feelings ... that is something that words can't describe.. something that can bring me somewhere else, put tears in my eyes and make me believe that there is God out there and still love in some people on this world. And unfortunatelly, that is something I've never heard in compositions from women:
> 
> 
> ...


Atonal music is beautiful. And experimental music? Thats kinda a misnomer isn't it? Isn't every composition an experiment in a sense, to find the sounds that work for the piece? Its kinda silly to keep referring to things like prepared piano and tone clusters and polyrhythms and atonality as "experimental". They're kinda part of musical vernacular now, pretty standard devices.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

I could only make it to 38. Starts out ordered, becomes more and more arbitrary as the list goes on.

1. Robert Schumann
2. Ludwig van Beethoven
3. Johann Sebastian Bach
4. Frederic Chopin
5. Leos Janacek
6. Charles Ives
7. Benjamin Britten
8. Dmitri Shostakovich
9. Alban Berg
10. Bela Bartok
11. Paul Hindemith
12. Anton Webern
13. Nikolai Medtner
14. Igor Stravinsky
15. Edward Elgar
16. John Dowland
17. William Byrd
18. Ralph Vaughan Williams
19. Nikolai Roslavets
20. Pyotr Tchaikovsky
21. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
22. William Walton
23. Carlo Gesualdo
24. Felix Mendelssohn
25. Jean Sibelius
26. Samuel Barber
27. Elliot Carter
28. Guillaume de Machaut
29. Perotin
30. Thomas Tallis
31. John Taverner
32. John Bull
33. Orlando Gibbons
34. Louis Couperin
35. John Dunstable
36. Johannes Brahms
37. Clara Schumann
38. Arnold Schoenberg


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

*Burning Desire*
First 'Kiss' melody... somehow bland, but not bad, but still, nowhere near to most of the best compositions from male composers.

Clara Schumann ...well, she obviously have musical education and she obviously has hearing and she ovciously knows how to compose music. It's pretty good, but it seems like she's too much playing with same 6 tones all the time, so it all sounds somehow stable and slightly repetitive. Like she is afraid to go to far from main melody. Good, but not enough on high level. Don't get me wrong.. many male composers, even Beethoven have such piano compositions that doesn't impress me much. This one leaves me pretty cold.

Liturgical music from Hildegard... I'll skip it. Already heard it from violadude here. Not too advanced music.

Fanny & Sofia... too long for me to listen to it now... probably later.

Honestly, I don't care what is standard now. I don't see it on the same level like compositions I mentioned above. I've been enjoying in some atonal stuff by Morricone which was by far much better than this to me. 
I want something to evoke emotions or some other positive feelings. Atonal stuff mostly doesn't evoke anything. It can be great and brilliant and masterpiece on mathematical level. In reality is most of the time empty and crap. Sure, not always, but I'm not tone deaf unfortunatelly and I want to hear something GREAT no matter how much word 'great' seems subjective to anybody.

This can also evoke many emotions:









It's simply brilliant without much philosophy.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> *Burning Desire*
> 
> Clara Schumann ...well, she obviously have musical education and she obviously has hearing and she ovciously knows how to compose music. It's pretty good, but it seems like she's too much playing with same 6 tones all the time, so it all sounds somehow stable and slightly repetitive. Like she is afraid to go to far from main melody. Good, but not enough on high level. Don't get me wrong.. many male composers, even Beethoven have such piano compositions that doesn't impress me much. This one leaves me pretty cold.


Um, it's a theme and variations.....Of course she's not going to go away from the main melody....


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

MaestroViolinist said:


> That video is AWESOME! How could anyone not like that???


Honestly, it's not that I don't like it. From all 'women composers' videos here it's probably my most favorite, but I still can't find it on same level with some of better male compositions. 
I've also heard much of such gypsy music. It's good... probably even solid or very good, but it's not GREAT.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> Um, it's a theme and variations.....Of course she's not going to go away from the main melody....


It doesn't matter. I simply don't find it to be on same level with some of best piano work from male composers, for example:













It could be only reason that that there's simply very small quantity of female work comparing to male work, but I think it's really useless to go too deep into that since every one of us has his/her own opinion. It's also stupid that I'm saying here for every female composition that 'it's not up to male compositions' since it obviously isn't useful and healthy. I stated my opinion and we can leave that on my opinion since it's only that- my opinion.

But interesting thing... there are 2 pop artists that did make some songs that I did really love, but interesting thing is that one of those is lesbian and the other one is bisexual.


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

Lets see how far I can get... 

1. Wieniawski 
2. Dvorak 
3. Mendelssohn
4. Clara Schumann 
5. Schubert 
6. Sibelius 
7. (now I can add) Aleksandra Vrebalov 
8. Mozart 
9. JS Bach 
10. JC Bach 
11. CPE Bach 
12. Handel 
13. Vivaldi 
14. Corelli 
15. Monteverdi 
16. Veracini 
17. Tchaikovsky 
18. Stravinksy 
19. Rimsky-Korsakov 
20. Brahms 
21. Benjamin Britten 
22. Rameau 
23. Stamitz 
24. Louise Farrenc 
25. Saraste 
26. Prokofiev 
27. Rachmaninoff 
28. Shostakovich 
29. Ten Have 
30. Paganini 
31. Pugnani 
32. Haydn 
33. Gossec 
34. Telemann 
35. Fritz Kreisler 

This is in no particular order. If I think of more I shall come back.

Edit: OMG did I really leave out Beethoven??? 

36. Beethoven 
37. Ligeti (I thought I'd better add him, but it's true actually)


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

nikola said:


> Honestly, it's not that I don't like it. From all 'women composers' videos here it's probably my most favorite, but I still can't find it on same level with some of better male compositions.
> I've also heard much of such gypsy music. It's good... probably even solid or very good, but it's not GREAT.


I would have to disagree with that. But I ain't going to come into this argument, so whatever. Each to _her_ own.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Well, that is your personal taste, but I wouldn't call it objective.
Sabre Dance has one catchy, yet brilliant and unique melody and it actualy became an all time classic. Even if it didn't, it's still great little composition. 
Those liturgical music is mostly going nowhere with it's everlasting yawning.

I agree that there is a distinct difference between saying that you have never heard a piece of music by a female composer that has really impressed or moved you, and saying that women are incapable of producing such. Obviously there is a reason why there were few female composers... or artists of any genre... in the past. In most cases they were simply not allowed to engage in such endeavors... or afforded the education needed. Most of the exceptions were women who had certain distinct advantages. Hildegard of Bingen was an abbess... in charge of the community of nuns. She was afforded an advanced education and was free to write, compose, and create art within this community.

Chiara Cozzolani was also an abbess.

Clara Schumann had the advantage of a father who was a piano teacher and a mother who was a singer... and married a composer.

Now I wouldn't suggest that Clara Schumann was on the same level as Robert... but I would say that Hildegard and Chiara were both among the finest composers of their era. The fact that you are not fond of their music has nothing to do with their gender and everything to do with the fact that you are not fond of the genre in which they worked. I suspect you would be equally unresponsive to the work of any male composer of the period (Dufay or Gesualdo, for example).


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

I know I said I wasn't going to come into this, and I'm not, I just wanted to add a couple of other female composers that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet: 

Mozart's sister, Maria Anna Mozart, although I don't think any of her compositions survived... Or at least I haven't heard any. 

Then there is Wieniawski's daughter, who went under several different pseudonyms, a couple of them are Poldowski and also Irène Wieniawska.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I'll just list my fav Russians.

Glinka
Borodin
Balakirev
Cui
Mussorgsky
Rimsky-Korsakov
Tchaikovsky
Rubinstein
Liadov
S. Taneyev
Arensky
Glazunov
Kalinnikov
Scriabin
Gliere
Rachmaninoff
Tcherepnin
Stravinsky
Medtner
Prokofiev
Khachaturian
Shostakovich
Kabalevsky


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner
Wagner


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Couchie said:


> Wagner
> Wagner
> Wagner
> Wagner
> ...


What? No Wagner?


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> What? No Wagner?


That pretentious old anti-semite? No way.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

1.Dvořák
2.F.J.Haydn
3... the rest for later


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2012)

I agree with St on this one, Couchie. You should really try listening to some Wagner. I think you'd like it!

But all seriousness aside, I just listened to Misato Mochizuki's _Chimera._ That was a pretty cool piece. Thanks for posting that, violadude. As you know, I spent the bulk of my time either listening to or writing about new music, so I'm already doing it when I get youtube suggestions. But _Chimera_ was certainly well worth my while! And when I went to the M's in my collection to see what I had of hers, I found the Kairos disc, with _Chimera_ on it! So much for my memory. So OK, I just listened to Misato Mochizuki's _Chimera_ again. And enjoyed it again.

And I just yesterday spent a half an hour at a friend's recommendation on youtube listening to Stockhausen's _Cosmic Pulses,_ one of his last pieces, premiered in May of the year he died. That's a much cooler piece than I was expecting it to be. Much.

Anyway, I wonder what would happen if I made a list of my favorite composers....

...

...

...

Maryanne Amacher
Mark Andre
Robert Ashley
Ana-Maria Avram
J.S. Bach
Natasha Barrett
Francoise Barriere
Bela Bartok 
Gunter Becker
Anton Berg
Jonathan Berger
Hector Berlioz
Benjamin Britten
Anton Bruckner
Michele Bokanowski
Michael Boyd
Johannes Brahms
Peter Broetzmann
Ludger Bruemmer
Busratch
John Cage
Anna Clyne
Ornette Coleman
Tony Conrad
Crawling With Tarts
Paul Dessau
Thomas Dimuzio
Francis Dhomont 
Tod Dockstader
Iancu Dumitrescu
Antonin Dvorak
eRikm
Julio Estrada
Morton Feldman
Luc Ferrari
Beatriz Ferreyra
Roberto Gerhard
Gilles Gobeil
Heiner Goebbels
Lyn Goeringer
Christine Groult
Jonty Harrison
Erdem Helvacioglu
Tim Hodgkinson
Balázs Horváth 
Charles Ives
Leos Janacek
Elsa Justel
Mauricio Kagel
Zbigniew Karkowski
Cristina Kasem
Bronius Kutavicius
Helmut Lachenmann
Ingvar Lidholm
Gyorgy Ligeti
Francisco Lopez
Witold Lutoslawski
Bruno Maderna
Gustav Mahler
Lionel Marchetti
Walter Marchetti
Christian Marclay
Francisco Meirino (formly Phroq)
Daniel Menche
Merzbow
Claudio Monteverdi
Grainne Mulvey
Gordon Mumma
Modest Mussorgsky
My Cat is an Alien
Carl Nielsen
Jon Christopher Nelson
Andrea Neumann
Jerome Noetinger
Arne Nordheim
K. K. Null
Nurse With Wound
Zeena Parkins
Harry Partch
Francis Poulenc
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Eliane Radigue
Horatiu Radulescu
Fausto Romitelli
Keith Rowe
Camille Saint-Saens
Diana Simpson Salazar
Franz Schubert
Dan Senn
Alice Shields
Jean Sibelius
Denis Smalley
Simon Steen-Andersen
Igor Stravinsky
Simeon Ten Holt
Avet Terterian
Martin Tetreault
Doug Theriault
Yasunao Tone
David Tudor
Edgard Varese
Antonio Vivaldi
Anton Webern
Iannis Xenakis
Otomo Yoshihide
Z'ev

Hmmm. Well, that was silly. I could do another list right now of the same number (107?) and all different people. And it would be pretty much just as good. Azguime, Beethoven, Calon, Franck, Globokar, Huber (Klaus), and so forth, all the way to B. A. Zimmermann. Would that be twice as silly, though, or only half as silly...? There's a conundrum for ya.


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

^^^No offense, but I think that was one of the strangest posts I've ever read... 

But very well organised, I must admit.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Lists are lists.

in not-a-particular-order:

Frank Zappa
Peter Tchaikovsky
Nobuo Uematsu
Ludwig van Beethoven
Charles Ives
Yuki Kajiura
Frederic Chopin
Mike Oldfield
Claude Debussy
John Cage
Erik Satie
Alfred Schnittke
Damon Albarn
Modest Mussorgsky
Igor Stravinsky
Anton Webern
Sergei Prokofiev
Björk Guðmundsdóttir
Koh Otani
Arnold Schoenberg
Sofia Gubaidulina
Alexander Borodin
Richard Wagner
Franz Josef Haydn
Yasunori Mitsuda
György Ligeti
Maurice Ravel
Bela Bartok
Edgard Varese
Herman Løvenskiold
Johann Sebastian Bach
Aaron Copland
Leo Delibes
Mikhail Glinka
Cesar Cui
Nikolai Medtner
Hector Berlioz
John Dunstaple
Gustav Holst
Franz Schubert
Jimi Hendrix
Gustav Mahler
Percy Grainger
Samuel Barber
Felix Mendelssohn
Olivier Messiaen
Henri Dutilleux
Milton Babbitt
Paul McCartney
Trent Reznor
Leonard Bernstein
Henry Cowell
George Gershwin
Jeff Lynne
Adolf Adam
Ian Anderson
Ennio Morricone
Robert Schumann
Beck Hansen
Richard Strauss
Iannis Xenakis
Steve Reich
Luigi Dallapiccola
Stephen Sondheim
Clara Schumann
Scott Joplin
Camille Saint-Saens
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Tom Waits


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Well, that is your personal taste, but I wouldn't call it objective.
> Sabre Dance has one catchy, yet brilliant and unique melody and it actualy became an all time classic. Even if it didn't, it's still great little composition.
> Those liturgical music is mostly going nowhere with it's everlasting yawning.
> 
> ...


That's right. If actualy women had right to compose music, I'm sure that there will be some all time classics just like from male composers, but would be those classics on same level like Beethoven's 1st mvt from 5th symphony or Mahler's Adagietto from his 5th? Somehow I doubt, but we will never know.

Even in 20th century and today in pop music when women have freedom to make music I can't find almost anything enough satisfying. Actualy, many of music of those female composers leaves me some impression of hormonal hysteria and it leaves me cold on emotional level... I don't know how else to describe that. For example- Tori Amos, Bjork, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, etc. It all sounds weird to me and it doesn't actually correspondence with my mentality. It's not bad music, but it's weird to me. Same feeling I got from those atonal and experimental compositions that somebody posted here. It all sounds like some organized mess, but still a mess to me.

For example I find Annie Lennox songs more appealing to my taste, but still I'm not that crazy for her stuff. 
So far, only 2 female composers in pop music that I actualy find on my level of emotions, sensiblity and mentality are Brandi Carlile and Katie Melua... 1st is lesbian and the other one is bisexual. If that has to do with anything I don't know, but I guess that architecture of brain and chemistry in it has also a lot with it.
Some examples:








 (she was cowriter on this one, so I don't know did she compose melody or wrote words)





Those are rare examples where I can actualy feel exactly the same what I would feel from male composers. But still, even in pop music, my most favorite musicians are by mile a men- Ennio Morricone, Elton John, Billy Joel, Angelo Badalamenti, Mark Knopfler, Vangelis, etc.


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

Here's some beautiful music from the girls so you can stop appearing so prejudiced:


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

*Hosokawa *is apparently an upcoming fellow, mentioned by several here. I do have some works, but find him somewhat difficult and vague to grasp - any favourite works - and perhaps, sketchingly, why ?


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

*Hocket* ...

Elisabeth has really nice music, but is it anything more than that? I wouldn't put those compositions on level of this for example:





Barbara Strozzi on the other hand ... there is really some depth in this... interesting for such early period. Very good indeed. I'm not spellbound, but I'm pleasantly surprised for sure.

The rest of those 2 videos are not actualy on level of that I was mentioning. I set up high levels with 3 masterpieces from male composers. I want to hear something that strong and powerful from women. That was the point.
The point was not for you to prove me that women can make nice music. It's not hard to make nice and bloodless music, especialy 300 years ago. Even I could make nice music and it would still probably suck.


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

and you really should appreciate Hildegard more:


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

10 more ambitious works by women composers:

Sofia Gubajdulina. Violin Concerto, offertorium 



Crawford Seeger: String Quartet 



Cecile Chaminade: Concertstück 



Lucia Dlugszewski: Fire Fragile Flight 



Ljubica Maric: Byzantine Concerto 



Elisabeth Maconchy: String Quartet no.11 



Kaija Saariaho: Flute Concerto, L´Aile des Songes 



Galina Ustvolskaya: Piano Concerto 



Gloria Coates: Homage to Van Gogh 



Amy Beach: Piano Concerto


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

nikola said:


> *Hocket* ...
> 
> Elisabeth has really nice music, but is it anything more than that? I wouldn't put those compositions on level of this for example:


Well I would, indeed that's a pretty horrific Vivaldi rendition that sounds like it should be on some easy listening relaxation compilation.



> The rest of those 2 videos are not actualy on level of that I was mentioning.


This is such a sweeping statement that it continues to make you sound ignorant.



> I set up high levels with 3 masterpieces from male composers. I want to hear something that strong and powerful from women. That was the point.
> The point was not for you to prove me that women can make nice music. It's not hard to make nice and bloodless music, especialy 300 years ago. Even I could make nice music and it would still probably suck.


The thread asked for your top 100 not your top 3. There is nothing bloodless or second rate about this music -these are just your prejudices peeking through. It's fine if you don't like baroque music but dismissing something you don't understand as 'bloodless' is rather foolish. Strozzi and Jacquet were highly regarded composers in their day (and Leonarda was in the region of her home city too) not some product of equal opportunities positive discrimination.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

Good stuff for what it is, but that wasn't my point. I want to hear some true masterpiece from woman... any woman in classical music. At least something like Brahms 'Lullabye' with simple, yet beautiful melody which we all remember still today. Or something more complex like Dvorak's 'New World Symphony'... or Bach's 'Air'... Albinoni's/Giazotto's 'Adagio'... Beethoven's 'Fur Elise'... something cohesive, meaningul, melodic, brilliant, unique! 
This is probably also third time that someone posted Hildegard. These middle age liturgical yawning isn't proof of quality or great music no matter how nice it is.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

10 further, ambitious works by women composers:

Zara Levina: 1st Piano Concerto 



Elena Firsova. Requiem after Akhmatova 



Louise Farrenc: 1st Symphony 



Unsuk Chin: Violin concerto 



Germaine Tailleferre: Ballade for Piano & Orchestra 



Ruth Zechlin: Polyphony 



Fanny Mendelssohn: Oratorium nach Bildern ... 



Clara Schumann: Piano Concerto 



Alla Pavlova: Symphony 5 



Lydia Auster: Piano Concerto


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

nikola said:


> Good stuff for what it is, but that wasn't my point. I want to hear some true masterpiece from woman... any woman in classical music. At least something like Brahms 'Lullabye' with simple, yet beautiful melody which we all remember still today. Or something more complex like Dvorak's 'New World Symphony'... or Bach's 'Air'... Albinoni's/Giazotto's 'Adagio'... Beethoven's 'Fur Elise'... something cohesive, meaningul, melodic, brilliant, unique!
> This is probably also third time that someone posted Hildegard. These middle age liturgical yawning isn't proof of quality or great music no matter how nice it is.


The only reason those are so famous is because those composers have been recognised. If women composers had been recognised as much as males through out history they would have pieces like that too. And there are, but what really makes brilliant and unique is inside you. For me, someone's example, Isabella Leonardo's Sonata duodecima IS meaningful and melodic. And really, all music is unique.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

hocket said:


> Well I would, indeed that's a pretty horrific Vivaldi rendition that sounds like it should be on some easy listening relaxation compilation.
> 
> This is such a sweeping statement that it continues to make you sound ignorant.
> 
> The thread asked for your top 100 not your top 3. There is nothing bloodless or second rate about this music -these are just your prejudices peeking through. It's fine if you don't like baroque music but dismissing something you don't understand as 'bloodless' is rather foolish. Strozzi and Jacquet were highly regarded composers in their day (and Leonarda was in the region of her home city too) not some product of equal opportunities positive discrimination.


No need to get upset, but my taste is versatile enough. I was aksing for masterpiece, not for nice music that was highly regarded a few hundreds years ago. I like baroque music since I like many stuff of Bach or Vivaldi for example, but even many stuff of Bach or Vivaldi isn't equaly great. 
All those female music you posted sounds mostly like weaker work of those male composers. And that is my point. Which are the most favorite classical compositions that people still love to listen even today? Do you know why are they famous? There is reason for that why is Dvorak's 'New World Symphony' considered one of the greatest symphonies ever, while you'll almost never hear any of his other symphony. It's not that rest sucks, but it's simply not on that level for many reasons.

There is reason why some movements from Beethoven's symphonies you will hear so many times through your life, while other you won't. Sure, I'm not saying that there are not hidden masterpieces, but obviously some stuff is better than the other stuff. 
That's the point. Those female classical music can't be compared to best male classical music. It can be only compared to their weaker music.

Prejudices or not, that's my opinion.


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

> This is probably also third time that someone posted Hildegard. These middle age liturgical yawning isn't proof of quality or great music no matter how nice it is.


No, it's proof of your lack of appreciation for this kind of music. That's fine, but your comments are foolish.

If you think this music is merely 'nice' and not as great as Brahms or whatever else of the usual stuff, you're entitled to your opinion of course.

The fact is that your original comment was this:



> I don't want to sound sexist, but I almost didn't hear in my whole life composition by woman that did impress me (in classical or pop music).


...and believe me, you DO sound sexist.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

hocket said:


> No, it's proof of your lack of appreciation for this kind of music. That's fine, but your comments are foolish.
> 
> If you think this music is merely 'nice' and not as great as Brahms or whatever else of the usual stuff, you're entitled to your opinion of course.
> 
> ...


I actualy don't care that much how I sound since it's your right to think of me whatever you want and I can't change that, but I'm also not the subject of the day here.
You simply didn't prove me otherwise with those links. It's simple as that. I'm not saying that music is crap.. far from that...it's nice and I could listen to it too, but it's on level of some weaker or middle-quality compositions from best male composer.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

joen_cph said:


> 10 further, ambitious works by women composers:
> 
> Zara Levina: 1st Piano Cocnerto
> 
> ...


I will try to listen to all this. I started to listen first Zara Levina. It does sounds much to me like Tchaikovsky and it does sound enough good and interesting.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Levina is from the Shostakovich - Prokofiev generation. Not the best recording sound-wise, of course.

But the definition of "masterpiece" = "popular work" is much too narrow.

By the way, it is not by any means certain that Beethoven actually wrote "Für Elise".


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

joen_cph said:


> 10 further, ambitious works by women composers:
> 
> Zara Levina: 1st Piano Concerto


Ok, my impressions:

Zara Levine.... She really seems like unscrupulous composer. Everything is all over the top and for what it is, it is really great. I wouldn't say it's on highest level of some piano concertos of some male composers (Tchaikovsky or Edward Grieg for example... even though I remember that Tchaikovsky did have some piano concertos that I didn't like almost at all), but this Zara's stuff is still great on it's own. I can also hear Scriabin madness in some parts. Probably too much for my taste, but at least it's very exciting classical piece that is not afraid to be all over the place.

I'll continue to listen to the rest.


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

nikola said:


> I actualy don't care that much how I sound since it's your right to think of me whatever you want and I can't change that, but I'm also not the subject of the day here.
> You simply didn't prove me otherwise with those links. It's simple as that. I'm not saying that music is crap.. far from that...it's nice and I could listen to it too, but it's on level of some weaker or middle-quality compositions from best male composer.


Maybe you should think about what you've actually said rather than just spending your time just trying to justify yourself. I don't expect you to think Elisabeth Jacquet or Barbara Strozzi are as good as Beethoven, but I'd expect you to acknowledge that their music is good enough that it is not so outlandish that someone might choose them in a top 100 as this thread requests. Instead you continue harping on about how womens' compositions don't 'impress' you (and let's not even get into your evident ignorance of the historiography of music and your naive notions about 'timeless' music). I have no problem with someone saying that they've never heard classical music by women that they particularly admire (the pop music addendum boggles the mind though), but when confronted by evidence of quality music to then demand that it be instantly gratifying to the degree of their all time favourites on first (or let's face it, partial) listen before you can even contemplate the idea that they're any good is frankly absurd. Maybe you should consider the possibility that you've been a little rash in you statements.


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

joen_cph said:


> By the way, it is not by any means certain that Beethoven actually wrote "Für Elise".


I'm aware of that, but I took it as example. Sure, it could be that some girl wrote it  
Or some other guy, but still, it could be that it's really Beethoven's work.


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

hocket said:


> Maybe you should think about what you've actually said rather than just spending your time just trying to justify yourself. I don't expect you to think Elisabeth Jacquet or Barbara Strozzi are as good as Beethoven, but I'd expect you to acknowledge that their music is good enough that it is not so outlandish that someone might choose them in a top 100 as this thread requests. Instead you continue harping on about how womens' compositions don't 'impress' you (and let's not even get into your evident ignorance of the historiography of music and your naive notions about 'timeless' music). I have no problem with someone saying that they've never heard classical music by women that they particularly admire (the pop music addendum boggles the mind though), but when confronted by evidence of quality music to then demand that it be instantly gratifying to the degree of their all time favourites on first (or let's face it, partial) listen before you can even contemplate the idea that they're any good is frankly absurd. Maybe you should consider the possibility that you've been a little rash in you statements.


I'm not trying to justify myself at all. I don't see the reason why should I!?
I've never said that those female music is bad on any possible level, but it also doesn't reach to me on any possible level. You can call it subjective, but I'm quite aware always why is some of the greatest classical work considered to be the greatest. The thing is- I really do love almost all work that is considered 'the best of classical music' and there are hundredss and even thousands of those 'best' from classical music. I can't find that X factor in those female compositions that you've send me.

And I'm not harsh at all. I'm just stating my opinion and my experience of that music. Considering evidence you send me... I really appreciate all that. Truly nice and good music, but still not on those highest levels.

joen_cph posted some more interesting and versatile stuff that I'm listening to right now.


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

joen_cph said:


> 10 further, ambitious works by women composers:
> Elena Firsova. Requiem after Akhmatova
> 
> 
> ...


Elena Firsova... this first part of Requiem is very eeire, dark and interesting. I like it.

Louise Farrenc ... very good symphony.. it does sound like some work from skillful and experienced male composer for sure (I'm adding this since all of you believe that I'm sexist). To me, even better than Beethoven's Eroica which I like probably the least from all his symphonies  
But not better for sure than his 5th, 6th, 7th or 9th. Still, great symphony indeed. She has feeling for flow and construction of movements. Even though not TOO impressive, it's still more than solid piece of work. I should give it more listenings. Actualy, this youtube member Goldie has music of hundreds if not thousands of great and less popular classical composers. Great source!

Unsun Chin.. it reminds me slightly of begining of 1st mvt of Beethoven's 9th symphony. In other words it does sound like orchestra tuning. Atonal, but quite interesting, but I wouldn't go further than that even though, for some reason I do like it.

Ok, many stuff here remained to be heard...

It would be stupid to say it's not enough good, but I did set high standards at begining with 3 popular, yet great compositions: 2nd mvt from Beethoven's 7th symphony, Adagietto from Mahler's 5th symphony and Sabre Dance by Khachaturian. I guess I'm expecting too much. 
All that work is still on much higher level to me than these stuff WHAT DOESN'T MEAN that this music from female composers is mediocre on any possible level. It's very very good on it's own and better than some male compositions. It's just still not up there with the best of the best ..... to me.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Concerning the female composers I mentioned: Pickings from my list have been from the second group/tier. There are some of my favourite, quite astonishing works in the first group - perhaps try the last 15 mins of *Gubajdulina*´s 1st violin concerto (most of her works are interesting, also the Chaconne for piano, the Piano concerto etc., especially in the BIS recording),* Ruth Crawford-Seeger*´s String Quartet (well played but not very attractive in the sound of the youtube version), and the *Saariaho* and *Dlugoszewski *work.

I didn´t know the Pavlova symphony, but the start of that 5th at least is promising.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

nikola said:


> but would be those classics on same level like Beethoven's 1st mvt from 5th symphony or Mahler's Adagietto from his 5th? Somehow I doubt, but we will never know.


Why do you keep saying that?


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> Louise Farrenc ... very good symphony.. it does sound like some work from skillful and experienced male composer for sure (I'm adding this since all of you believe that I'm sexist).


That still sounds sexist...


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

BurningDesire said:


> Why do you keep saying that?


Because it's true.


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> That still sounds sexist...


Ok, I'm sexist and proud of it


----------



## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

nikola said:


> Because it's true.


Its pointless talking with you.


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

BurningDesire said:


> Its pointless talking with you.


So why are you still talking with me?


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> Ok, I'm sexist and proud of it


:clap: Admitting your problem is the first step towards recovery.


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> :clap: Admitting your problem is the first step towards recovery.


I like to be this way. If it makes me happy, it's not problem then... right!?


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> I like to be this way. If it makes me happy, it's not problem then... right!?


hmm...it's a problem if too many people think like that....


----------



## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

violadude said:


> hmm...it's a problem if too many people think like that....


I should care about 'people'? :lol:
You see... I've never cared enough what people think about me and with years I care even less. Honestly, I couldn't care less if God himself thinks that I'm an ***.
Or did you think if too many people 'would think like me'? That's also not my problem.
So, let's bring this to an end since this is topic about music and not about me


----------



## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> Concerning the female composers I mentioned: Pickings from my list have been from the second group/tier. There are some of my favourite, quite astonishing works in the first group - perhaps try the last 15 mins of *Gubajdulina*´s 1st violin concerto (most of her works are interesting, also the Chaconne for piano, the Piano concerto etc., especially in the BIS recording),* Ruth Crawford-Seeger*´s String Quartet (well played but not very attractive in the sound of the youtube version), and the *Saariaho* and *Dlugoszewski *work.
> 
> I didn´t know the Pavlova symphony, but the start of that 5th at least is promising.


Thanks for those great posts. I had heard several of the pieces, but some new ones convinced me to select several works from those composers to put in a playlist on Spotify for later listening.

BTW, I have several of Pavlova's symphonies and greatly enjoy them including the 5th.


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2012)

Out of my list of 107--couldn't I have come up with three more? just three??-- just happen to be women as well. More importantly, I think, they are most of them women that have otherwise not been mentioned. Gubaidulina and Crawford-Seeger and Saariaho and Dlugoszewski are all pretty well-known--as are Parkins, of course, and Olga Neuwirth and Meredith Monk and Amy Beach. Maybe Zwilich, too. Pauline Oliveros should be very well-known. She's certainly an indispensible figure in contemporary music.

But fame is a strange thing, never consistently connected with worth.

These are all people whom I have found worthwhile, anyway:

Maryanne Amacher
Ana-Maria Avram
Natasha Barrett
Francoise Barriere
Michele Bokanowski
Busratch (Katsura Mouri is the female half of this duo)
Anna Clyne
Crawling With Tarts (husband and wife team)
Beatriz Ferreyra
Lyn Goeringer
Christine Groult
Elsa Justel
Cristina Kasem
Grainne Mulvey
Andrea Neumann
Zeena Parkins
Eliane Radigue
Diana Simpson Salazar
Alice Shields

Only nineteen out of 107. Hmmmm. What would 

Andrienne Alexander
*Carola Bauckholt
Unsuk Chin
Chaya Czernowin
Lucia Dlugoszewski
Daimanda Galas
Annie Gosfield
Marisol Jimenez
Julia Kent
Christina Kubisch
Joan La Barbara
Libby Larson
Elainie Lillios
Annea Lockwood
*Sachiko M
*Beranger Maximin
Elena Mendoza
Isabel Mundry
Pauline Oliveros
Elsa Maria Pade
Hilda Paredes
Rosy Parlane
Kaija Saariaho
Rebecca Saunders
Elzbieta Sikora
Pri Smiley
Hildegarde Westerkamp
Agata Zubel

have to say about that? (They must never know.)

Anyway, the sad truth is that women even in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries just don't get the breaks that the guys do. Look at any large collection--Rueckblick Modern, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000--and where are the women? Very much not noticed. If you buy CDs like I do, simply for getting some more interesting music and not according to era or country or gender, then you will inevitably end up with more music written by males than music written by females. 

The explanation that they're not as good seems to come exclusively from people who a) haven't heard very much music by women and b) don't like twentieth and twenty-first century music generally. Not the group with the most convincing arguments, for sure!

In actual fact, the continued favoring of men over women by concert programmers and record producers does mean one good thing: to break into this industry, women have to bring their A game, consistently and persistently, to even be allowed a hearing alongside their male counterparts (who can bring B and C game stuff to the situation and still get recognition). This means that if you run across a recording of music by a female, chances are very good that the music will be very good. There's no guarantee, of course. Many of the more famous women, the ones that get a look-in in popular magazines, that get frequent mention in online forums, that win Pulitzer prizes, are not necessarily the best of the lot! Maybe this is a better way to put it--if you get a disc by Sachiko M, it's likelier to be good than a disc by Nicolas Muhly, who, being male, can get away with lesser quality and still get recording contracts.

*the three starred ones should have been on my original list, bringing that up to 110, woo hoo!! I'm as good as violadude, now!!


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## nikola (Sep 7, 2012)

I don't understand this. I see today female singers and artists and musicians everywhere.


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

nikola said:


> I don't understand this. I see today female singers and artists and musicians everywhere.


How about these?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

SomeGuy-Anyway, I wonder what would happen if I made a list of my favorite composers....

...

...

...

Maryanne Amacher
Mark Andre
Robert Ashley
Ana-Maria Avram
J.S. Bach
Natasha Barrett
Francoise Barriere
Bela Bartok 
Gunter Becker
Anton Berg
Jonathan Berger
Hector Berlioz
Benjamin Britten
Anton Bruckner
Michele Bokanowski
Michael Boyd
Johannes Brahms
Peter Broetzmann
Ludger Bruemmer
Busratch
John Cage
Anna Clyne
Ornette Coleman
Tony Conrad
Crawling With Tarts
Paul Dessau
Thomas Dimuzio
Francis Dhomont 
Tod Dockstader
Iancu Dumitrescu
Antonin Dvorak
eRikm
Julio Estrada
Morton Feldman
Luc Ferrari
Beatriz Ferreyra
Roberto Gerhard
Gilles Gobeil
Heiner Goebbels
Lyn Goeringer
Christine Groult
Jonty Harrison
Erdem Helvacioglu
Tim Hodgkinson
Balázs Horváth 
Charles Ives
Leos Janacek
Elsa Justel
Mauricio Kagel
Zbigniew Karkowski
Cristina Kasem
Bronius Kutavicius
Helmut Lachenmann
Ingvar Lidholm
Gyorgy Ligeti
Francisco Lopez
Witold Lutoslawski
Bruno Maderna
Gustav Mahler
Lionel Marchetti
Walter Marchetti
Christian Marclay
Francisco Meirino (formly Phroq)
Daniel Menche
Merzbow
Claudio Monteverdi
Grainne Mulvey
Gordon Mumma
Modest Mussorgsky
My Cat is an Alien
Carl Nielsen
Jon Christopher Nelson
Andrea Neumann
Jerome Noetinger
Arne Nordheim
K. K. Null
Nurse With Wound
Zeena Parkins
Harry Partch
Francis Poulenc
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Eliane Radigue
Horatiu Radulescu
Fausto Romitelli
Keith Rowe
Camille Saint-Saens
Diana Simpson Salazar
Franz Schubert
Dan Senn
Alice Shields
Jean Sibelius
Denis Smalley
Simon Steen-Andersen
Igor Stravinsky
Simeon Ten Holt
Avet Terterian
Martin Tetreault
Doug Theriault
Yasunao Tone
David Tudor
Edgard Varese
Antonio Vivaldi
Anton Webern
Iannis Xenakis
Otomo Yoshihide
Z'ev

What... no Wagner?!


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

That's right. If actualy women had right to compose music, I'm sure that there will be some all time classics just like from male composers, but would be those classics on same level like Beethoven's 1st mvt from 5th symphony or Mahler's Adagietto from his 5th? Somehow I doubt, but we will never know.

Let's be honest... few composers in the whole of history... regardless of gender, race, religion, hair color, sexual orientation, height, weight, etc... can rival Beethoven or Mahler at their absolute best.

Hildegard of Bingen, regardless of your dislike of Medieval music, was one of the giants of of the period... which suggests that some women can indeed achieve at highest levels in art. In literature we have Sappho, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Wolfe, Marina Tsvetaeva, Flannery O'Conner... women who are among the finest writers of their era and genre. I see no reason why some women will not be able to aspire to the same heights as men in music.

Even in 20th century and today in pop music when women have freedom to make music I can't find almost anything enough satisfying. Actualy, many of music of those female composers leaves me some impression of hormonal hysteria and it leaves me cold on emotional level... I don't know how else to describe that. For example- Tori Amos, Bjork, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, etc. It all sounds weird to me and it doesn't actually correspondence with my mentality. It's not bad music, but it's weird to me. Same feeling I got from those atonal and experimental compositions that somebody posted here. It all sounds like some organized mess, but still a mess to me.

Again... this seems to be more about your inability to grasp and appreciate music of a given style or period, and not about gender. Or are you saying that you resonate with a great deal of the music of male composers of the later 20th century... and just not the women? I ask this because it seems clear that your dismissal of Hildegard of Bingen and Chiara Cozzolani have nothing to do with their gender and everything to do with the fact that you do not appreciate medieval music.


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## peeyaj (Nov 17, 2010)

Schubert ---> * ∞ + 1 *


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

First 50 are accurate, after that not much ...

1) Dvorak
Haydn
Sibelius
Brahms
Schumann
Wagner
Beethoven
Mozart
Handel
10) Korsakov
Liszt
Vivaldi
Schubert 
Mussorgsky
Johann Strauss II
Boccherini
Bruckner
Bach
Vaughan Williams
20) Saint Saens
Elgar
Glazunov
Palestrina
Smetana
Khachaturian
Shostakovich
Hovhaness
Mendelssohn
Rachmaninov
30) Berwald
Berlioz
Tchaikovski
Grieg
Nielsen
Prokofiev
Balakirev
Bartok
J.Williams
Ippolitov Ivanov
40) Gershwin
Ives
Zelenka
Benjamin Britten
Borodin
Ravel
Delibes
C.A.Beriot
J.Adams
Corelli
50) Glinka
J.P.Sousa
R.Strauss
A.Copland
Sammartini
Janacek
Bizet
Barber
J. Del Encina
H. Schutz
60) Monteverdi
Albinoni
J.Dowland
J.Struass I
Verdi
Tartini
Telemann
Rosenmuller
Holst
Samuel Scheidt
70) Taneyev
Stravinsky
Josef Strauss
Paganini
Heinrich Isaac
Andreas Waldetoft
Bernard Herrmann
John Sheppard
Debussy
Mahler
80) Chopin
Rossini
Hildegard von Bingen
Eduard Strauss
Purcell
Gorecki
Joculatores Upsalienses

.
.
.
.
198) John Cage!
199) Stockhausen!
200) Schoenberg!

Couldn't put more because I've not listened enough from another composers.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

violadude said:


> Why is everyone picking on Aleksandra Vreblov in this thread?  I mentioned 110 other composers too.


Chin up, I'm intruiged enough that I want to check out her music now


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

No publicity is bad publicity, eh?:lol:


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

1) Brahms
2) Mahler
3) Mendelssohn
4) Dvorak
5) Chopin
6) Mozart
7) Tchaikovsky
8) Ravel
9) Beethoven
10) Puccini
11) Prokofiev
12) Bach
13) Sibelius 
14) Faure
15) Strauss 
16) Schubert 
17) Gorecki
18) Grieg
19) Part
20) Glass
20) Clara Schumann
21) Debussy
22) Monteverdi
23) Durufle
24) Vivaldi
25) Bruckner
26) Alkan
27) Alwyn
28) Wagner
29) Schumann
30) Charpentier
31) Lully
32) Saint Saens

That's my list. Keep in mind anything outside of the top 15 may easily change before long.....a lot of the lower rankings are due to very small sample size of works listened to. Even the top 5 has room for change. Chopin moved himself into the top 5 recently due to my intense interest in piano works, and Brahms surprised even me by shouldering his way above Mahler and Mendelssohn. I overdid Mozart, as evidenced in his slide from 2nd position to 6th. Or maybe it's just because his operas are my favorite pieces by him and I'm not in opera mode right now. At any rate, here's my list for now!


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

1) Bach
2) Ravel
3) Bartok
4) Debussy
5) Mozart
6) Beethoven

Its too close between too many composers for me to keep track after that.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Finally got around to ranking my favorite 110 composers.
(all of them 20th century; includes composers known more for their film scores than concert works)

1.	Charles Koechlin
2.	Giacinto Scelsi
3.	Andre Jolivet
4.	Aarre Merikanto
5.	Richard Rodney Bennett
6.	Alex North
7.	Karol Szymanowski
8.	Maurice Ohana
9.	Arne Nordheim
10.	Jon Leifs

11.	Jerry Goldsmith
12.	Meyer Kupferman
13.	Toru Takemitsu
14.	Heitor Villa-Lobos
15.	Andre Caplet
16.	Roberto Gerhard
17.	Jean Prodromides
18.	Luigi Dallapiccola
19.	Pierre Jansen
20.	Tristram Cary

21.	Edgard Varese
22.	Vaino Raitio
23.	Piero Piccioni
24.	Erik Bergman
25.	Fartein Valen
26.	Henri Dutilleux
27.	Leonard Rosenman
28.	Karl-Birger Blomdahl
29.	Luis De Pablo
30.	Vagn Holmboe

31.	Humphrey Searle
32.	Jerry Fielding
33.	Friedrich Cerha
34.	Olivier Messiaen
35.	Luciano Berio
36.	Stanley Myers
37.	Benjamin Frankel
38.	George Enescu
39.	Isang Yun
40.	Morton Feldman

41.	Hugo Friedhofer
42.	Florent Schmitt
43.	Einojuhani Rautavaara
44.	Andre Previn
45.	Elisabeth Lutyens
46.	Goffredo Petrassi
47.	Bohuslav Martinu
48.	Frederick van Rossum
49.	Paavo Heininen
50.	Anders Eliasson

51.	Ennio Morricone
52.	Wilfred Josephs
53.	Ralph Vaughan Williams
54.	Antoine Duhamel
55.	George Duning
56.	Aubert Lemeland
57.	Marcel Landowski
58.	Nikos Skalkottas
59.	Alun Hoddinott
60.	Eero Hameenniemi

61.	Paul Glass
62.	Alessandro Solbiati
63.	Krzysztof Penderecki
64.	Uuno Klami
65.	Alexandre Tansman
66.	Marius Constant
67.	Malcolm Arnold
68.	Bruno Maderna
69.	Elmer Bernstein
70.	Adnan Ahmed Saygun

71.	George Perle
72.	Gerard Schurmann
73.	Pehr Henrik Nordgren
74.	Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
75.	Edith Canat de Chizy
76.	William Alwyn
77.	Roger Sessions
78.	Alexander Tcherepnin
79.	Mikis Theodorakis
80.	Magnus Lindberg

81.	Per Norgard
82.	Horatiu Radulescu
83.	Luca Francesconi
84.	Lars Johan Werle
85.	Serge Nigg
86.	Josef Tal
87.	Dimitri Tiomkin
88.	Ernest Bloch
89.	William Walton
90.	Thea Musgrave

91.	Harrison Birtwistle
92.	Kaija Saariaho
93.	Luigi Nono
94.	Bernard Rands
95.	Carlos Chavez
96.	Daniele Amfitheatrof
97.	Franz Waxman
98.	Geirr Tveitt
99.	Wolfgang Rihm
100.	Sandor Veress

101.	Bernd Alois Zimmermann
102.	Iannis Xenakis
103.	Bernard Herrmann
104.	Roman Vlad
105.	Don Banks
106.	Gilbert Amy
107.	Bent Sorensen
108.	Pierre Boulez
109.	Michel Tabachnik
110.	Robert Saxton


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Eddie R U Kiddings Favs
note got bored by about no 28.....
1. Edgard Varese
2. EddieRUKiddidng
3. Frank Zappa
4. Pierre Boulez
5. Harry Partch
6. Hugo Wolf
7. Peter Warlock
7. (Alt Celine Dion)
8. Arensky
9. Sorabji
10. Stockhausen
11. Hans Rott
12. Brahms
13. Robert Schumann 
14. Richard Wagner
15. Gesualdo da Venosa
16. Erik Satie
17. Tchaikovsky
18. Mahler 
19. Schoenberg
20. Percy Grainger
21. Liszt
22. Schoenberg
23. Mormon Tabernacle Choir 
24. Rued Langgaard
25. Manhattan Project 
26. Physics
27.Smetana
28. Scriabin
29. Alessandro Stradella
31. Gesualdo da Venosa
32. Jerry Lewis
33. Friedrich Cerha
34. Olivier Twist
35. Luciano mario
36. Stanley Myers
37. Benjamin Frankelin
38. George Best
39. Marty Feldman
40. Morton Feldman
41. Hugo Hefner
42. Florent Schmitt
43. Einojuhani Ratatooyi
44. Andre Previn
45. Elisabeth Taylor
46. Goffredo Rush
47. Bohuslav Martinu
48. Frederick van Rossum
49. Paavo Heininen
50. Anders Eliasson
51. Ennio Morricone
52. Wilfred Rhodes
53. Frank Williams
54. Antoine Duhamel
55. George Duke
56. Aubert Lemming
57. Marcel Marso
58. Nikos Skalkottas
59. Alun putaknottinott
60. Eero Hameenniemi
61. Paul Glasshalfempty
62. Alessandro Solbiati
63. Moon Unit Penderecki
64. Uuno Planet
65. Alexandre Changing
66. Marius Constantly
67. Malcolm X
68. Bruno Cohen
69. Elmer Bernstein
70. Ahmed Camel
71. George Martin
72. Eddie
73. Flo
74. Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
75. Edith Canat de Chizy
76. William Balwyn
77. Roger Ramjet
78. Alexander Bell
79. Monk Theodorakis
80. Dudley Moore
81. Peter Cook
82. Horatiu Radulescu
83. Luca Bloom
84. Lars Johan Werle
85. Lennon Niggy
86. Josef Stalin
87. Dimitri Tommy Who
88. Ernest Hemmingway
89. The Waltons
90. Thea Musgrave
91. Harrison Ford
92. Kaija Saariaho
93. Luigi Mario
94. Bernard Shaw
95. Carlos Santana
96. Daniele Amfitheatrof
97. Franz Waxman
98. Geirr Tveitt
99. Zomby Wolf
100. Sanders Chicken
101. Robert Zimmermann
102. Iannis Xenakis
103. Bernard Herrmann
104. Roman Vlad
105. Don Adaams
106. Gilbert Amy
107. Burt Sorensen
108. Vagn Holmboe
109. Vagn Hobo
110. Robert Saxton


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Eddie R U Kiddings Favs
> note got bored by about no 28.....
> 1. Edgard Varese
> 2. EddieRUKiddidng
> ...


No John Tesh? That's sacrilege!


----------



## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Weston said:


> No John Tesh? That's sacrilege!


How about Peter Tosh ??


----------



## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I'll make a stab at this, but why I don't know. I think people tend to skim read these at most. I'd say the first 12 are my absolute favorites, then it's alphabetical after that, but then I had to go back and add a few I wasn't sure of from 75 onward.

*1	Beethoven
2	J. S. Bach
3	Brahms (Hey! The predictable three B's)
4	Handel, G. F.
5	Vaughan-Williams
6	Robert Schumann
7	Rautavaara
8	Gliere
9	Tournemire
10	F. J. Haydn
11	Medtner
12	John Field*
13	Berwald
14	Ernest Bloch
15	Benjamin Britten
16	Wendy Carlos
17	Debussy
18	John Dowland
19	Elgar
20	Faure
21	Alberto Ginastera
22	Charles T. Griffes
23	Howard Hanson
24	Bernard Hermann
25	Hindemith
26	Holst
27	Herbert Howells
28	Hummel
29	Janecek
30	Kilar, Wojciech
31	Kodaly
32	Koechlin, Charles
33	Kraus, Joseph Martin
34	Liebermann, Lowell
35	Ligeti
36	Frank Martin
37	Martinu, Bohuslav
38	Mendelssohn, Felix
39	Monteverdi
40	W. A. Mozart (there, I said it)
41	Nielsen, Carl
42	Penderecki, Krzysztof
43	Poulenc, Francis
44	Prokofiev
45	Rachmaninov, Sergei
46	Rameau, Jean-Philippe
47	Ramette, Yves
48	Ravel, Maurice
49	Respighi, Ottorino
50	Rimsky-Korsakov, Nicholai
51	Rodrigo, Joaquín
52	Roussel, Albert
53	Rubbra, Edmund
54	Rubinstein, Anton
55	Scarlatti, Domenico
56	Schmitt, Florent
57	Schreker, Franz
58	Schreker, Franz
59	Schütz, Heinrich
60	Serebrier, José
61	Shostakovich
62	Sibelius, Jean
63	Anton Bruckner
64	Richard Strauss
65	Stravinsky
66	Tansman, Alexandre
67	Telemann, George Philipp
68	Tippett, Michael
69	Turina, Joaquin
70	Walton, William
71	Weiner, Leo
72	Zappa, Frank
73	Zwilich, Ellen Taaffe
74	W. F. Bach
75	Alwyn, William 
76	Anonymous
77	Bantock, Granville
78	Barber, Samuel
79	Bartok, Bela
80	Bax, Arnold
81	Berg, Alban 
82	Bridge, Frank
83	Busoni, Ferruccio
84	Chadwick, George Whitefield
85	Chaminade, Cecile
86	Copland, Aaron
87	Corelli, Arcangelo
88	Diamond, David
89	Foote, Arthur
90	Foss, Lukas
91	Glazunov, Alexander
92	Harris, Roy
93	Hovhaness, Alan
94	Ives, Charles
95	Klami, Uuno
96	Lajtha, Laszlo
97	Liadov, Anatol
98	Liszt, Franz (but only for Les Preludes)
99	MacDowell, Edward
100	Mussorgsky, Modest
101	Novák, Vitezslav
102	Pinkham, Daniel
103	Picker, Tobias
104	Raff, Joachim
105	Scharwenka, Xaver 
106	Spohr, Louis
107	Vivaldi, Antonio 
108	von Weber, Carl Maria
109	Wagner, Richard
110	Webern, Anton

There are more modern composers I know I enjoy, but going through my catalog, their names did not leap out at me associated with a memorable piece. So they got skipped over somewhat.

It might have been easier to list the ones I don't like. There are some glaring omissions of big name composers: Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens, Berlioz, Chopin, Dvorak, Mahler. These are composers I like well enough, but somehow I never grasped what all the hoopla was about them.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Weston said:


> 57	Schreker, Franz
> 58	Schreker, Franz


Is he really that good? Yes some people do actually read these lists.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I wonder how far I can get on my own list. Now the thing is, I haven't heard most of the music, and I don't know enough to judge by any criteria approaching objectivity, so this is just on the "favorite" scale, as in about how much I enjoy their music. I put about five seconds of thought into the ranking of most of these. Probably left out some good ones too. 


Second try:

1.	Brahms
2.	Mozart
3.	Rachmaninoff 
4.	Chopin
5.	Schubert
6.	Beethoven
7.	Stravinsky
8.	Bach, JS 
9.	Shostakovich
10.	Janacek 
11.	Kodaly
12.	Takemitsu 
13.	Enescu 
14.	Nono 
15.	Szymanowski
16.	Albeniz
17.	Crumb
18.	Weill
19.	Gombert
20.	Verdi
21.	Purcell
22.	Feldman 
23.	Zelenka 
24.	Victoria
25.	Tallis
26.	Debussy
27.	Faure
28.	Reich
29.	Scarlatti 
30.	Rzewski
31.	Mendelssohn
32.	Bruch
33.	Elgar
34.	Dvorak
35.	Alkan
36.	Tchaikovsky
37.	Taneyev
38.	Ravel
39.	Dufay
40.	Liszt
41.	Dowland
42.	Gesualdo
43.	Josquin
44.	Wagner
45.	Martinu
46.	Franck
47.	Gershwin
48.	Golijov
49.	Hadjidakis
50.	Delius 
51.	Grieg
52.	Haydn
53.	Donizetti 
54.	Handel
55.	Chausson
56.	Bartok 
57.	Glass
58.	Honegger
59.	Buxtehude 
60.	Ockeghem
61.	Ives
62.	Granados
63.	Biber
64.	Medtner 
65.	Dukas
66.	Strauss, J II
67.	Monteverdi
68.	Messiaen
69.	Britten
70.	Hummel
71.	Rodrigo 
72.	Rimsky-Korsakov
73.	Adams
74.	Boccherini 
75.	Saint-Saens
76.	Mussorgsky
77.	Berg
78.	Scriabin
79.	Vaughan Williams 
80.	Webern 
81.	Schoenberg
82.	Kapustin 
83.	Mahler
84.	Berlioz
85.	Clementi
86.	Schumann
87.	Machaut
88.	Weber
89.	Prokofiev
90.	Berio 
91.	Bach, CPE
92.	Sciarrino
93.	Ligeti 
94.	Byrd
95.	Sibelius
96.	Hildegard
97.	Borodin
98.	Arensky 
99.	Tan Dun
100.	Glazunov
101.	Dohnanyi
102.	Milhaud
103.	Falla 
104.	Respighi 
105.	Satie
106.	Bernstein
107.	Schutz
108.	Villa-Lobos
109.	Varse 
110.	Strauss, R
111.	Rosetti 
112.	Smetana
113.	Kilar
114.	Henze
115.	Schnittke 
116.	Spohr
117.	Albinoni 
118.	Bruckner


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

My top 25, approximately:

1. J. S. Bach
2. Beethoven
3. Mahler
4. Debussy
5. Stravinsky
6. Schoenberg
7. Messiaen
8. Mozart
9. Takemitsu
10. Bruckner
11. Wagner
12. Bartok
13. Chopin
14. Berg
15. Schumann
16. Brahms
17. Ravel
18. Webern
19. Monteverdi
20. Haydn
21. Schubert
22. Ives
23. Boulez
24. Ligeti
25. Chin


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

^^^^
I'm assuming with your tastes Scriabin comes along in the next 25? Seems like he would be a good fit for one with a marked preference for darker and more tonally ambiguous composers, and also just having written very beautiful music. And R. Strauss?


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I don't know if I made an older list on this thread?...probably changed.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

clavichorder said:


> ^^^^
> I'm assuming with your tastes Scriabin comes along in the next 25? Seems like he would be a good fit for one with a marked preference for darker and more tonally ambiguous composers, and also just having written very beautiful music. And R. Strauss?


You know, I'm not as familiar with Scriabin as I should be. I've heard a few things, but I really should dig deeper, as he's from my favorite period in music, 1870~1925 or thereabouts.

Strauss I have an ambivalent relationship with. I appreciate his craft and enjoy his music, especially the operas Salome and Elektra, but he seems variable otherwise, and there's something off-putting about his showboating, which comes off as more effect than substance at times.

Edit: Much the same as above goes for Shostakovich as well, although I'd put him above Strauss.


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Just read trough the 8 first pages. I'm so glad that fool is not with us anymore. I actually got really angry. That said - working on a list now


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Ravndal said:


> Just read trough the 8 first pages. I'm so glad that fool is not with us anymore. I actually got really angry.


I'm curious, are you referring to Stlukes or Nikola?

Also, the more I think about it, the more I realise that my definitive favourite list consists of just four composers.

1. Zappa
2. Ravel
3. Mahler
4. Messiaen


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## Ravndal (Jun 8, 2012)

Crudblud said:


> I'm curious, are you referring Stlukes or Nikola?


The sexist and obvious one. Didn't want to mention names in case of warning..


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

quack said:


> Is he really that good? Yes some people do actually read these lists.


Why, yes! Schreker is that good if only for "Prelude to Memnon" alone.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I'll see how far I can go this time (favorites off top of head):

1) J.S. Bach
2) Ravel
3) Bartok
4) Debussy
5) Mozart
6) Ives
7) Mendelssohn
8) Monteverdi
9) Schubert
10) Sibelius
11) Rodrigo
12) Lully
13) Britten
14) Prokofiev
15) Buxtehude
16) Vivaldi 
17) Villa-Lobos
18) D. Scarlatti
19) Purcell
20) Schumann
21) Biber
22) Schnittke
23) Beethoven
24) Mahler
25) Berg
26) Webern
27) Brahms
28) Janacek
29) Rachmaninoff
30) Brouwer
31) Takemitsu
32) Falla
33) Dowland
34) Wagner
35) Bruckner
36) Faure
37) Albeniz

Close enough - and too many honorable mentions to mention.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

science said:


> 100.	Glazunov


100! YAY!

Unfortunately I can't do such a list. My love for Russians greatly befuddles my evaluation of other composers. So I usually don't put them in the same list, I put Russians separately, French separately, etc.

My favorite Russians (An attempt at part qualitative, part quantitative analysis)
1. Glazunov
2. Prokofiev
3. Shostakovich
4. Tchaikovsky
5. Rimsky-Korsakov
6. Arensky
7. Gliere
8. Liadov
9. Rachmaninoff
10. Borodin
11. Mussorgsky
12. Kalinnikov
13. Scriabin
14. Khachaturian
15. Balakirev
16. Kabalevsky
17. Glinka
18. Cui
19. S. Taneyev
20. Rubinstein
20. Medtner
21. Blumenfeld
22. Myaskovsky

Franco-Russo Mutt: Stravinsky

I made this compiled picture showing most of the above:


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> My favorite Russians (An attempt at part qualitative, part quantitative analysis)


Rubinstein might top that list for me these days. He has been in my iPod constantly for the past couple of years in one form or another. His Faust, Op. 68 sounds like Beethoven returned from the afterlife to write one more piece. But I enjoy his Piano Concerto No. 5 the most, probably my favorite concerto from the late romantic.


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