# Best composer in your collection?



## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Best composer in your collection?

Yes, this is the antithesis of my nemesis's thesis. I ask for your favorite composer. Just that. The favorite, and why, please.

Deportividad. So would the Spanish. Any offense intended at all to anyone!


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Well, as the years have gone on in the 1800s, one man managed to find the most perfect combination of sound from utilizing an imagination and emotional intelligence absurd to believe was real. He met this standard that no one could after him, as how can you tamper with perfection? Discovering the most thorough breadth of harmonic expression that makes you simply forget all the rest, a melodic sensibility that one can only deem legendary at its most simple and comprehensible. A subtle balance between wonder and recognition, play and work, real and ethereal, and it's no wonder this man was a noble Russian-born, coming from only the best stock of musicians the world could produce. Alexander Borodin, the light of our days, the mysterious protector in the night, the champion of music forever.

Although everyone already knows this to be so, here is a good introductory excerpt from 7:17-10:15 that can tour you through some of his most straightforward depths.




 And then there's always the Magnum Opus of excerpts, too perfect to always be played


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

Easy. J. S. Bach. 'Nuff said.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Well I could try to get attention for myself by saying something out in left field but I wouldn't be being honest. So...Beethoven.


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## BlackAdderLXX (Apr 18, 2020)

Olias said:


> Well I could try to get attention for myself by saying something out in left field but I wouldn't be being honest. So...Beethoven.


Well, I'm not sure if Radiohead is permitted, so I'm going to go with Beethoven.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Prokofiev - The melodic gifts, the "wrong" notes, the devilishness, the captivating tenderness, the piano sonatas and concertos, the symphonies, the ballets, the operas, the solo piano music. Simply my favorite composer.


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## BlackAdderLXX (Apr 18, 2020)

I really love Prokofiev. The first time I head the 3rd Piano Concerto I was permanently hooked.


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## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Christoph Willibald Gluck.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Always Bach.............


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## leonsm (Jan 15, 2011)

Bach.

The J.S. one.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

BlackAdderLXX said:


> View attachment 134540


I've never found this Beethoven realistic at all.
The most accurate portrayal of Ludwig van Beethoven:




his fur:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bach. Even more remarkable because in general I do not particularly like Baroque. 300+ CDs at the moment.


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## caracalla (Feb 19, 2020)

A certain JS Bach, no contest.

My collection can boast one or two other composers who are quite good, mind.


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## NLAdriaan (Feb 6, 2019)

How to get two names in this post?

My fall-back scenario aka founding father aka Mr Ratio & Religion is JS Bach. 

The king of Imagination and the man who just takes you everywhere and so the favorite composer in my collection is Gustav Mahler. 


Yep, as to the foundation of it all, I would fall back on JS Bach


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## DaddyGeorge (Mar 16, 2020)

Franz Joseph Wolfgang Sebastian van Brahms or Leoš Antonín Chopin


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Glad to see the shared enthusiasm for Prokofiev! I am hopelessly torn between Sergey Sergeyevich and Johannes B.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Strange that Mozart is the underdog. But he may well be my favourite composer of all. If his symphonies and piano concertos and quintets and other pieces didn't quite get him there for me, the operas raise him to the highest level in my esteem.


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## Marc (Jun 15, 2007)

DaddyGeorge said:


> Franz Joseph Wolfgang Sebastian van Brahms or Leoš Antonín Chopin


Good choices.
I rate them high too, but man, do I wish I had only just one disc of works by the greatest composer of all time... Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kürzlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwurstel-gerspurten-mitzweimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-schönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

I wonder how many Monty Python fans there are here who get that joke.


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

No saying they are the best or ranked according to favor, just ranking from my time spent on listening.

1-Johann Jakob Froberger and Louis Couperin.
2-JS Bach(keyboard music, cantatas, cello, violin suites and sonatas, orchestral music)
3-F Couperin, Georg Telemann, Marc Charpentier and Henry Purcell(their vocal music, keyboard for Henry Purcell)
4-Orlando di Lasso and Jan Sweelinck(vocal for both, keyboard for Sweelinck)
5-Assorted german and italian composers from 16th, 17th, 18th centuries(their vocal concertos and keyboard, chamber music)
6-Spanish zazuelas, canciones, villancicos(spanish baroque is worthy of attention, high quality but always less innovative than the rest.)

As for JP Rameau and Georg Handel, their main area is opera and currently I have not invested much in this genre.
In near future, I am waiting for some boxes of operas.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Josquin des Prez


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## caracalla (Feb 19, 2020)

Ariasexta said:


> 6-Spanish zazuelas, canciones, villancicos(spanish baroque is worthy of attention,


Indeed it is. One area I've been very happily exploring during the lock-down.


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## Marc (Jun 15, 2007)

JAS said:


> I wonder how many Monty Python fans there are here who get that joke.


It was my immediate thought though, when I read DaddyGeorge's post.

All right , off you go then:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Well, shucks. From my CD stack and voluminous recordings from the year 300 to the 21st Century, I still have to say Beethoven. He represents the three phases of life - young and brash, middle-aged and fighting limitations, older and submissive to the inevitable. He's someone I can listen to for and throughout life. 

Of course, Bach will replace him when I reach Heaven.


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## BlackAdderLXX (Apr 18, 2020)

Marc said:


> Good choices.
> I rate them high too, but man, do I wish I had only just one disc of works by the greatest composer of all time... Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kürzlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein-nürnburger-bratwurstel-gerspurten-mitzweimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-schönendanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.





JAS said:


> I wonder how many Monty Python fans there are here who get that joke.


I had to look it up because it had been so long. I wasn't expecting some sort of Spanish Inquisition!


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Ariasexta said:


> As for JP Rameau and Georg Handel, their main area is opera and currently I have not invested much in this genre.


Handel? I think he's strong in all genres - sacred choral, orchestral/concerti, chamber music, and solo keyboard.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

flamencosketches said:


> Josquin des Prez


That was unexpected, since recently you've been focusing on Mahler and Bruckner. You're always full of surprises.


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## jim prideaux (May 30, 2013)

Sibelius.......and as the great man's name appears too short to constitute a post I have to consider adding a justification. It is purely personal but that does not diminish the significance of my suggestion that he is in fact the best composer in my collection


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Manxfeeder said:


> That was unexpected, since recently you've been focusing on Mahler and Bruckner. You're always full of surprises.


I don't listen to Josquin all that much, but every time I do, I come away with an impression of "well, that was the apex of music; it's all gone downhill from here".


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## Ariasexta (Jul 3, 2010)

> Indeed it is. One area I've been very happily exploring during the lock-down.


Eduardo Lopez Banzo produced a series of 3 volumes on DHM of introductory spanish baroque music, from cantatas to sacred motets and zurzuela extracts. Or you simply can get the 10cd box from DHM "Al Ayre Espagnol Edition", full of spanish wonders. Cheers! Camarade :tiphat:


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

A tough one. I'll go with:

*Myaskovsky, Nikolai Yakovlevich*: his musical and life journeys are as complex, bewildering at times, personal yet accessible (or understandable), wide-ranging, as they could get. I tend to deem Myaskovsky as the musical equivalent to Boris Pasternak, both of them men of the world.
Honorable mentions:

Alexander Glazunov
Sir Arnold Bax
Anton Bruckner
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Dmitri Shostakovich
Gustav Mahler
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Richard Wagner
Jules Massenet
Kurt Atterberg
Carl Nielsen
Eduard Tubin
Gavriil Popov
Sergei Prokofiev
Federico Mompou


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Every time I listen to Franz Schubert nowadays, he is my favourite composer. I've been listening to Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 a lot recently.


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

jim prideaux said:


> Sibelius.......and as the great man's name appears too short to constitute a post I have to consider adding a justification. It is purely personal but that does not diminish the significance of my suggestion that he is in fact the best composer in my collection


2econd that...There is something special about him, how he perfectly captured the nature of the north, I cannot explain but...


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## Eclectic Al (Apr 23, 2020)

Roger Knox said:


> Every time I listen to Franz Schubert nowadays, he is my favourite composer. I've been listening to Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 a lot recently.


I love this way of looking at it. If you think a composer is your favourite when you are listening to them, then they are first division. Choosing within that division is then invidious.
JS Bach is best, though.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Eclectic Al said:


> I love this way of looking at it. If you think a composer is your favourite when you are listening to them, then they are first division. Choosing within that division is then invidious.
> JS Bach is best, though.


Fritz Reiner said his favourite Brahms symphony was the one he was currently conducting. As for Schubert, I like him more now than when I was younger.


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## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

consuono said:


> Easy. J. S. Bach. 'Nuff said.


Bach, Bach, Bach...


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## caracalla (Feb 19, 2020)

Ariasexta said:


> Eduardo Lopez Banzo produced a series of 3 volumes on DHM of introductory spanish baroque music, from cantatas to sacred motets and zurzuela extracts. Or you simply can get the 10cd box from DHM "Al Ayre Espagnol Edition", full of spanish wonders.


Thanks - I haven't yet checked those out, but I will. Thus far I've been ransacking Jordi Savall's many recordings of Spanish repertoire, coupled with the offerings from newer groups like Cappella Mediterranea and La Ritirata. The Spanish EM/Baroque scene has become very lively in recent years, so I don't think we're going to be starved of new material for the foreseeable future. Goodness knows, there must be a mountain of it still to see the light of day.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

This is an impossible question, but I will take a crack at it. Today, Rachmaninoff is my favorite composer.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

SixFootScowl said:


> This is an impossible question, but I will take a crack at it. Today, Rachmaninoff is my favorite composer.


I would never have guessed... :lol:


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Ethereality said:


> Well, as the years have gone on in the 1800s, one man managed to find the most perfect combination of sound from utilizing an imagination and emotional intelligence absurd to believe was real. He met this standard that no one could after him, as how can you tamper with perfection? Discovering the most thorough breadth of harmonic expression that makes you simply forget all the rest, a melodic sensibility that one can only deem legendary at its most simple and comprehensible. A subtle balance between wonder and recognition, play and work, real and ethereal, and it's no wonder this man was a noble Russian-born, coming from only the best stock of musicians the world could produce. Alexander Borodin, the light of our days, the mysterious protector in the night, the champion of music forever.
> 
> Although everyone already knows this to be so, here is a good introductory excerpt from 7:17-10:15 that can tour you through some of his most straightforward depths.
> 
> ...


Fully agree with you regarding Borodin's qualities, but not so sure about "noble born" given that he was illegitimate, and he was officially registered as the son of a serf, Porphyry Borodin. Brilliant chemist, and a successful agitator for the education of women. All round good bloke.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

I’ve started this post several times intending to assert one or another early 20th Century composer, but no... my conscience insists it’s J.S. Bach.


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## ZeR0 (Apr 7, 2020)

While I think Bach is an easy pick for greatest, perhaps my personal favorite at the moment is Scriabin. I find his music mysteriously intoxicating and sensual. It can also be challenging without being obtuse which is a plus in my book.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Philip Glass 

Being culturally relevant seems lost in classical music but it helps greatly in appreciating sounds. 
Just as Pop music can warm our hearts because it reminds us of a time and place, so can classical. The living composers, for me, do this best and MR Glass has always been by my side as I occupy a man. We shall see in the hereafter if that continues. 

Be it Einstein On the Beach on vinyl in the 70's, working with Twyla Tharp in mesmerizing dance or brilliant cinema with Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, Mr Glass has been there. Akhenaten's brilliance or the songs on Songs From Liquids Days. Adapting music from Brian Eno and David Bowie. Did I mention King Lear on Broadway? 
Yes, Mr. Glass has walked side by side with me half a century and that adds greatly as to why I appreciate his works so and call him the best composer in my collection.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Simplicissimus said:


> I’ve started this post several times intending to assert one or another early 20th Century composer, but no... my conscience insists it’s J.S. Bach.


Gershwin would have been a good choice.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Today, Donizetti!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

For me Camille Saint-Saëns*  *


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## That Guy Mick (May 31, 2020)

Rogerx said:


> For me Camille Saint-Saëns* *


His piano concertos are best absorbed with the accompany of a 12 year single malt Scotch and similarly aged tobacco.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

Ludovico di Betovanni


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Debussy is my numero uno. As to _why_, well, this is where it gets a bit complicated. I didn't exactly warm to his music right away and it took me years to appreciate him. When I had that 'lightbulb' moment, however, was with his solo piano music, especially the _Préludes, Books I & II_, _Images, Books I & II_, _Estampes_ and the _Études_. When I finally unlocked these works, everything else just hit me like a ton of bricks. _Pelléas et Mélisande_ is the greatest opera ever composed, IMHO. It's so un-operatic and I suppose that's why I love it. But then I started listening to his chamber works and the mélodies and was, again, just blown away. The orchestral music I already knew and loved, but once I had the keys to these other facets of his music, my overall musical outlook changed and for the better I say.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

That Guy Mick said:


> His piano concertos are best absorbed with the accompany of a 12 year single malt Scotch and similarly aged tobacco.


I don't drink alcohol, problem solved .


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Rogerx said:


> I don't drink alcohol, problem solved .


I don't either and I wouldn't want to be intoxicated listening to Saint-Saëns. What an insult to this glorious composer!


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## That Guy Mick (May 31, 2020)

Neo Romanza said:


> I don't either and I wouldn't want to be intoxicated listening to Saint-Saëns. What an insult to this glorious composer!


Many of your glorious composers drank intoxicants. It heightens the arousal. Don't be so sanctimonious. Lol!


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

That Guy Mick said:


> Many of your glorious composers drank intoxicants. It heightens the arousal. Don't be so sanctimonious. Lol!


I don't claim to be a saint, but if I'm going to listen to Saint-Saëns, I'm going to mentally present because his music demands my attention. I'd only consider getting intoxicated if it was a composer I loathe like Stockhausen or something. I imagine being high listening to his music would actually make it start to sound good but when you finally come to, you think "What the hell is this crap I'm listening to! Turn it off!"


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## That Guy Mick (May 31, 2020)

Neo Romanza said:


> I don't claim to be a saint, but if I'm going to listen to Saint-Saëns, I'm going to mentally present because his music demands my attention. I'd only consider getting intoxicated if it was a composer I loathe like Stockhausen or something. I imagine being high listening to his music would actually make it start to sound good but when you finally come to, you think "What the hell is this crap I'm listening to! Turn it off!"


My my. You have a rather child-like and strange view of alcohol use. But to each their own.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

J S Bach - about 50% of my collection.


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## Musicaterina (Apr 5, 2020)

Vivaldi and Boccherini. Both are Italians (and I like Italy very much not only because of its food but also because of its music (mainly classical music) und art), and both have written a lot for the cello, which is not only one of my favourite musical instruments but also the main instrument of my husband. But I also like Beethoven and Bach very much.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't have one favorite. I'm surprised to see so many choosing Bach. I assumed most members here preferred the romantic, and early 20th century composers. If I had to pick a favorite it would be a composer born after 1860.


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## That Guy Mick (May 31, 2020)

Rogerx said:


> I don't drink alcohol, problem solved .


Then I suppose you will have to content yourself with eating chocolates.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

That Guy Mick said:


> Then I suppose you will have to content yourself with eating chocolates.


Now we are talking, preferably from Belgium but I settel with Milk hazelnut from a big grocery.


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