# Unmasked: Your Composer Expertise



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Hello Everyone,

I think this would be an interesting topic for a thread. Basically, the idea is to share with everyone the one composer you know about more than any other. In doing this, we can all figure out, when we have questions that is, what person to ask about a composer they are equipped to answer.

I would say I'm an expert on Ravel, so if any you have any questions you can just come to this thread or message me and I'll do my best answer your questions.

Hopefully, this will bring up some interesting discussions and also it will get everyone familiar with what person to ask when you have a question about a composer that they specialize in.

If I had to pick two other composers I know a great deal about they would be Bruckner and Delius.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Ifukube the most, Sibelius second.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Tapkaara said:


> Ifukube the most, Sibelius second.


I figured you would be experts in those two. 

Speaking of Sibelius, Tapkaara, this set arrived in my mailbox today:










15 discs of pure sonic pleasure.  Do you own this box?


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## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

As a Double Bass player I reckon I might know more than others about Bottesini and Dragonetti. My other fields of expertise would be music theory, notation conventions and orchestration technique.
I have worked in professional chamber and string orchestras for 25 years so that repertoire is also well known to me.

FC


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Mirror Image said:


> I figured you would be experts in those two.
> 
> Speaking of Sibelius, Tapkaara, this set arrived in my mailbox today:
> 
> ...


I don't own that set per se, but I own just about all of the recordings in it that I purchased when they were originally released on seperate discs.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

post-minimalist said:


> As a Double Bass player I reckon I might know more than others about Bottesini and Dragonetti. My other fields of expertise would be music theory, notation conventions and orchestration technique.
> I have worked in professional chamber and string orchestras for 25 years so that repertoire is also well known to me.
> 
> FC


Every bass player I have ever met have always had a knack for orchestration and the rhythmic aspects of music. That's a very good thing to be gifted in no question about it.

As a guitarist, my focus seems to be on color and overall texture. I leave the rhythmic aspect up to the drummer and bassist. I'm also quite a decent orchestrator. I think the biggest group I have composed and arranged for were about 20 musicians. But I have only done this once in my life and I was less than happy with the results, but it's a learning process you just have to keep trying.


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## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

Mirror Image said:


> But I have only done this once in my life and I was less than happy with the results, but it's a learning process you just have to keep trying.


IT's an acheivement even to have done this! Do you know the book 'The Professional Arranger' by Russel Garcia? This has the best piece of advice any arranger could ever get:
_'Write, get it played, write some more, get that played, write some more, write, write, write!'_
Simple but true!


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

post-minimalist said:


> IT's an acheivement even to have done this! Do you know the book 'The Professional Arranger' by Russel Garcia? This has the best piece of advice any arranger could ever get:
> _'Write, get it played, write some more, get that played, write some more, write, write, write!'_
> Simple but true!


I have not heard of that book, but when I was studying composition, arranging, etc. I took a liking to this book:










When I was working on harmony I took a liking to this book by Ted Greene:


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Mirror Image said:


> I have not heard of that book, but when I was studying composition, arranging, etc. I took a liking to this book:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


By the looks of Ted Green, I'd say "chord chemistry" is not the only kind of chemistry he was interested in...


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Tapkaara said:


> By the looks of Ted Green, I'd say "chord chemistry" is not the only kind of chemistry he was interested in...


 Yeah, he did like like a madman, but he was a genius of jazz chord harmony. A very influential book on me.


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## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

Ah, Ted Pease! Great book. Lots of intersting ideas and a source for a lot of what Levine wrote which has become the staple Berkley arr/orch course. I dont know the other book but it reminds me of Ken Wise's (is it Ken?) 'Bebop Bible', another great guitar based book about bebop phrasology.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

post-minimalist said:


> Ah, Ted Pease! Great book. Lots of intersting ideas and a source for a lot of what Levine wrote which has become the staple Berkley arr/orch course. I dont know the other book but it reminds me of Ken Wise's (is it Ken?) 'Bebop Bible', another great guitar based book about bebop phrasology.


I haven't heard of the "Bebop Bible," but that sounds interesting. I don't study or practice as much as I should anymore, but I remember when I absorbed some ideas for this book by Mick Goodrick:










Mick Goodrick, like Ted Greene, was a great teacher and master of jazz guitar harmony.


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## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

OK I got the name wrong! It's Les, not Ken. 
Here's a link to the Amazon page with his books.
The second one might interest you more.

Les Wise on Amazon


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

post-minimalist said:


> OK I got the name wrong! It's Les, not Ken.
> Here's a link to the Amazon page with his books.
> The second one might interest you more.
> 
> Les Wise on Amazon


That book looks pretty cool. I'm not really a "licks" player per se. My approach to guitar is much more coloristic and I'm concerned more about timbre. I used to be into working on my "chops" as they're sometimes referred to, but for the past 10-15 years I've been into trying to figure out an alternative to all of that.


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## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

I use to have some serious bass chops when I was playing a lot of jazz. Now It's all classical but I sneak in a 12 bar in F sometimes just before going to bed!


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

post-minimalist said:


> I use to have some serious bass chops when I was playing a lot of jazz. Now It's all classical but I sneak in a 12 bar in F sometimes just before going to bed!


 Yeah, you're a sneaky little devil.

I wish I could get back some of those chops I had. I used to rip Metheny and John Abercrombie licks all day, but those days are way behind me!


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I make no claims to expertise... but you can put me down as a *Wagner* enthusiast- having some while ago arrived at that dangerous place where I have confidence in my own impressions, observations and judgements about his works. [Or should that be !]

I guess my next area of enthusiasm re: composers would be *Bruckner* & *Mahler*. This does not necessarily mean they're my next most _favorite_ composers (that distinction belongs to _Beethoven_ and _Tchaikovsky_)... but it simply means I can more easily 'fake' a mid-level conversation on Bruckner/Mahler than I can on Beethoven or Tchaikovsky.


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

Not an expert on anyone but certainly name Mahler as the first and then maybe Moeran the second.
Bruckner rounds it out.

I have been a Mahler enthusiast since the mid 80's and visited his abodes in Vienna,Prague,etc. The central European crawls to Mahler's former haunts are a sheer delight.

So Mahler it is.

Jim


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

handlebar said:


> Not an expert on anyone but certainly name Mahler as the first and then maybe Moeran the second.
> Bruckner rounds it out.
> 
> I have been a Mahler enthusiast since the mid 80's and visited his abodes in Vienna,Prague,etc. The central European crawls to Mahler's former haunts are a sheer delight.
> ...


I would also consider you a top contender for knowing the most about Hovhaness on this site.


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

Perhaps expertise is the wrong word to use in this discussion, but perhaps devoted fan sounds much better and perhaps more realistic.

The reason this topic came up is I have been impressed with many members here and their knowledge of their favorite composers and how that passion enables them to retain so much about their favorites.


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

Mirror Image said:


> I would also consider you a top contender for knowing the most about Hovhaness on this site.


Why thanks. I actually was going to list him, but was caught up in posting about Herr Mahler. LOL

Jim


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## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

handlebar said:


> Why thanks. I actually was going to list him, but was caught up in posting about Herr Mahler. LOL
> 
> Jim


I like Hovhaness a lot, but I think you've got a lot more recordings than me or probably anyone here.


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## Air (Jul 19, 2008)

I don't expertise, it's just not healthy.

However, I have probably wandered furthest into the realm of Prokofiev. I am also an enthusiast of the works of Heitor Villa-Lobos. In addition, I tend to know a lot about Chopin as well. (Through playing him year after year, like all pianists have.)


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Sibelius and Brahms (somewhat unlikely, I know; but I read a beautiful biography of him some time ago that I still have and read from time to time).

Right now I'm learning more about Kalevi Aho and Einojuhani Rautavaara.

As for Mahler: I know a lot about his music (still not nearly so much as some on this forum!), but haven't read much about his life either. I know the basics of his life, but not an absurd amount.


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## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

Giuseppe Verdi. 

No surprises there. ;p


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

Mirror Image said:


> I like Hovhaness a lot, but I think you've got a lot more recordings than me or probably anyone here.


I figure right now that i have around 50 CD's. Many are unreleased from the Hovhaness Archives. I still need to catalog them. LOL

Jim


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## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

I know a fair amount about Bach's fugal works, having spent many an hour examining the minutae thereof. I've also researched his influences, as seen in his early organ works - Pachelbel, Frescobaldi, Buxtehude, Reincken, Corelli etc. I'm also interested in all other aspects of Bach and his oeuvre.

I think I've written essays on topics covering pretty much the entire history of Western music, but my favourites, in addition to Bach, are: Machaut, Ockeghem, Lassus, Gesualdo, Purcell, various genres/facets of the First Viennese School, Liszt, Wagner, Mahler, Stravinsky, the Second Viennese School and basically anything and everything from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.


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## Herzeleide (Feb 25, 2008)

Mirror Image said:


> I have not heard of that book, but when I was studying composition, arranging, etc. I took a liking to this book:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You should try this:


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