# Your Top 30 Classical Composers Of All-Time



## JTech82

Here are mine (in no particular order):

1. Sibelius
2. Ravel
3. Stravinsky
4. Shostakovich
5. Vaughan Williams
6. Bruckner
7. Mahler
8. Bax
9. Berlioz
10. Mendelssohn
11. Debussy
12. Prokofiev
13. Bartok
14. Nielsen
15. Barber
16. Rachmaninov
17. Delius
18. Dvorak
19. Richard Strauss
20. Liszt
21. Langgaard
22. Respighi
23. Hovhaness
24. Grieg
25. Copland
26. Dvorak
27. Brahms
28. Holst
29. Stanford
30. Ives

Okay your turn!  Good luck.


----------



## World Violist

Also in no particular order:

Mahler
Sibelius
Wagner
Nielsen
Bartok
Rubbra
Beethoven
Brahms
J.S. Bach
Palestrina
Schubert
Berlioz
Dvorak
Tchaikovsky
Shostakovich
Britten
Bruch
Elgar
Walton
Holst
Vaughan Williams
Rachmaninoff
Ravel
Debussy
Enescu
Arvo Part
Handel
Dowland
Vivaldi
Josquin


----------



## Weston

Somewhat in order of importance to me, especially in the upper ranks. Mostly the usual suspects.

1. Beethoven 
2. J. S. Bach 
3. Vaughan-Williams 
4. Bruckner 
5. Holst 
6. Shostakovich 
7. Brahms 
8. Rachmaninoff 
9. Debussy 
10. Schumann 
11. Handel
12. John Dowland
13. Stravinsky
14. Liszt
15. Mendelssohn
16. Faure
17. Respighi
18. Heinrich Schütz
19. Telemann
20. Schubert
21. Prokofiev
22. Haydn
23. Dvorak
24. Bernard Hermann
25. Monteverdi
26. D. Scarlatti
27. W. A. Mozart (I suppose)
28. Poulenc
29. Ravel
30. Joaquín Rodrigo

There are glaring omissions you may wonder about:

Mahler - I think I like but I don't really have four lifetimes to absorb one of his pieces.

Sibelius - I KNOW I like Sibelius quite a bit, but somehow I have misplaced his music in my mind. I can recall not a single melody. Too cluttered with other stuff I guess.

Wagner - yes he is epic but I really prefer symphonies and tone poems.

R. Strauss - also epic, but often a little frenetic or unfocused for my tastes
_______________

Out of curiosity, why 30? It does seem to be a convenient number to work with. 10 would be impossible and 100 may as well list all the big names and be done with it.


----------



## bassClef

Roughly in order:

1. Stravinsky
2. Bruckner
3. Prokofiev
4. Sibelius
5. Bartok
6. Rimsky Korsakov
7. Mussorgsky
8. Tchaikovsky
9. Borodin
10. Rossini
11. Dvorak
12. Mozart
13. Beethoven
14. Franck
15. Respighi
16. Vaughan Williams
17. Shostakvich
18. Saint-Saens
19. Smetana
20. Bizet
21. Debussy
22. Ravel
23. Walton
24. Rachmaninov
25. Mahler
26. Schubert
27. Wagner
28. Mendelssohn
29. Berlioz
30. Orff

Mind you in some cases I'm basing it only on one or two works that are known to me, the ranking is deserved if those pieces are important to me!


----------



## Bach

I'm afraid this list for me would be in a state of perpetual change - composers who would consistently be on the list include:

J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Byrd, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Wagner, Liszt, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Scarlatti, Telemann, Handel, Purcell, C.P.E. Bach, R. Strauss, Bartók, Debussy, Tallis, Palestrina, Gibbons, Perotin, Ravel, Berg, Rihm, Birtwistle, Mendelssohn, Boulez, Berio, Victoria, Webern, Britten, Tippett, Franck, Fauré, Gershwin, Josquin, Saint-Saëns, Messiaen


----------



## handlebar

Well here goes, in no particular order as well.

Mahler
Rachmaninov
Beethoven
Liszt
Mozart
Bruckner
Wagner
Brahms
Schumann
Schubert
Haydn
Bach,JS
Bax
Moeran
Elgar
Vaughn Williams
Handel
Berlioz
Chopin
Hovhaness
Ives
Creston
Diamond
Copland
Bartok 
Strauss,R
Ravel
Debussy
Faure
Wolf


----------



## Air

My favorites are:

Prokofiev
Ravel
Saint-Saens
Shostakovich
Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninoff
Sibelius
Mahler
Beethoven
Vaughan Williams
Schubert
Albeniz
Debussy
Bruckner
Faure
Chopin
Franck
Schumann
Scriabin
Liebermann
Villa-Lobos
Scarlatti
Poulenc
Verdi
Glazunov
Busoni
Alkan
Medtner
Hummel
de Palestrina


----------



## Weston

airad2 said:


> My favorites are:
> 
> Prokofiev
> Ravel
> Saint-Saens
> Shostakovich
> Tchaikovsky
> Rachmaninoff
> Sibelius
> Mahler
> Beethoven
> Vaughan Williams
> Schubert
> Albeniz
> Debussy
> Bruckner
> Faure
> Chopin
> Franck
> Schumann
> Scriabin
> Liebermann
> Villa-Lobos
> Scarlatti
> Poulenc
> Verdi
> Glazunov
> Busoni
> Alkan
> Medtner
> Hummel
> de Palestrina


Interesting that you would pick Busoni. I know of him as romantisizer (if that is a word) of Bach pieces - but then some could say Stravinsky was a modernizer of Bach pieces too.

I considered Saint-Saens, Villa-Lobos, Medtner, and Palestrina for my list. Maybe I should have kicked out Mozart to make room for one of them.

I'm not familiar with Alkan or Liebermann. I'll add them to my list of things to sample.


----------



## Sid James

I would very much concur with JTech's list except I'd omit Mendelssohn, Grieg, Barber, Dvorak, Copland, Nielsen & Respighi, composers who I own a few works by, but they are not my favourites. & I have very little familiarity with Langgaard, Ives, Delius, Hovhanness, Stanford. So my list would be (in no particular order):

Hindemith
Messiaen
Beethoven
Villa-Lobos
Kodaly
Tchaikovsky
Bliss
Warlock
Martinu
Berg
Britten
Walton
Myaskovsky
Sibelius
Ravel
Stravinsky
Shostakovich
Vaughan Williams
Bruckner
Mahler
Bax
Berlioz
Debussy
Prokofiev
Bartok
Rachmaninov
Richard Strauss
Liszt
Brahms
Holst

If I am allowed to indulge, I would add Rossini, Handel, Tubin, Erkel, Bernstein, Elgar, Gershwin & Rozsa!


----------



## JTech82

Andre said:


> I would very much concur with JTech's list except I'd omit Mendelssohn, Grieg, Barber, Dvorak, Copland, Nielsen & Respighi, composers who I own a few works by, but they are not my favourites. & I have very little familiarity with Langgaard, Ives, Delius, Hovhanness, Stanford. So my list would be (in no particular order):
> 
> Hindemith
> Messiaen
> Beethoven
> Villa-Lobos
> Kodaly
> Tchaikovsky
> Bliss
> Warlock
> Martinu
> Berg
> Britten
> Walton
> Myaskovsky
> Sibelius
> Ravel
> Stravinsky
> Shostakovich
> Vaughan Williams
> Bruckner
> Mahler
> Bax
> Berlioz
> Debussy
> Prokofiev
> Bartok
> Rachmaninov
> Richard Strauss
> Liszt
> Brahms
> Holst
> 
> If I am allowed to indulge, I would add Rossini, Handel, Tubin, Erkel, Bernstein, Elgar, Gershwin & Rozsa!


Hey quit copying me...just kidding! 

You and I share common interests in composers, so that's great to see. If you and I ever hung out and went to a record store we would probably fight over which CD we saw first!


----------



## Sid James

JTech82 said:


> Hey quit copying me...just kidding!
> 
> You and I share common interests in composers, so that's great to see. If you and I ever hung out and went to a record store we would probably fight over which CD we saw first!


I was also surprised how much I have in common with people generally, except I don't like some composers mentioned above (most of what I've heard from Glazunov & Saint Saens can send me to sleep!). Otherwise, I think I would be fairly comfortable with listening to most people's collections here, although - like you - I have a strong leaning towards late C19th & early to mid C20th.

I also think *Edgard Varese * & *Janacek* should definitely have been in my top 30, but nevermind...


----------



## Weston

Andre said:


> Myaskovsky . . .
> 
> . . . Tubin, Erke . . .


More names I need to research. Thank you, Andre.


----------



## Herzeleide

Machaut, Ockeghem, Lassus, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms, Mahler, Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, Schmidt, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Bartók, Stravinsky, Messiaen, Carter, Ligeti, Boulez, Takemitsu, Knussen...

Extremely difficult decisions over who to leave out...


----------



## Lisztfreak

As though we don't already have a surplus of these list-your-favourites-all-of-'em threads, you have opened another one and I'm going to approve by posting... Well, I can't fight off the urge to.

On a very daily basis subject to change, it would be as follows (order doesn't matter), plus why I love them:

Beethoven - The Master of Masters
Weber - beautiful and witty music
Schubert - The Master of Song, also excellent chamber music
Schumann - lyrical and melancholy piano pieces + Dichterliebe
Liszt - my nick says it all  - The Master of the Piano
Brahms - wonderful chamber music + Ein deutsches Requiem
Bruckner - almost philosophical and monumental symphonies
Dvořák - a lot of folky fervour
Janáček - one of the most ingenious and original composers _ever_
Bartók - folky, dark and exotic
Tchaikovsky - heartbreaking romanticism; the first composer whose works I heard (with Vivaldi)
Rachmaninov - like Tchaikovsky, but on an almost film level
Shostakovich - The Master of the 20th Century
Respighi - filigrane, resplendent, scintillating music
Méhul - excellent pair of pre-romantic symphonies
Fauré - The Master of Refinement (chamber music)
Chausson - heartbreaking, aromatic, a chamber music talent
Debussy - The Master of Senses (colour, fragrance, flickering light)
Roussel - The Master of Neo-Classicism; perhaps my favourite orchestrator
Honegger - his symphonies are refreshing and forward-looking
Grieg - warmth and eloquence, a true romantic
Nielsen - tremendously good symphonies
Sibelius - like Nielsen, but on a deeper and more out-of-this-world level
Enescu - The Romanian Mozart, combining Brahms, French style and his originality
Elgar - The Master of the English, except for a few mishaps, a flawless composer
Vaughan Williams - evocative, bit folky, and both ancient and modern
Delius - The Master of Colour, lover of our Earth and her beauties
Holst - a mystical, darkish, but also listener-friendly composer
Britten - some great innovation, a conservative avant-gardist; War Requiem
Tippett - a joyous and eclectical composer that really heralds the Age od Aquarius


----------



## Bach

> Shostakovich - The Master of the 20th Century


I really think that Stravinsky deserves that title - Shostakovich was always a bit pastiche..


----------



## handlebar

Bach said:


> I really think that Stravinsky deserves that title - Shostakovich was always a bit pastiche..


 Really?

THE master of the 20th century???? Hmmmmm. Not sure about that.One hundred years produced a very large group of composers.


----------



## Bach

Yes, but I feel if it had to be one person then Stravinsky is the most definitive. He composed and innovated in every field of twentieth century music from the nationalism of Sibelius through the neoclassicism of Hindemith to the serialism of Webern and everything in between.. even Jazz.. 

Let's be honest, the Rite defined the sound world that continues to influence modernists such as Birtwistle today.


----------



## JTech82

Bach said:


> Yes, but I feel if it had to be one person then Stravinsky is the most definitive. He composed and innovated in every field of twentieth century music from the nationalism of Sibelius through the neoclassicism of Hindemith to the serialism of Webern and everything in between.. even Jazz..
> 
> Let's be honest, the Rite defined the sound world that continues to influence modernists such as Birtwistle today.


Stravinsky is one of my favorite composers period. Brilliant orchestrator, those wonderful irregular rhythms with shifting meters he employed, a penchant for dissonances, etc. He had it all.

"The Rite of Spring" tore the face off the classical world forever. Stravinsky isn't for people who aren't willing to think outside of the confides of classical music.

Though much of his work is tonal, he used those great jarring dissonances to really give people a sour taste in their mouth, then he would come back with a quick beautifully lyrical theme and then right back to grinding your soul again.

He's a lot of fun to listen to, but make no mistake about it, he composed beautiful music...in it's own barbaric way.


----------



## handlebar

Bach said:


> Yes, but I feel if it had to be one person then Stravinsky isdefinitive. He composed and innovated in every field of twentieth century music from the nationalism of Sibelius through the neoclassicism of Hindemith to the serialism of Webern and everything in between.. even Jazz..
> 
> Let's be honest, the Rite defined the sound world that continues to influence modernists such as Birtwistle today.


I would rate Mahler as the most influential. Since he lived till 1911, he can be classified as 20th century as Stravinsky lived in part of the 19th.

Jim


----------



## Bach

Mahler the most influential? Are you drunk? Mahler was just a hackneyed Wagner pastiche who didn't understand Schoenberg..


----------



## Edward Elgar

JTech82 said:


> Stravinsky is one of my favorite composers period. Brilliant orchestrator, those wonderful irregular rhythms with shifting meters he employed, a penchant for dissonances, etc. He had it all.


Do you enjoy his serialism? From this description, it could be quite possible that you are praising this portion of his output. Did Stravinsky not say that it was only the serialists whom he had any respect for?


----------



## marval

Here's my list, again in no particular order.

1. Sibelius
2. Ravel
3. Stravinsky
4. Vaughan Williams
5. Mendelssohn
6. Debussy
7. Prokofiev
8. Saint-Saens
9. Delius
10. Dvorak
11. Liszt
12. Grieg
13 Copland
14. Brahms
15. Holst
16.Chopin
17. Beethoven
18. Mozart
19.J.S.Bach
20. Schubert
21. Bruch
22.Tchaikovsky
23. Handel
24. Debussy
25. Saint-Saens
26. Vivaldi
27. Haydn
28. Rachmaninov
29. Elgar
30. Verdi


----------



## Herzeleide

The notion that Shostakovich is _the_ master of the twentieth-century need not be taken seriously.

The 'big guns' of the twentieth century (or at least the first half thereof) for those in the know are Schoenberg and Stravinsky, and I must say that the latter is generally better. Schoenberg is more inconsistent, and the music of the latter half of his career is of variable quality. This isn't the case with Stravinsky, and he ended on a high point with his serial works. Requiem Canticles is a masterpiece.


----------



## Herzeleide

Bach said:


> Mahler the most influential? Are you drunk? Mahler was just a hackneyed Wagner pastiche who didn't understand Schoenberg..


Mahler was very influential on the Second Viennese School. Granted, Schoenberg and Webern eventually broke away to some extent in their neoclassical phase, but just listen to the gorgeous Mahlerian theme in Lulu! It's in the final movement of the Lulu Symphony and appears _passim_ the actual opera.

Boulez has admitted the influence of Mahler (in his own unique way of course). Mahler was a big influence on the Matthews brothers, and Mahler's influence must be considered to be mediated through Berg's.

Still, I don't think he was the most influential. It's a tricky question and would probably be either Schoenberg, Stravinsky or Messiaen.


----------



## Bach

> Boulez has admitted the influence of Mahler


Has he?

I think Mahler had ideas above his station.


----------



## Herzeleide

Bach said:


> Has he?
> 
> I think Mahler had ideas above his station.


Yes. From his experience of conducting Mahler and Wagner. If I remember correctly he mentions this in the interview in the booklet that comes with this CD:










I think Stockhausen also liked Mahler - I can't remember which book it is but in typical wacky Stockhausen fashion he comes to the conclusion that if you read the book, you will become Mahler (Stockhausen wrote the preface/introduction).

In the first Stravinsky/Craft conversation book, Igor mentions his admiration for Mahler's songs.


----------



## JTech82

marval said:


> Here's my list, again in no particular order.
> 
> 1. Sibelius
> 2. Ravel
> 3. Stravinsky
> 4. Vaughan Williams
> 5. Mendelssohn
> 6. Debussy
> 7. Prokofiev
> 8. Saint-Saens
> 9. Delius
> 10. Dvorak
> 11. Liszt
> 12. Grieg
> 13 Copland
> 14. Brahms
> 15. Holst
> 16.Chopin
> 17. Beethoven
> 18. Mozart
> 19.J.S.Bach
> 20. Schubert
> 21. Bruch
> 22.Tchaikovsky
> 23. Handel
> 24. Debussy
> 25. Saint-Saens
> 26. Vivaldi
> 27. Haydn
> 28. Rachmaninov
> 29. Elgar
> 30. Verdi


We almost have identical lists Marval! That's scary stuff. The only thing I question is no Bruckner or Mahler? Hmmm...that seems like an interesting omission. Please explain your logic for perhaps not liking Mahler or Bruckner. I'm just curious.


----------



## handlebar

Bach said:


> Mahler the most influential? Are you drunk? Mahler was just a hackneyed Wagner pastiche who didn't understand Schoenberg..


Nah. If i were drunk i would admire Schoenberg. 

Jim


----------



## Lisztfreak

Herzeleide said:


> The notion that Shostakovich is _the_ master of the twentieth-century need not be taken seriously.
> 
> The 'big guns' of the twentieth century (or at least the first half thereof) for those in the know are Schoenberg and Stravinsky, and I must say that the latter is generally better.


Oh come on all of you, I wasn't trying to say that Shostakovich is absolutely the best composer of the 20th century, although I, and just simply *I*, consider him brilliant and for me he is one of the most listenable in that period. And I certainly paid no attention to the 'infuentiality' criterion, which for me has always been of rather secondary or even ternary importance.

You can have your Schönberg and Stravinsky, and I admit they were good composers and much more influential, but I don't care a whiff about them when I have Shostakovich playing.


----------



## Weston

Lisztfreak said:


> You can have your Schönberg and Stravinsky, and I admit they were good composers and much more influential, but I don't care a whiff about them when I have Shostakovich playing.


Yes, I was ambivalent about the greatest 20th century master discussion. 100 years is a long time, and I'd be hard pressed to choose between Shostakovich and Stravinsky. _Rite of Spring _is better than most of Shostakovish's output, but the _Cello Concerto No. 1_ is better than most of Stravinsky's output (in terms of how I react to those pieces).

In general I find Shostakovish more listenable, but how much of that was forced on him I wonder.


----------



## Bach

The Rite of Spring is better than all of Shostakovich's output multiplied by ten.


----------



## JTech82

Bach said:


> The Rite of Spring is better than all of Shostakovich's output multiplied by ten.


I agree with this basically because I like Stravinsky A LOT better than I like Shostakovich.


----------



## Lisztfreak

Bach said:


> The Rite of Spring is better than all of Shostakovich's output multiplied by ten.


Oh dear, you love to poke people in the eye, don't you?  I love you nonetheless. 

The Rite of Spring is heavenly and spectacularly brilliant (gee, this is pompous, ain't it?), but Shozzy's 8th still evokes much more in me.


----------



## Bach

Stravinsky's music flashes with intense, exotic colour where Shostakovich's music remains battleship grey.


----------



## Lisztfreak

Bach said:


> Stravinsky's music flashes with intense, exotic colour where Shostakovich's music remains battleship grey.


Sometimes it is indeed so; a nice wording, thanks, 'battleship grey'. But there's a lot of colour in the Cello Concerto No.2, 1st, 5th, 14th and 15th symphonies, for example. But I like the emotion, the story, the deep correlation of all his works. And their intensity.


----------



## Bach

the tenth symphony and the eighth string quartet are excellent pieces. I also quite like his little neoclassical piano concerti (no. 2 especially) - I can do without the rest though.


----------



## Lisztfreak

Heh, I could never grasp the 10th, funnily! The first movement is overlong and truly battleship grey. Well, on Shostakovich, our tastes differ totally. But that's what makes life interesting, difference.

There's a good and clever quote from Debussy, when they asked him what is his guide, if he denies the leadership of what the 3 Bs wrote. He answered: 'My personal taste.' And that's what generally is the only important thing. 'Cause you can't listen to **** (sorry if the word's too strong) when listening to classical music (all right, except a few second-rate composers that are, fortunately, largely obscure).


----------



## JTech82

I like Shostakovich. He's one of my favorites, but he doesn't even hold a candle to Stravinsky....sorry.

Stravinsky tore the face off the the musical establishment with the premiere of "The Rite of Spring." I love it when people boo and hiss at something that's revolutionary. 

"The Rite of Spring" has been so harshly rejected in the past that now it's considered one of the most ground-breaking pieces of classical music ever written? How could that be? What happened?

Let me tell you what happened: people woke up from their little sleep induced comas from years of listening to Brahms, Beethoven, and Mozart and it has finally resonated with people around the world.

Could Shostakovich do that? I don't think so. I rest my case.


----------



## Sid James

I think when comparing the two, we have to remember the different lives they lead. Stravinsky was a globe-trotter, moving initially to Paris and then to New York. He lived most of his life outside of his homeland, only briefly going back to visit during the Khruschev years (when the two composers met, by the way - now that would be interesting to learn more about). Shostakovich chose to remain in Russia, despite all the difficulties that he encountered, particularly during the Stalin years. They were also of different generations, Stravinsky being more than 20 years older than Shostakovich. I really can't tell you honestly if I like either better or think either made a more enduring contribution to classical music generally.

If you think of the world of painters, Stravinsky was definitely like Picasso in that he constantly changed and updated his style. Shostakovich was more like Picasso's colleague Braque, who was equally revolutionary early on together with the Spaniard, but his style or subject matter didn't change as radically later on. Like the two composers, they were both groundbreakers to an extent, but chose to follow significantly different paths.

I am probably not the most qualified person to make any judgemental comments, either, because I haven't heard any of Stravinsky's late serial inspired works, neither any really late Shostakovich, beyond his output in the 1960's (_String Quartet No. 8 or Babi Yar Symphony_). But even if my knowledge extended beyond what I know, I think it would still be a very hard judgement to make. Sorry to sit on the fence, but I don't really think it's too important to compare them. Just enjoy their music!


----------



## JTech82

Andre said:


> I think when comparing the two, we have to remember the different lives they lead. Stravinsky was a globe-trotter, moving initially to Paris and then to New York. He lived most of his life outside of his homeland, only briefly going back to visit during the Khruschev years (when the two composers met, by the way - now that would be interesting to learn more about). Shostakovich chose to remain in Russia, despite all the difficulties that he encountered, particularly during the Stalin years. They were also of different generations, Stravinsky being more than 20 years older than Shostakovich. I really can't tell you honestly if I like either better or think either made a more enduring contribution to classical music generally.
> 
> If you think of the world of painters, Stravinsky was definitely like Picasso in that he constantly changed and updated his style. Shostakovich was more like Picasso's colleague Braque, who was equally revolutionary early on together with the Spaniard, but his style or subject matter didn't change as radically later on. Like the two composers, they were both groundbreakers to an extent, but chose to follow significantly different paths.
> 
> I am probably not the most qualified person to make any judgemental comments, either, because I haven't heard any of Stravinsky's late serial inspired works, neither any really late Shostakovich, beyond his output in the 1960's (_String Quartet No. 8 or Babi Yar Symphony_). But even if my knowledge extended beyond what I know, I think it would still be a very hard judgement to make. Sorry to sit on the fence, but I don't really think it's too important to compare them. Just enjoy their music!


You make a good case, Andre.

I love Shostakovich. No question about it. He's a great composer, but for me, Stravinsky hits me harder for some reason. I guess I like that approach Stravinsky had better. Those shifting tempos against irregular rhythms mixed with very upfront orchestration and throw in some element of surprise and you'll have Stravinsky. Brilliant composer just brilliant.

Now Hindemith, on the other hand, is just incredible. I think he's just made my top 10 favorite composers!


----------



## JTech82

Updated my favorite composer list:

1. Sibelius
2. Ravel
3. Stravinsky
4. Hindemith
5. Vaughan Williams
6. Bruckner
7. Mahler
8. Bax
9. Berlioz
10. Mendelssohn
11. Debussy
12. Prokofiev
13. Bartok
14. Nielsen
15. Barber
16. Rachmaninov
17. Delius
18. Dvorak
19. Richard Strauss
20. Liszt
21. Langgaard
22. Respighi
23. Hovhaness
24. Grieg
25. Copland
26. Dvorak
27. Brahms
28. Holst
29. Shostakovich
30. Ives


----------



## Herzeleide

Bach said:


> Stravinsky's music flashes with intense, exotic colour where Shostakovich's music remains battleship grey.


Nail + Head.

Apropos Mahler, I quote Boulez from the aforementioned interview:

'As for influences, they are much clearer now than they were then [the early 1950s]. I'm thinking of Mahler and Wagner in particular, the two chief representatives of this tendency towards the amplification of musical forms and more elaborate means of expression: the fact that I have conducted their works and have first-hand experience of them has no doubt influenced me a lot.'


----------



## Bach

Mmm, I don't necessarily see much amplification of musical form in Boulez's music.. feel free to point out any exceptions..


----------



## Herzeleide

Bach said:


> Mmm, I don't necessarily see much amplification of musical form in Boulez's music.. feel free to point out any exceptions..


Well it's taken from the booklet to the CD featuring _Répons_. It's fourty-two-ish minutes on that disk, but annoyingly I think Boulez has added to it since then (1998).

By 'amplification' I think he means making the piece longer to expand and discover different facets of the material. From the time of its inception, _Répons_ has carried on getting longer.


----------



## Conor71

In alphabetical order my 30 favourite composers:
1. Bach
2. Barber
3. Beethoven
4. Brahms
5. Bruch
6. Byrd
7. Debussy
8. Dvorak
9. Elgar
10. Grieg
11. Handel
12. Holst
13. Josquin
14. Mahler
15. Mendelssohn
16. Mozart
17. Mussorgsky
18. Palestrina
19. Part
20. Prokofiev
21. Rachmaninov
22. Ravel
23. Schubert
24. Shostakovich
25. Sibelius
26. Strauss, R
27. Tchaikovsky
28. Vaughan Williams
29. Vivaldi
30. Wagner


----------



## Edward Elgar

I’ve provided my list in alphabetical order and with a small reason why I think they belong in the top 30. These are all my opinions by the way.

Bach (you know which one! perfection and more)
Beethoven (perfection)
Berg (a modernist, yet wonderfully romantic)
Brahms (half serious composer + half popular composer = a god)
Chopin (the piano was invented for such a man)
Debussy (harmony would never be thought of in the same way again)
Elgar (the master of the miniature and quite orgasmic!)
Grieg (another master of the miniature in whom you will find solace)
Haydn (the father of the symphony)
Ligeti (there’s nothing he didn’t try, totally original)
Mahler (pain in sound!)
Messiaen (apart from sounding like a multiple orgasm, there is a famous Hitchcock movie that springs to mind)
Mozart (sunshine)
Prokofiev (a jack of all trades, and a master of them all!)
Puccini (the most successful cohesion of sound and word)
Rachmaninov (his music IS the food of love)
Ravel (like Debussy, only cooler!)
Saint-Saens (he has organs and knows how to use them!)
Schoenberg (one could listen to nothing but Schoenberg’s entire output and have a healthy, satisfying musical experience)
Schubert (Schubert wrote symphonies, but there was one he never finished (try singing along to the 8th!)
Schumann (a genius who wrote his personality in sound)
Scriabin (had he lived longer he would have been the equal of Schoenberg in terms of revolutionism)
Shostakovich (political suppression can never be justified, at least until I’ve finished listening to the 5th!)
Sibelius (a combination Brahms and Tchaikovsky, a match made in heaven in Finland)
Stravinsky (like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick)
Szymanowsky (had Chopin live for another 100 years, he would have sounded like this)
Tchaikovsky (Russia’s greatest composer, that’ll teach you not to discriminate against sexuality!)
Vaughan-Williams (documents all the sadness and beauty of his environment, not without his own brand of genius)
Webern (there’s love in every gesture!)
Xenakis (the Beethoven of the 20th century)


----------



## TumultuousHair

1.) Beethoven 
2.) Chopin
3.) Prokofiev
4.) Berlioz
5.) Rameau 
6.) JS Bach 
7.) Tchaikovsky
8.) Wagner
9.) D. Scarlatti
10.) Carl Stamitz
11.) Haydn
12.) Frescobaldi
13.) Handel
14.) Daquin 
15.) Shostakovich
16.) Schoenberg
17.) Schubert 
18.) CPE Bach
19.) Debussy
20.) Richard Strauss
21.) Monteverdi
22.) Leonin
23.) Perotin
24.) Jacopo de Balogna
25.) Adrian Wallaert
26.) Philippe de Vitry 
27.) Machaut
28.) Brahms
29.) William Byrd
30.) Babbitt


----------



## DiesIraeCX

It would be futile to attempt to numerically order them after the first 5, so I won't even try.

- Beethoven
- Debussy
- Mahler
- Wagner
- Schubert or Brahms (tied)

The rest will be in chronological order

Perotin
Machaut
Palestrina
Josquin
Monteverdi
Handel
Bach
Haydn
Mozart
Berlioz
Chopin
Schumann
Bruckner
Sibelius
Schoenberg
Ravel
Bartók 
Stravinsky
Webern
Berg
Prokofiev
Ligeti
Nono
Boulez
Berio


----------



## Guest

DiesIraeCX said:


> It would be futile to attempt to numerically order them after the first 5, so I won't even try.
> 
> - Beethoven
> - Debussy
> - Mahler
> - Wagner
> - Schubert or Brahms (tied)
> 
> The rest will be in chronological order
> 
> Perotin
> Machaut
> Palestrina
> Josquin
> Monteverdi
> Handel
> Bach
> Haydn
> Mozart
> Berlioz
> Chopin
> Schumann
> Bruckner
> Debussy
> Sibelius
> Schoenberg
> Ravel
> Bartók
> Stravinsky
> Webern
> Berg
> Prokofiev
> Ligeti
> Nono
> Boulez
> Berio


Needs more Stockhausen.


----------



## Harold in Columbia

DiesIraeCX said:


> Last edited by DiesIraeCX; Today at 16:01. Reason: Debussy was listed twice


I submit that this should not necessarily have been seen as an error.


----------



## Simon Moon

No particular order.


Stravinsky
Bartok
Elliott Carter
Anton Webern
Alban Berg
Thea Musgrave
Samuel Barber
Michael Tippett
Joseph Schwantner
Joan Tower
Debussy
Arnold Schoenberg
Messiaen
Penderecki
Ligeti
Benjamin Britten
Magnus Lundberg
Ernst Krenek
Charles Wuorinen
Luciano Berio
Tōru Takemitsu
Alfred Schnittke
Steve Reich
Einojuhani Rautavaara
John Corigliano
Stefan Wolpe
Thomas Ades
Brian Ferneyhough
Xenakis


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund

I'll try this 
1. Mozart
2. JS Bach
3. Schubert
...
Lassus
Marenzio
Dowland
Monteverdi
Vivaldi
Händel
Weiss
Tartini
CPE Bach
Haydn
Beethoven
Mendelssohn
Schumann
Brahms
Tarrega
Albeniz
Bartok
Shostakovich
Messiaen
Britten
Lutoslawski
Denisov
Takemitsu
Davies
Schnittke
Nobre
Lindberg
...I had to leave some out...


----------



## Gouldanian

1- Bach
2- Bach
3- Bach
4- Bach
5- Bach
6- Bach
7- Bach
8- Bach
9- Bach
10-Bach
11- Bach
12- Bach
13- Bach
14- Bach
15- Bach
16- Bach
17- Bach
18- Bach
19- Bach
20- Bach
21- Brahms
22- Mendelssohn
23- Mahler
24- Shostakovich
25- Haydn
26- Mozart
27- Beethoven
28- Debussy
29- Rachmaninov
30- Alkan


----------



## 20centrfuge

If you don't have Prokofiev on your list, I'm sorry but we can't be friends. :devil:


----------



## 20centrfuge

Adams, John
Bach
Barber
Bartok
Beethoven
Bernstein
Brahms
Debussy
Dvorak
Elgar
Faure
Gershwin
Grieg
Gubaidulina
Haydn
Hindemith
Holst
Maxwell Davies
Messaien
Milhaud
Mozart
Prokofiev
Puccini
Rachmaninov
Rautavaara
Saint-Saëns
Schubert
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Stravinsky


----------



## Guest

20centrfuge said:


> If you don't have Prokofiev on your list, I'm sorry but we can't be friends. :devil:


There's only 30 spots bro


----------



## TumultuousHair

DiesIraeCX said:


> It would be futile to attempt to numerically order them after the first 5, so I won't even try.
> 
> - Beethoven
> - Debussy
> - Mahler
> - Wagner
> - Schubert or Brahms (tied)
> 
> The rest will be in chronological order
> 
> Perotin
> Machaut
> Palestrina
> Josquin
> Monteverdi
> Handel
> Bach
> Haydn
> Mozart
> Berlioz
> Chopin
> Schumann
> Bruckner
> Sibelius
> Schoenberg
> Ravel
> Bartók
> Stravinsky
> Webern
> Berg
> Prokofiev
> Ligeti
> Nono
> Boulez
> Berio


That's a fine list.


----------



## Guest

Because no matter how many times I've done this, it's fun to think about (ROUGH ORDER):

J.S. Bach
W.A. Mozart
K. Stockhausen
A. Schoenberg
L.V. Beethoven
C. Debussy
I. Stravinsky
J. Cage
B. Bartók
O. Messiaen
I. Xenakis
G. Mahler
R. Wagner
P. Boulez
A. Berg
M. Ravel
A. Webern
R. Schumann
E. Varèse
G. Ligeti
F. López
L. Nono
G. Kurtág
L. Berio
H. Lachenmann
B. Ferneyhough
K. Saariaho
A. Bruckner
S. Sciarrino
B. Britten

Ok 30 was still way too painful. Try 50 next time plz.


----------



## Chordalrock

Let's see if I manage to come up with some sort of an actual ordered Top list. (There will be some major omissions - lack of sufficient familiarity on my part or just lack of interest in the composer's style and what they do with it.)

1. Beethoven (mainly for the piano music)
2. Bach (selection of keyboard works mainly)
3. Mozart
4. Gombert (just a fan of his style and brilliance in the darker motets)
5. Dufay (isorhythmic motets and masses, with the unparalleled highlight in the credo of Missa L'homme arme)
6. Wagner (mainly passages from late operas)
7. Bartok (late works, mainly the late string quartets)
8. Josquin (masses and a few motets)
9. Roger Sessions (all the quasi-serialist works, maybe sans the solo piano music)
10. William Schuman (late symphonies, Judith)
11. Unsuk Chin (piano concerto and cello concerto at least; I remember being turned off by the violin concerto beginning, don't recall if the whole thing is in that style)
12. Xenakis
13. Penderecki (avant-garde works, 7th symphony)
14. Arnold Schoenberg
15. Per Nørgård (late works)
16. Brahms
17. Schubert
18. Ligeti
19. Rautavaara
20. Messiaen (mainly "Messe de la Pentecote" and "Livre d'orgue", otherwise not that much to my taste)
21. Hilding Rosenberg (late string quartets)
22. Andrzej Panufnik (5th and 8th symphonies; not that familiar with some of the others)
23. Robert Schumann
24. Ockeghem (mainly Offertorium from Requiem, and Missa Mi-mi)
25. Tomás Luis de Victoria
26. Palestrina
27. Obrecht
28. Sebastian Currier (mainly Time Machines)
29. Michael Tippett (mainly the 4th symphony)
30. Ernst Krenek


----------



## Weston

Interesting to have this thread resurrected. How my tastes have changed since 2009! I'm scarcely the same person.


----------



## musicrom

nathanb said:


> Because no matter how many times I've done this, it's fun to think about (ROUGH ORDER):


Yep. You've convinced me to try this for the umpteenth time. This list might look different from previous lists I've made because I will try to do it off the top of my head, and not use a list that I already have.

1. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
2. Ludwig van Beethoven
3. Jean Sibelius
4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
5. J.S. Bach
6. Johannes Brahms
7. Frederic Chopin
8. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
9. Dmitri Shostakovich
10. Robert Schumann
11. Antonin Dvorak
12. Felix Mendelssohn
13. Igor Stravinsky
14. Sergei Prokofiev
15. Gustav Mahler
16. Franz Schubert
17. Magnus Lindberg
18. Sergei Rachmaninoff
19. Franz Joseph Haydn
20. William Walton
21. Edvard Grieg
22. George Frideric Handel
23. Benjamin Britten
24. Bedrich Smetana
25. Gioachino Rossini
26. Paul Hindemith
27. Aram Khachaturian
28. Charles Ives
29. Alexander Glazunov
30. Giuseppe Verdi

Well... that's the best I can do off the top of my head, I'm sure I've forgotten someone. (EDIT: Yep)


----------



## SixFootScowl

Mostly Beethoven (x27), Mendelssohn and Brahms. These are the main ones I know and my judgement is based more on symphonic works than anything else. I probably could find room for Mahler. After that I would not have much idea unless I did a lot more listening to different composers, but am too busy listening to opera. Do opera composers count? I can add Donizetti for sure and probably some others.


----------



## atsizat

30 must be a very high number for one's being top.


----------



## Pugg

atsizat said:


> 30 must be a very high number for one's being top.


How do you mean that?


----------



## znapschatz

In something of an order at first, but afterward just as they occur to me. Many left off the list because it exceeded 30 and I couldn't bring myself to bump any of the named. I'm not sure this sort of survey has much meaning since it seems to rely much on memory at the moment. I'm not too good at that.

However,

Bach
Mozart 
Beethoven
Hayden
Handel
Schubert
Brahms
Bartok
Mussorgsky
Rimsky Korsakov
Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Borodin
Tchaikovsky
Wagner
Grieg
Nielsen
Liszt
Chopin
Glazunov
Glinka
Britten
Mendelsohn
Verdi	
Rachmaninoff
Dvorak
Sibelius
Vivaldi
Ravel
Debussy
Poulenc


----------



## hpowders

I can't name 30:

1. Bach

2. Shostakovich

3. Ives

4. Persichetti

5. Schuman

6. Copland

7. Brahms (chamber music only)

8. Mendelssohn (chamber music only)

9. Haydn

10. Mozart

11. Bartók

Those are all the composers I would be reaching for off my CD shelves.


----------



## Xaltotun

Always fun to list them. I think I haven't done a 30 before.

1. Bruckner
2. Wagner
3. Beethoven
4. Brahms
5. Sibelius
6. Liszt
7. Schubert
8. Haydn
9. Mahler
10. Dvorak
11. Berlioz
12. Franck
13. Schoenberg
14. Mendelssohn
15. Schumann
16. Mozart
17. Cherubini
18. J.S. Bach
19. Rachmaninov
20. Tchaikovsky
21. Respighi
22. Ravel
23. Palestrina
24. Victoria
25. Shostakovich
26. Weber
27. Braunfels
28. Prokofiev
29. Saint-Saëns
30. F. Couperin


----------



## Guest

Not very long ago I couldn't have even named 30 composers, now I find my list breaks the 30 limit and I need to trim it a little. Naturally my list is based on very limited exposure, but if I wait till I feel I have a sound broad knowledge I'll probably need to live to about 150. So in no order at all (well, by rummaging through my little collection)....

Scriabin
JS Bach
Bartok
Lutoslawski
Brahms
Chopin
Coates
Hindemith
Ligeti
Liszt
Messiaen
Murail
Part
Penderecki
Scelsi
Schnittke
Kurtag
Schubert
Sorabji
Webern
Xenakis
Beethoven
Bruckner
Debussy
Haas
Mahler
Norgard
Boulez
Bartok
Dutilleux


----------



## Bulldog

1. JS Bach

The remaining 29 in no particular order:

Scriabin
Shostakovich
Myaskovsky
Weinberg
Taneyev
Debussy
Ravel
Mozart
Haydn
Froberger
Schiedemann
Beethoven
Schubert
Schumann
Chopin
Brahms
Dvorak
Handel
Berwald
Berlioz
Sibelius
Stravinsky
Mahler
Bruckner
Louis Couperin
Janacek
Bartok
Prokofiev
Granados


----------



## Stavrogin

Wow, 30 is difficult. I mean they're too many to give a precise ranking.
Can I use tiers instead?

1st tier
Beethoven, Prokofiev

2nd tier
Bach, Liszt, Mozart

3rd tier
Čajkovskij, Dvořák, Kancheli, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Sibelius, Šnitke, Šostakovič


4th tier
Bartók, Brahms, Britten, Bruckner, Ligeti, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Pärt, Smetana, Stravinskij, Verdi


I think they're less than 30 but a 5th tier would be too crowded


----------



## StlukesguildOhio

1. J.S. Bach
2. W.A. Mozart
3. L.v. Beethoven
4. Josef Haydn
5. Richard Wagner
6. Franz Schubert
7. Richard Strauss
8. Gustav Mahler
9. Johannes Brahms
10. G.F. Handel
11. Piotr Tchaikovsky
12. Antonín Dvořák
13. Claude Debussy
14. Claudio Monteverdi
15. Igor Stravinsky
16. Giuseppe Verdi
17. Hector Berlioz
18. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
19. Antonio Vivaldi
20. Gabriel Fauré
21. Maurice Ravel
22. Béla Bartók
23. Leoš Janáček
24. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
25. Carlo Gesualdo
26. Frédéric François Chopin
27. Christoph Willibald Gluck
28. Giacomo Puccini
29. Jacques Offenbach
30. Jean-Philippe Rameau
*****
31. Vincenzo Bellini
31. Luigi Boccherini
32. Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet
33. Gaetano Donizetti
34. Jules Massenet
35. Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff
36. Sergei Prokofiev
37. Camille Saint-Saëns
38. G.F. Telemann
39. Anton Bruckner
40. Jean Sibelius
41. Palestrina
42. Josquin des Prez
43. Hugo Wolf
44. George Gershwin
45. Johan Strauss II
46. Jan Dismas Zelenka
47. Domenico Scarlatti
48. Felix Mendelssohn
49. Henry Purcell
50. Guillaume Dufay

The first 10 are largely set in stone. After that? They jump around depending on the day... and some might disappear altogether and be replaced by others.


----------



## Guest

Whoops, duplication with Bartok! So I get to add:

Andriessen.


----------



## Marschallin Blair

*


StlukesguildOhio said:



1. J.S. Bach
2. W.A. Mozart
3. L.v. Beethoven
4. Josef Haydn
5. Richard Wagner
6. Franz Schubert
7. Richard Strauss
8. Gustav Mahler
9. Johannes Brahms
10. G.F. Handel

Click to expand...

*


StlukesguildOhio said:


> 11. Piotr Tchaikovsky
> 12. Antonín Dvořák
> 13. Claude Debussy
> 14. Claudio Monteverdi
> 15. Igor Stravinsky
> 16. Giuseppe Verdi
> 17. Hector Berlioz
> 18. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
> 19. Antonio Vivaldi
> 20. Gabriel Fauré
> 21. Maurice Ravel
> 22. Béla Bartók
> 23. Leoš Janáček
> 24. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
> 25. Carlo Gesualdo
> 26. Frédéric François Chopin
> 27. Christoph Willibald Gluck
> 28. Giacomo Puccini
> 29. Jacques Offenbach
> 30. Jean-Philippe Rameau
> *****
> 31. Vincenzo Bellini
> 31. Luigi Boccherini
> 32. Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet
> 33. Gaetano Donizetti
> 34. Jules Massenet
> 35. Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff
> 36. Sergei Prokofiev
> 37. Camille Saint-Saëns
> 38. G.F. Telemann
> 39. Anton Bruckner
> 40. Jean Sibelius
> 41. Palestrina
> 42. Josquin des Prez
> 43. Hugo Wolf
> 44. George Gershwin
> 45. Johan Strauss II
> 46. Jan Dismas Zelenka
> 47. Domenico Scarlatti
> 48. Felix Mendelssohn
> 49. Henry Purcell
> 50. Guillaume Dufay
> 
> The first 10 are largely set in stone. After that? They jump around depending on the day... and some might disappear altogether and be replaced by others.












Cluck. Cluck.

No Sibelius in the Top Ten? Or even Top Five? _;D_

Honor Thy Nordic Gods and Super Heroes.


----------



## Art Rock

Hors concours (1):
Johann Sebastian Bach

Tier 1 (3):
Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Franz Schubert

Tier 2 (9):
Claude Debussy, Antonin Dvorak, Felix Mendelssohn, Ernest John Moeran, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovitch, Jean Sibelius, Richard Wagner

Tier 3 (17):
Samuel Barber, Arnold Bax, Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Bruckner, Frederic Chopin, Gabriel Faure, Sofia Gubaidulina, Joseph Haydn, Carl Nielsen, Giacomo Puccini, Joachim Raff, Ottorino Respighi, Richard Strauss, Josef Suk, Toru Takemitsu, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Ralph Vaughan Williams


----------



## TurnaboutVox

1. Beethoven (1)
2. Mahler (2)
3. Webern (14)
4. Britten (49)
5. Berg (8)
6. Schumann (4)
7. Bartók (5)
8. Kurtág (31)
9. Schoenberg (26)
10. Fauré (6)
11. Debussy (7)
12. Brückner (16)
13. J S Bach (9)
14. Mozart (10)
15. Bridge (13)
16. Schubert (3)
17. Zemlinsky (58)
18. Delius (15)
19. Stravinsky (36)
20. Hindemith (17)
21. Poulenc (18)
22. Vaughan-Williams (38)
23. Nielsen (39)
24. Domenico Scarlatti (41)
25. Shostakovich (12)
26. Liszt (19)
27. Busoni (20)
28. Sibelius (22)
29. Ravel (28)
30. Wolf (29)


(The number in brackets is their rank in my "Top 100 composers" slightly over 2 years ago)


----------



## StlukesguildOhio

Marschallin Blair said:


> *
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Cluck. Cluck.
> 
> No Sibelius in the Top Ten? Or even Top Five? ;D
> 
> Honor Thy Nordic Gods and Super Heroes.*


*

Ah, but you missed my real faux pas... I forgot both Liszt (and I'm listening to him today) and Robert Schumann!

*


----------



## hpowders

1-27 Bach

28. Shostakovich

29. Schuman

30. Persichetti


----------



## Pugg

Verdi.
Donizetti.
Bellini.
Mozart.
And many others


----------



## Haydn man

1 Haydn
After that it just got too hard beyond the usual suspects, so I gave up 
Must learn to try harder


----------



## TurnaboutVox

hpowders said:


> 1-27 Bach
> 
> 28. Shostakovich
> 
> 29. Schuman
> 
> 30. Persichetti


I think you should have Bached him the whole way, hp.

I'll get me coat now...


----------



## dieter

Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Bruckner
Mozart
Haydn
Handel
Schubert
Wagner
Mahler
Janacek
Stravinsky
Shostakovich
Berlioz
Debussy
Schumann
Bartok
R.Strauss
Fasch
Telemann
Monteverdi
Dvorak
Smetana
Sibelius
Nielsen
Britten
Tchaikovsky
Martinu
Ravel
Chopin
Prokofiev
Verdi
Roussel
Hindemith
Franck
Josquin
Ockeghem
Byrd
Schutz
Biber
Palestrina
CPE Bach


----------



## SixFootScowl

dieter said:


> Bach
> Beethoven
> Brahms
> Bruckner
> Mozart
> Haydn
> Handel
> Schubert
> Wagner
> Mahler
> Janacek
> Stravinsky
> Shostakovich
> Berlioz
> Debussy
> Schumann
> Bartok
> R.Strauss
> Fasch
> Telemann
> Monteverdi
> Dvorak
> Smetana
> Sibelius
> Nielsen
> Britten
> Tchaikovsky
> Martinu
> Ravel
> Chopin
> Prokofiev
> Verdi
> Roussel
> Hindemith
> Franck
> Josquin
> Ockeghem
> Byrd
> Schutz
> Biber
> Palestrina
> CPE Bach


Such a comprehensive list and no Mendelssohn?


----------



## Badinerie

I thought I could do this! 30? must be easy....thats enough but no! I did my best though and this is what I come up with. I'll probebly spot some glaring omission later on but I'll just leave it.
In Alphabetical order.


Malcolm Arnold
JS Bach
LV Beethoven
Anton Bruckner
Bela Bartok
Alban Berg
Hector Berlioz
Alexander Borodin
Aaron Copeland
Claude Debussy
Frederic Delius
Antonin Dvorak
Gaetano Donizetti
Alexander Glazunov
FJ Haydn
Arthur Honneger 
Felix Mendelssohn
WA Mozart
Maurice Ravel
Giacomo Puccini
Sergei Rachmaninov
Camille Saint Saens
Domenico Scarlatti
Franz Schubert
Robert Schuman
Jean Sibelius
Richard Strauss
Igor Stravinsky
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Anton Webern


----------



## dieter

Florestan said:


> Such a comprehensive list and no Mendelssohn?


Apart from the fiddle concerto, symphonies 3-5 and a couple of the overtures, I don't rate him at all.


----------



## dieter

dieter said:


> Apart from the fiddle concerto, symphonies 3-5 and a couple of the overtures, I don't rate him at all.


And I should have added Webern and Rachmaninov to the list of composers I really love. And Richard Strauss, and Rameau. He went out with Juliet, I believe.


----------



## Andante Largo

Recently, the "top 20 composers" thread has become popular. So it's time for the top 30.

Here is my:

J. Sibelius
J. Brahms
O. Respighi

H. Wieniawski
N. Paganini
M. Bruch
M. Reger
F. Delius
E. Chausson
W. Żeleński
I.F. Dobrzyński
M. Karłowicz
M. Moszkowski
A. Borodin
F. Chopin
H. Howells
P. de Sarasate
T. Albinoni
G. Fauré
Z. Noskowski

K. Lipiński
J. Zarębski
G. Sgambati
G. Martucci
R. Wetz
E. Dohnányi
I. Paderewski
C. Koechlin
P. Graener
G. Tartini​


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

1. Bach
2. Brahms
3. Beethoven
4. Sibelius
5. Schubert
6. Mahler
7. Chopin
8. Dvorak
9. Mozart
10. Ravel
11. Bruckner
12. Debussy
13. Shostakovich 
14. Prokofiev 
15. Rachmaninoff 
16. Faure
17. Haydn
18. Wagner
19. Handel
20. Bartok
21. Strauss
22. Palestrina
23. Mendelssohn
24. Vaughan Williams
25. Josquin
26. Liszt
27. Messiaen
28. Elgar
29. Stravinsky
30. Puccini

Surprisingly hard to come up with 10 more. Takemitsu, Franck, Nielsen, Webern, Tchaikovsky were all in the running.


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund

10. Mozart
20. Bach
30. Schubert


----------



## Highwayman

1 - Brahms
2 - Bach
3 - Beethoven
4 - Schumann
5 - Dvořák
6 - Sibelius
7 - Schubert
8 - Fauré
9 - Mahler
10 - Mendelssohn
11 - Prokofiev
12 - Shostakovich
13 - Medtner
14 - Reger
15 - Scriabin
16 - Messiaen
17 - Takemitsu
18 - Debussy
19 - Poulenc
20 - Bartók
21 - Vaughan Williams
22 - Palestrina
23 - Lassus
24 - Ockeghem
25 - Hindemith
26 - Saygun
27 - Schnittke
28 - Gubaidulina
29 - Saariaho
30 - Ives

I`ve excluded Schoenberg&Janáček from the list I submitted for Art Rock`s _Ranking Composers_ thread and included Saariaho&Ives instead. Josquin, Corelli and Boulez are serious contenders as well.


----------



## MusicSybarite

In alphabetical order:

Alwyn
Arnold
Bax
Beethoven
Brahms
Bruckner
Casella
Dvorak
Elgar
Hindemith
Holmboe
Janacek
Langgaard
Mahler
Martinu
Nielsen
Poulenc
Prokofiev
Rachmaninov
Ravel
Respighi
Saint-Saëns
Schubert
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Strauss, R.
Tchaikovsky
Tubin
Vaughan Williams
Villa-Lobos


----------



## Allegro Con Brio

Allegro Con Brio said:


> 1. Bach
> 2. Brahms
> 3. Beethoven
> 4. Sibelius
> 5. Schubert
> 6. Mahler
> 7. Chopin
> 8. Dvorak
> 9. Mozart
> 10. Ravel
> 11. Bruckner
> 12. Debussy
> 13. Shostakovich
> 14. Prokofiev
> 15. Rachmaninoff
> 16. Faure
> 17. Haydn
> 18. Wagner
> 19. Handel
> 20. Bartok
> 21. Strauss
> 22. Palestrina
> 23. Mendelssohn
> 24. Vaughan Williams
> 25. Josquin
> 26. Liszt
> 27. Messiaen
> 28. Elgar
> 29. Stravinsky
> 30. Puccini
> 
> Surprisingly hard to come up with 10 more. Takemitsu, Franck, Nielsen, Webern, Tchaikovsky were all in the running.


Why is this such a hard activity? Looking back I would comfortably put Boulez and Tchaikovsky in the last two spots rather than Stravinsky and Puccini. Oh well. The ranking changes in my head every time I listen to one of my favorite composers...then it changes again when I hear another favorite.


----------



## StDior

In approximate order:

1. JS Bach
2. Beethoven
3. Haydn
4. Mozart
5. Mahler
6. Monteverdi
7. Vivaldi
8. Chopin
9. Puccini
10. Schubert
11. Brahms
12. Dvořák
13. Schumann
14. Wagner
15. Verdi
16. Prokofiev
17. Handel
18. Telemann
19. Bartók
20. Tchaikovsky
21. Liszt
22. Janácek
23. Shostakovich
24. Franck
25. Cavalli
26. Rossini
27. Buxtehude
28. Machaut
29. Dufay
30. Stravinsky

Near miss big favourites: Debussy, Radulescu, Ravel, Ligeti, Lachenmann, R Strauss, Rimsky-Korsakov, Berlioz, Boulez, Sibelius


----------



## ZeR0

In no order:

Bach
Beethoven
Mozart
Wagner
Brahms
Schubert
Schumann
Chopin
Liszt
Debussy
Scriabin
Rachmaninoff
Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Bartók
Tchaikovsky
Fauré
Grieg
Shostakovich
Gesualdo
R. Strauss
Mahler
Bruckner
Schnittke
Ravel
Berg
Ligeti
Boulez
Penderecki
Sibelius

Though I am still missing de Lassus, D. Scarlatti, Clementi, Martinu, Puccini, and Bizet.


----------



## Prodromides

1. Charles Koechlin
2. Giacinto Scelsi
3. Andre Jolivet
4. Aarre Merikanto
5. Richard Rodney Bennett
6. Maurice Ohana
7. Arne Nordheim
8. Jon Leifs
9. Meyer Kupferman
10. Toru Takemitsu
11. Heitor Villa-Lobos
12. Roberto Gerhard
13. Jean Prodromides
14. Luigi Dallapiccola
15. Edgard Varese
16. Erik Bergman
17. Fartein Valen
18. Henri Dutilleux
19. Karl-Birger Blomdahl
20. Luis De Pablo
21. Vagn Holmboe
22. Humphrey Searle
23. Friedrich Cerha
24. Olivier Messiaen
25. Luciano Berio
26. Benjamin Frankel
27. George Enescu
28. Isang Yun
29. Morton Feldman
30. Florent Schmitt


----------



## Xisten267

In order of personal preference _today_*:

1. Beethoven;
2. Wagner;
3. Bach;
4. Brahms;
5. Mozart;
6. Schubert;
7. Tchaikovsky;
8. Berlioz;
9. Mendelssohn;
10. Prokofiev;
11. Liszt;
12. Schumann;
13. Vivaldi;
14. Mahler;
15. Debussy;
16. Shostakovich;
17. Rachmaninoff;
18. Ravel;
19. Bruckner;
20. Josquin;
21. Mussorgsky;
22. Verdi;
23. Dvorák;
24. Chopin;
25. Haydn;
26. Scriabin;
27. Borodin;
28. Saint-Saëns;
29. Stravinsky;
30. Messiaen.

*: Up to position #8 this list is somewhat precise (except perhaps by the order), but after that I believe that much can change over time. I suppose that composers such as Sibelius and Fauré should be in this list somewhere, but I decided to not include them because I know only very few of their works.


----------



## Ethereality

If you enjoy making ranked lists, or _don't_ enjoy making ranked lists, I recommend using this tool. It will tell you things about yourself you didn't know.


----------



## Rogerx

Ethereality said:


> If you enjoy making ranked lists, or _don't_ enjoy making ranked lists, I recommend using this tool. It will tell you things about yourself you didn't know.


Good one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------

