The Top 5 composers

Mendelsshon - without any question he is the greatest composer ever.

Chopin - In piano he is the best.

Bach - The most inovative music for a composer that "followed" the rules.

Mozart- he has to be there in the top five...the dude was just great.

Handel - Beautiful music, delightful and charming.

The most brilliant composers of all time:

1) Bach - Flawless, perfect, genius and still managed to followed the rules.

2) Mozart - Flawless, perfect, genius and broke the rules from time to time, but was the greatest improviser, the most precise transcriber, and possibly No. 1.

3) Haydn - The most innovative writer for the symphony in history.

4) Mahler - "The symphony must be the world; it must embrace everything."

5) Debussy - Brilliantly imaginative and highly emotional piano composer.

--with Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin hovering about 1-5 (Since you really can't compare these contrasting periods) being the demigods of Romanticism.

not another one of these totally subjective threads?

there are so many great composers, it's next to impossible to name "the greatest" in other than personal preference.

I love Bach, I love Debussy, but Mendelsohn? I can think of a few other composers who did greater things: Wagner, Strauss, Hindemith, Puccini, Brahms... or even to come a little closer to our own century: Copland, Harris, Schostakowitch, Sibelius, Schuman...

If we talk about Debussy, why not Ravel? He was certainly as influential in the impressionist movement, even if his approach was the "classical" impressionist to Debussy's "romantic" impressionist. Ravel was by far the more daring and innovative orchestrator of the two.

So as you can see, this is always a completely subjective discussion. It usually leads nowhere, often leads to hurt feelings, and always leads to fruitless arguments that are impossible to prove regarding the merits of A or B, which are pretty much always purely subjective merits anyways.

Why not simply make a thread about who your favourite composers are? It's more realistic, and doesn't set you up for endless arguments and insults.

1. Sergei Prokofiev (notably Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Visions Fugitives, 1st Symphony, 3rd Piano Concerto, The Love for Three Oranges)

2. Pyotr Tchaikovsky (notably 1st Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Marche Slav, The 4th Symphony, The Year 1812)

3. Dmitri Shostakovich (notably Jazz Suites 1 and 2, The Gadfly, The Golden Age, 5th Symphony, various Concertos, Overture on Khirghiz Themes, The Fire of Eternal Glory)

4. Aram Khachaturian (notably the 1st Violin Concerto, the Second Symphony, The Masquerade Suite, Gayane Suite)

5. Dmitri Kabalevsky (notably Colas Breugnon, Romeo and Juliet, The Comedians)

There's my top 5.

1. Sergei Prokofiev (notably Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Visions Fugitives, 1st Symphony, 3rd Piano Concerto, The Love for Three Oranges)

2. Pyotr Tchaikovsky (notably 1st Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Marche Slav, The 4th Symphony, The Year 1812)

Tchaikovsky is definetly my number one, he's brilliant, expressive, intricate....words can't describe him

Mahler is definetly on my top 5, along with Bach, Beethoven and some other people.

not another one of these totally subjective threads?

I love Bach, I love Debussy, but Mendelsohn? I can think of a few other composers who did greater things: Wagner, Strauss, Hindemith, Puccini, Brahms... or even to come a little closer to our own century: Copland, Harris, Schostakowitch, Sibelius, Schuman...

QUOTE]

I cant believe I just read that.

Are you kiddin?

You really think that these composers :" Wagner, Strauss, Hindemith, Puccini, Brahms... Copland, Harris, Schostakowitch, Sibelius, Schuman..." are greater then Mendelssohn?

Mahhhhaahahaha

Goodone...;) :D :w00t: :) thanks, you really made me laugh there.. LOL haha!!!

not another one of these totally subjective threads?

I love Bach' date=' I love Debussy, but Mendelsohn? I can think of a few other composers who did greater things: Wagner, Strauss, Hindemith, Puccini, Brahms... or even to come a little closer to our own century: Copland, Harris, Schostakowitch, Sibelius, Schuman...

[/quote']

I cant believe I just read that.

Are you kiddin?

You really think that these composers :" Wagner, Strauss, Hindemith, Puccini, Brahms... Copland, Harris, Schostakowitch, Sibelius, Schuman..." are greater then Mendelssohn?

Mahhhhaahahaha

Goodone...:toothygrin: :D :w00t: :laugh: thanks, you really made me laugh there.. LOL haha!!!

I, for one, move that Prokofiev and Wagner are, indeed, greater than Mendelssohn. Last I checked, Mendelssohn didn't father the movie score industry like Prokofiev.

I, for one, move that Prokofiev and Wagner are, indeed, greater than Mendelssohn.

One thing is evident.

It's either you didn't listen to enough Mendelssohn or you just dont "Get" his music.

These composers dont comes to Mendelssohn's toes.

Things you must do :

Elijah- get yourself a decent recording.

Third Piano concerto In E minor - Newly discovered work.

Piano quartet In B minor - written at 14.

String quintet

Etudes, Fantasies, Sonnatas, Preludes and fugues, for solo piano.

After this we shall see what you'll have to say...

One thing is evident.

It's either you didn't listen to enough Mendelssohn or you just dont "Get" his music.

These composers dont comes to Mendelssohn's toes.

Things you must do :

Elijah- get yourself a decent recording.

Third Piano concerto In E minor - Newly discovered work.

Piano quartet In B minor - written at 14.

String quintet

Etudes, Fantasies, Sonnatas, Preludes and fugues, for solo piano.

After this we shall see what you'll have to say...

One thing is evident.

It's either you didn't listen to enough Prokofiev or you just dont "Get" his music.

This composer doesn't come to Prokofiev's toes.

Things you must do :

Romeo and Juliet - get yourself a decent recording.

Third Piano concerto In C - Always a classic.

Toccata op. 11 - written in 1912.

String Quartets 1 and 2 (written for the Library of Congress)

Etudes, Visions Fugitives, Sonatas, Concertos and tone poems, for solo piano.

After this we shall see what you'll have to say...

Gotta love subjectivity.

One thing is evident.

It's either you didn't listen to enough Prokofiev or you just dont "Get" his music.

This composer doesn't come to Prokofiev's toes.

Gotta love subjectivity.

Answer this:

Have you heard Elijah?

Answer this:

Have you heard Elijah?

Answer this:

Have you heard Seven, They Are Seven?

Do you understand, yet, the point I'm making?

You should listen to Elijah and some other works of Mendelssohn carefully.

You will change your mind in a flash.

Regards,

Hmm.

when it comes to repertoire:

1. Mozart- I have the most fun playing mozart. It's all full of emotion and life.

2. Chopin- One of the greatest composers for the piano.

3. Schubert- He has a certain flare to his work that I just enjoy.

4. Prokofiev- Alot of fun.

5. Rachmaninoff- Really great and beautiful music. I can't think of something of his that I didn't like.

You should listen to Elijah and some other works of Mendelssohn carefully.

You will change your mind in a flash.

Regards,

Listen, you seem like a nice guy, but something you must realize is that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. You can't just say that Mendelssohn is the best. He's not. There is always someone better.

You should listen to The 3rd Piano Concerto (as only Argerich can play) and some other works of Prokofiev carefully.

You will change your mind in a flash.

Regards,

You seem to be painfully incapable of rationality.

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines subjectivity as:

3 a : characteristic of or belonging to reality as perceived rather than as independent of mind : 1b b : relating to or being experience or knowledge as conditioned by personal mental characteristics or states

4 a (1) : peculiar to a particular individual : PERSONAL (2) : modified or affected by personal views, experience, or background b : arising from conditions within the brain or sense organs and not directly caused by external stimuli c : arising out of or identified by means of one's perception of one's own states and processes

Musical taste is highly subjective. There is no objective "best" composer, no "most important" composer (in general), no unbeatable piece. To seriously claim otherwise is to mark yourself as a fool.

Yeah, your opinion is always subjective. Your opinion and what is actually the best or considered to be the best do not always match and they do not have to. Also, your opinion does not make it the best. Fact is not relative to your opinion. So, the best in one's eye is not the best in the other's eye and you cannot really ask a question like this in the terms that you have asked it in.

which just basically repeats what I originally wrote in my post! :toothygrin:

Yes I've heard plenty of mendelsohn.

I don't think he's that great a composer.

I think there are many more interesting composers from his time period.

That you don't understand that peoples' tastes are subjective is your loss, and also your bane.

I suggest you simply admit to being a big fan of Mendelsohn, and let others disagree with your subjective evaluation of his worth as a composer. It will get you much further in this life. No one is saying you are wrong to like his music. What people are saying, however, is that it remains your opinion and nothing on which to base any sort of factual assessment.

Unless you have a doctorate in musicology you haven't told us about which helps you to justify your tenacious opinion?

5???? Just 5????

* Prokofiev

* Bach/Beethoven/Mozart

* Radiohead

* Schnittke

* Harry Patch (just gets to me with his ideas)

Oh...

And Mendelsohn? I would never consider him the greatest composer... I mean every thing considered. Musicologists certainly don't think so. Record companies don't think so. at least with Beethoven you get at least 50-60 works before running out of well known recorded pieces (32 sonatas, sonatas for violin, 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, Fidellio, the quartets). You can get a hold of a large number of his opus. In Mendelsohns' case I don't think that it's the case... And of course I'm not a fan of Mendelsohn really...

NOTE: My above list is completely subjective all the way. I wouldn't put Prokofiev in the ranks of B/B/M, or Schnittke. But I'm just hot for their music...

Greatest in a more musicological terms:

* Bach/Beethoven/Mozart (no Brahms)

* Chopin (no Rachmoninov)

* Wagner

* Debussy (no Ravel ,although I totally love him, he ended up as a neoclassic composer)

* Schoenberg/Berg/Webern

but list can't stop at 5:

* Mahler

* Stravinsky

* Bartok (the first ethnic composer more or less, much more than the Russian 5, which were Russian, not ethnic)

* Stockhausen

* Xenakis

and probably many more I've not though of at the moment...

People you can say, they invented a "school" of composing, a "school" of thought.

People you put reference "this sounds like the x composer", where x usually is not Mendelsohn as himself sound like the x composer...

Enough rumbling though....

Before I begin my posting... JohnGalt, I do not "get" Prokofiev, and probably never will, so I'm very biased against him subjectively. Objectively, he did create new sounds in music and opened up another whole "realm" of it, but I just don't "get" or "like" his music, whichever word is preffered there.

Now, Saulsmusic, Mendelssohn was a great composer (that's why we all remember his name more than we remember Locatelli's or Broschi's- they are considered "mediocre" now). Mendelssohn had a knack for inventing melodies, but that was never equalled to Bach, Handel, or Mozart's ability to just take a melody and run with it. His first piano concerto and violin concerto are both amazing works, but that's all of his ouevre that I can remember off the top of my head. To say he is a bad composer would be to be ignorant, but to call him a genius would also be a subjective term.

In my top 5 list, I have like 4 baroque composers, and 1 classical, so I'm very biased... I've actually grown to like some romantic, though not as much as baroque and classical

1. Handel (no, not to be confused with "I'm a Messiah fanatic")

2. Bach

3. Vivaldi

4. Haydn

5. Corelli

JohnGalt's favourites come very close to mine. Although Tsjaikovsky doesn't fit in there for me.

Honorable mention: Bartok, Ravel and especially Barber.

About the Mendelssohn thing. I listened to his violin concerto and that is one of my favourites all time. Haven't heard any piano concerti of him though. Maybe I should.

which just basically repeats what I originally wrote in my post! :toothygrin:

Yes I've heard plenty of mendelsohn.

I don't think he's that great a composer.

I think there are many more interesting composers from his time period.

I cant believe that I'm actually reading this. I'm amazed.

If you say that Mendelssohn is not a great composer then no wonder you dont connect to my Chanukah work. I promise you, that I cant believe that you dont consider Mendy as a great composer. WOW!

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

The five greatest composers are

Bach

Mozart

Beethoven

& two of your own favourites.

M

Oxford University Press: Mendelssohn: R. Larry Todd

You guys must read this great book.

Felix Mendelssohn

Review/Music; Is Mendelssohn a Heavyweight? Festival Puts Him on the Scales - New York Times

There was not even a decisive case made for Fanny, though an entire session of a symposium was devoted to her, with papers by the author Nancy Reich, Suzanne Summerville from the University of Alaska and Camilla Cai from Kenyon College, with the composer Joan Tower as moderator. Fanny received the same thorough musical education as Felix and was an accomplished composer. But out of 500 of her completed works, only a couple of dozen have ever been available; of 130 piano compositions, only 19 were ever published.

The symposium offered much critical discussion of the bourgeois view of women and how it may have prevented Fanny from pursuing her calling. But, surprisingly, there was no serious critical evaluation of her musical achievement or her importance; the evidence provided by recorded excerpts was not encouraging. Next week's premiere of one of her large piano works, "Das Jahr," may alter that picture.

But even if received opinion was not deposed, the intelligent framing of the concerts gave even the most modest of works a pointedness and place. In Sunday afternoon's concert, "Mendelssohn and the Romantics," Todd Crow offered sensuously detailed performances of Liszt's piano transcriptions of nine of Mendelssohn's songs. And while Edmund Battersby's playing of an 1830's Erard piano in a program devoted to "Mendelssohn on the Instruments of His Time" on Saturday afternoon was a bit brittle, the result when he was joined by the violinist Claudia Erdberg Warburg and the cellist Julia Lichten was a suitably irrepressible performance of the Opus 49 piano trio.

There was also Ursula Oppens playing Chopin and a lecture on Mendelssohn's unfinished works. But next weekend's events offer more important opportunities to reappraise the composer, including a program of Goethe song settings, a musical exploration of the 19th-century Bach revival and Mr. Botstein conducting rare performances of the "Lobgesang" (Op. 52) and "Die Erste Walpurgishnacht" (Op. 60). In the meantime, there is time to read a finely composed festival book, "Mendelssohn and His World," edited by Mr. Todd, presenting arguments by participating scholars, excerpts from memoirs, and 19th-century critical evaluations.

Mr. Botstein's case for Mendelssohn has yet to be fully made. But his ambition to create a festival that is a "curated exhibition" seems fulfilled. Since he will also be the music director of the American Symphony Orchestra after this season, there is reason to hope that historically informed conceptual programming may become an increasing part of New York musical life as well.

regardless of the article you cite, it is far from being a universally accepted opinion.

And as I said, it remains nothing more than an opinion.

I enjoy many of Mendelsohn's works. I've performed the first piano trio repeatedly in concert, along with his Variations S

Five greatest composers?

1. Bach

2. Beethoven

3. Mozart

4. Brahms

5. Handel

Five favorite composers?

1. Shostakovich

2. Rachmaninov

3. Prokofiev

4. Beethoven

5. Tie: Saint-Saens/Tchaikovsky

Saulsmusic: One simple idea perhaps.

you get almost all members mentioning that Mendeloshon is not a great composer, but probably more to your obsessive liking (which is fine by me and everybody). Maybe you should, even look at this idea, instead of trying to find ways to support your opinion? I mean that's more than one person mentioning to you something about Mendelshon...