New Classical Fan, Who are some great composers?

[SteveO]

and also Benjamin Britten!

[Ricky]

Concerti for piano and orchestra:

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 20
Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1
Grieg's Piano Concerto
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1
Dvorak's Piano Concerto

Symphonies:

Mozart's Symphony No. 39
Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue

Piano Works:

Chopin's Waltzes, all
Chopin's Polonaises, all
Chopin's Nocturne
Scryabin's Etude No. 12
Rachmaninoff's Prelude No. 5

After that, try switching to opera. Don't tackle Wagner right away. Start with Verdi's Rigoletto. Then you've got Verdi's Aida; Bizet's Carmen; Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; PUccini's La Boheme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly. If and when you do get to Wagner, start with the Flying Dutchman; progress to Lohengrin; and then to Die Walkure.

[johnsandy]

[h=1]The Great Composers[/h]
Everybody has their own favourite composers. So everybody has a different idea about who is great. However I think almost every list of the great composers of classical music would include the following three names:

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750).
  
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791).
  
• Ludvig van Beethoven (1770–1827).
  

After that the list becomes a bit more tricky. If I were asked to chose just one more name to add to the list it would be

• Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
  

[angelturpov]

Heeyy i am classical musician, and i play the cello since i was four years old. I do compose classical music for five yeas now of my own... and do arrange it for a string orchestra. Personally one of my favourite composers i'd say is Paganini, i also do like Bach. I am going to post two links for you to hear two of my things... i hope you like it... you tell me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y0URVSyngQ


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu9PuglivQw

[Semitone]

You said that you find classical music relaxing but let me assure that there is so much more to classical music than that. For an electrifying time try:

Pilgrim's chorus-by Wagner
Symphony No.2-Mahler
Scheherazade-Rimsky Korsakov
Symphony No.3 (finale)-Saint Saens
Slavonic Dance No.1-Dvorak

[Semitone]

Ah! That is the very worst top 3 you could have given. Those guys seem to be the only composers people can name except maybe Tchaikovsky. Their not that great either. Not bad but not great. Just too mainstream. If I had my way those composers would be boycotted in favour of the neglected greats like Bartok and Janacek.

[jazzboCR]

If you want a mook like me to really get your message, please amend or append a specific performance. You are looking to sell your choice to (in my case) a naive audience--take that extra 10 minutes to link to a perf of a piece you really like (or just a composer's piece you admire). This post is gonna be here awhile so--take the time/to make it fine. Not a harangue, just a request.

[SteveO]

That's the problem when one is compiling a best or great list! Music is subjective, to each his own. It depends entirely on what you have been exposed to! I personally don't go by these lists...I use them as a guideline..

Ah! That is the very worst top 3 you could have given. Those guys seem to be the only composers people can name except maybe Tchaikovsky. Their not that great either. Not bad but not great. Just too mainstream. If I had my way those composers would be boycotted in favour of the neglected greats like Bartok and Janacek.

[Teo]

That's the problem when one is compiling a best or great list! Music is subjective, to each his own. It depends entirely on what you have been exposed to! I personally don't go by these lists...I use them as a guideline..

I agree 300%!

Also, what exactly is "Classical?" here is text by Cyril Scott (I can't put the link to his free book "The Philosophy of Modernism"):
The truth is, classicalism is based, at any rate in music, upon a gigantic misconception the misconception that any great genius was ever classical in his day. No composer of the first rank has ever adhered to traditions ; he has always overstepped them, and hence every masterpiece is the result of romanticism. Indeed, what pedants call classicalism is nothing but that transformation apparently brought about when the dust of years settles on what was once a romantic masterpiece. In fine, it is in one sense a myth and a superstition.I compose and say it is classical. Technically there is Baroque=1685-1750 Classical=1750-1820 Romantic=1820-1900 or so.. But I think some of John Williams' music is classical. I can't put a link to my songs that I think are classical but the point is what is classical really?

Like you said though, just use things as guidelines. And a given musician may have great songs and lousy ones too!

-Teo

[Teo]

Oh I'll risk it. This is in a Chopin type of Waltz timing:

V110309-000VincentDr..>

Is it classical?