Mine is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who isn’t on the list. I love the Russian Easter Overture.
Second is probably Beethoven (my other favorite classical piece is the Moonlight Sonata).
I was assuming you were referring to Richard until I got to “walzes and polkas”.
I like it, thanks.
I almost didn’t, but then I remembered his second string quartet and had to include him, especially since I had already kicked out Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Add Fauré’s and Franck’s and we have the same list.
For some reason, I find more masterpieces among piano quintets than among piano trios or quartets, although there are fewer of them.
Women composers have been neglected for centuries. They’re slowly being rediscovered and their music gets played and recorded more often. That’s why I thought it was important to include three whose music I am familiar with : Clara Schumann, Sofia Gubaïdulina and Unsuk Chin.
I also considered adding Fanny Mendelssohn, Alma Mahler, Lili Boulanger and Kaija Saariaho, but didn’t because I haven’t heard their work, or did so long ago that I don’t really remember it in the case of the last two.
I considered adding him, as well as Holst, Britten, Ives and Ginastera who have also been mentioned. But again, 50 spots is really too few to cover almost 1,000 years of music.
The most glaring omissions are Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss but I don’t care much for their music and I wanted to have a few recent composers too, including some who are still active.
On a personal note, I really regret not having Pascal Dusapin in the poll. Hard choices…
Perhaps I should do a more granular series of polls (Medieval-Renaissance, Early Baroque, Late Baroque) then an have ultimate showdown, like @Mean_Mr.Mustard did a few months ago for pop-rock songs.
What do you think ?
Bartók is the one for me. Learning to play all the way to the end of Mikrokosmos was life-changing.
I can’t disagree with the top three (Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart), but I’m surprised three of the next four (Handel, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi) aren’t ranked higher.
Handel would be at the very top of my list.
So which one didn’t you vote for ?!
I took favourite to mean a combination of :-
- Which ones wrote most pieces i like.
- Which ones wrote my favourite pieces.
Is Richard’s music really as well known as Johann’s? Surely most people could hum the opening bars of “The Blue Danube”, or would at least recognize it if it were played for them. That piece seems to crop up everywhere, including even baby toys. I bet Richard’s best-known melody is probably the Sunrise from “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, but I doubt it’s permeated into the popular conscious to the same degree. I think it’s known primarily from its use in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the many parodies and homages it spawned.
I assumed the reference was to Richard, not Johann (elder or younger), but clearly it wasn’t. I guess I’d agree that Johann the Younger’s music is the best known to the general public; but Richard did compose a lot more than “Zarathustra”. Many of his other tone poems (“A Hero’s Life”, “Don Juan”, “Till Eulenspiegel” etc) are also commonly performed; and his operas “Salome” and “Der Rosenkavalier” are staples as well.
On a different note, this thread and poll has made it clear to me how hard it must have been to limit the list to 50… I didn’t even notice Mahler’s absence!
I didn’t know we were limited to 1, so I voted for 4-5. Right now we’re really enjoying playing Handel’s Water Music and the Brandenburg concertos. This fall our orchestra is playing Beethoven’s 7th - what a BEAST!
You can vote for up to 20 … it’s just that you said you picked 4, then listed
5 which you said were pretty tough to beat !
Ditto. So I would add Johann Strauß II under the first heading, and Johann Strauß i (the Radetzky March) and Mikhail Glinka (the overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila) under the second.
I became interested in classical music when I saw 2001.
It is rumored that someone told Richard Strauss that Ein Neldenleben was “The most beautiful thing I ever heard” and Strauss replied, “I know.”
Conspicuous by their absence:
John Field
Enrique Granados
Isaac Albeniz.
For me, it’s The Bee all the way. The slow movement of the Hamerklavier sonata is probably my favorite piece of music. (Not including Visions of Johanna).
No Gioachino Rossini? Harrumph, I say! Harrumph!
So I chose Verdi.
Wait, we were only supposed to choose one? I chose a top ten, but Stravinsky’s my favorite of those mentioned.
Just the one…?! I’m open to so many (well, not so keen on Wagner, Liszt, Bruckner and Percy Granger). I respond particularly to what I feel as a common thread I can’t quite define (wistfulness?) from Schubert to Brahms to Sibelius, and just now it’s Sibelius 5th Symphony, but it might be something completely different next month.
It’s the kind of poll that allows multiple selections.
Ah well…