favorite classical composer, why, and favorite piece by them?

[Pica Pica]

I don't like some guy plonking on a piano.

I'll have you know I am not "some guy." Hmmph.

I am "some chick."

It's the plonking that riles.

[Fer]

Difficult question . There were so many talented composers in the classical world, but for me there is only one truly Great one, Beethoven. All his pieces are full of courage, despair, hope, anger, comfort.  Every piece is as touching as the most heart-pouring letters directly from Beethoven. They move listeners to the very core. Besides the most popular pieces like Fur Elise and Moonlight sonata, the 5 th and 9th symphony. The pieces I love the most got to be the great piano sonata like: Pathetique, Appasionata, Waldstein Hammerclavier and the ground breaking Eroica symphony.

[Yvonne]

 

i don't think this is amusing at all.  didn't you read what i wrote?

who is your favorite classical composer, please no other genres, and why? the composers that i am struggling to pick between are dvorak, prokofiev, and shostakovich. i like dvorak for his melody and folk sound, prokofiev for his orchestration, and shostakovich for his modernity and the intimacy in his quartets which i like much more than his orchestral pieces.  and you?

i'd suggest that you start a thread with your kind of music, do you understand?

What buffles me is your attitude Katia.  A total opposite of what you posted on another topic that I called you on. >

[tinkerbell]

Okay, let's stay on topic please, kitty cats, thank you.

tink

[Jeannette]

Tchaikovsky and his master piece, Marche Slave.  Its sounds are a mixture of real music.  To me, it is a combination of success and failure; it indicates such sincerity and intelligence with modesty and candour with a touch of elegance.  My observation is that Tchaikovsky always projects uniqueness in his pieces, yet his style is so far diverse or different to other composers, yet tantalizing and drawing to others.

[Hypatia]

Quit hatin on my favorite instrument.

[Caroline]

Anton Bruckner's dark brooding symphonies, especially 8 and 9.

Yay Bruckner.  I'm listening to the 7th as I type this.  His music is dark and brooding like you say but ultimately uplifting.  Symphonies 2-9 are all masterpieces; 00, 1 and 0 aren't bad either.  I have recently been introduced to Richard Wetz who sounds a lot like Bruckner, well worth checking out. 

I also love Robert Simpson, particularly his 11 symphonies.  You can hear the influences of Vaughan Williams, Bartók, Bruckner and Nielsen (among others) but he has a very distinctive way of sculpting his music, concentrating a lot on continuous motion and large scale form.  He's sometimes criticised as being academic and unemotional but once you 'get' what he's trying to do it's absolutely captivating.

[katia]

Difficult question . There were so many talented composers in the classical world, but for me there is only one truly Great one, Beethoven. All his pieces are full of courage, despair, hope, anger, comfort.  Every piece is as touching as the most heart-pouring letters directly from Beethoven. They move listeners to the very core. Besides the most popular pieces like Fur Elise and Moonlight sonata, the 5 th and 9th symphony. The pieces I love the most got to be the great piano sonata like: Pathetique, Appasionata, Waldstein Hammerclavier and the ground breaking Eroica symphony.

i like him very much too. personally i think that Beethoven's last sonata no.32 in C minor, is one of the greatest pieces ever composed for the piano, the first movement the allegro is in sonata form with fugal elements, the second movement the adagio is again a variation of progressive rhythmic foreshortening, the arietta is particularly moving and leaves one in wonder at Beethoven's genius.  certainly it is not an unnoticed piece being regarded as the fitting culmination of Beethoven's sonatas.   what do you think about this?

[Pica Pica]

Quit hatin on my favorite instrument.

Depends on whether you plonk it or tickle it like a nineteenth century prostitute...one is good at the other bad.

[space_kat]

who is your favorite classical composer, please no other genres, and why? the composers that i am struggling to pick between are dvorak, prokofiev, and shostakovich. i like dvorak for his melody and folk sound, prokofiev for his orchestration, and shostakovich for his modernity and the intimacy in his quartets which i like much more than his orchestral pieces.  and you?

Funny you should say "no other genres" since most of the composers  you mention would be considered 'romatic' composers of the late 19th, early 20th century.  Not classical in the sense of haydn and mozart.

but then what do I know? I'm a 20th century gal 

Lala

[cindianna_jones]

who is your favorite classical composer, please no other genres, and why? the composers that i am struggling to pick between are dvorak, prokofiev, and shostakovich. i like dvorak for his melody and folk sound, prokofiev for his orchestration, and shostakovich for his modernity and the intimacy in his quartets which i like much more than his orchestral pieces.  and you?

Funny you should say "no other genres" since most of the composers  you mention would be considered 'romatic' composers of the late 19th, early 20th century.  Not classical in the sense of haydn and mozart.

but then what do I know? I'm a 20th century gal 

Lala

Boom da boom boom boom!

yea... anything older than we are and still lingers must be classical right?    Indeed there are a wonderful collection of genres, periods, styles, and everything else that we pile into the "classical" bin.  And here, we have at least twenty different names for rock.  I tell ya... we as a society don't keep in touch with the arts.  It is not healthy.  It's through the arts that we engage the human spirit.  We free our thinking.  It's sort of more important that football in my way of thinking.

Cindi

It's nice to see you drop in Space kitty.  We've missed you sorely.

[Victoria L.]

Hm... It's a hard one. I love both Vivaldi and Handel.

Obviously I love Baroque.

Handel's Water Music, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons are both amazing... Of course there are so many other pieces I love, but I have a hard time choosing between the two composers.

[katia]

who is your favorite classical composer, please no other genres, and why? the composers that i am struggling to pick between are dvorak, prokofiev, and shostakovich. i like dvorak for his melody and folk sound, prokofiev for his orchestration, and shostakovich for his modernity and the intimacy in his quartets which i like much more than his orchestral pieces.  and you?

Funny you should say "no other genres" since most of the composers  you mention would be considered 'romatic' composers of the late 19th, early 20th century.  Not classical in the sense of haydn and mozart.

but then what do I know? I'm a 20th century gal 

Lala

i've missed you. 

[Tay]

I'm going to answer this as though you are asking for people who write in the "Classical" style.

My all time favourite composer is André Segovia, who composed for guitar.  My favourite of all his pieces is Estudio Sin Luz because it was what inspired me to become a classical guitarist.  Sadly, due to a birth defect, I can no longer play, but that piece of music, with its melancholy and hope, lives in my heart and plays as my soulsong.

[The Middle Way]

Frank Zappa, American Composer, 1940-1993.

because it's great music.

Theme from Sinister Footwear, parts II & III.

tmw

[tinkerbell]

Lala

   

La unica Tink

[The Middle Way]

...so many genres of music into the classical bin!  Typically it is instrumental music older than 40 years or so and not showing its way to the pop charts. 

well, then, ich <bin> das: L Shankar, Aberi Raga [ragam, tanam & pallavi]. It's in 6 3/4 time (which is a little bit like 3_cubed).

tMw

[Butterfly]

Cheng, you should listen to the Francescatti version of the Vitali. Its with orchestra and, imho, blows aways all the rest.

[The Middle Way]

Quit hatin on my favorite instrument.

Depends on whether you plonk it or tickle it like a nineteenth century prostitute...one is good at the other bad.

Now THAT is funny. Debussy was a bit of a whore.

Speaking of smoking frogs, I like Edgard Varèse, Hyperprism.

[Hypatia]

Quit hatin on my favorite instrument.

Depends on whether you plonk it or tickle it like a nineteenth century prostitute...one is good at the other bad.

You should hear my rendition of "Heliotrope Bouquet" - a beautiful, sensuous piece that was composed in a New Orleans whorehouse (only a few years after the 19th century ended).