Go at it, boys and girls...
ping
Stravinsky and Bartok, and no Handel? Pathetic list. Vivaldi, C.P.E. Bach and Hayden are all better than Bartok.
JOHN WILLIAMS!
Bah BAH Bahdebah BAH bah Bahdebah BAH bah bahdehbah bummmm.
HHOK.
Beethoven.
Sergei Rachmaniov is one of my favorites.
Regardless of how anyone builds out their own personal list from 4 onwards, clearly, the gold, silver and bronze must always go to Bach, Bethoven, and Mozart. About those 3 (in whatever order) there can really be no debate.
After that, I think it’s fair game.
Chopin is a giant. As is Mahler. As is Liszt.
As for Bartok, I’m not sure he is even the greatest Hungarian composer (see Liszt...), let alone the #10 of all time.
But that’s the beauty of this sort of exercise. And I think the livelier our opinions, the better it is for everyone! (I think this author has done his due dili, for sure).
By the way...has anyone read much of Alex Ross? I really enjoy (am doing so at the moment) his The Rest is Noise. Brilliant writer.
Tchaikovsky... He’s gotta be on that list.
ahhhhhh .... Bachhhh .....
No argument about the top three.
From there, it’s a little dicey. Gotta have Haydn and Handel in there.
Knock off Stravinsky and Bartok and replace them with Haydn and Handel and they may have something.
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven are my top three. Brahms belongs near the top. Chopin also should be on the list.
Stravinsky was a nutjob who did much to kill classical music.
I like Bartok, but I’m not sure he belongs in the top ten. Same with Debussy. Some nice stuff, but pretty wussy.
I’d certainly stick Vivaldi in there, and a few other earlier composers, while axing Stravinsky.
I’d put Tchaikovsky third and Chopin fourth.
But the “Unfinished” and especially the Ninth Symphony are astonishing. The Ninth paves the way for Bruckner and prefigures Mahler.”
Something about Ludwig van looking down from on high, makes it, er, difficult for any of these fellas (Schubert, Mahler, Bruckner) to make it beyond Nine, and complete a Tenth Symphony.
Bach’s music is academic. It can be quite revealing if you are taking it apart note by note and using it for study.. but not much else in terms of listening enjoyment. Just my opinion. But as a composer, Mozart has no equal. There’s Mozart, and there’s everybody else.
No Handel???
I am just relieved the VERDI is on the list. I am surprised Tchaikovsky is not. He did it all. Opera, ballet, orchestra, piano. His Nutcracker is some of the greatest music ever written. Too sentimental, I guess.
I’d toss Wagner off the list and put Mahler on. Toss Stravinsky and Bartok off and replace with Handel and Haydn.
Like comparing apples, oranges, star fruit, pineapple, and prunes ugh.. plums.. and maybe raisins or grapes..
No Prokofiev or Dvorak or Janacek?