Classical ping...your thought?
/johnny
Paganini...for nothing more than the Caprices.
An interesting topic. I have a different slant as I think so many were extraordinary.
What I really find facinating is that their type of intelligence doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Where is today’s Beethoven? These guys wrote celebrated compositions in DAYS from pen to performance and were unbelieveably prolific in their output (Bach, Beethoven, Telemann, Handel, Donizetti, Mozart). Today is is an endeavor that takes months or years to come out with 1 composition considered noteworthy.
Seems like we are, at best, becoming more distracted or, at worst, losing brainpower or inspiration.
Holtz - The Planets
Not a single Baroque composer in the mix? No operatic composers? There are probably a couple in there now. This must be classical in the classical sense. Rogers and Hammerstein were pretty good too. I guess I just couldn’t say whose best, if you are listening, best might just be what you are listening to at the time.
Films: John Williams, but many more great ones!
For me also Wagner and Mahler. Love Beethoven’s chamber music but not his Symphonies (sorry).
Brahms, Faure, Mendelssohn, Frank are also in my favorites.
Berlioz , Orff
Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains)
Bach first. What can compare to his Mass in B Minor?
In my opinion, Mozart is the greatest. Others that I like are Dmitri Rakhmaninov, Modest Mussorgskii, Pyotr Chaikovskii, Charles Gounod, and Gioacchino Rossini.
The masters with their undisputed masterpieces in parentheses:
Bach (St Matthew Passion, Mass in B minor)
Mozart (late symphonies, Great Mass, Don Giovanni)
Beethoven (Sym 9)
Haydn (Creation)
Schubert (Sym 8)
Bruckner (Sym 9, Te Deum)
Mahler (Sym 2)
Brahms (Sym 4)
Chopin (piano sonatas, nocturnes)
Wagner (Ring)
More heavy hitters: Rossini, Verdi, R.Strauss (could continue on)
I’d put Mozart at the top, and find a spot for Tchaikovsky and Debussy, because there is a place for the tunesmith.
Bach, Mahler, Stravinsky, Haydn, Mozart, then whatever...
J.S. Bach (genius on all fronts)
Beethoven (introduced spectacle to music)
Haydn (nice)
Chopin (thoughtful)
Tchaikovsky (melodramatic, but catchy)
Bernard Hermann (music/film unity)
Lennon/McCartney (changed modern culture - for better or worse - lots of classical references)
Hank Williams (the Shakespeare of country music - classics in their own way)
Handel - (Alleluia!)
Number 10 - The hundreds of unknown writers of folk songs from many countries. They gave music to all.
Never liked Mozart or Vivaldi. Sorry.
After Mozart there are quite a few greats. In no particular order: Beethoven, Bach, Verdi, Wagner, Rossini, Haydn, Chopin, Tchaikovsky ...
ML/NJ
Like comparing apples and oranges.. and maybe blackberries..