Your Top 10 Classical Composers

TheSound

An Englishman in New York
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Posts
2,726
Reaction score
2
Location
Manhattan, New York City, USA
Looking forward to hearing your selections LG, and Funky I see has bravely nominated Alban Berg, whose music is I feel actually quite enticing for all its atonality. And Kuaizi, that Reiner/Chicago recording is still available, happily, so I really will investigate if you obviously recommend it so highly. That’s a barnstorming selection of works by your own Top 10, I probably should have made it Top 20 as I was compelled to omit such great geniuses as Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Sibelius. That performance of the Tchaikovsky 6th by Karajan is so vivid and beautifully recorded, DG and the Berlin Phil in those days were in a class of their own, like you said, I wouldn’t want to argue against the Berlin Phil still being the benchmark for orchestral excellence, I think Simon Rattle has really given them such a new lease of life. I had no idea that Bernstein had ever recorded with the Chicago PO, so that is definitely something of a rarity, and as you say, judging from that 3 minutes or so, sparks are really flying there. If I was pushed, I would probably make Shostakovich my #1 composer of the Top 10 that I mentioned, there is so much of the man himself in his music. It is his whole being laid bare on every page of music, you can also hear it in the string quartets as well and the astonishing symphonies, you just get such a sense of all his trials and tribulations, to say nothing of the extraordinary times he lived in under Stalin right throughout that whole totalitarian era and World War II, and yet with all the great drama and power and even bleakness in some of his music, there is an abundance of wit and frivolity and optimism in others of his works, for me he was the complete composer, probably the one I would chose above all others.

By the way there is a simply stunning new award-winning series of the complete Shostakovich symphonies currently underway by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under their amazing young maestro Vasily Petrenko on the budget priced Naxos label, the reviews have been uniformly ecstatic, some of them comparing them to the greatest ever recordings of Shostakovich, and I really can’t recommend it high enough! So far they have recorded symphonies 10, 11, 8, 5, 9, 1 and 3, with the rest to follow between now and 2013, also their recording of the Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony was voted winner in the best orchestral disc category at the Gramophone awards. Petrenko has also just recently been confirmed as the next principal conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic from 2013, so he will then hold two major conducting positions with leading European orchestras.

And I can’t actually think of a more life-enhancing and inspiring group of young musicians anywhere than the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Venezuela, who I linked to earlier, check out these two encores from a concert they gave at the Royal Albert Hall during the BBC Proms a couple of years ago, nothing much happens until about 3 minutes in, when they all don their national colors of Venezuela!! And then all hell breaks loose, you just have to hear and see what they do with Bernstein’s “Mambo” from about 7min 15 into the clip….ya think these kids got rhythm?!!!

 

LG

Fade To Black
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Posts
36,862
Reaction score
71
I almost forgot it's great to see Ottorino Reshighi on your list TS...I don't have many of his works but I love his "Pines of Rome", the Telarc recording with the pipe organ helping the legions march down the Appian way is breathtaking.:mn:
 

TheSound

An Englishman in New York
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Posts
2,726
Reaction score
2
Location
Manhattan, New York City, USA
I almost forgot it's great to see Ottorino Reshighi on your list TS...I don't have many of his works but I love his "Pines of Rome", the Telarc recording with the pipe organ helping the legions march down the Appian way is breathtaking.:mn:

Do you mean this one LG

51bHYonQyhL._SS400_.jpg

If so, I see I can download it for £5.00 from Amazon, I think I have 3 recordings of the Respighi Roman Pines/Fountains - Dutoit Montreal (which I don't like especially) Marriner ASMF (which I do) and best of all Ozawa Boston, now I have 2 more to consider (yours and Kuaizi's)...joining this forum could start to get quite expensive!
 

METALPRIEST

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2009
Posts
33,605
Reaction score
67
Location
U.S.A.
Vivladi (Baroque)
Beethoven
Grieg
Bach (Baroque)
Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninoff
Brahms
Mozart
Wagner (The King Of Metal) :D
Strauss
 

LG

Fade To Black
Joined
Apr 20, 2009
Posts
36,862
Reaction score
71
^^Surprisingly Yngwie and a couple of other master shredders have done some "classical' Compositions Lynch...and if he's your only pick then that is fine with me.:D

TS I'll have my list up tomorrow...sometimes I forget about these little details so thanks for reminding me.
 

Find member

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
30,655
Posts
1,064,723
Members
6,354
Latest member
edmerka

Staff online

Members online

Top