Who is your favorite composer (of any time period)? Write a little about him, or include a link. Also, a link to where I could download for free would be very, very helpful!
I'm looking to expand my CD collection, particularly on the Classical music side of it. So, any advice is welcome.

My fav classical composer would have to be vivaldi. :D

Nico:
My fav classical composer would have to be vivaldi
.........becaues he wrote those catchy tunes the generic idiot could easily remember.

I used to have so many favorites unitl the abominations of hearing them on cell phones.

"Fur Elise" was the moonlit grace of the piano until I heard it digitalzed and cut short by a prole getting holla'd at on his cell phone.

Strauss was the might of empires until I heard Zarathrusta whining from some fatty's purse in a WalMart.

Commercialism has made nightmares for me and bit by bit the world's greatest composers- Mozart, Grieg, Rossini, Bach- all down a computerized toilet each and every fucking time you pukes reach out and touch somebody.
I hate cell phones.

So I won't tell you who my favorites are. From now on I listen to all the unsung heros who'll never (I pray) have their art stuffed into some idiot's back pocket.

have you ever tried these Czechs:

The two quite well known:
Leos Janacek (Glagolitic Mass is essential)
Bohuslav Martinu

and some baroque masters:

Frantisek Xaver Brixi
Jiri Ignac Linek
Jan Vaclav Stamic
Jan Dismas Zelenka

except perhaps Chopin.

Schubert, by far.

Well...yes...:p :( Albeit I like Beethoven’s 9th and Strauss’s "Also Sprach Zarathustra!”:D SO UBERMENSCH!

Also bin ich Übermensch!

1. Beethoven
2. Orff
3. Wagner
4. Stravinsky
5. Strauss

Ah! I love Stravinsky too! I adore "The Fire Bird!" Whats your favorite by him?

Rachmaninov and Liszt. :)

I like Stravinksy too, firebird's pretty rad, and The Rite of Spring of course Starface is also highly madimised. Dood, It really depends on what you're in to. I like menacing discordal tone clusters and crushing sound walls built out of hundreds of microtones (György ligeti (is that how you spell his name in english) is pretty nice for that kinda thing, check out his sonata for solo cello and atmospherés ). I don't acctually like much classical or baroque to tell you the truth. I just find the harmony usually a bit boring. I like a few seperate works (sorry purists, I know it's still great music and I can apreciate it but it doesn't deal with the same emotional range and complexity as music from Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Schönberg, Messien, Bartók. Romantics, expressionists too. They wrote some great stuff. Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Debussy... )

I also like minimalism - Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman Nigel westlake, Phillip Glass, Michael Nyman

Sorry shit joke, I do really like minimalsm though. speed for orchestra from nyman's a good one. Someone mentioned czech composers but left out dvorak, His cello concerto is wonderful.
Ok Ich weiss, ich bin ein Klugscheisser. Ich hör jetz auf.

Glass is great but somewhat overrated. He repeats himself very much. Also - Einstein of the Beach is practically unlistenable, while Akhnaten and Satyagraha are almost indistinguishable (but I love those two). But my favorite are Itaipu, Mishima, Koyanisqatsi and Hydrogen Jukebox

I enjoy Rite of Spring the most.
As for modern composers:
1. Lord Wind
2. John Frizzel
3. James Horner.
As you can see, classical has gone down hill pretty fast in the wake of liberalism, consumerism, and the fostering of inferior human beings.

Rites of the Valkyries was fucking amazing.

Don't like much modern stuff myself. Mahler is a guilty pleasure when I want to be sentimental, as is Wagner. Bach and Telemann are grand, Beethovan is sublime.

Besides Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Dvorzak - bah, modern is crap mostly. Strauss does not especially appeal to me, I see nothing of Nietzsche in his Zarathustra. Bit too bombastic to be Nietzsche.

"Also bin ich Übermensch!"

Was sagt du? :rolleyes:

Who In your opnion writes the most depressing(Haunting) songs?

Moonlight Sonata is pretty depressing, anything else?

I don't know any modern Western composer, so I can't say. Mozart is great, IMO, he's my fave among old time composers.

I thought John Frizzel's "Alien: Resurrection" soundtrack was pretty haunting (even though the movie blew).

'Les Feuilles Mort' ~ The Dead Leaves by Debussy. That's somewhat depressing...or solemn. Depending on how you interpret it.

depressing? I can think of music that I think really represents depression, but in my opinion one who is truly depressed finds it hard to allow oneself to acknowledge that depression. You either fight it or you don't and most composers compose because they have a reason to live, that reason being self-expression. Composing for me is the combat of negative emotions though the logical climb to positive Tonal, rhythmic and textural resolutions. That is constructive composition anyway, destructive compostion can only truly exist through decentralisation (a similar concept to that dealt with by John cage (symphony of changes)) because the destruction of ones creative self would be suicidal for a composer.

Sorry bout that got carried away a bit I would say that in the generic definition of depression something like shostakovich would nail it on the head (the 9th symphony is pretty painful, although he always provides a resolution.)
or opus 8, for piano trio. He wrote that when he was 17. Saw it last night being played by the jess trio from vienna, fuck, it is rather impressive. A passionate embrace of love, Agression, depression, tension.

Top Stuff

yeah alien resurrection was a bit of a let down eh, the 3rd one was worse, who ever gave that the go-ahead?

But the music was MAD. Check out the soundtrack to Aliens. James horner, my favorite. The soundtrack to the first by Goldsmith is also rad; tonic, tritone, seventh. then those bouncing fifths afterwards and those little percussive tone clusters with the delay unit.

The score is really regognisable on it's own and is manifestation of that depression thatruns through the film. It just keeps bringing us back to the idea, and the use use of silence is brilliant

Wer ist übermensch? ich verstehe den ganzen witz nicht. :confused:

I can't think of an absolute favourite, some create pieces I like and pieces I do not care for.

Ones I do like:

Orff - Carmina Burana - I love that piece, got a good techno version of it, too.

Beethoven - Ode to Joy! That piece is so spiritual. I agree Gendanken, I hate the commercialization of such beautiful works. Most people think "Hey sounds cool", but do not know what it is.

Tchaikovsky - I love the Nutcracker, music and the ballet. 1812 Overture is so grand.

Aaron Copeland - Fanfare for the common man, Applachian Spring, I like Rodeo!

Mendelsohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream

Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition, Hut of Baba Yaga

Mozart - Die Fledermaus, I hate the commercialization of it, but Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Handel - The Messiah is the most incredible work of art!

Bach - The Brandenburg Concertos, too popularized, but great

The Trans-Siberian Orchestra has done a rock opera called "Beethoven's Last Night" Pretty cool!.

I don't remember the composer, but the entire soundtrack of "Les Miserables"

Loreena McKennitt - Ok, not a composer in the sense of the others, but I love her haunting music and storytelling.
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Chopin

but in my opinion one who is truly depressed finds it hard to allow oneself to acknowledge that depression. You either fight it or you don't and most composers compose because they have a reason to live

Not always, you have to take into account what the Greeks said about purgatory for the emotional soul. Thus the invention of the tragedy, the work of art that emphasis what you already feel. Almost all cultures had their own verison of the tragedy.

Hans Zimmer or Tervor Rabin, (although i am not sure if he is an composer)

Fluh
Chopin
Sounds like Chopsticks. Consider his Minute Waltz or the other one where he's studying "black keys" - goes on for fucking ever. Thumbs down for Chopin.

Benedict:

Someone mentioned czech composers but left out dvorak, His cello concerto is wonderful.
But his Adagio is brilliantly more wonderful. You feel him on the skin.

Truth:
I hate the commercialization of it, but Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

I know.


"Mendelsohn - A Midsummer Night's Dream" that and his Italian Symphony (3rd?) movement. Sweeping. Wagner is also a guilty pleasure. Hitler has alot to do with that.

I know that Nietzche actually composed some work, but I've never heard any. (legend has it, that Wagner laughed at Nietzche's piano work, decreasing their friendship even more)

vivaldi and tchaiykovski

There are so many I'm not going to list them. Most of them have already been listed here.

Nobody mentioned the velvety sounds of Haydn and the joy of Paganini! I'm also fond of the famous Russian composers.


Traveler,
What is the point of posting if you say that you will not give a list?! Please mention the things you think others missed!

Ok , a few 4 U...

Berlioz, Elgar, Holst, Leighton, Scarlatti, Shostakovich, Sibelius, I could go on but this will suffice I hope.

I listen to this station where I live, they will soon be having online music...

http://www.classical1360.com/

"Also Sprach Zarathustra" was one of his early works, I believe from the 19th Century. A nice piece of irony that it is now universally known as the theme from a movie about the 21st. Check out the stuff he did toward the end of his life, in the 1940s. "Metamorphosen," "Ein Heldenleben."

If Loreena McKinnett is fair to mention here, then I also recommend Sally Oldfield. (Mike's sister.) Her first album, "Water Bearer" will appeal to those who like McKinnett and it's a lot weightier.

Enjoy!

I've only just got into classical, so just a beginner here. Joe Hisiashi is one of my favorites so far. He did the soundtrack for Princess Monokoe. Also does most the soundtracks for the director Takeshi Kitano. But his other works are brilliant also.

Bach: Clavierubung

Prokofiev's Andantino; Andante assai does this depress anyone, but its so beautiful.

oh and Lento ma non troppo doesn’t the violin seem like the best instrument to express sorrow.