Greatest Composer of all time?

[Ned]

Monkspider, Have you ever heard of Gustav Malher or Puccini? Mahler's symphonies are simply awesome. Puccini's operas are the most popular and performed operas worldwide.

I simply don't get your list.

[monkspider]

Bach's Toccata in Fugue or Brandenburg Concerto 3 are good for the casual ear.
Mozart's Alla Turca
Mozart's Eine Kleine nachtmusik
Pachelbel's Cannon in D
Vivaldi's Four seasons
Beethoven's Emperor piano concerto
Ravel's Bolero
Brahms' Hungarian Dance 5

Those should be a good introduction. I'll let Boris chime in with his own picks.

[monkspider]

Ned- I've heard of both of them, yes.

I just don't get your president list.

[Jon Miller]

I have a special place inmy heart for Tchaikovsky's June

Jon Miller

[devilmunchkin]

i love orff!

[Seneca]

I'll chime in with some (slightly) less well-known, but equally accessible stuff:

Haydn's 44th Symphony (Trauer)
Beethoven's 7th/4th
Any of Dvorak's or Tchaikovsky's symphonies - only some are famous, but all are good
Britten - Hymn to St. Cecilia
John Tavener - The Protecting Veil
Vaughan Williams - Pastoral Symphony
Shostakovich - Leningrad Symphony/5th symphony/10th symphony, oh dammit, all of them...

And, whilst I'm uncertain that they'd make a great introduction to classical music, the late Beethoven quartets and piano sonatas really are the be-all and end-all of music. They truly have never been bettered. And Snapcase can stick that up his arse.

[monkspider]

You rock DM.

[Drake Tungsten]

the late Beethoven quartets and piano sonatas really are the be-all and end-all of music. They truly have never been bettered.

You sir are a genius.

[Seneca]

Oh, I think not, but I know one when I see one.

[Jon Miller]

here is a good site

http://www.classicalarchives.com/tchai.html

Jon Miller

[Jon Miller]

although I have heard better performances

Jon Miller

[Seneca]

You've just gotta roll with it, say what you say, don't let anybody get in your way...

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Ned
Puccini's operas are the most popular and performed operas worldwide.

Not to nitpick, but the most popular opera in the world is indisputably Bizet's Carmen

Second place is a constant tussle between Puccini's La Boheme and Verdi's La traviata.

Orff--well, he's a one-hit wonder. I actually just got back from seeing Carmina Burana at Grace Church here in NY. It was the version for two pianos. Without the orchestrations, a lot of the weaknesses of the pieces are laid bare. Too much repetition for my tastes. It's still a great work, and the opening and closing are justly famous, but some of those middle bits are .

And monkie...for the second time, it's Canon in D. Not Cannon. BOOM!!!!

AND NO BOLERO. Dammit, it sucks. Ravel had FAR better pieces than that. He hated it himself (never intended it to be performed).

Here's the ordering of Beethoven Symphonies I would suggest:

5 (it's the most perfect of them all)
7
3
4
6
9
8
2
1

His late string quartets are indeed fantastic, stunning pieces...but they have been bettered. Shostakovich's no. 8 in c minor is an example, and Brahms can't be beat in terms of romantic era chamber music.

I want to like Shostakovich's 5th, but the last movement is so off-putting that I can't. It's watching a great movie only to have the ending blow chunks and ruin it for you.

Dvorak's symphonies are great, but I don't recommend Tchaikovsky's, except the 6th perhaps. They really aren't symphonies, anyway. They are a vaguely sonata-formish opening with 3 unrelated bits of music slapped on afterwards.

Caesar, there was a thread a while back (I think monkie started that one too) in which people listed classical recommendations.

[Seneca]

"6th perhaps", my arse. Try the 4th for an archetypal and stunning Tchaik symphony.

Beethoven's 9th is such an integral part of my entire life I can't possibly be objective about it. But it is quite good, you know, and beware those who dismiss the final movement - they might be snobs, who want a malenky tolchok about the gulliver, yes they do, oh my brothers.

[monkspider]

Tchaikovsky's 6th is good. Symphony 5 isn't bad either. Symphonies weren't his his strong suit admittedly. Probably my absolute favorite of his works is his first Piano concerto. I have a soft spot for Piano pieces, and that particular one is one of my all-time favorites. Of course, 1812, Swan Lake, and so forth are good too.

Sorry about Cannon Bori.