Best Composer ever

[Yagan Kiely]

J.Arcedelt would be my favourite renaissance composer.

[KGill]

(especially Opp. 15 or so to 43- before Stalin crushed him)

Given the involvement of the CIA and McCarthyism, what Stalin did was no different than what the US did.

Point taken, but the US didn't do that to Shostakovich, Stalin/Zhdanov/the hordes of 'musicologists'/miscellaneous hacks like Kabalevsky did that to him. He only experienced McCarthy for a week or so (and at that point it wasn't even McCarthy).

And when I say that Bach was more innovative than Mozart, I mean that he has a much wider variety of expression in his work. Although to tell you the truth, his entire output sounds to me like variations on the same theme.

[Lyle Neff]

I wouldn't say that Bach got [all] his chromaticism from Monteverdi. Common-practice tonality was not yet fully formed in Monteverdi's day. That makes a big difference in how each of them applied chromaticism.

[Yagan Kiely]

I meant how the CIA heavily promoted serialism, funded it and placed supporters of it high up in universities to prove that "the US is free", is no difference from what Stalin did in only recognising non-avantguarde/tonal music (etc.). Copland was severely harassed for not committing to serialism; L.Bernstein, E.Bernstein, Jerry Fielding, Artie Shaw (and the other non-musicians) were all effected also. Hanns Eisler was deported from the US.

The fact the Shostakovich dislikes Stalin is of no issue, I dislike our current (and previous) PM (this on is still ever-so-slightly better than the previous however), the the only 'evidence' of Stalin treating Shostakovich as bad as is commonly thought comes from Testimony, which is so fraught errors, contradictions and highly dubious editing (etc.) that I refuse to count that as evidence because you can't tell what is true and what isn't (if any). Not to mention that if one believes it enough, you can find anti-Hitler messages in R.Strauss' music, all you have to do is believe they are there, after all, there is no book on how to interpret music.

I once read a quote by Shostakovich and then an 'explanation' of said quote, the quote was praising Stalin for winning the war against Germany. The quote was explained that Shostakovich was nearly always sarcastic, and was still secretly condemning him. So... Shostakovich was supporting Hitler???? There are so many instances of 'explanations' of Shostakovich's own words that just don't make sense and seem to be desperately trying to paint him as a secret dissident. If I hated our PM, but he still fought off a violent invasion from..... New Zealand (???), I'd still praise him for that act.

There are too many inconsistencies...

[KGill]

I'm not saying Testimony is evidence, it's hard to believe (for me) that anyone actually thinks it could be true. It just played into the hands of the West. But, of course, you don't need me to say that.
But I think that we don't need any kind of 'reminiscences' to judge that Stalin held him back to some extent (although there has been at least one essay/article saying that judging from the surviving sketches of the mid-'30s, Shostakovich was heading in a similar direction anyway)- we just don't know how much of one. I mean, the Eighth and Fourteenth Symphonies are almost indisputably great (well, one might dispute the Fourteenth, I guess, but I still think it's one of the best), as well as the Ninth, etc. And they were written well into his supposed repression.
I don't know, really nobody exactly knows. I'm not Taruskin by any means.

[Yagan Kiely]

I think we can agree with this however, whatever Stalin did, he's got great taste in music and force Shosta to write some of the best 20th century music there is. What did the CIA do? Serial? What's that? j/k

[shelby_vn]

I listen to a broad range of composers nowadays, and I sometimes don't feel like listening to some of them.

But the music of Mozart is something that I have never gotten tired of and I don't believe ever will. I think that as I get older, I appreciate the genius of his music more and more. So it goes without saying that I think Mozart was the greatest composer that ever lived.

[FFChopin]

Everytime i listen to Chopin.. it seems i bear once more.. you can feel all his romanticism and it's an awesome feeling. He's the best piano's poet ever!

[Sergeï]

I think we can agree with this however, whatever Stalin did, he's got great taste in music and force Shosta to write some of the best 20th century music there is. What did the CIA do? Serial? What's that? j/k

A guy who insists on having a young woman pianist play the 2nd movement of Mozart's 23rd Piano Concerto over and over to him on his death bed can't be all that bad, as far as taste in music goes, right?

[Yagan Kiely]

Hitler didn't exactly have bad taste either.

I wonder what Ariel Sharon's or Cheney's taste in music is like?

[allegroamabile]

My favorite composer is definitely Johannes Brahms. His String Quintet No. 2 is beautiful beyond words. My next favorite would be Samuel Barber and then after that either Bartok or Glazunov.

[zaciscool158]

alright....this is kind of a broad question. I mean, i'm sure that we can all agree that the "best" composers, the ones with the most ability and strength at composing were the greats like Mozart, Bach,and Beethoven. However, as great as these composers were, they aren't my favorite composers. My personal favorites are Holst, Grainger, Prokofiev, Schumann, and Brahms. However, i'm not sure that these composers had as great a musical gift as the others that i mentioned before. I mean, its simply a matter of preference. I prefer the styles of these composers more, but its possible that the others had a greater musical gift, and that they were the "best" composers. Does that make any sense?

[allegroamabile]

The madam/gentleman who previously commented is exactly right. I would say Glazunov, Barber, and C.M. von Weber would be up there in my all time favorites, but when somebody is refering to ability I do not (especially Glazunov) think they are some of the best composers who ever lived. Honestly, my top favorite and the best composer who I think ever lived is Johannes Brahms. It is very hard to beat the cartsmanship and emotion he inserted in his works.

I would say the reason I love Glazunov so much is the Russian influence in his pieces and that is why he is one of my favorites. The reason I love Barber's music so much is the emotional impact he gives in his music and his works are often lyrical which makes them seem really spectacular. I am still quite uncertain why I appreciate Weber's works so much.

But my music taste is very eclectic so I appreciate and love a wide range of composers.

[vinteuil]

Mind you, if we're just talking technical compositional ability...Bach, Webern, Carter, and Mendelssohn would win...not everyone's favorites...

[dwgmuse]

For me, it seems next to impossible to say who the best composer is, for the simple fact that you cannot compare, for example, the Baroque period to the Romantic period in any objective way. One might state that Bach is the best composer of the Baroque period, and that Brahms is the best composer of the Romantic period, but to say that Bach is better than Brahms, or vice-versa really makes little sense. Certain folks may say that Satie is the best composer, but what is that statement based on?

This question is far too subjective to be answered properly. Can one truly compare Palestrina to Stravinsky? A person may state that either of those is the best composer; although, the criterion for choosing either is extremely, if not infinitely subjective. Therefere, the question probably should be - who is your favorite composer?, not who is the best composer.