Your FIVE favorite composers.

[Jacob Royal]

Yes, I did say five.
You do not have to say why.
Just put them in order from favorite to fifth favorite.

1. Beethoven
2. Tchaikovsky
3. Frank *EDIT* Franck (sorry, I never spell his name correctly)
4. Liszt
5. Schubert

If your opinions differ (by that I mean if you hate a composer that someone else loves), please be civil in your arguments. That is more of a reminder for me than a request for you :)

 

Since I can still edit my list (hehehehe) I have a new one

1. Beethoven

2. Tchaikovsky

3. Strauss, R.

4. Shostakovitch

5. Barber for his Adagio (I've only heard that one piece by him)/ Mozart (For Sym. 40, Eine Kleine, violin+viola duets, Mass, and Requiem)

HM Liszt

[Pepper Williams]

1. Tchaichovsky

2. Stravinsky

3. Shostakovitch

4. Beethoven

5. William Walton

I'm partial to the Russian composers and frankly, it should be top ten (I left out some more favorites):)

[Kyle Pyke]

John Williams

Danny Elfman

Igor Stravinsky

Tie between Tchaikovsky and Aaron Copland

Prince

[Pepper Williams]

Ha Ha Prince.....that was cool:)

Kyle Pyke said:

John Williams

Danny Elfman

Igor Stravinsky

Tie between Tchaikovsky and Aaron Copland

Prince

[Tyler Hughes]

 

Though its really hard for me, but if I had to choose these are my current favorite five:

1. Charles Ives (All TIME FAVORITE)
2. Igor Stravinsky
3. Claude Debussy
4. György Ligeti
5. Olivier Messiaen

I would be remiss if I didnt add the following to my list of favorite composers, because I love there music as equally to some extent as the previous five

1. Aaron Copland
2. Benjamin Britten
3. Ludwig Beethoven
4. Arnold Schoenberg
5. Steve Riech
6. Arvo Part
7. Maurice Ravel
8. Johannes Brahms
9. Sergei Rachmaninov
10. Eric Whitacre
11. Nico Muhly

I add these 11 composers because based on my mood, either of these composers can find themselves in my top five. In fact by the time you read this, one of them will most likely replace one of the composers in my top five.

[John Hoge]

I'm a big fan of film and video game composers, here are probably my top 5:

 

1. Howard Shore

2. Koji Kondo

3. Junichi Nakatsuru

4. James Newton Howard

5. John Williams maybe? (Jurassic Park, one of my favs:D)

 

Dunno really, Howard and Koji are my two favs I guess, everything else kind of just gets lumped together. Honorable mention: John Powell (I loved How to Train Your Dragon), Hans Z, he's pretty cool, Yuka Tsujiyoko (Fire Emblem, there's some good stuff there), Paul Dukas, Joseph Curiale, Alan Silvestri, I like some of James Horner's work, like Jumanji, and the list goes on. Don't want to get to into it, since this is just supposed to be my top 5!

[Henri Vartio]

Holst (The planets)

Brahms (I just love the orchestration he does)

Sibelius (Valse Triste and Swan of Tuonela)

Rachmaninoff (I love the harmonies and arpeggios he uses)

Tchaikovsky (Serenade for Strings)

 

I can't really put them in an order here, but i think that those are my favorites.

 

...and the list goes on with Bernard Herrmann, Grieg, John Williams, and the rest.

 

 

[Pepper Williams]

If we're going with the top five FILM composers, then my list is:

Bernard Herrmann

Jerry Goldsmith

James Newton Howard tied with John Williams

Danny Elfman (clone of Bernard Herrmann)

Elmer Bernstein (Hell, just him scoring "The Magnificent Seven" seals the number 5 spot)

[Lennart Östman]

Mozart

Bach

Dvorak

Händel

John Williams (the film scores not his other stuff)

 

Thgere are many more modern composers that hold a place in my heart too, like

 

Neal Morse

Bill Hubauer

Jon Camp, Michael Dunford and John Tout of Rennaisance

[Marco Frydshou]

 

1. Beethoven

2. Tchaikovsky

3. J.S. Bach

4. Debussy

5. Ravel

 

Film:

 

Bernard Herrmann

Ennio Morricone

Jerry Goldsmith

Wojciech Kilar

James Newton Howard

 

 

[Pepper Williams]

Marco, I forgot about Ennio Morricone (He's definitely one of my favorite).

[Jonathan Metz]

1. Stravinsky

2. Messiaen

3. J.S. Bach

4. John Adams

5. Joseph Schwantner

6. Verdi (sneak another one in there ;)

[Pepper Williams]

I assume that the discussion dealt with CLASSICAL/FILM composers. For jazz, I have to think about it. Although Chris' list is not bad at all:).