My top five... Not in order...
 

Tchaikovsky...
Dvorak
Glazounov
Stravinsky
Palestrina

Favorite Composers
 

Beethoven(Revolutionary sonatas/ Symphony 9)
Bach (Well Tempered clavier, technical genius)
Wagner (Tristan prelude led to modern music)
Rachmaninov
Goulet :p

A minor change

1. John Cage
2. J.S. Bach
3. Arnold Schoenberg
4. Gyorgy Ligeti
5. Edgard Varese

Sorry Stockhausen.

I'm assuming this is referring to classical music in general, not the Classical period.

1. Mozart
2. J. S. Bach
3. Dvorak
4. Ravel
5. Tchaikovsky

With honourable mentions to Beethoven and Haydn.

Hmm, hard to say, but based on the number of CDs of each composer I own ...

1. Beethoven
2. Bach
3. Shostakovich
4. Mozart
5. Prokofiev

I would also put Debussy and Ravel up there but I don't happen to own large numbers of CD's from them. They produced fewer numbers of works than the above guys, which is part of the reason why.

Impossible to pick a real top 5, but I can pick 5 of the composers I like most!

Heinrich Schütz

J. S. Bach

G. F. Handel

Michael Praetorius

Juan del Encina

No one captured humanity like Tchaikovsky did, or humankind like Mozart. That said, only the former is in my top 5.

1. Tchaikovsky
2. Rachmaninov
3. Beethoven
4. Schubert
5. Elgar

Chopin
Bach
Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky
Rodrigo
Beethovin
Handel

Dude, read the forum rules fine print:

A member doesn't have to follow the OPs rules to the letter if the thread is older than 10 years by the time of the new post.