Your top 5 Classical composers: (concert, Piano, Violin)

ThePhanastasio · 01-25-2011, 02:11 AM

My favorites vary greatly, depending on my frame of mind at the time, what I've been listening to...where I am...any number of things. There are times I may love Beethoven, but times he may be the last composer in the world I'd want to listen to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

However, when I listen to the piece (when I'm not playing it), I find myself getting bored. While I am intrigued that Beethoven was realizing the torture of his increasing deafness right around the time he wrote this sunny-sounding symphony in 1802, the music doesn't inspire me. I'd never want to sit through listening to others play the 4th movement, but I enjoy being part of the orchestra making the music.

This is one reason I'm not an ideal orchestra member. I like playing in the orchestra, but I don't really care about performances because if *I* were in the audience, I'd be daydreaming like mad during most of this piece to find something more interesting for me to think about:

To be quite honest, I've never been so much a fan of this whole piece in general, and not just the fourth movement - it doesn't really evoke any strong emotion within me. Then again, I'm really not in a Beethoven mood right now.

I'll say that my favorites (for the time being) are:

1.) Maurice Ravel
2.) Rachmaninoff
3.) Tchaikovsky
4.) Stravinsky
5.) Shostakovich

In particular, I've been listening to a lot of Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin.

A wonderful version of the third movement (Menuet) from this piece is:

The piece as a whole is wonderful, but that particular movement is superb. Easily one of my favorite compositions at present.

I'm also kind of obsessed with his 3 part piano composition, Gaspard de la nuit.

Here's the piece in its entirety, separated by movement into three separate videos:

Movement I: Scarbo

Movement II: Le Gibet

Movement III: Ondine

It's really a pretty dark, haunting piece, but I find it exceedingly beautiful.