who is your ONE favorite 20th century composer (of the moment)

Posted by: mikeeschman on 31 October 2008

for me it is stravinsky.

the sheer scope of his body of work, the wealth of innovation, the beauty of his melody, the clarity of his orchestration, the variety of style, the immensity of innovation - yum!!!

and i love that he is such an insufferable blowhard in his autobiography :-)

favorite recordings :

Firebird complete ballet rattle/birmingham

Firebird piano reduction played by the man himself

Boulez Ebony Concerto

stravinsky conducts The Fairy's Kiss

reiner/chicago song of the nightingale

boulez/london rite of spring
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by dn1
At the moment, John Adams. I was captivated a couple of years ago by Chairman Dances, from Nixon in China. Recently purchased Kremer's recording of the Violin Concerto, which is played regularly, along with Harmonielehre. Any suggestions for the next purchase?

On a different track, I've recently got the Borodin Quartet recording of Shostakovich 8, and Kremer's 13/14. Again, any suggestions for other quartets, preferably on vinyl?
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by Huwge
Shostakovich is never far from the LP or CD player.

dn1 for Shostakovich string quartets I would recommend the Fitzwilliam quartet, I have both the LP and CD versions. It's a toss up between the Fitz and Borodin for me, although I have many other acceptable and different versions.
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by KenM
I never have had just a single favourite. There are so many to choose from, all with different things to say and with so many different ways of expressing themselves.
Ken
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by Lontano
Philip Glass
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by JWM
Jehan Alain
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by FlyMe
It's like asking you to chose your favorite child!
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by KenM
quote:
Originally posted by FlyMe:
It's like asking you to chose your favorite child!


Yes, I've got a lot of them too Winker
Ken
Posted on: 01 November 2008 by mikeeschman
quote:
Originally posted by KenM:
quote:
Originally posted by FlyMe:
It's like asking you to chose your favorite child!


Yes, I've got a lot of them too Winker
Ken

i have lots of favorites as well. but my kids are grown up and my wife and i are alone now. to fill the time we have begun to try delving more deeply into a small group of composers each year. that means buying new books, scores, dvds and recordings so economics enters the picture.

last year we focused on percy grainger, benjamin britten and messiaen. we have begun assembling and extending the library for beethoven, brahms and stravinsky.
, which will carry us into the fourth quarter of 2009.

i print these posts out and put them in a binder, and write up order lists from which to get new recordings whenever something interesting pops up, not necessarily by composers who are my current focus.

so these posts are critical to me as there is no good source of classical recordings in new orleans - everything has to come from amazon.com, sheet music plus, etc ...

it's better to spend $$$ on a recording someone you trust (a fellow naimie) already loves than to rely on the customer responses at amazon.com.

so thanks :-)