Thread: Who is the greatest composer?

Who is the greatest composer ever and why?

Bach.

Just listen. His music justifies itself.

I could speak volumes on why I love a number of different composers, but I wouldn't dare try to call one of them "the greatest." Here are some different ways to look at it, from my point of view.

Most influential: J. S. Bach
Most prolific: Haydn
Most idolized: Beethoven
Most hummable: Mozart
Most adventurous: John Cage
Best orchestrators: Berlioz, Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky
Best string quartets: Haydn and Shostakovich
Best symphonists: Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Mahler
Best ballets: Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky
Best solo piano music: Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy
Best piano concerti: Rachmaninov
Best film music: Bernard Hermann
Most intense: Penderecki
Most influential to me personally: Stravinsky

Easy...

Gustav Holst - for "The Planets" <--would later influence pretty much all the great soundtack composers.

Others worthy of mention:

Rimski-Korsakov - "Procession of the Nobles of Mlada" got my attention. Then "Scheherazade "
Dvorak - "New World"
Hovhaness - "Mt. St.Helens"
Saint-Saens - "The Moldeau"
Shostakovich

My classical taste really has more to do with how the music creates visuals in my head. The composers and music I list are ones which can easily close my eyes and visualize some sort of scene (like in a movie). Which brings me to what I feel is another genre enormously underated-- movie soundtrack composers:

Hans Zimmer <-- fucking outstanding soundtracks! ("Black Hawk Down" probably my favorite of all)
Basil Poledouris - "Connan the Barbarian", among others
James Horner - just about any movie you've seen in the last 10 years or so.

There's more, but I think I got the main ones.

My vote's for Bach too. I love it.

And Mozart. He'd been writing music since he was 3.

John Williams! Although his music has not been around for as long, the Conductor of the Boston Pops has my vote. He has is the creative genius behind the Indiana Jones theme, all six Star Wars Movies, and many more. I like Bach and Beethoven just as much as the next person but nothing moves me more than hearing the Indiana Jones theme. Heck, I can jam out to that at the Gym. John Williams, a living legend.

Everyone seems to be drawing from composers of the Baroque and/or classical periods. I guess a better way to ask the question is to ask which is the best composer of their time or genre.

I would say Bach, but I don't particularly care for baroque period music. My personal favorite period of classical music is romantic. Of the romantic composers, Chopin is by far my favorite. That's mostly because I'm speaking in terms of Solo piano music morso than chamber or symphonic music, of which I don't listen to much.

Piano...Chopin I feel is the greatest. I don't know much about symphonic composers..

Mozart... hands down! That is my subjective view. His music is the most beautiful classical music I know of. I also love Tchaikovsky (most famous for the music in The Nutcracker) and Rossini (most famous for "The Thieving Magpie", which was the recurring piece in the movie A Clockwork Orange, and something I don't like so much-- the theme song to the old T.V. show The Lone Ranger). I like Bach and Beethoven too.

James Horner is simply amazing. And I used to completely neglect modern composers.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

James Horner is simply amazing. And I used to completely neglect modern composers.

I abhor Horner. He's so predictable, and I've yet to hear an original idea come from his pen. Sure, he understands orchestration, and can write a "pretty" tune, but in my opinion there is no depth at all.