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In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: Surprising: the most interesting composer of 20 century.
Post Subject: Jerry's short list ....Posted by JANDL100 on: 12/28/2007
In no particular order, just typing them in as I think of them ...
Vaughan Williams (I am a Brit, after all! Much excellent music, some of it not very well known at all - the symphonies are well known of course (the 5th ranks high among 20thC masterworks in my opinion), his chamber music is wonderful - the string quartets and quintet in particular, the piano pieces have an exquisite simplicity, his orchestral "tone poems" for me truly capture the spirit of England like no other composer has)
Shostakovich (much great music whatever you might think of the man)
Sibelius (the symphonies! - enough said)
Arvo Part (Easy to dismiss, but much of his recent music has a rare beauty about it)
Peteris Vasks (I've only recently discovered this composer - quite varied and much of interest. It seems to me to capture the essence of modern music, but in an accessible and very enjoyable way)
My final choice would be Vaughan Williams , I think. Roger Norrington said of him, "the greatest man I ever expect to meet".
Or maybe Shostakovich .... or ....
My choices necessarily exclude opera composers, as I don't really like or appreciate opera!Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site