Your Favorite Composers, All-Time, Any Genre.

[RickP]

I love listening to classical music, but don’t know enough about the intricacies of arrangements to have a favorite. I hear Canon D Major in the progression of Whiter Shade of Pale, which sounds like a genius application in both uses. That kind of thing, music fitting in multiple times and places to a wide range of listeners, is inspiring to me. In the same way, I hear Lennon and McCartney’s vocal and instrument arrangements in many songs after. Later, I really loved the arrangements of Steely Dan tunes. Listening to them though good headphones is a smile-inducing experience. Fagen and Becker came up with cool thing, great horn arrangements (whoever did those), and had incredible contributions from the players they hired. Quincy Jones also did a lot of great arranging in popular and movie scores.

That’s on the music side, and I suppose lyricists are a different matter, but well written lyrics can also elevate relatively inane compositions to something lasting. Of course, inane lyrics have probably done the opposite to good arrangements!

In the same way I gravitate to a certain guitar or amp, I like music because it sounds good to me. I don’t always know why, I just know it does.

 

[László]

I love listening to classical music, but don’t know enough about the intricacies of arrangements to have a favorite. I hear Canon D Major in the progression of Whiter Shade of Pale, which sounds like a genius application in both uses. That kind of thing, music fitting in multiple times and places to a wide range of listeners, is inspiring to me. In the same way, I hear Lennon and McCartney’s vocal and instrument arrangements in many songs after. Later, I really loved the arrangements of Steely Dan tunes. Listening to them though good headphones is a smile-inducing experience. Fagen and Becker came up with cool thing, great horn arrangements (whoever did those), and had incredible contributions from the players they hired. Quincy Jones also did a lot of great arranging in popular and movie scores.

That’s on the music side, and I suppose lyricists are a different matter, but well written lyrics can also elevate relatively inane compositions to something lasting. Of course, inane lyrics have probably done the opposite to good arrangements!

In the same way I gravitate to a certain guitar or amp, I like music because it sounds good to me. I don’t always know why, I just know it does.

It was actually based on Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major. Maybe that's what you're referring to?

 

[László]

Ravel -

and Satie

Are you saying that you’re getting “Brahms & Liszt”?

I love Ravel and especially, Satie! I played a lot of Satie piano music back in the day.

However...

Their output is a lot smaller than Tchaikovsky. That doesn't mean it's not as good, just that Tchaikovsky had more opportunities to blow people away! Like me!

 

[RickP]

It was actually based on Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major. Maybe that's what you're referring to?

My bad, it was Air on G String, and yes Bach. I confused what Brooker said. See? That’s why I’m not a great commentator on the subject. Still, a classic composition, adaptation, or combination of the two.

I‘m clearly no classical expert. Every now and then I get a chance to prove it. Back to my corner.

 

[dogrocketp]

Cheers for the Grey Velvet gentleman, Satie. The very top of my list is Bela Bartok. The first time I heard his solo violin sonata, I got upset. I just couldn’t believe what he got out of the fiddle. Next would be the American composer, John Adams. He’s a genius for our times.

 

[László]

My bad, it was Air on G String, and yes Bach. I confused what Brooker said. See? That’s why I’m not a great commentator on the subject. Still, a classic composition, adaptation, or combination of the two.

I‘m clearly no classical expert. Every now and then I get a chance to prove it. Back to my corner.

No worries, it's easy to mix up The Baroque Dead!

Procol did change the melody, so there's that.

I'll tell you what, I think Matthew Fisher is right up there with Rick Wakeman on keys, and that's saying something. Their styles are very different, of course, but both are great.

 

[Tony M.]

If we're talking composer as in who wrote the most songs that I personally like,
the songs that put a smile on my face, the songs I sing (badly) along with in the car,

Carole King

 

[jxe]

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I love Ravel and especially, Satie! I played a lot of Satie piano music back in the day.

However...

Their output is a lot smaller than Tchaikovsky. That doesn't mean it's not as good, just that Tchaikovsky had more opportunities to blow people away! Like me!

You blow people away?!

I thought you had people to do that??

 

[garrett]

Frank Zappa for me. He was such a complete composer, crossing over a wide amount of genres.

I'll give an honorable mention to an unsung hero, Jimmy Pankow of Chicago. Technically an Arranger, but be's the one responsible for all of their fantastic horn parts, which have always captured my ears.

 

[watelessness]

there are countless composers whose works i enjoy, and even more who i appreciate, but these are my go-to guys, the ones whose music comprises a disproportionate percentage of my collection, the ones to whom i gravitate for entertainment:

- vivaldi. i'm a huge baroque fan, much prefering the sound of small orchestras because the strings are up close and personal. ah, to actually hear the rosin, even if the fiddles weren't blue
- mozart. i feel he wrote songs with hooks rather than complicated pieces that had to be appreciated rather than enjoyed
- willie dixon. my favorite blues writer of all time
- lennon-mccartney
- hunter-garcia-barlow-weir
- page-plant
- simmons-stanley
- lee-lifeson-peart
- kilgallon-kelley-hanson (BOSSaNoBus) - i'm biased. these guys even have blue guitars!

 

[guitarguy1964]

Carlos Antonio Jobim would be my first choice but since he has been mentioned my #2 would be Neal Hefti.

And how can we forget haha

 

[László]

there are countless composers whose works i enjoy, and even more who i appreciate, but these are my go-to guys, the ones whose music comprises a disproportionate percentage of my collection, the ones to whom i gravitate for entertainment:

- vivaldi. i'm a huge baroque fan, much prefering the sound of small orchestras because the strings are up close and personal. ah, to actually hear the rosin, even if the fiddles weren't blue

I love Baroque music, too, from Vivaldi's lyrical quality to Bach's complexity. Everything about it speaks to me in a good way.

- mozart. i feel he wrote songs with hooks rather than complicated pieces that had to be appreciated rather than enjoyed

Yes, wonderful melodic stuff, but always supported with interesting harmonic ideas as well.

You might also enjoy Felix Mendelssohn, whose melodic work was superb; pieces like the Hebrides Overture were written only a generation post-Mozart, but are vastly different, yet accessible. Then again, you're probably already a listener and I'm preaching to the choir.

 

[vchizzle]

I’m only cultured enough for Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

 

[László]

I’m only cultured enough for Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes.

You sir, are a highly sophisticated and cultured person of the First Order of Cool People.

You get my full support!!