Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Who are your Top Ten?

The New York Times is currently running a "Top Ten Classical Composers" video series hosted by NYT chief music critic Anthony Tommasini.  The videos are easily digestible, truly informative, and enjoyable--win, win, win--so I greatly encourage you to check them out.  You may need to sign up for the NYT online to access the series, but signing up is free.

Read the article here, then watch the videos (more will be added through January 21st), and cast your vote!  Related Arts Beat posts here.

Mine were Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn (of course), Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Gershwin, and Copland, though I admit personal bias made my choices more than who I think is most important to Western classical music.  Handel and Mozart would have made the list, in that case, at least.

5 comments:

Yat-Yee said...

Thanks so much for the heads up. I have been meaning to sign up for NT Times for the longest time and this time I'll be sure to do it!

l said...

This sounds perfect for our music appreciation on friday, thanks for sharing!

Yat-Yee said...

Here are my ten: Bach. Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, Debussy, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mozart, Schoenberg, Gershwin. I had to leave out one of my favorite composers, Dvorak, because in the big scheme of things, his contribution may not be as big.

Christina said...

Yat-Yee, I know I'd have to leave out a couple of my favorites, and I just couldn't do it! You have more mental discipline than I do. : )

Stephen Bourque said...

What a fun (and agonizing) exercise! I haven't checked out the Times series yet, but that won't stop me from picking my Top Ten:

Bach, Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich.

Those are my picks for most important, but it bothers me: How, for instance, does Mozart not make the list?

It is hard to leave out some favorites (e.g. I like Sibelius a little better than Tchaikovsky, though the former may not be as great). I could easily rattle off ten others that I love but who might not quite have the body of work to be included (Ravel, Debussy, Elgar, Faure, Bartok, Franck, Korngold, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Villa Lobos).