The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Who are the greatest classical composers? And how do you decide?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Who are the greatest composers of classical music?
Who are the most influential composers?
And which composer is the greatest of all time?
Just as important, how do you decide? How do you pick them and make your choice?
And finally, should such choices matter?
You could ask Anthony Tommasini (below), senior classical music critic for The New York Times — who came to the UW-Madison during the Pro Arte Quartet centennial several years ago and lectured in the Wisconsin Union Theater — who has just published a new book about those very questions.
The new book is “The Indispenable Composers: A Personal Guide” (below) and is published by Penguin Books. (It could make a nice holiday gift for a classical music fan.)
In a recent story, Tommasini – who readily admits to the project being very much a subjective game – discussed the process, which comes in the wake of his publishing a two-week project in 2011 when he named the 10 greatest composers of all time.
This time he uses (below, from left) Gustav Mahler, Ludwig van Beethoven and Edvard Grieg as test cases for asking: Who is a great composer, and how do you know or decide what makes a composer great?
The Ear doesn’t agree with all the results, but he found it a fascinating and thought-provoking discussion, and figures you might too:
Here is a link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/arts/music/anthony-tommasini-classical-music.html
Read the overview story, and then leave word if you agree with Tommasini about the greatest of all composers. (A clue is in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Which composers would you include that he didn’t?
Who did he include whom you wouldn’t?
And let’s play along: Which composers would be on your own personal list of the Top 5 or Top 10 indispensable composers? And in what order?
Have fun!
And, pro or con, don’t be shy in saying what you think. The more controversial and stronger the opinion and the words, the better.
The Ear wants to hear.
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