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Ravel
Many "Greatest Composers of the 20th Century" lists would include Copland, Gershwin, et al, but could also include Roy Orbison, Lennon-McCartney, and Scott Joplin. Who is <I>your</I> favorite?
Gustav Mahler spans the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works are amazing in their scale, and embody the paradoxical qualities which are the 20th century. Here is hope and desolation presented in nakedly ecstatic form. The third symphony is a truly magnificent form. Neitzche's lament in the 4th movement is one of great sadnessness and subtle joy. The 6th movement is wholly transcendent, as paradox is ultimately expressed via ecstatic union, where expansion to infinity and collapse into void occur concurrently.
Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Duke Ellington, Stravinsky, Zappa, Varèse, Doc Pomus, Willie Dixon, Lennon-McCartney, Tom Waits, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, Andrew Lloyd Webber (just kidding), Brian Wilson, Jagger-Richards, Bob Marley, Richard Thompson, Van Morrison, The Clash (before "Combat Rock"), Rodgers/Hamerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Muddy Waters. My apologies to those I left out.
There are so many choices to make. What makes it easier for me is that most composers seem to follow that safe formula, and much of what they end up with sounds like everything else on the radio and is boring after several listenings. I have two choices that I feel meet the criteria for Greatest Composers. I find Brian Eno to be fascinating and certainly not afraid to take chances. Each piece sounds different, and he is quite the adventurer. He has influenced many other composers and is responsible for the origin of the term "Ambient." My second choice is someone who is not a composer of the 20th century, but I still want to include him as one of the greatest composers of all time: Frederic Chopin. His piano pieces will completely draw you into his music and you beg for more. In particular, his Nocturne in C# minor, Op. posth. is so beautiful and rich it will leave you breathless.
Bartók. His music is so demanding and complex, yet so enjoyable to listen to, that I just have to give hime the nod over Stravinsky and America's finest, Ellington. Prior to my conversion to classical, with a smattering of jazz, I would have said Jimmy Page/Robert Plant. Quite a change, huh?
The vote would definitely go to my dad. Year after year, he manages to transmute household waste into the most nutrient- rich soil imaginable. I'd offer some of this fertilizer to your writers, but most don't seem to need it ;)