Vote

Ravel

I have two: Shostakovich and Frank Zappa.

Stravinsky

lennon/mccartney

Brian Wilson

Pop: Jimmy Buffett. Jazz: Dave Brubeck. NewAge/Classical: Yanni. Rock: Lennon-McCartney.

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.

Mahler

Shostakovich

Van Morrison

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.

Lennon-McCartney. Those tunes just stick in my head. I enjoy them as much today as I did when they came out in the 60's.

Kenny Wheeler: The great jazz trumpet player has composed some really wonderful pieces.

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?

Lennon-McCartney

Dmitri Shostakovich - He says it all.

Numan.

Only one? Stravinsky. Bartók. Ellington. Monk. Herbie Nichols.

The Beatles: John, Paul, George, Ringo

Philip Wilby, a composer living in Leeds, England.

I have no favorite composer, I am interested in listening to attention grabbing compositions.

Duke Ellington. You may not agree, but you'll have to admit he belongs in the company of whoever is the greatest.

Ellington

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 ;)

Duke Ellington

Mahler

Joni Mitchell

Frank Zappa

Plant, Page, Jones, and Bonham