anyone greater than Mahler?

[Prospero]

Perhaps it was the lead title "anyone greater than Mahler?" and the exclusive discussion of Mahler and Bruckner with few if any other references.

Just a modest reminder of perspective.

Best to all.

Tom in Vermont

[barry guerrero]

Well you're right - we never did actually discuss the "subject". I've been listening to some of the Villa-Lobos cycle on Naxos. Although Villa-Lobos is nothing like any of the Austro/Germans (more like Darius Milhaud than anyone else), I think he's a very great composer.

[justininsf]

How about this?  Who do you prefer to listen to instead of Mahler?  With the operative word PREFER.

I think it is kind of silly to try to have an objective discussion of "who's the best" as it really is not possible.

For me listening time vacillates between Mahler and Bruckner.  While I will listen to other composers I do prefer these two, and find myself thinking "I would rather be listening to Mahler/Bruckner".

[James Meckley]

I've been listening to some of the Villa-Lobos cycle on Naxos. Although Villa-Lobos is nothing like any of the Austro/Germans (more like Darius Milhaud than anyone else), I think he's a very great composer.

I'm reminded of Igor Stravinsky's churlish remark about poor Heitor:

"Why is it that whenever I hear a piece of music I don’t like it’s always by Villa-Lobos?"

James

[wagnerlover]

I'd give a vote to Richard Wagner.  But I wouldn't want to have to pick one, really, or defend my choice.
I need to live in a world that has Wagner, Mahler, Richard Rogers, Mozart, Lennon & McCartney, etc., etc.

db

[perotin]

Guillaume Dufay
Claudio Monteverdi

Two great masters from few centuries ago. I don't know how I had lived before I've discovered their music

[AZContrabassoon]

How about this?  Who do you prefer to listen to instead of Mahler? 

Just one: Franz Schmidt. I can listen to any of the symphonies, Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln, Notre Dame over and over and never tire of any of them. I've been a solid fan of both Schmidt and Mahler for 45+ years and can't imagine living without their music.

[barry guerrero]

Bix Beiderbecke, Jack Sheldon, Curtis Counce Group (w/ Jack Sheldon & Harold Land), Frank Rosolino, J.J. Johnson, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Art Blakey (in his Jazz Messengers years), Tony Bennett/Bill Evans, Carmen McRae, Basia, Esquivel, Haydn, Wagner, R. Strauss (Zarathustra, Alpine Symphony, "Salome" & "Die Frau ohne Schatten"),Schoenberg (not all), Berg (everything), Webern (6 Pcs. for Orch., as well as the Bach & Schubert transcriptions), Dvorak, Smetana, Janacek, Ginastera, Villa-Lobos, Grieg, Nielsen (the symphonies), Sibelius (the Legends, tone poems & sym. 6), Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaik. ("Manfred" & the Nutcracker), Rachmaninoff (1st Sym., Pno. Ctos 1&4, "Symphonic Dances"), Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev (5th sym., 3rd pno. cto. & Cinderella), Vaughan Williams, Holst ("Planets" and the military band suites), Britten, early Tippett, Puccini ("La Fanciulla del West" & "Turandot" [before the end]), Respighi, Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel, Faure, de Falla, Albeniz, Ives, Barber, Gershwin, Mersey beat, Beach Boys, Beatles, The Monkees, CSN&Y, The Doors, Steely Dan ("Asia"), The B52's, The Police, Diana Krall (when she's being jazzy), A.C. Jobim, Sergio Mendes, Joyce (pronounced "Joycee"), Milton Nascimento, Elis Regina, Ivan Lins; ALL sambas & bossa novas  .     .    . 

.    .   all these people are very central to my being but NONE are - for me - greater than Gustav Mahler.

[justininsf]

Barry, well put, however I must point out that you left out the 3 B's:  Bruckner, Bruckner, and Bruckner.     

[barry guerrero]

I saved Bruckner for you!