Nominate Your Classical Composers for "It's A Knockout"!!!

[Corki]

The Band of the Red Hand enters the second month of our two month break from our search for our "Dream Band". Last month saw us look at Soundtracks and Film Music, and for May, we shall be focusing on the world of Classical Music. This thread allows you to nominate your favourite Classical Composers to enter into the "It's A Knockout" contest to win the title of the Band's and DM's Favourite Classical Composer. And below is what you need to do!

 

Between now and THURSDAY 13TH MAY 2010, nominate the composer you want to see try and win the contest. Follow the simple proforma below to get a nomination in. Name the composer, explain why you have nominated them, and provide TWO YouTube clips (or similar) as a sample of their best work (in your eyes).

 

[u][b]Name of Composer:[/b][/u] 
[u][b]Reason for Nomination:[/b][/u] 
[u][b]YouTube (or similar link):[/b][/u] 

 

You can nominate more than one composer. Any nomination that is seconded, i.e. Krak suggests Composer X and Farcrie agrees with the nomination, automatically qualifies for a place in the "It's A Knockout" contest. Otherwise, it will be done on a first come, first served basis. If there are any gaps at the end of the nomination period, I will fill in the gaps.

PLEASE NOTE: I am looking for a minimum of 8 nominations, and will be flexible on the "It's A Knockout" format depending on numbers.

 

If you have any questions, please post them in this thread.

[Corki]

Nominated Composers

 

Seconded (and with an automatic place in the "It's A Knockout" contest)

1. Claude Debussy

2. Johannes Brahms

3. Sergei Rachmaninoff

4. Carl Orff

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

6. Ludwig Van Beethoven

 

Nominated

1. Dmitri Shostakovich

2. Frederic Chopin

3. Modest Mussorgsky

 

 

Added by Corki

1. Johann Sebastian Bach

2. Georges Bizet

3. Edvard Greig

4. George Frederic Handel

5. Camille Saint-Saens

6. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

7. Richard Wagner

[Corki]

Please note the change that TWO YouTube clips or similar are wanted with the nomination.

[Krakalakachkn]

Name of Composer: Claude Debussy

Reason for Nomination: A brilliant impressionist composer, Debussy was a master in the French and European music scene in the late 19th century.  His music is noted for its sensory component and how it is not often formed around one key or pitch. Often Debussy's work reflected the activities or turbulence in his own life. His music virtually defines the transition from late-Romantic music to twentieth century modernist music. In French literary circles, the style of this period was known as symbolism, a movement that directly inspired Debussy both as a composer and as an active cultural participant.

YouTube (or similar link):

,

, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair

[Krakalakachkn]

Name of Composer: Johannes Brahms

Reason for Nomination: Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period.  Brahms was at once a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Baroque and Classical masters. He was a master of counterpoint, the complex and highly disciplined method of composition for which Bach is famous, and also of development, a compositional ethos pioneered by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Brahms aimed to honour the "purity" of these venerable "German" structures and advance them into a Romantic idiom, in the process creating bold new approaches to harmony and melody. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as the progressive Arnold Schoenberg and the conservative Edward Elgar. The diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers.

YouTube (or similar link):

,

,

[dapianoplay3r]

Name of Composer: Shostakovich

Reason for Nomination: I had never heard of him till i went to an orchestral summer school and we played his 10th symphony. It was amazing and its so complicated that it just blows my mind. (I only play Double Bass and was still dazzled)

YouTube (or similar link): this is only the second half of the 4th movement but its the best example out of the 10th symphony

 

[Quibby]

Name of Composer: Carl Orff

Reason for Nomination: It is rare that a composer can create a piece of music so great that it can and will thoroughly overcome the stigma that its associations attach to it.  Carl Orff succeeded.  His most famous piece- in fact, the only piece of his that I know of- is the immensely popular Carmina Burana.  The work is based on a collection of Medieval poetry about the cycle of a man's life.  This cyclical nature is reflected in the work, which opens and closes with the same movement.  The piece was commissioned by the Nazi party of Germany, and it met with some rather embarrassed silences from them, too, as much of the text is, quite frankly, more than suggestive.  However, this association with the Nazi party has not had the usual effect that such an association generally entails, and Carmina Burana is one of the post popular pieces performed today.  It is on the strength of this piece alone, about which the composer is said to have stated, "Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin," that I nominate Carl Orff

 

YouTube Link:

[Jeannaisais]

Name of Composer:Frederic Chopin

Reason for Nomination: I've played a lot of Chopin's music and love the way he puts pieces together. Any time I needed a piece for contest, I would always look through his works first.

YouTube (or similar link): Minute Waltz,

,

[Jeannaisais]

I second Debussy and Brahms

 

Name of Composer: wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Reason for Nomination: First of all, it's Mozart? Why wouldn't you nominate one of the most prominent and well known composers? And he didn't just do piano compositions,  he often created symphonic compositions as well.

YouTube (or similar link): Piano Concerto No. 5, Mozart Requiem

 

Name of Composer: Ludwig Van Beethoven

Reason for Nomination: Again, he's a very prominent composer and I always enjoyed playing his work.

YouTube (or similar link):

,

 

Name of Composer: Rachmaninoff

Reason for Nomination: This is my sister's favorite composer. It's fun listening to her practice all of these.

YouTube (or similar link):

,

 

Sorry I don't say more about the composer...I've played them, not learned about them.

[Quibby]

Second Rachmaninov.  "All-Night Vigil" is epically awesome.

[Corki]

I am currently sitting at 8 composers nominated - 3 are guaranteed since they have been seconded.

[Corki]

Name of Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

Reason for Nomination: Mussorgsky happens to be one of my favourite composers. He was one of the set of Russian composers known as "The Five". Russian history and folklore were heavy influences on his work. His best known works are Night on a Bald Mountain and Pictures at an Exhibition. Both are full of great orchestral music that give the listener fantastic images as they listen.

YouTube (or similar link):

and

[Krakalakachkn]

I second Orff and Mozart

[dapianoplay3r]

Mozart for orchestral stuff and Beethoven for piano

[Corki]

Again, a little later than expected, but nominations are now closed. The final list that is challenging for the title of DM's and the Band's favourite Composer of Classical Music are:

 

Nominated Composers

 

Seconded (and with an automatic place in the "It's A Knockout" contest)

1. Claude Debussy

2. Johannes Brahms

3. Sergei Rachmaninoff

4. Carl Orff

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

6. Ludwig Van Beethoven

 

Nominated

1. Dmitri Shostakovich

2. Frederic Chopin

3. Modest Mussorgsky

 

 

Added by Corki

1. Johann Sebastian Bach

2. Georges Bizet

3. Edvard Greig

4. George Frederic Handel

5. Camille Saint-Saens

6. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

7. Richard Wagner