Classical Composers - It's A Knockout (Winner: Johann Sebastian Bach)

[Corki]

As mentioned previously, The Band of the Red Hand is taking a short break in its search for our Dream Band after Freddie Mercury of Queen won the Male Vocalist part of the search, joining Carlos Santana on Guitar, Geddy Lee as the bass player, and Within Temptation's Sharon den Adel as the female vocalist. April saw the Band focus on Soundtrack music and composers. For May, we switch to Classical Music, and in this thread, specific to Composers of Classical Music. You managed to nominate nine (9) pieces of classical music and seven (7) were added by me to challenge for the honour of being the Band's and DM's Favourite Composer of Classical Music. And that title falls to piece of music that wins this "It's A Knockout" contest. It is basically down to you to pick who gets that important title.

 

"It's A Knockout" remains with the longer format this month - and this means there are 16 Soundtrack Pieces instead of 8!

 

Also, at the same time, do get involved in the corresponding "It's A Knockout" thread that focuses on Pieces of Classical Music.

 

 

"It's a Knockout" - Format

For those of you who have not been involved with a "It's A Knockout" thread before, the rules are quite simple. The Band of the Red Hand is DM's travel, music and eating out Social Group, and "It's a Knockout" is a knock out competition to find out the winner of the chosen category (past categories include Micheal Jackson songs, Classical Music, One Hit Wonders). Each day, 2 or 4 Classical Composers will be posted in either 1 or 2 ties, along with links so you can listen to the music if you do not know it, and all you have to do is post which composer you think is the better of the two in the tie. After a day, the votes will be counted, and the winning composer will progress to the next round, until we only have 1 composer left as the winner at the end of the competition - who will named the Band's and DM's Favourite Composer of Classical Music. It's very simple, so I look forward to seeing you getting involved!

 

So without further a-do, let the competition begin!

[Corki]

RESULTS

 

Round 1

 

1. Modest Mussorgsky beat Dmitri Shostakovich (3-0)

2. Johannes Brahms lsot to Edvard Greig (0-3)

3. Richard Wagner lost to Claude Debussy (2-3)

4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky lost to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (2-3)

5. Georges Bizet lost to Sergei Rachmaninoff (2-3)

6. Camille Saint-Saens lost to Ludwig Van Beethoven (1-4)

7. Carl Orff lost to Johann Sebastian Bach (1-4)

8. George Frederic Handel lost to Frederic Chopin (1-4)

 

2nd Round

 

1. Frederic Chopin lost to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1-5)

2. Sergei Rachmaninoff beat Modest Mussorgsky (5-1)

3. Edvard Greig lost to Johann Sebastian Bach (0-6)

4. Ludwig Van Beethoven beat Claude Debussy (5-1)

 

Semi-Final

 

1. Sergei Rachmaninoff lost to Ludwig Van Beethoven (6-3)

2. Johann Sebastian Bach beat Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (6-3)

 

3rd/4th Play-off

 

1. Sergei Rachmaninoff lost to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1-4)

 

Final

 

1. Ludwig Van Beethoven lost to Johann Sebastian Bach (1-4)

[Corki]

THE CHOSEN COMPOSERS

 

1. Claude Debussy

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.

 

 

2. Johannes Brahms

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.

 

 

3. Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, very nearly the last great representative of Russian late Romanticism in classical music. His initial style was similar to Tchaikovsky, but he developed his own. These involved brutal gestures and uncompromising power of expression, flexible rhythms, sweeping lyricism and stringent economy of thematic material were all features he kept and refined in subsequent works.

 

 

4. Carl Orff

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.

 

 

5. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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, including some of the great operas. Mozart's versatility as a composer allowed him to advanced the technical sophistication and emotional reach of the different genres he composed.

 

 

6. Ludwig Van Beethoven

Beethoven was a German composer and pianist, and is one of the great names of the world of Classical music. He was a crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. He gained the reputation of being a virtuoso pianist. His deafness is well known to the world, but he still  continued to compose, conduct, and perform. His work spanned a broad range of genres, and a variety of instruments. His main works were for the piano and string instruments.

 

 

7. Dmitri Shostakovich

I had never heard of him till I went to an orchestral summer school and we played his 10th symphony. It was amazing and it's so complicated that it just blows my mind. (I only play Double Bass and was still dazzled). He was a Russian composer of the Soviet period and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. Shostakovich also composed a lot of film music and 2 operas and in addition to his symphonies.

 

 

8. Frederic Chopin

Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of French-Polish parentage. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music. The great majority of Chopin's compositions were written for the piano as solo instrument, with all of his work featuring the piano somehow. They are technically demanding but emphasize nuance and expressive depth. Chopin invented musical forms such as the instrumental ballade and made major innovations to many pieces of piano music.

 

 

9. Modest Mussorgsky

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.

 

 

10. Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist, whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. He has a wide range of music known to the world, which are renowned for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty. During his lifetime, he was  respected as an organist.

 

 

11. Georges Bizet

Bizet was a French composer from the Romantic era. He is best known for his opera, Carmen. He wrote his first symphony, Symphony in C in 1855, at the age 0f 17 and was hailed a junior masterpiece on its rediscovery in the early 20th century. Bizet was also a very skilled pianist, and could have been a concert pianist if he decided to do so.

 

 

12. Edvard Greig

Edvard Greig was a Norwegian composer, whose most famous work is the music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. His other well known piece is Piano Concerto in A minor. Norwegian folk music was heavy inspiration for Greig, and he produced much music for the piano, leading him to be nicknamed "the Chopin of the North". He actually didn't like the composition he made for In the Hall of the Mountain King, claiming it to be "something that I literally can't bear listening to because it absolutely reeks of cow-pies, exaggerated Norwegian nationalism, and trollish self-satisfaction!".

 

 

13. George Frederic Handel

Handel was a German-English Baroque composer who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concertos. Born in Germany, he became a naturalised British subject through living in the UK. His best known works include Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

 

 

14.Camille Saint-Saens

Camille Saint-Saens was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist, who was best known for his piece of work called The Carnival of the Animals. Saint-Saens' style is regarded as elegant and technically flawless, but sometimes dry and lacking emotion. Saint-Saen fought the influence of Debussy and Richard Strauss, and started his career while Chopin and Mendelssohn were at their prime, and then ended as the Jazz Age took hold.

 

 

15. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. He covered a wide variety of genres in the world of Classical Music, including symphonies, operas, ballets, instrumental and chamber music. Many of his famous works are popular concert and theatrical music in the world of classical music. One of the notable aspects of Tchaikovsky's music is his ability to use of harmony or rhythm to create a sudden, powerful release of emotion.

 

 

16. Richard Wagner

One word that describes Richard Wagner is epic. Wagner transformed musical thought through his idea of “total artwork” or Gesamtkunstwerk. His Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) epitomized this – the full running time is 15 hours! Wagner even built his own opera house as well – the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Wagner had a heavy influence on many composers after him because of the way he composed his music. And his influence was not just confined to the world of music – literature and philosophy were other areas.

[Corki]

Banders, Please Note:

 

Voting in "It's A Knockout" threads counts towards posting in an activity thread for points gained through the roll call. However, in order for that to qualify, you need to post and vote at least 4 times.

 

Corki

Marshal-General

Social Group Leader

[Corki]

Round 1, Tie 1

 

Two Russian composers go head-to-head in the first tie of the contest.

 

Modest Mussorgsky

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.

Links:

and

 

vs.

 

 

Dmitri Shostakovich

I had never heard of him till I went to an orchestral summer school and we played his 10th symphony. It was amazing and it's so complicated that it just blows my mind. (I only play Double Bass and was still dazzled). He was a Russian composer of the Soviet period and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. Shostakovich also composed a lot of film music and 2 operas and in addition to his symphonies.

Links:

and

/

 

 

Voting ends Monday 17th May 2010 at 11pm (BST)

[Corki]

Round 1, Tie 2

 

The second tie sees twp leading musicians from the Romantic period clash for a place in the Second Round.

 

Johannes Brahms

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.

Links:

and

 

vs.

 

 

Edvard Greig

Edvard Greig was a Norwegian composer, whose most famous work is the music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. His other well known piece is Piano Concerto in A minor. Norwegian folk music was heavy inspiration for Greig, and he produced much music for the piano, leading him to be nicknamed "the Chopin of the North". He actually didn't like the composition he made for In the Hall of the Mountain King, claiming it to be "something that I literally can't bear listening to because it absolutely reeks of cow-pies, exaggerated Norwegian nationalism, and trollish self-satisfaction!".

Links:

and Morning from Peer Gynt Suite

 

 

Voting ends Monday 17th May 2010 at 11pm (BST)

[Corki]

The thread is now open to votes!

[Majsju]

Mussorgsky, Grieg

[Corki]

Mussorgsky and Greig

[Jeannaisais]

Mussorgsky, Greig

 

Likewise!

[Corki]

A bit of a low turnout in terms of votes, but two clear victories nevertheless. Both Modest Mussorgsky and Edvard Greig move into the 2nd round with 3-0 victories.

[Corki]

Round 1, Tie 3

 

One composer known for his epic works goes up against a great from France.

 

Richard Wagner

One word that describes Richard Wagner is epic. Wagner transformed musical thought through his idea of “total artwork” or Gesamtkunstwerk. His Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) epitomized this – the full running time is 15 hours! Wagner even built his own opera house as well – the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Wagner had a heavy influence on many composers after him because of the way he composed his music. And his influence was not just confined to the world of music – literature and philosophy were other areas.

Links:

and Ride Of The Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre

 

vs.

 

Claude Debussy

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.

Links:

and

 

 

Voting ends Tuesday 18th May 2010 at 11pm (BST)

[Krakalakachkn]

Debussy

[dapianoplay3r]

Richard Wagner

 

[Majsju]

While I prefer Wagner, pretty much ll his work is in opera, which is a different genre than classical, so Debussy.

[Corki]

To tie things up, Wagner.

[Jeannaisais]

Debussy

[Corki]

What a saviour! That saved me from having to cast the deciding vote! So, Claude Debussy takes his place in the 2nd Round with a narrow 3-2 victory over Richard Wagner.

 

Ties 4 and 5 of the 1st Round are on the way!

[Corki]

Round 1, Tie 4

 

Two musical heavyweights from the world of Classical Music go head to head for a place in Round 2.

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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, including some of the great operas. Mozart's versatility as a composer allowed him to advanced the technical sophistication and emotional reach of the different genres he composed.

Links: Piano Concerto No. 5 and Mozart's Requiem

 

vs.

 

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic era. He covered a wide variety of genres in the world of Classical Music, including symphonies, operas, ballets, instrumental and chamber music. Many of his famous works are popular concert and theatrical music in the world of classical music. One of the notable aspects of Tchaikovsky's music is his ability to use of harmony or rhythm to create a sudden, powerful release of emotion.

Links:

/

and

/

 

 

Voting ends Thursday 20th May 2010 at 11pm (BST)

[Corki]

Round 1, Tie 5

 

Two Romantic composers go up against one another for a place in Round 2.

 

Georges Bizet

Bizet was a French composer from the Romantic era. He is best known for his opera, Carmen. He wrote his first symphony, Symphony in C in 1855, at the age 0f 17 and was hailed a junior masterpiece on its rediscovery in the early 20th century. Bizet was also a very skilled pianist, and could have been a concert pianist if he decided to do so.

Links:

and

 

vs.

 

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He was considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, very nearly the last great representative of Russian late Romanticism in classical music. His initial style was similar to Tchaikovsky, but he developed his own. These involved brutal gestures and uncompromising power of expression, flexible rhythms, sweeping lyricism and stringent economy of thematic material were all features he kept and refined in subsequent works.

Links:

and

 

 

Voting ends Thursday 20th May 2010 at 11pm (BST)

[Krakalakachkn]

Mozart, Bizet

[dapianoplay3r]

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

 

[Majsju]

Mozart, Rach

[Corki]

Tchaikovsky and Bizet

[Jeannaisais]

Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky