Who is, in your opinion, the world's worst reputable composer?

Originally Posted by johnsamuelpike

Abernathy, you may have some other moral or superficial criteria for ill repute, but I did not see any such specifications in the original question posted. You may want to reread it.

No, I know what's in the original question, although in fairness to you I suppose I could have been reading it differently. I read the question as, "Of all the reputable composers, which is the worst?" However, I think you're reading it as, "Which composer is the worst reputable?" The tone of the whole thread has been much more in line with my interpretation, which was my original point, although given your reading, I guess "Wagner because he hated Jews" is good enough justification. To be honest it seems sort of pointless to interpret the question that way but it's valid.

gona have to say Mahler. There seems to be no middle ground with him. You either LOVE him, or absolutely despise him

I think this thread has proved rather interesting - particularly interesting is that it hasn't degenerated into a flame war, which is probably what would happen if a similar question were asked anywhere else. It's nice to think everyone here's so civilised.

Originally Posted by Zetetic

I think this thread has proved rather interesting - particularly interesting is that it hasn't degenerated into a flame war, which is probably what would happen if a similar question were asked anywhere else. It's nice to think everyone here's so civilised.

OH WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!! THAT'S THE LAMEST POST EVER!!!! YOU SUCK!!!

Originally Posted by SSC

I can't understand why it's so popular to engage in "CAGE IS AN IDIOT" "NO HE'S NOT, MOZART IS." "LOL BEETHOVEN PEES ON EVERYONE!!!!!" "VERDI CAN BEAT THEM ALL IN A WRESTLING MATCH!" nonsense. I suppose it's like when children fight over whether Chuck Norris could really beat up Bruce Lee or whatever. Come on.

This is probably my one major dislike of the Young Composers forums. There are far too many questions that start: "What's the best..." "Who's the best..." etc.

Focusing on superlatives leaves a lot of uncovered ground.

There is no best. There is no black, or white. Just grey. There is not one way to do something, there are many ways...

Focusing on the white or the black is a trait of the immature, the pedantic, or the desperate. Stop it! For your own sakes.

I know I'll meet a lot of crap for this, but I don't like Pierre Boulez.

I like electro-acoustic music. When well used, I'm all for serial music. However, there's something about Boulez that just doesn't do it for me. Which is strange, since he has to be one of my favorite conductors of all time. His analytical abilities amaze me, but his music just doesn't do anything for me. I don't think he's a bad composer, however.

With Mahler, I love his symphonic works. I'm not a big fan of his lieder, which is strange, since his vocal/incidental music was the basis of his early symphonies, but whatever.

I'm not big on Faure, either. His treatment of melody and orchestration sometimes leave a bit to be desired for me. He was certainly influential, but his personal style just leaves something to be desired for me.

Mahler's lieder are the most boring things I've ever heard, honestly. I mean, this is the same goddamn time as Zemlinsky and Wolf! Now those two are hardcore :>

If I remember correctly, people at the time thought Mahler's lieder were really really childish/antiquate so pretty much nobody gave a flip about'em. And it took a lot of time till Mahler's popularity convinced the general opinion that his lieder are anything more interesting. But seriously, compared with what was going on at the time, I agree that the stuff looks like the most uninteresting thing in the world, haha.

Originally Posted by flint-wwrr

This is probably my one major dislike of the Young Composers forums. There are far too many questions that start: "What's the best..." "Who's the best..." etc.

Focusing on superlatives leaves a lot of uncovered ground.

There is no best. There is no black, or white. Just grey. There is not one way to do something, there are many ways...

Focusing on the white or the black is a trait of the immature, the pedantic, or the desperate. Stop it! For your own sakes.

That's why the title has 'opinion' in it.

i like this topic.

however, even under torture i won't mention the name of the one putting a helicopter in a corner and let it rotate for two hours.

Originally Posted by SSC

Mahler's lieder are the most boring things I've ever heard, honestly. I mean, this is the same goddamn time as Zemlinsky and Wolf! Now those two are hardcore :>

If I remember correctly, people at the time thought Mahler's lieder were really really childish/antiquate so pretty much nobody gave a flip about'em. And it took a lot of time till Mahler's popularity convinced the general opinion that his lieder are anything more interesting. But seriously, compared with what was going on at the time, I agree that the stuff looks like the most uninteresting thing in the world, haha.

I love them. Kindertotenlieder, Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, des Knaben Wunderhorn... all so beautiful! (Especially the Kindertotenlieder!) Nothing against Zemlinsky, Wolf, or the songs of the second Vienna school of course, which may all have been a lot more innovative, in a sense. But there's of course lots of very "postmodern" aspects in Mahler (the way he uses simple and "childish" ideas, the irony, the incorporation of music of various sources), which were of course not seen as "modern" in the time he lived. Personally, the "childish" aspect of Mahler is probably the one that fascinates me most about it. It takes a lot more courage and conviction to be (or better: sound) "primitive" than complex.