Sign into an existing account

I agree. His music was transcendent, a gift from God. Unfortunately, when he died musical tastes changed, and his polyphonic style was no longer in fashion. His sons enjoyed some popularity because they moved on with the times and wrote in the new classical style, which preferred large orchestras with a more unified harmonic sound. Where JS Bach wrote with multiple melodies, emphasizing counterpoint, the classical composers tended to write with large, strong harmonies reinforced with all members of the orchestra. It's a pity, but the baroque age had its day in the sun.

If you enjoy that sort of thing, you might want to look up "The Baroque Beatles Book", an album of Beatles music reorchestrated for a small ensemble in the baroque style with a strong nod to JS Bach.

My favorite vinyl pressing is a recording of Handel's "Messiah". I bought it in 1977 and again on DVD a couple of years ago. There are a few others I particularly appreciate, and I'll follow up later with details.

Perhaps the most notable composer who knew about the JQ was Richard Wagner, the composer of, among many other operas, the Gotterdamerung, a four opera cycle, often referred to as the Ring Cycle. His opera, Die Meistersinger, has a character named Beckmesser, a conniving jew, and is pointedly referred to as such.

I'm not crazy about most modernists, but I like Stravinsky's ballets Petruchka, The Firebird, and oddly The Rite of Spring, but the latter only because it was in Walt Disney's "Fantasia" and I grew to like it.

Moussorgsky's most accessible work, as you probably know is "Night on Bald Mountain" (also in "Fantasia") and "Pictures at an Exhibition". It was written as a piano performance for the composer himself and he toured with it. The orchestral version was orchestrated by Maurice Ravel, a peer of Debussy.

Of course, Debussy's work is all magnificent, written at a time when classical composers were expanding the limits of what was acceptable harmonies. His work was almost ambient at times, such as "Nuages". I'm particularly fond of "The Children's Corner", a piano work that has also been transcribed for orchestra.

I'm not too familiar with Bartok other than his Concerto for Orchestra and some of his easier piano pieces. The former is a masterwork, somewhat eccentric having five movements, and using unusual rhythms and harmonies, but it all works together brilliantly.

As I say, I'll follow up with some of my favorites. Good for you, expanding you listening horizons. This, our musical heritage, is becoming a lost art, and I'm glad someone is taking an interest.