I think I'll have a go at this list thing if everyone else is. (This is favourites rather than greatest as I think is the idea) 1. Elgar Currently and always will be very high. He's fading back at the moment but I was uncomprimisingly addicted recently. Second symphony is one of the best examples of a late romantic symphony you can find. 2. Mozart Once you can accept the fundamental simplicity, it is easy to see that he wrote (at least in more mature years) PERFECT music. The clarinet concerto is perfect for example. A square meal if you will (ending with a delightful lemon mousse!). Piano concertos as I have said are all but impossible to beat. 3. Mahler Someone said you have to be 18 to really love Mahler (an article someone quoted). Big monumental gestures etc. Well being 18, I am very fond of Mahler. Looking forward to second symphony - 3 choirs and the BBCSO at Westminster Cathedral. More of an experience of the building than anything else. Don't know how Andrew Davis will manage with Mahler. 4. Bach I'm another fan of the B minor mass. I'm a mathematics student. Some have suggested a link. They're probably right. 5. Brahms Don't know what to say really. You either get it or you don't. 6. Beethoven I got to go to the ninth at the penultimate night of the proms. Truly amazing feeling. Colin Davis's performance was very pleasing. 7. Shostakovitch Noone else really sounds like him (AFAIK). Real energy. Very direct music I think. 8. VW Probably doesn't deserve this spot. I just threw him in. I heard his Serenade to music recently so he was in the memory. Great piece. Cannot for the life of me understand his ninth. 9. Debussy Great orchestrator. e.g. La Mer. That big surge before the end of the first movement is one of the really high points in music for me. 10. Stravinsky Rite of Spring, Firebird, Violin Concerto etc. etc. 11. Richard Strauss Doesn't pull it off all the time as far as I am concerned. Really nice harmonies (esp 4 Last Songs). 12. Walton Belshazzar's Feast. Coronation Te Deum. A flair for the rhythmic. 13. Britten Again, very direct music. A bit acerbic at times though. Oh, that'll do. This was hard. I don't think I actually have favourite composers, just favourite pieces. David Stewart [log in to unmask]