Steve Schwartz wrote:

>I say this because, when I was a lad, I was highly attuned to harmony
>and felt a strong animus against composers who didn't surprise me
>often enough: Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms, Bruckner, among
>others.  I've since realized there are things other than
unpredictable >harmony that might make or break a piece.

I am especially fond of Liszt, Peterson-Berger and Vaughan Williams.
These composers seem to have very little in common, but as a matter of
fact they are all tonal composers with a rich harmonic palette.  They
also used (what they believed was) the folkmusic of their native country
as a source of inspiration (yes, Liszt wanted to develop and write new
Hungarian music after he left Weimar).

On repeated hearing the harmonic surprises of these composers still
surprise me, and it is a revelation when you finally look at the score
in order to find out what they are up to.  Having said that, I must say
that I am often surprised by Beethoven and Haydn as well.

Mikael Rasmusson