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
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