Your Top 10 Favorite Russian Composers

[kyjo]

In some sort of order:

Rachmaninoff
Prokofiev
Taneyev
Kabalevsky
Medtner
Juon*
Tchaikovsky (P.)
Rimsky-Korsakov
Borodin
Glière

*If Juon doesn't count (he was Russian-born but spent much of his life elsewhere), I'll replace him with Arensky.


This was a difficult one for me. I would've liked to include Weinberg since he composed a few works that are very dear to me, however a significant portion of his output leaves me rather cold. My omission of Shostakovich will doubtlessly raise eyebrows, and I fully recognize his greatness as a composer, however I'm rarely in the mood to listen to his music these days (aside from a few works). Glazunov is a composer who I'm constantly "flip-flopping" my opinion of (kinda like John with Delius ) - I would've doubtlessly included him a few months ago. I very much like what I've heard of Schnittke's and A. Tcherepnin's music but I feel like I'm not familiar with enough of their outputs to merit their inclusion here. I debated including Borodin simply because he composed so little music (same goes for Kalinnikov, who I would've loved to include), but I decided in favor of him since what he did write is so treasurable to me.

[Symphonic Addict]

In some sort of order:

1. Shostakovich
2. Prokofiev

Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninov
Glazunov
Taneyev
Rimsky-Korsakov
Kabalevsky
Glière (or Myaskovsky)
Stravinsky

Honorable mentions: B. Tchaikovsky and Weinberg.

[DavidW]

I guess I'll try, I haven't been one for these list threads of late.

DSCH, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rach, Stravinsky

Those are my top tier.  I like other Russian composers for sure, but I wouldn't label them as favorite like those five.  I don't know if even Prokofiev counts since he is actually Ukrainian.

[ritter]

Well, in my case, there's Stravinsky, and then...Stravinsky, and...again, Stravinsky. Would also name Mussorgsky, Scriabin, and Prokofiev.

Ah, did I mention Stravinsky? 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Favorite Russian composers:

Tchaikovsky
Rachmaninoff
Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Prokofiev (now Ukraine)?
Mussorgsky
Borodin
Rimsky-Korsakov
?
?

PD

[vandermolen]

Today's list:

Miaskovsky
Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Weinberg (unless he counts as Polish) otherwise Popov
Glazunov
Rimsky-Korsakov
Rachmaninov
Kabalevsky
Gliere
Eshpai

[Mirror Image]

Today's list (for now):

Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Weinberg
Tchaikovsky
Stravinsky
Rachmaninov
Glazunov
Schnittke
Gubaidulina
Shchedrin

[Toh]

Total vote count (the most recent list from each participant):

Prokofiev: x28
Rachmaninov: x28
Shostakovich: x27
Stravinsky: x27
Tchaikovsky: x26
Rimsky-Korsakov: x20
Mussorgsky: x19
Scriabin: x17
Schnittke: x13
Glazunov: x9
Borodin: x8
Medtner: x8
Gubaidulina: x7
Myaskovsky: x7
Taneyev: x6
Weinberg: x6
Glière: x5
Kabalevsky: x4
Balakirev: x3
Eshpai: x3
Glinka: x3
Roslavets: x3
Arensky: x2
Denisov: x2
Kalinnikov: x2
Lyadov: x2
Lyapunov: x2
Mosolov: x2
Ustvolskaya: x2
Wyschnegradsky: x2
Avraamov: x1
Bortkiewicz: x1
Bortnyansky: x1
Cui: x1
Dargomyzhsky: x1
Dorokhov: x1
Firsova: x1
Juon: x1
Khachaturian: x1
Khubeev: x1
Korndorf: x1
Kourliandski: x1
Matyushin: x1
Obukhov: x1
Pavlova: x1
Popov: x1
Shchedrin: x1
Tishchenko: x1

[Lisztianwagner]

Mine, in no particular order:

Rachmaninov
Tchaikovsky
Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Stravinsky
Schnittke
Rimsky-Korsakov
Glazunov
Scriabin
Bortkiewicz

[Symphonic Addict]

Top 3

Shostakovich
Prokofiev
Tchaikovsky, Piotr


Then

Rachmaninov
Glazunov
Rimsky-Korsakov
Stravinsky
Schnittke
Kabalevsky
Gliere

[San Antone]

Here's my list, not ranked.

Weinberg
Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Nikolai Myaskovsky
Sofia Gubaidulina
Alfred Schnittke
Tigran Mansuryan
Lera Auerbach
Alexander Scriabin
Sergei Taneyev

[Karl Henning]

Bortnyansky
Glinka
Tchaikovsky
Rakhmaninov
Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Myaskovsky
Shostakovich
Weinberg
Schnittke

[Toh]

Mine would be:

1) Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich
2) Taneyev, Glazunov, Medtner, Wyschnegradsky

[relm1]

Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Rachmaninoff
Rimsky-Korsakov
Schnittke
Lyadov
Scriabin
Tcherepnin
Stravinsky
Weinberg
Mussorgsky

Some general observations:
* I really love the mystical/quasi impressionist Russian period of the late 19th an early 20th century and am always on the look out for those gems.  You get some of it in Tchaikovsky but it seems to peak with Rimsky-Korsakov and Lyadov.
* Some incredibly great composers are underrepresented due to non-musical reasons.  I think Popov and Mosolov fall in that category.  Oh what might have been if they became exiled or something but operated under greater creative freedom.    In contrast though, some composers seemed to have excelled in those same conditions so maybe it's a wash.

[Florestan]

I really love the mystical/quasi impressionist Russian period of the late 19th an early 20th century and am always on the look out for those gems. 

Try Vladimir Rebikov. He claimed having invented the mystical chord before Scriabin and was quite embittered by the lack of recognition. An eccentric person but the music (mostly solo piano) should be right up your alley. (I like it myself)

[joachim]

For me :

Arenski
Borodine
Glazunov
Gliere
Ippolitov-Ivanov
Khatchaturian
Kallinikov
Liapunov
Miaskovski
Prokofiev
Rachmaninov
Rimski-Korsakov
Shostakovich
Tchaikovski

[vandermolen]

For me :

Arenski
Borodine
Glazunov
Gliere
Ippolitov-Ivanov
Khatchaturian
Kallinikov
Liapunov
Miaskovski
Prokofiev
Rachmaninov
Rimski-Korsakov
Shostakovich
Tchaikovski

Nice list!

[foxandpeng]

Yeah, this is too hard. I have too many Russians that I know a bit, quite a lot but still undecided, or not at all. I don't yet feel ready to include some of the glaring, glaring omissions.

DSCH
Glazunov
Myaskovsky
Borodin
Balakirev
Pavlova
Prokofiev
Kalinnikov
Sergei Taneyev
Anton Rubinstein

[atardecer]

Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Rachmaninoff
Gubaidulina
Scriabin
Schnittke
Mussorgsky