After conversing with Dr. Maloney about the NY Times' recent entrance into the labyrinth of classical composer list-making, I thought I too would make a go at the minotaur. It turns out that my picks aren't all that different from Tommasini's over at the Times, but there are some interesting differences. All the usual caveats apply--this was not done scientifically or empirically or whatnot, and is subject to change at a moment's notice. Revealingly, I had already written up a list of my top thirty favorite composers a few years ago, but I decided not to look at that beforehand (I had forgotten who was on there) so I would not bias myself. I compared the two lists after my new list was finished, and there were only two different composers in the top ten, although the order is a little bit different. So it appears my tastes are pretty consistent, although who knows what fancies await. But for the moment, what follows would be my current list of the top ten greatest classical composers. Hopefully soon I'll get around to explaining why.
10. Stravinsky
9. Ravel
8. Wagner
7. Brahms
6. Tchaikovsky
5. Chopin
4. Schubert
3. Bach
2. Mozart
1. Beethoven
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