My favourite two musicians are:

Maxim Vengerov - he plays with such beauty and such feeling, it can make me cry... just beautiful.

Emmanuel Pahud - he has such technical mastery and beauty/variety of tone that I absolutely covet, but also plays with such feeling and passion.

Find both of these chaps spellbinding to listen to

I'm sure everyone will have different people and different instruments, I don't feel that I know enough pianists etc to know who are my favourites in those fields! But I'll be interested to be educated by people who do

Obviously with the violin it has to be Maxim Vengerov.

On the oboe, Roy Carter - mainly an orchestral performer, but his playing is extremely lyrical and always captures the mood of the work. He plays the Strauss concerto beautifully.

Cello - Tim Hugh.

I'm not an authority on pianists, but from those I do know I would put Piers Lane at the top of my list.

Aaaw. I met a pianist last Saturday who told me this, too. That he's unmissable. But we missed him each time. His May date with LSO is now gone. Wonder when his next LSO date will be. You must let me know, Sarah, if you know.

Haven't a clue

Jane might know?

I haven't (yet!) seen him live - only heard recordings and seen video.

Tess, if you go to his website http://www.maximvengerov.net/intro/intro.html you can subscribe to a mailing list to get tour date info.

Vengerov He has everything!
Perlman - people say he is over-rated, but I disagree in many ways. I LOVE his Zigeunerweisen. It blows everyone else's away. I'm learning to love Tasmin Little, she does some beautiful little things I don't really know why I enjoy her playing. Ooh, and Sergey Khachatryan, he's young and pretty amazing already. Kennedy obviously, goes without saying. Zina Schiff has the best ever recording of the Chaconne (BWV1004). Joshua Bell
Non-violinists, I think Barenboim is my fave

Thanks, Meerkat!!!

Pianists:

Brendel for most things classical, Leif Ove Andsnes (for everything he plays ) and I like Lang Lang's firey playing style for some pieces (although I've not heard him play a great variety of pieces).

Violinist:

There can only be one: Vengerov .

I was going to say, some of my favourite musicians are my friends...ie Andy

From the abrupt change of direction and whether there is an ulterior motive or not...

I think your hostility in this particular thread is unwarranted and you have been reported.

I do not think you would be so bold to say things of this nature face to face. In the long run, it reflects poorly on yourself and your parents. End of discussion.

Cool it both of you. You're both off my favourites list for now.

As for my choice of favourites - too many to list, known and unknown alike.

Why thankyou!

Nocturne_In_Silver's response is typical of many youths and young adults nowadays and that puts me to shame. Of course her reasons are utterly valid, and I do not dispute that. However, coming from someone who is now an adult, one should think before one speaks/writes. And by not considering the effects of your actions on your parents, their reputation and the reputation of the University of Bangor, emotional maturity is an area that requires attention.

Returning this thread to the topic before a joke taken the wrong way gets out the flamethrowers...

I quite like Richard Bissill on Horn (fantastic arranger too), and Simon Mulligan's piano is nice (though I admit I don't have much ground to judge piano players properly!)

The conductor I respect most is my current one, and the two musicians I know and respect are my fantastic Steel Pan teacher and The SuperTrombonist™ (he's every bit worthy of his nickname!).

Leif Ove Andsnes is awesome.

Trumpeters: Wynton Marsalis, John Wallace, Crispian Steele-Perkins, Hakon Hardenberger and Alison Balsom (girl power!).

Like Nocturne in Silver, some of my very favourite musicians, who I really look up to, are people I know - my mum, my friend Andy, my ex-boyfriend Rob... when you've played with someone, or heard them practise, that's when you can really tell whether someone's a great musician!

Lighten up Chopin, have you been struck down with consumption again?

Some may consider that your supercillious and patronising attitude is unbecoming of you and your parents... Personally, I am not offering an opinion whether that is true or not, I leave other forum members to make their own mind up.

Getting back to the theme of the thread: my favourite organist is Prof. Ian Tracey at Liverpool Cathedral

You play the piano really sensitively, tis fabby

Recorder - Piers Adams Frans Bruggen Michael Schnieder Michela Petri

Piano - Baremboim, Lang, Grosvenor, Ashkenazy, Jando and Horovitz

Flute - Galway, Pahud, Rampal and Bennett

Clarinet - Ottensamer, Johnson, Kovacs (sp?)

Oboe - Goosens, Holliger

Bassoon - Turnovsky and Lefevre

Violin - Vengerov, Perlman, Zukerman, Chang, Nishizaki, Benedetti, Mae, some other dude!

Double bass - Mehta

Cello - Du pre and Kliegel

How bout some "whys" here?

No need. He's just listed every instrumentalist in his CD collection.. LOL

Favourite clarinettists (in no particular order) : Jack Brymer, David Campbell, Emma Johnson, Gervase de Peyer. For me, in jazz, I rate Benny Goodman really highly - a stunningly brilliant all round musician- he could quite easily turn his hand to 'classical' music too.

Turning to other instrumentalists : Jacqueline du Pre - never fails to move me with her playing - how many cellists has she inspired over the years? Also like Alison Balsom (trumpet), William Bennett (flute) and Maxim Vengerov (violin).

Plenty of others, too numerous to mention. And that's before I start on 'non-famous' musicians that have inspired me over the years......

Is she a youngish trumpeter? I think I know who she is but not sure, I think I recognised her name.

She is Sarah. Have a look here.

I don't like to see people as good musicians, or my favourite musicians, but instead I listen to the interpretation of the music, which is what I like.

Hmmm, the name definitely rung bells but her face doesn't..!
I need to remember where I read about an up-and-coming female trumpet player and check. I guess the UK probably doesn't produce that many?!

Just listened to a couple of samples on itunes, very impressed...

edit: OK just looked at her discography and another pic was familiar! yes she's the one.


But if you consistently like one person's interpretation, doesn't that mean you think they are a good musician??

I think I've said this before on forums, but I don't understand how anyone can play, say, rapid semiquaver passages on a trumpet so effortlessly. Alison Balsom just plays those sorts of passages so well........

I guess it often seems harder on another instrument - so mysterious - but yes, I find it amazing too!

Yeah even though half of them don't exist in my CD collection



Don't tell me what to do!

could people sheeth those retractable claws please! Goodness, it's a thread about music, not the apocalypse.

Chris:

1) don't assume that it was just aimed at you, as it wasn't

2) the original question was "who are your favourite musicians, and why?" - I am interested to know. So no need to get uppity and silly about me repeating the question which, for various reasons, has been somewhat lost...

Anyway... favourite musicians anyone else? and new respondants (or anyone who's posted already) care to tell us why?

Next customer please

I'm very fond of the soweto string quartet. I love the blend of sounds they use, and they remind me of home. I saw them in york, about a year after I moved to the uk from south africa, and I cried for the whole concert.

Ahhhh I LOVE the SSQ! I have Zebra Crossing - think that's what it's called?

Sounds interesting..... * goes to search engine *.......

Just had a listen to a couple of samples.....they're really good!

I just looked on Amazon - it is Zebra Crossing that I have - I love their version of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. Really lovely warm harmonies and a lovely arrangement. That's the only CD of theirs that I have but I can well imagine their others are good too. A very different kind of string quartet without being gimmicky.

......might just have to go out and buy another CD for my collection!.....

Well my favourite musician is the little man with the beard who leads the Berlin Phil! I don't even know what his name is!! He looks like Mr Tumnus from the Narnia books - like a little elf/pixie sort of thing.

Why?
Well, he always plays with the other violoinists, and yet when the conductor shakes his hand as leader of the orchestra he always looks so enbarrassed and surprised. Once I saw him take on more of a solo role and he was STUNNING...but again, very modest, humble and embarrassed when people make a fuss of him! What a gentleman! I'd love to meet him some day!

Isn't the leader of the berlin phil a student of suzuki's? If not the current leader, one in the recent past.

MrB, may I remind you who needs to lighten up in the first place. I wasn't the one who used unacceptable language in a public forum. And No, I have not been struck down with TB again!

Is the act of stating the truth with a bit of advice from a person who is older always considered supercilious and patronising? Would you prefer to leave unacceptable behaviour unchecked? Does the lack of comments for Nocturne_In_Silver in your post mean you condone her behaviour on the forum earlier? Or is it because you are biased, using the opportunity to silently defend her and attack me instead?

I am not seething with rage or in need of a desperate dose of 'lightening up' potion. I just do not take unacceptable behaviour. No one should. What disturbs me is that no one else seems to object to Nocturne_In_Silver's responses to my posts (apart from the forum moderator) and instead has a go at me.

Later edit: I'm sorry for derailing this thread but I had to defend myself publicly against such accusations and insinuations. I do not have anything against Nocturne_In_Silver personally, only to her uncharacteristic response in this thread. I do not like to hold a grudge - I only wait for an apology and all will be forgotten.

Please d'you think you could stay on topic and keep your arguments off this thread, it's actually rather interesting when people aren't baiting each other or derailing it.

"All posts within a thread should have some relevance to the topic of the thread."

Thanks.

Not classical (but the thread doen't specify that it has to be)- Bob Dylan, because he has had a massive influence on all pop music that came after him. (Worth it alone for All Along the Watchtower)

I haven't thought of who my fav musicians are as such although I confess to having been moved to tears by Pinchas Zukerman's and Daniel Barenboim's music. I also like some of ABBA's music very much!

ABBA are great because it makes me feel happy!

Miles Davis, because he was continually moving jazz forward

Charles Mingus, because his compositions are just "right"

Thelonious Monk for being a brilliantly innovative pianist

Dexter Gordon for his fabulous, laid back, fat, tenor sax sound

and I haven't even got on to the musicians playing the circuit today.

Oh, plus my teachers for continually providing me with motivation and guidance.

FC, you baited Nat by suggesting ulterior motives, and she may have overreacted but that's not a surprise really. You owe her an apology as much as she owes you one. If you had not baited her in the first place then this thread would not have gone off track - you are the one who led it off topic. Learn when to leave well alone, this thread is not the place for it.

Thanks for all the input, guys, laying aside the backbiting, this has been a really interesting thread.


Now I really want to hear him play to know what his sound is like

It was not my intention to bait her - if I have unintentionally done so, I apologise. My post was done in good faith and in a light-hearted manner. You yourself have said that she may have overreacted.

I don't see the point of you blaming me again for bringing this thread off topic as I have already made an apology for it. This issue would have been closed, but you yourself have brought it up again.

Maxim Vengerov of course

I saw him for the 2nd time last week at the Barbican. We were 7 rows from the front and it was fantastic. He plays with such passion and perfection, he's just breathtaking and AND.......

I got to meet him afterwards and he signed 2 of my CD's, two pieces of music and posed for a photo. He's such a genuinely nice bloke.

Saw Jane there too.

I've booked tickets to see him again in November, can't wait!