The G.O.A.T.s

To know the Little Mushroom is to love him deeply.

by Peter Burwasser

For a newspaper so erudite it doesn't carry the funnies, The New York Times is quite prone to publish populist "best-of" lists, including on the music pages. Music critic Anthony Tommasini has just presented the ultimate such list, the top 10 classical composers. All snickering aside, it's great fodder for lively debates, and his rundown is well presented and plausible. He wisely omits living composers (we are too close to have a full perspective). For the record, beginning with No. 1, his list is: Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Debussy, Stravinsky, Brahms, Verdi, Wagner and Bartok.

I'd put the same four at the top, but in different order. For the mind-boggling completeness of his musical abilities, and because of the uncanny, even miraculous depth of music that can often sound superficially simple, Mozart is my No. 1. Then Bach, for the dazzling emotional range — from ebullient joy to dark despair — that seems so at odds with the dumpy, grumpy pictures of the man. And of course Beethoven, the very voice of humanity, but undoubtedly a notch below both Mozart and Bach in sheer technical facility.

Schubert at No. 4 is a rather personal choice. To know the Little Mushroom (as his friends called him) is to love him deeply and unreservedly. The amount of music greatness that he produced before his death at 31 is astonishing. Beyond that, the fun begins. There are composers who are easier to admire than to love. For me, that includes Debussy, Wagner and Bartok. They don't get on my list, great as they are. But I'll keep Stravinsky, Verdi and Brahms.

Chopin, although he wrote almost exclusively for solo piano, was one of the most original geniuses in history. He's on my list. His similarly short-lived contemporary Schumann practically invented the Romantic era in music. The psychological complexity of his work is especially relevant to modern ears. He's on, too. Finally, a 20th-century figure whose stature and popularity grows every year, Shostakovich. His emotive symphonies and string quartets reflect the sinister side of a troubled century.

OK, so here's my final tally: Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Stravinsky, Chopin, Schumann, Verdi, Brahms, Shostakovich. Subject to change on a moment's whim, of course. Who's on your list?

(p_burwasser@citypaper.net)