Your favorite classical composers/works?

Music I really never tire of: anything Ravel, anything Debussy, anything Beethovan, anything Mozart.
I remember record stores in the late 70's and especially Tower Records in NYC in the early 80's.. a whole FLOOR of classical records (then later cds)
Now? the Jazz and classical sections of record stores continue to dwindel in size and selection.
The death of the fine arts will be complete within 50 years unless... ??
Interesting trend, "Baby" cd's (Baby Einstein brand) designed to stimulate the baby's brain activity by hearing various classical compositions.

I think one reason classical is not as popular as it used to be (although live concerts continue to sell out) is the drab, emotionless recorded performances? today of even the popular classics not to mention some of the unusual. Where are the Reiners, Szells, Bernsteins, etc., etc. Most contemporary recordings of familar works are almost unrecognizable to my ear compared to what I am used to.

Case in point: The Naxos recording of Chadwick's Symphonic Sketches. Listen to that recording then go listen to Howard Hanson's. Or better still, listen to Hanson conduct his own works and compare with other recordings (Schwarz, etc.)of his works. They are just playing the notes.

As to where classical is going I don't make a distiction among composers such as Bach, Mozart, Mahler, Debussy, etc. Like someone once said, "There are only 2 kinds of music, good and bad". It's not the music itself, it's the way it's being played.

Xiek, I also am a big fan of Debussy and eqally Ravel. I say equal, for it seems Debussy is the more popular of the 2. I posted a topic on Gramophone concerning "which ONE (not 2) composer do you feel in not-as-yet-recognized for his genius?" The topic was to point out how I felt the orchestral and piano music, not to mention his lone trio and sq , as the one composer that stands out to my mind as un-recognized. ie, seldom programed in concerts. Also classical forums can go on pages about Beethoven and Chopin's piano solo, hardly a word about Ravel. ...As I hear Ravel's solo piano, to my ears it is the pinnacle of the entire romantic movement. IOW Ravel achieves in perfect form all that went before him....Debussy was the first modern, with scertain passages in Wagner's 3 great operas as a fore-runner to Debussy. "death of classical in 50 yrs". No I believe there is a rival taking shape as we write. You do not see it unfolding as it is like all movements, underground. With the music of Schnittke and Pettersson will be the 2 great stars and among many past greats of the 20th century. The concert halls will be thin and the music a bit stale, but there is new life being born in a new generation....like myself.
Mozart will never be forgotten as his music has the fabric and spirit of eternity.
Muzcal, agree that the conductr is extremely important to the composer's genius.
I just posted a topic on friday, "conductors, and the trouble they create for composers works of genius"...Schnittke somewhere (I'm still looking for the passage) said that Stravinsky felt conductors should not attempt to take on a role as shaper of the score. Schnittke disagreed and felt conductors were equal in the creative process. The replies this morning should be of interest. For as I said in my post, most recordings can be trashed. Yet another controversial comment from me, but for the most part these guys on gramophone have shown much greater level ogf tolerance for my radical views than the grouches and trolls over at Good Music Guide.
Of my 500+ cd collection, all have been through a process of critical listening. More than 1000 were eithrer sold off, given away, or thankfully lost to Katrina, before which they did not sell on amazon.
Conductors are equal to composers. btw "big names" in conducting do not impress me. As each recording is judged accordingly.
Although I will say I tend to go with french orchs/conductors in french music, russian forces in russian music , etc. AS a general rule it seems to be the case for excellence.
Bryden Thomson/London SO is my choice in RVW's syms. Though Mitropoulos/4th and Stokowski/6th both with the New York take a place of excellence. Haitink/London PO is pretty good in Shostakovich , but feel no need to have a 3rd copy when there is Rozhdestvensky and Kondrashin around. This is some of the process involved in building my collection for the past 5 yrs. Thousands of hours were involved in seeking out which recordings were best to my ears.
I've finsihed my collection last month. I may buy one or 2 cds this yr, and so on.

Paul
Baton Rouge