Sorry guys, but for my taste Bach is a bit monotone and homogeneous, as some other baroque composers including Purcell, whom, by the way I also like (as well as Bach), but no more I am so much excited with them (I think there are much less "monotone" composers of more or les the same period, e.g., Handel, Scarlatti). On contrary, Tchaikovsky's music is very wide and different, from Liturgy of St. John Chrystostom (I love it) to his symphonies, conciertos etc. This is indeed admirable, at least (the same for other Russian composers including Rimski-Korsakov who was not mentioned in this thread). There is some analogy in paintings for me. There are painting that I like at the first glance, but more I look at them, less I like them, and there are painting which i do not like from the first glance (I think they are just interesting), but more I observe them, more I like them. I would attach Bach to the first category and Tchaikovsky to the second one. By the way, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (my favorite rock group) did a very nice and important, from my point of view, interpretations of these and other classic composers (in general, I don't like interpretations of the classical music, but this is an exception for me).
Similarly, in jazz, e.g., Chet Baker is good but he is too monotone to my taste (by the way, I like his singing as well), and I do love Miles Davis. Not only he has promoted large number of other outstanding artists, his music is too diverse starting from his pure jazz period, then he created his own jazz style with Hancock, Carter and Williams, then the fusion/electric music from late 60s, and finally he even approached rag before he passed away. For me, these two artists are incomparable. Of course, I like Coltrane (his active period was a bit short, but not as short as that of Jimi Hendrix, I love him). Like Miles Davis, he did created his own moods in jazz and pushed following jazz artists including Charles Lloyd, who was also able to create his own jazz mood (one of the greatest living jazz artists for me).
