Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Which composers are most "rational" and most "emotional"?

In your opinion, which composers try to, or in fact do, appeal most to your head/rational side, and which ones appeal most to your heart/emotions/emotional side? Of course, most will be some combination, but many will probably be more along one continuum than others (say, Chopin vs. Bach).

Why do I ask? I am trying to broaden my musical horizons by listening to more "emotional" music, which I often have a difficult time appreciating.

Music doesn't really ever change how I feel on the spot, i.e. from happy to sad. The neutral emotion I get from most music is joy. If I really like something, I may laugh or even tear up with joy if it's good enough. But when I'm already feeling a different emotion (anger, sadness, etc) I am able to 'enhance' those emotions with music that fits the mood. I don't think I could ever 'enhance' anger or sadness with any of Bach's WTC. I always find joy in the WTC. As for Chopin, let's say.. the 4th ballade. If I am feeling neutral, it will likely just give me joy because of how amazing it is. If I feel anger or sorrow, it would most likely enhance those emotions. Wow, this post did not answer your question at all, lol. Oh well.

Recently I've been enjoying the emotion I find in late romantics such as Scriabin and Kabalevsky. And more surprising (to me) has been the discovery of some of Scarlatti's more lyrical sonatas, which move me these days more than most "obvious" appealing-to-emotion composers (not to slight any of them, I'm a fan of many). The Scarlatti sonatas that I really love and have been working on are K 69, 197, 208, 296, 466. So rich!

There's music that engages me on a more intellectual level, like Bach's WTC. But then his St Matthew Passion is as emotionally profound as anything else I've ever heard....

Mozart for me strikes the ideal combination, in almost anything I hear from his mature music, from Die Zauberflöte to the Clarinet Concerto to his K414 Concerto and K310 Sonata.

But for sheer emotionalism, I'd listen to Rachmaninoff.

EASY ONE.

Most rational: Bach

Most emotional: Bach

Yeah.

I never thought of it this way before, but this is probably why I so easily consider him clearly the greatest ever.

This is the best answer. Great!

I've been working on a prelude and fugue from WTC, and every measure is devastating.

-J

Most rational? Easy: Tom Johnson. He even has a work called "Rational Melodies." Much of his music is composed according to strict rational or mathematical principles.

In one of his essays on his compositional approach, George Gershwin opined that Bach is generally regarded as the greatest ever because of his unmatched ability to satisfy, simultaneously, the needs of the mind with the needs of the heart. He, incidentally, defined himself as a conservative Romantic, which IMO is an accurate assessment.

Bach, or Gershwin? (I'm guessing Gershwin.)

BTW, +1 to Bach and Bach. Good one, Mark.

Emotions, like music, are not irrational. A different system of logic is involved. One that is not always consciously apparent.

Vitually all the great composers appeal greatly to the emotions. The only two exceptions(for me) would be Debussy and Ravel. I think emotional appeal is the most important aspect for most listeners.

So you chaps (including Gershwin)
want to crown Bach ... top dog ... what a bore!

For medication I use a dose of the WTC ... but am much happier under the banner of Count Basie, Artie Shaw and Bennie Goodman.

What a bunch of losers ... championing the Baroque chappie whose ditties might well have got lost in some dusty basement, but for his re-invention by mould-prizing Mendelssohn.

Thus spake a blubbing emotional Zoroaster (getting out his damp handkerchief).

Well done Mark! I was going to say the same.

Bach a bore? You cut me to the quick!

In any case, if you're looking for a two-fer in answer to the OP, Bach fits the bill.

Hey guys, what about Messiaen? I think he encompasses the spectrum as well as Bach. From the second ever work of integral serialism (modes of values and intensities) to the intense passion of L'ascension and many other works.

double post

If Bach is, at least for some posters, the most rational or most emotional, why is there so little discussion of his music compared to many other composers in PW threads?

I think the rational part is simply due to the fact that highly contrapuntal music, by its nature, may sound more "rational", i.e. organized, to some listeners. IMO one could just as easily use Beethoven Sonatas or Beethoven Variations as examples of highly organized musical expression.

Bach? Really? He's so old and boring. You guys need to get with the times.