Top 10 Baroque composers

From around 1600 to 1750, the Baroque period witnessed the creation of some of the greatest musical masterpieces ever composed. Here's our beginner's guide to the greatest composers of the Baroque period

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

JS Bach has been called 'the supreme arbiter and law-giver of music'. He is to music what Leonardo da Vinci is to art and Shakespeare is to literature, one of the supreme creative geniuses of history.

Key recording:

St Matthew Passion

Julian Prégardien (Evangelist), Stéphane Degout (Christus); Pygmalion / Raphaël Pichon (Recording of the Month, April 2022) Read the review

Explore JS Bach:

The 10 best Bach works: a beginner's list – Here are a selection of works by Bach that are essential listening; and once bitten the Bach Bug will take you on a journey of almost limitless reward Presents JS Bach.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

With Antonio Vivaldi, Italian Baroque music reached its zenith. The prosperous, cultivated world of contemporary Venice shines through all his works, composed with innate craftsmanship.

Key recording:

The Four Seasons

Rachel Podger vn Brecon Baroque (Editor's Choice, May 2018; shortlisted for the 2018 Gramophone Concerto Award) Read the review

Explore Vivaldi:

Top 10 Vivaldi recordings – Ten of the best Vivaldi recordings, including Gramophone Award-winners and Editor's Choice albums

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Handel is one of the giants of musical history. His is happy, confident, melodic music imbued with the grace of the Italian vocal school, an easy fluency in German contrapuntal writing and the English choral tradition inherited from Purcell.

Key recording:

Messiah

Soloists; Dunedin Consort and Players / John Butt (winner of Gramophone's 2007 Baroque Vocal Award) Read the review

Explore Handel:

The Mysteries, Myths, and Truths about Mr Handel – David Vickers takes an in-depth look at the composer, his life, and works.

Henry Purcell (1659-95)

Many regard Henry Purcell as the greatest English composer of all time. Among his most influential works are the opera Dido and Aeneas and the semi-operas The Fairy Queen and King Arthur.

Key recording:

The Fairy Queen

Lucy Crowe, Claire Debono, Anna Devin; Glyndebourne Chorus and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / William Christie (DVD of the Month, October 2010; 2010 Gramophone Award for DVD Performance) Read the review

Explore Purcell:

How we made England, my England: 'They actually built a sort-of London for me to burn down. What heaven!' – Tony Palmer reflects on the making of his acclaimed 1995 film on Purcell.

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Claudio Monteverdi, a composer who bridged the Renaissance period and the Baroque, can be justly considered one of the most powerful figures in the history of music. Among his most notable works are the operas Orfeo and L’incoronazione di Poppea. 

Key recording:

Vespers

Taverner Consort / Andrew Parrott (The Top Choice in our Gramophone Collection Article in June 2010) Read the review

Explore Monteverdi:

Monteverdi's Combattimento: which recording is best? In his search for the ultimate recording, Lindsay Kemp finds surprisingly consistent treatment of Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672)

Heinrich Schütz was the greatest German composer of the 17th century and the first of international stature.

Key recording:

Musicalische Exequien

Vox Luminis / Lionel Meunier (Gramophone's Recording of the Year 2012) Read the review

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Domenico Scarlatti produced the vast body of instrumental music for which he’s best known, and in particular the keyboard sonatas. These works extended the genre immeasurably, introducing a virtuosity and brilliance that broke new ground.

Key recording:

Sonatas

Yevgeny Sudbin pf (Recording of the Month, April 2016; shortlisted for the 2016 Gramophone Instrumental Award) Read the review

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

Though he was no judge of librettos, Jean-Philippe Rameau raised the musical side of opera to a new level and in his ballets introduced many novel descriptive effects – the French loved these – such as the earthquake in Les Indes galantes.

Key recording:

Overtures

Les Talens Lyriques / Christophe Rousset (winner of the 1998 Gramophone Baroque Non-Vocal Award) Read the review

Explore Rameau:

Top 10 Rameau recordings – David Vickers recommends 10 of the Rameau’s works and their best recordings

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)

Arcangelo Corelli was the main founder of modern orchestral playing and the composer who fashioned two new musical forms, the Baroque trio and solo sonata, and the concerto grosso.

Key recording:

Complete Concerti Grossi

Amandine Beyer vn Gli Incogniti (Editor's Choice, February 2014; shortlisted for Gramophone's 2014 Baroque Instrumental Award) Read the review

Explore Corelli:

Top 10 Corelli recordings​ – Corelli's music continues to inspire musicians and listeners more than 300 years after his death. Here are some of the finest recordings.

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)

Georg Philipp Telemann was probably the most prolific composer in musical history. He wrote almost as much as Bach and Handel put together (and each of them wrote a perplexing amount) including 600 French overtures or orchestral suites, 200 concertos, 40 operas and more than 1000 pieces of church music.

Key recording:

Concertos & Cantata Ihr Völker Hört

Clare Wilkinson mez Florilegium (Editor's Choice, September 2016; shortlisted for Gramophone's 2017 Baroque Instrumental Award) Read the review 

Monuments of Sound - Classical Music’s Longest Piano Journeys

by Hermione Lai  

Buckle up for a musical marathon, as this blog will feature some of the longest piano pieces in the classical repertoire.

There are probably many reasons why composers craft such monumental work. It might be for a mix of artistic, philosophical, or even personal reasons. And there is always the possibility of a playful provocation or a satirical jab.

To be sure, the longest piano pieces in the classical repertoire are not for the faint of heart, and that includes performers and listeners. In the event, let’s get ready for some sprawling compositions that push the boundaries of what is possible on 88 keys.

I hope you will forgive me for only providing musical excerpts!

Erik Satie: Vexations

Suzanne Valadon’s portrait of Erik Satie

It was written down on a single page, accompanied by a note from Satie that reads, “In order to play the motif 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities.”

That’s pretty cryptic, if you ask me, and some scholars view it as a satirical jap at the grandiosity of composers like Wagner. It has been called “the poor man’s Ring des Nibelungen.” However, it might also be connected to his brief and intense affair with painter Suzanne Valadon in 1893.

We might never know for sure, but the first performance by a group of pianists, including John Cage, lasted 18 hours and 40 minutes. At the end, one audience member famously shouted “Encore!”

Frederic Rzewski: The Road

Frederic Rzewski

Satie’s Vexations, as the name and the instructions imply, is a rather repetitive composition. However, there are plenty of non-repetitive works on offer, somewhat limited by available recordings.

How about a monumental cycle that spans over 10 hours in performance by the American composer Frederic Rzewski. The Road was composed between 1995 and 2003, and is an expansive and ambitious work for solo piano by a composer known for his politically charged compositions.

The composer envisioned it as “a novel for piano,” like a literary epic by Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. The composition unfolds in 64 individual sections or “miles,” each representing a step along an imaginary journey.

Rzewski does offer some programmatic titles like “Stop the War,” and “A Walk in the Woods,” and he requires the performer to engage in unconventional actions, such as whistling, singing, shouting, stomping, and even delivering spoken commentary.

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji: Symphonic Variations

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

When dealing with the pursuit of dazzling difficulties of execution in works of mammoth dimension, the English-Parsi composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1894-1988) is in a league of his own.

His Symphonic Variations for Piano is a colossal solo piano work, estimated to last between 8.5 and 10.5 hours in performance, depending on tempo choices and breaks. It consists of 81 variations spread across three volumes, or “books,” each containing 27 variations, totalling 484 pages in its manuscript form.

The piece is based on an original theme, which Sorabji transforms through an astonishing array of styles, techniques, and moods. It ranges from lyrical and introspective to ferociously virtuosic and dense.

Variation No. 56 includes a free paraphrase from the finale of Chopin’s Sonata No. 2. It appears in long, accented tones as counterpoint to swift running passages. It’s a transformation rather than a transcription, as the texture grows to polychordal combinations at the climax.

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji: 100 Transcendental Studies

Sorabji’s 100 Transcendental Studies

Sorabji composed 90 hours of piano music during a 65-year period that began in 1917. His works are generally not well known because Sorabji banned public performances of his works from 1936 to 1976, citing his disillusionment with the musical world of his time and owing to his idiosyncratic personality.

His 100 Transcendental Studies date from 1940 to 1944, and they are the largest collection of concert etudes in the known repertoire. As the title suggests, they allude to Liszt’s famous set, but they also include influences from Scriabin, Busoni, and Godowsky.

The beginning of the cycle is a series of typical concert etudes that essentially explore a single technical or structural idea. Later in the set, Sorabji inserts pieces on a much larger scale.

Sorabji’s vast pianistic universe is compelling and strangely different from any other music before or after him. A performer who has tackled the complete set writes, “the 100 Transcendental Studies occupy a key position in the composer’s oeuvre.”

Alvin Curran: Inner Cities

Alvin Curran

The American experimental composer Alvin Curran composed his cycle of 14 pieces titled “Inner Cities” between 1993 and 2013. It all started with a single piece and evolved into one of the longest non-repetitive piano compositions ever written.

Total duration exceeds six hours when performed in full, and individual sections are often dedicated to friends and influences like Lou Harrison and Trisha Brown.

We also find a vast range of styles, from minimalism, romanticism, avant-garde improvisation, and even jazz-inflected moments. For sure, Curran creates a sprawling sonic landscape.

The composer describes them as “contradictory etudes,” exploring liberation and attachment. Each piece unfolds from a single idea, becoming an immersive experience. They are often performed in settings where audiences can come and go, reflecting Curran’s rejection of traditional concert norms.

La Monte Young: The Well-Tuned Piano 

La Monte Young is a minimalist and experimental composer, renowned for inventing innovative tuning systems and a hypnotic and expansive sound world.

He started his Well-Tuned Piano in 1964 and refined the work over the decades. It is an improvisatory solo piece performed in a tuning system devised by the composer.

La Monte Young

The piece typically lasts between 5 and 6 hours in performance, sometimes longer. It is divided into sections with evocative titles like “The Opening Chord ” and “The Magic Chord.” It’s less a fixed composition and more a living process.

The composer said, “it’s about tuning the nervous system to these pure intervals.”

Michael Finnissy: The History of Photography in Sound

Michael Finnissy’s The History of Photography in Sound

Let’s conclude this little survey with Michael Finnissy’s The History of Photography in Sound. It dates from between 1995 and 2001 and spans approximately 5.5 hours across 11 movements.

Each movement has a distinct title, like “North American Spirituals,” “Alkan-Paganini,” and “Etched Bright with Sunlight.” You can already tell that it reflects a vast tapestry of musical, cultural and personal references.

The piece isn’t a literal depiction of photography’s history but a metaphorical exploration of “photography in sound,” capturing moments, memories, and ideas through music. You certainly hear lots of quotations and allusions.

Summary

Classical Music’s longest piano journeys is a fascinating testament to human ambition, endurance, and the boundless possibilities of musical expression. They certainly push the boundaries of what a single performer can achieve.

The compositional approaches are wonderfully diverse, and each of the featured pieces demands not just technical mastery but an almost superhuman stamina from the pianist and an equally committed listener.

There are still plenty of monumental pieces for solo piano that have not been recorded or performed. A number of Sorabji compositions exceeding 4 hours or more are still undiscovered.

I don’t know if “Beatus Vir” by Jacob Mashak, with a duration of 11 hours, has ever been recorded, but the 12.5 hours work by Maurice Verheul titled “Alida No. 16f—La conscience totale” is still practically unknown.

And there is a work simply titled “For Clive Barker” by Matthew Lee Knowles that has a supposed duration of 26 hours! What wonderful musical frontiers where imagination outpaces practicality.

We certainly have to marvel at the audacity of composers who dared to dream in such vast, uncharted temporal expanses.

Which Composers Were Influenced by Jazz?

by Emily E. Hogstad  

Jazz, a catch-all term for a musical style that began to emerge from Black communities in the American South during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, revolutionized the international musical landscape around the turn of the century and beyond.

Jazz popularized musical ideas that would prove popular across multiple musical genres, including

• Syncopation (“the practice of displacing the beats or accents in music or a rhythm so that strong beats become weak and vice versa”)
• Swing (“to play music with an easy flowing but vigorous rhythm”)
• Blue notes (“a minor interval where a major would be expected”)
• Polyrhythm (“a rhythm which makes use of two or more different rhythms simultaneously”)

(All of those definitions come from Oxford Languages.)

© omniamericanfuture.org

Those four features are only scratching the surface of the traits that jazz provided to so-called “classical” composers, who, after the chaos of World War I, were looking for new musical languages to be inspired by.

Many of these composers drew profound inspiration from jazz and the blues, integrating elements of these genres into their own compositions.

Today, we’re looking at some prominent composers who incorporated jazzy influences into their works.

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel in 1925

Maurice Ravel was a French composer celebrated for his precise compositional technique and innovative orchestrations. He was fascinated by jazz.

His Violin Sonata, which he wrote between 1923 and 1927, has an entire middle movement called “Blues.”

Ravel’s contemporary, African-American composer and bandleader W. C. Handy, nicknamed The Father of the Blues, performed in Paris in the mid-1920s.

Ravel and his violinist friend Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, who was the dedicatee of this sonata, heard Handy and became inspired by his musical language. 

Jazz continued to inspire Ravel, especially after he made a concert tour of America in 1928 and had the chance to hear more of it.

His 1931 Piano Concerto in G-major takes features of jazz, like syncopated rhythms and blue notes, and integrated them into the traditional concerto structure. The result was fresh, touching, and immediately engaging. 

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud (born in 1890) was another significant French composer who was influenced by jazz.

He heard his first jazz band – Billy Arnold’s Novelty Jazz Band – in London in 1920. He later wrote about them:

“Their constant use of syncopation in the melody was done with such contrapuntal freedom as to create the impression of an almost chaotic improvisation, whereas in fact, it was something remarkably precise.”

Later, in 1922, Milhaud took a trip to the United States and heard American jazz firsthand there.

Milhaud took these ideas and ran with them, composing his ballet La création du monde (The Creation of the World) between 1922 and 1923.

It merged an orchestral chamber ensemble and a jazz band into a six-part ballet lasting around eighteen minutes, utilizing saxophones, trumpets, and a rhythm section. 

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Russian-born composer Igor Stravinsky, who left Russia for other continental European cities after the Russian Revolution, also drew inspiration from jazz.

He began in the mid-1910s with his “Ragtime for 11 instruments” and continued exploring jazz influences for decades to come.

His “Ebony Concerto” from 1945 is a quintessential example of his jazz-influenced work. It was commissioned by clarinettist and big band leader Woody Herman, who led the First Herd band.

The band wasn’t used to playing music in Stravinsky’s style. Herman remembered later:

“After the very first rehearsal, at which we were all so embarrassed we were nearly crying because nobody could read, he walked over and put his arm around me and said, ‘Ah, what a beautiful family you have.’”

They all soldiered on. Saxophonist Flip Philips remembered:

“During the rehearsal…there was a passage I had to play there and I was playing it soft, and Stravinsky said ‘Play it, here I am!’ and I blew it louder and he threw me a kiss!”

This concerto took elements of classical form (the piece can be classified as a modern tongue-in-cheek interpretation of a Baroque concerto grosso) and combined those elements with jazz idioms, employing syncopated rhythms and swing.

George Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin is one of the composers who, being American and a popular songwriter, was most comfortable with weaving jazz into his “classical” compositions.

His “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924) for piano and orchestra is a landmark piece that blends the two genres.

The work’s famous opening clarinet glissando, lush harmonies, and rhythmic vitality are unmistakably inspired by the work of the era’s jazz bands.

Meanwhile, the use of the word Rhapsody (a type of free-flowing piece written by classical giants like Liszt, Dvořák, and Brahms), along with the concerto-like technical virtuosity required to play the solo part, paid tribute to influences from the “classical” world.

Gershwin’s ability to synthesise the improvisational spirit of jazz with classical structures turned him into one of the most successful jazz-inspired classical composers in the modern canon.

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland, 1946

Like Gershwin, Aaron Copland was American and incorporated jazz elements into many of his most popular works.

Copland’s “Music for the Theatre” (1925) and Piano Concerto are packed with jazz vibes.

In 1964, New York Philharmonic conductor Leonard Bernstein programmed during one of his famous televised New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts, and had Copland join him onstage to perform the solo part.

It was a reunion of sorts. Years before this performance, conductor and soloist had briefly been lovers, and their long-standing friendship and chemistry are certainly obvious in their joint advocacy of this 1926 concerto! 

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein

Which brings us to Leonard Bernstein, a conductor, composer, and pianist who was deeply influenced by jazz.

His 1957 musical West Side Story employs jazzy rhythms and harmonies, particularly in songs like “Cool” and “Jet Song.”

His “Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs” (written in 1949 for The Herd bandleader Woody Herman, the commissioner of Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto”) is another notable example, composed for a jazz ensemble and incorporating elements of swing and blues. (Unfortunately, Herman never got a chance to perform it, as The Herd disbanded in 1946.)eonard Bernstein was an enthusiastic believer in the universality of music. His fascination with bridging gaps between styles and genres in his compositions (and indeed, over the course of his career) provides a fascinating lens with which to view this music – and the broader history of the intersection of “jazz” and “classical music.”

William Grant Still

William Grant Still

Of course, the elephant in the room here is that jazz is a genre pioneered by Black Americans, and yet the most famous composers of jazz- or blues-inspired classical music are all white.

For many decades, as evidenced by just one glance at the whiteness of the established canon, Black composers have had trouble having their work taken as seriously as white composers.

This changed somewhat after 2020, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Time will tell if organizations are serious about championing incredible works that have been sidelined because of the race of their composers.

One Black composer who incorporated jazz elements into his classical compositions was William Grant Still, who was born in 1895.

His brilliant “Afro-American Symphony” from 1930 draws especially heavily on the musical language of the blues. 

Conclusion

Composers like Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and William Grant Still were all inspired by rhythms, harmonies, and improvisational spirit of jazz and the blues. And these are only the most famous of hundreds of composers who, in some way or another, weaved jazz into their music.

Their works stand as testaments to the magic that can happen when the unnecessary boundaries between classical and popular music melt away, creating exciting new varieties of music.