1. Bartok
2. Rimsky-Korsokov
3. Liszt
4. Tchaikovsky
5. Varese

Ya I like Bolero a lot so I guess yo can throw a little Maurice Ravel on my list also.

Beethoven wasn't "unique" enough. I'm going to write that down.

Nikki Sixx
Mick Mars
Tommy Lee
Vince Neil

Bad joke, Motley sucks btw.

Yeah, I don't think anyone was thinking that this thread was lacking in the hair metal dept.

Now were those guys composing in the Baroque or the Classical period? I forget... :rolleyes:

For people new to "classical" music, I think that 20th century European composers are really the way to go. There seems to be a much more engaging vigorous dynamic going on, a lot more minor key "doom & Gloom", especially with the Russians like Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff. I find it to be a lot more accessible than most of the earlier periods

My faves:
Shostakovich
Bartok
Holst
Rachmaninoff
Sibelius
Prokofiev

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those.

I would also add Stravinsky and Mahler to that list. All of those composers are great gateways into the world of orchestral music.

I would also suggest to anyone that is new to classical music to put off listening to the more heavy 20th-century avant-garde stuff, which includes: Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Harry Partch, John Cage, Eric Satie, Alban Berg (among many others), until they are well versed with the big composers from the Baroque (ie. Bach, Vivaldi), Classical (ie. Beethoven, Mozart), and Romantic periods (ie. Liszt, Berlioz). I say this because the avant-garde stuff might scare off a classical music newbie!