your favourite composer?

well, I really believe its impossible to pick the "best". the first ones that came to my mind were Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Ravel.

the first 3 mostly because I'm a pianist and I don't know why I thought of hte others..I just like their music. But who's to say any one is any better than the other? Then there's the usual big 3 everyone knows...Mozart, JS Bach and Beethoven....when all is said and done..those 3 people have influenced western music more than anyone else ever has. So if you want to be "official" you would have to choose one of those 3 guys.
 
i think there are a lot more atmospheric and moodful classical composions in modern time that hardly get any recognition... composers like danny elfman and nobou uematsu are pretty weird music influences, but they are one of the biggest for me.
 
For people interested, there are a lot of great composer recs in the "classical" thread. Check it out.

If we're talking 2nd Viennese School, Berg is my fave. But Webern is kind of interesting in the way he was able to do so much by saying so little. Tiny little pieces. Not something I listen to all the time, but pretty cool once in a while.