Ranking Greatest Composers of All-Time

In 2011, Anthony Tommasini, the chief classical music critic of The New York Times, launched a Top 10 Composers project with a series of articles voicing his picks and inviting readers to comment. There was considerable response, many welcoming the discussion, some issuing warnings (“Don't you dare leave off Mahler!”), and others scorning the whole notion of ranking composers. Out of that project came the current book, in which Tommasini cheerfully acknowledges the problematic nature of canon formation, especially in a field like classical music where the standard repertory can become ossified. Nevertheless, he defends the value of distinguishing the great from the merely good.