There is a great book called "Discovering Great Music" which give you a synopsis of the major composers (including, up to a point, their "stature" as musiciansa) along with recommended piece/recordings. Amazon.com should carry it. This is a good starting point. The Penguin Guide to Classical CD's is another more or less OK source to get feel for who's who in the world of classical composers. However...I would say your teacher is a bit of a jerk. what matters is that you find the music that moves YOU and makes you sit up anlisten, NOT what the pros think about it. I dated a pianist who thought Mozart was "Mickey Mouse" music, but that did NOT stop me from listening to Mozart Symphonies. If you REALLY must/want to know what may impress your teacher I guess you could drop names like Mahler, Bartok, Wagner, Satie, Beethven, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Bach, and so on and so on. But there is NOTHING like finding out who/what you like, kicking back and enjoying the music. If you'd like some specific recos, e-mail me privately w/ your phone number and I'll give you a call.
The Back Street Boys of Classical??
I have recently started piano lessons and theory with a wonderful teacher who is remarkably intelligent and has decades of experience playing and composing. When asking me about my taste in music, I think I mentioned Stravinsky, amoung others, from a basket of jazz, pop and classical music that I have enjoyed. I guess I need to be humbled as a student as I was a little embarrassed when he used the expression "salon composer", which I took to mean popular with the bourgeois but not taken seriously by musicians. An additional faux pas of mine was thinking that Vince Guaraldi should be found in the "jazz" section of Tower Records. Could someone educate my a bit more about classical (In the Tower Records, not historical sense of the word) composers? Who would be considered the N Synch of their time? And which composers have really endured as as worthy and challenging for people who really understand music? I realize this is somewhat subjective but hopefully will inspire lively debate.