Your favorite classical composers/works?

Classical music has been always the music of the elite, be political, economic or cultural. Once, in the renessaince and barokk period, when the composed music became a genre own its own, was primarily the music for royal families and for their courts, and for landlords copying the royal courts (beyond churches). Haydn worked during almost of his life to the Esterhazy family. The Archbishop of Salzburg treated the young Mozart as one of it servants. Actually, it was the period of Mozart when classical music spread beyond the court of feudal landlords and the emerging merchant and industrial burgoise and the new educated - future to be middle class -elite. But still, the unfortunate economic troubles of Mozart illustrated how difficult was thhe transition from being servant to try to serve a wider 'market'. Of course, this was the period, when classical music was still fairly close to "popular" music - they used similar instruments, there was an exchange of forms and tunes between the two music genres. Mozart wrote not only operas and symphonies but dance music for festives (for the discos of his time).Schubert, at the beginning of the XIXth century was foremost known for the Viennises as a popular song writer. During his short life he composed more than 600 songs (I guess he composed more songs than Madonna ever recorded), but his symphonic output was practically unknown for his contamporaries - and for a few decade after his death. In our days, the technology advance (cheap studios, cheap portable music repreduction means - be ipod or car cd-player - made only that popular music also became 'composed' music and traditional folk music has been replaced by easy tunes. In the ocean of aritifical cheap tricks, classical music seems to be a small rain drop - but it has been always. There is one difference, however. Classical music once was a living music. Operas of Mozart, Verdi, Erkel, (a Hungarian romantic composer), music of Bartók and Shostakovich were not only pieces of fair music and aesthetic pleasure but represented political and cultural revolutionary ideas, be Italian independence, against traditional conservative society, dictatorship - and rallied partisan elites - be political, economic or cultural. As did poetes in the XIXth-early XXth century. This kind of role art has been disappeared in our island of overconsuming and comfortable world. But in the third world still maybe there are music and poetes who expresses new popular ideas and partisan world view, and elite music has more importance than a factor of pleasure and reason to buy newer and newer more and more expensive gear to get closer to the music, altough we are hardly able anymore to really feel the human tragedy and need of expression what composers of different ages wanted to express.

Recently, I have seen a very interesting version of Monterverdi The Coronation of Poppea in Budapest, Hungary where I am living. This is one of the first operas ever written in 1643. This version was staged by Iván Fischer, the principal conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra with a professional theatre director, Andor Lukács. The actors were the members of the class of Lukács in the Budapest based Drama Theatre College. The actors sung the opera in italian as was written originally by Monterverdi and were accompanied by a small ensemble consisting one clavicord, violin and cello. Of course, as the student are learning Drama and not opera, their quality of singing was not that good, and now I am very polite. But they were, of course, very good actors - a quality which is very rare in any opera stage. The opera was also directed by a very talent director, so he was able to really dig in and show the drama of the play. The most interesting feature of the play was, that parallel singing the opera, three actors (who represented virtue, honesty and amor - the three main theme of the original opera) told the text in Hungarian (which is the leanguage which the audience was most familiar). Now, in this Wagnerian style gesammkunstwerk the text, the drama and the music got almost equal role. Due to this nature of the stage play, one could sense, once not the beauty of music was on the front, but the drama - really how modern and still relevant was the plot of the Poppea despite the fact that it was written some 400 years ago - and how the music served to underpin the drama. It was a really revealing event even for me (I say this as I really like Opera, etc) and demonstrated that sometimes we, classical music lovers, are forgetting the drama in operas for the sake of beauty of music and singing.
Now as far as modern music concerned, I really like some of the modern music. For example, I fairly like Ligeti. I have heard his music in several times in live concerts. One of the best concerts I ever heard was when the Keller quartett played Ligeti. Than I bought some of its cd-s. Still, I almost never put them at home to play. Somehow, this type fo music, which does lack the easy beauty of earlier music, is requires the concentration of the listener and the intesity and human factor of life performance. This is opposite of Bach Johannes Passion. I had it for ages on CD. I played a few times, but never really got it. A month ago, I heard it in a live concert by the Le Petite Band, led by Sigiswald Kujkinen. It was such a wonderful concernt. Since than practically, I am only playing it at home. And I think it is a qualitative difference between old and modern classical music.
And of course, modern classical music not always has "modern' message. A prime example for me the Castle fo Bluebard by Bartók. This is already an old classical, but many of its messages would be considered today as politically incorrect. Of course, this is the responsibility of Balázs Béla, who wrote the poem - which is not that great, not even in Hungarian - and not that of Bartók. But still, as a music wonderful. (MAybe the best version of this opera is actually produced by Fischer Iván with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Philips).

May I add a few not so popular or well known musicians/lps/cds, which are immensely beautiful.
Teleman, metodische sonatas, sony seon, a wonderful vollection of recorder/violin sonatas performed by the Boston Museum Trio and Frans Bruggen. Such a beautiful, erotic and sensual music - a completly different world than Bach's sonatas. Hearing that one may understand while the contemporary music lovers regarded so highly Telemann.
MOnterverdi, L incoronazione de Poppea, a truly modern and beautufil music from the mid XVI-th century: Bonnie and Clyde in emperor clothes.
Haynd Violin sonatas, Played by Pauk, Hungaroton. Of what music!
Biber, violin sonatas, Red Hot Chilli Pepper from the mid-XVIIIth century, low priced cd-s on the Apex series by Harnoncourt and a rival version by Andrew Manze.