God created diversity. Diversity is particularly evident in music. It enriches our lives immeasurably. Only narrow-minded people discuss, for example, Brahms vs. Bruckner or the Beatles vs. the Stones.
Musicians (composers and/or performers) whom I particularly respect and appreciate because of their outstanding and individual skills and talent – regardless of style, space and time. The music of these artists fills me with great respect and deep gratitude. An inexhaustible source of inspiration!
- ABBA
- Claudio Abbado
- Adele
- Isaac Albéniz
- Anonymous
- Martha Argerich
- Kevin Ayers
- Charles Aznavour
- Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
- Johann Christian Bach
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Burt Bacharach
- Anita Baker
- Chet Baker
- Béla Bartók
- The Beatles
- Jeff Beck
- Walter Becker
- David Bedford
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- George Benson
- Alban Berg
- Hector Berlioz
- Leonard Bernstein
- Georges Bizet
- Blues Brothers
- Booker T. & the M.G.’s
- Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin
- Lili Boulanger
- Pierre Boulez
- Terry Bozzio
- Michael Brecker
- Randy Brecker
- Napoleon Murphy Brock
- Till Brönner
- Gary Brooker
- Jack Bruce
- Anton Bruckner
- Bill Bruford
- Alexei Mikhailovich Bruni
- Hanno Busch
- Maria Callas
- Ron Carter
- Pau Casals
- Johnny Cash
- Francesco Cavalli
- Ray Charles
- Frank Chastenier
- Frédéric Chopin
- Joe Cocker
- Vinnie Colaiuta
- Nat King Cole
- Phil Collins
- Comedian Harmonists
- Stewart Copeland
- Alfred Cortot
- Miles Davis
- Claude Debussy
- Christopher Dell
- Josquin Desprez
- Willy Dixon
- The Doobie Brothers
- Plácido Domingo
- Guillaume Dufay
- George Duke
- Antonín Dvořák
- The Eagles
- Bernard Edwards
- Duke Ellington
- Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- Bill Evans
- Gil Evans
- Donald Fagen
- Georgie Fame
- Claus Fischer
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Aretha Franklin
- Mirella Freni
- Robert Fripp
- The Funk Brothers
- Wilhelm Furtwängler
- Kenny G
- Peter Gabriel
- Steve Gadd
- Sir James Galway
- Marvin Gaye
- Genesis
- Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov
- John Goldsby
- Nikolai Semyonovich Golovanov
- Alexander Lvovich Gotgelf
- Edvard Grieg
- Martin Grubinger
- Charlie Haden
- Wolfgang Haffner
- Herbie Hancock
- George Frideric Handel
- George Harrison
- Johann Adolph Hasse
- Joseph Haydn
- Jascha Heifetz
- Don Henley
- Bernard Herrmann
- Billie Holiday
- Vladimir Horowitz
- Whitney Houston
- Dieter Ilg
- Heinrich Isaac
- Charles Ives
- James Jamerson
- Leoš Janáček
- Philippe Jaroussky
- Al Jarreau
- Antônio Carlos Jobim
- Billy Joel
- Elvin Jones
- Quincy Jones
- Herbert von Karajan
- Jonas Kaufmann
- Carol Kaye
- Nigel Kennedy
- Simone Kermes
- Aram Khachaturian
- Carole King
- King Crimson
- Carlos Kleiber
- Erich Kleiber
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold
- Orlando di Lasso
- John Lennon
- Annie Lennox
- Tony Levin
- György Ligeti
- Franz Liszt
- Christa Ludwig
- Jean-Baptiste Lully
- Guillaume de Machaut
- Arto Mäkelä
- Gustav Mahler
- Mischa Maisky
- Henry Mancini
- Charlie Mariano
- Branford Marsalis
- George Martin
- Pietro Mascagni
- Jules Massenet
- Albrecht Mayer
- Paul McCartney
- Bobby McFerrin
- Brad Mehldau
- Vince Mendoza
- Yehudi Menuhin
- Olivier Messiaen
- The Meters
- George Michael
- Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
- Dominic Miller
- Marcus Miller
- Nathan Milstein
- Charles Mingus
- Joni Mitchell
- Pierre Moerlen
- Claudio Monteverdi
- Moondog
- Gary Moore
- Ennio Morricone
- Wolfgang-Amadeus Mozart
- Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky
- Anne-Sophie Mutter
- Conlon Nancarrow
- Mark Nauseef
- Willie Nelson
- Anna Netrebko
- Jacques Offenbach
- Claus Ogerman
- David Fyodorovich Oistrakh
- Igor Davidovich Oistrakh
- Mike Oldfield
- Roy Orbison
- Simon Oslender
- Anne Sofie von Otter
- Niccolò Paganini
- Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
- Pino Palladino
- Robert Palmer
- Arvo Pärt
- Charlie Parker
- Jaco Pastorius
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Itzhak Perlman
- Oscar Peterson
- Simon Phillips
- Astor Piazzolla
- Pink Floyd
- Maria João Pires
- Mikhail Pletnev
- Ivo Pogorelich
- The Police
- Jeff Porcaro
- Gregory Porter
- Jacqueline du Pré
- Elvis Presley
- André Previn
- Prince
- Procul Harum
- Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev
- Giacomo Puccini
- Bernard Purdie
- Thomas Quasthoff
- Queen
- Sun Ra
- Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov
- Maurice Ravel
- Sviatloslav Richter
- Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov
- Nile Rodgers
- Gioachino Rossini
- Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich
- Nino Rota
- Fatma Said
- Camille Saint-Saëns
- Carlos Santana
- Erik Satie
- Domenico Scarlatti
- Lalo Schifrin
- Artur Schnabel
- Arnold Schönberg
- Franz Schubert
- Robert Schumann
- Wayne Shorter
- Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich
- Jean Sibelius
- Nina Simone
- Frank Sinatra
- Leland Sklar
- Bedřich Smetana
- Kian Soltani
- Ringo Starr
- Steely Dan
- Isaac Stern
- Thomas Stieger
- Sting
- Leopold Stokowski
- Richard Strauss
- Igor Stravinsky
- Andy Summers
- Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev
- Art Tatum
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Sir Bryn Terfel
- Camille Thomas
- Daniil Trifonov
- Tina Turner
- Steve Vai
- Edvard Varèse
- Giuseppe Verdi
- Heitor Villa-Lobos
- Antonio Vivaldi
- Richard Wagner
- Tom Waits
- Rick Wakeman
- Bruno Walter
- William Walton
- Dionne Warwick
- Anton von Webern
- Kurt Weill
- Tony Williams
- Ike Willis
- Steve Winwood
- Hugo Wolf
- Stevie Wonder
- The Wrecking Crew
- Fritz Wunderlich
- Yes
- Eugène Ysaÿe
- Frank Zappa
- Joe Zawinul
- Alexander Zemlinsky
- Krystian Zimerman
- Zucchero
N.B.: The list is still incomplete and will be updated from time to time.