The top 10 composers

Few surprises that JS Bach tops the list, but some of the other choices are not so obvious. Photograph: Alamy

For a fortnight, the classical music critic of the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini, has been engaged in a curious task: determining the top 10 composers of all time. Helped by readers, he has completed the job. But with the high placing for Debussy and rather odd inclusion of Bartók, does it reveal more about the tastes of the east-coast haute bourgeoisie than anything else?

1 Bach

2 Beethoven

3 Mozart

4 Schubert

5 Debussy

6 Stravinsky

7 Brahms

8 Verdi

9 Wagner

10 Bartók