# 40 before '30



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

This is not some sort of new math ; rather, this is a thread devoted to composers born before 1930 who are still with us.

Below, I've gathered 40 names - mostly from the concert music area and with some film & TV composers - who are well past age 80. This post is by no means comprehensive; I apologize to those folks who've been omitted and welcome continued input from other TC members.

One can think of this listing as a celebration of the lives devoted to the art of music, and I hope some fans & followers & friends take opportunities to capture interviews, compile biographies, preserve anecdotes & the like.

*born prior to 1920*

Henri Dutilleux (1916)
Julien-Francois Zbinden (1917)
Roman Vlad (1919)

*born during the 1920s*

Harold Shapero (1920)
Karel Husa (1921)
Dudley Simpson (1922)
Chou Wen-Chang (1923)
William Kraft (1923)
Ned Rorem (1923)
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (1923)
Klaus Huber (1924)
Kenneth V. Jones (1924)
Ezra Laderman (1924)
Gerard Schurmann (1924)
Pierre Boulez (1925)
Charles Chaynes (1925)
Antoine Duhamel (1925)
Andrei Eshpai (1925)
Ivo Malec (1925)
Johnny Mandel (1925)
Gunther Schuller (1925)
Mikis Theodorakis (1925)
Jacques Casterede (1926)
Friedrich Cerha (1926)
Betsy Jolas (1926)
Gyorgy Kurtag (1926)
Jon Nordal (1926)
Laurence Rosenthal (1926)
Leonid Bashmakov (1927)
Laurie Johnson (1927)
Jean Prodromides (1927)
Jean-Michel Damase (1928)
Ennio Morricone (1928)
Thea Musgrave (1928)
Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928)
George Crumb (1929)
Frederic Devreese (1929)
Andre Previn (1929)
Peter Sculthorpe (1929)
Marc Wilkinson (1929)

Only recently have I learnt of the passing of Swedish composer Maurice Karkoff (1927-2013) in January this year. In early March '13, Italian film music composer Armando Trovajoli (1917-2013) died at age 95.
Rolf Wilhelm (1927-2013) also died this January.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Dutilleux and Damase wrote great flute music!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Nice list. I´ve got music of about 22 of them and would consider Boulez, Dutilleux, Rautavaara, Crumb, Sculthorpe and Kurtag as deservedly among the most well-known. I like the Shostakovich-influenced Eshpai. Will have to check out this Prodromides!

Here´s a few more, Killmayer and Lidholm being the most important:

Else Marie Pade, a Danish early pioneer of electronic music (1924- )
Jan Krenz, a Polish conductor but also composer (1926- )
Wilhelm Killmayer, German, wrote in all genres (1927- )
Ingvar Lidholm, the major Swedish composer - still alive (1921- )
Alexander Arutjunjan, Russia, mostly known for his divertimento-like trumpet concerto (1920- )

Stephen Dodgson, a British writer of chamber music in particular, died a couple of days ago (1924-2013)


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

Colin Davis.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Thanks, joen_cph.

I'm sure there's others, but I was relying mostly upon my own music collection as well as an online source.
I was unaware of three of the names you list, and don't know how I missed Lidholm whom I am familiar with.
Never knew the year of birth on Jan Krenz - I was first exposed to Krenz via his film score to Andrzej Wajda's 1957 KANAL.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I thought Krenz was younger as well. There´s at least a recorded symphony by him too.

Else-Marie Pade is a celebrated and re-discovered person here, but on a local level. She is often in the media, partly due to her participation in the Danish resistance movement during WW II. She studied with Holmboe and the Schoenberg authority/composer Jan Maegaard. Her performed music is almost only electronic/vocal, and very avant-garde, but it would be interesting to hear other works as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Else_Marie_Pade (Danish, elaborated http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Else_Marie_Pade)

Which works would you recommend as an introduction to Prodromides ? Did he write film music only?


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Ester Mägi, born 10 January, 1922.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

hello said:


> Colin Davis.


a day late I'm afraid. he passed away yesterday.


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## Sudonim (Feb 28, 2013)

Chuck Berry.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

*Highlights - but not easy to find*



joen_cph said:


> Which works would you recommend as an introduction to Prodromides ? Did he write film music only?


An introduction to the music by Jean Prodromides is not easy because much of his (rather meager) discography remains on vinyl records.
Unless one currently uses a turntable and continues to collect and play LPs & EPs, one may be quite hard pressed to find and hear his music.
Perhaps by watching on home video some of the films he scored, one might get a feel for his musical output.
Prodromides wrote music for Roger Vadim's 1960 "...ET MOURIR DE PLAISIR" as well as Vadim's "Metzengerstein" segment which commences the Poe anthology film HISTOIRES EXTRAORDINAIRES (1968).
Other significant Prodromides film scores are his 1960 VOYAGE EN BALLON and DANTON (1982).

But film scores by Prodromides were basically from one decade (the 1960s) and I think he is recognized foremost for his contributions to stage, lyric drama, opera, etc.

LES PERSES is an outstanding opus - a television oratorio (whose album on Philips serves as my TC avatar).










Here's a YouTube clip on it: 




A must-have LP (in my opinion) is the 1981 Chant du Monde disc on his 1977 choral work "Le livre des Katuns" (paired with "Salome" and "Parcours"):










Director Andrzej Wajda was so impressed with "Le livre des Katuns" that he commissioned Prodromides to write music for his film DANTON, which I recommend most (but this highly "difficult" music is no doubt too strong an aural brew to serve as an introduction to the uninitiated).










Another uncompromising Prodromides opus is his 1989 opera LA NOCHE TRISTE, which I also recommend very much.










LA NOCHE TRISTE was issued in 1991 as a 2-CD set on the Ades label. It's a live recording conducted by Arturo Tamayo (another strong reason to hunt for this rarity - Tamayo is the premiere conductor, IMO, to champion contemporary works).

Hope this helps in some way or another, joen_cph.


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## hello (Apr 5, 2013)

Sonata said:


> a day late I'm afraid. he passed away yesterday.


I know, it was a joke


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Thelate,lamented Sir Colin Davis was not a composer, at least as far as I know.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

*bump* 

We've lost Henri Dutilleux.


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