# Who's you favorite composer of the last hundred years?



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

C'mon, tough it out. Focus. Just one, none of those lists. No cheating!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

You just want to make me say Sergean Sibelianoff again. 

There. I'm outa here.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Gyorgivier Messiaeti. But seriously, depending on my mood it's usually one of these two.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I can't believe the amount of cheating here. Might as well be track and field. I'm calling the IAAF!


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

We all know that there's really only two options here.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Dim7 said:


> We all know that there's really only two options here.


Villa-Lobos and...?


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I roll with Rach.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

The question is so absurd, that I can't even imagine answering it. To do so would be only a partial truth: Schoenberg.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

KenOC said:


> Villa-Lobos and...?


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Three-way tie, but I ain't sayin'. Maybe a four-way tie.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Isn't this pretty much the same as asking our favorite 20th/21st century composer (excluding Mahler)? 

But I see. You want only one. 

Arnold Vaughan Ligeti.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Amazing how few people are willing to give a plain answer, here in our culture of non-commitment. Really, it's like an election: "Check one box."


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Shostakovich. By far.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Why be committed to one composer in a hundred years? It's an absurd question, as you very well know.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Anton Pierre-György Webouligeti


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Frank Zappa. That's right, you heard right.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

starthrower said:


> Why be committed to one composer in a hundred years? It's an absurd question, as you very well know.


I'm asking who your favorite composer is. I don't think that's absurd at all.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

KenOC said:


> I'm asking who your favorite composer is. I don't think that's absurd at all.


I don't have one favorite composer.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Ian Anderson, of course.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Crudblud said:


> Frank Zappa. That's right, you heard right.


...fifty American dollars to the girl with the most exciting mammalian protruberances. Whopee!


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

But we veterans have answered this question many, many times.

How many times do I have to say that my favorite 20th century composer out of many is Benjamin Britten?

That was the answer ten years ago and it has not changed.

My favorite composer is Mahler, yet I know of some nick pickers here who would try to pick a fight with me that Mahler is really a 20th century composer and they would try to draw me into some meaningless esoteric discussion in order to justify my choice. For me this is not a contradiction.

Then there will be those members who will try to argue with me that they do not understand how a person who likes Britten can also like Elliott Carter.

I have also had the experience of when I have tried to answer these questions, members then accuse me of attacking them. I even had some nasty personal messages accusing me of this.

I have no problem answering a newbie but I am weary when a veteran asks such a question.

For me I have found that the best course of action is to avoid discussions like this.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

arpeggio said:


> For me I have found that the best course of action is to avoid discussions like this.


Alas, you didn't succeed this time!


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## dzc4627 (Apr 23, 2015)

Schnittke- duh....


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## SeptimalTritone (Jul 7, 2014)

One composer.

Exactly one composer.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

SeptimalTritone said:


> One composer.
> 
> Exactly one composer.


 Not two, not shall it be three. Its shall be one, neither more nor fewer.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

You mean the really greatest composer of the last 100 years or the truly greatest?


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

KenOC said:


> C'mon, tough it out. Focus. Just one, none of those lists. No cheating!


One of the very greatest, Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria *Puccini*.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

regenmusic said:


> You mean the really greatest composer of the last 100 years or the truly greatest?


Having trouble understanding the question, are you? Really and truly??


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> Anton Pierre-György Webouligeti


Somehow, that sounds at least very aristocratic.


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2015)

Schnittke.

Check back for updates!


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2015)

ArtMusic said:


> One of the very greatest, Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria *Puccini*.


Just to clear things up, Ken's original post specifies last 100 years, so the name Puccini only refers to _La Rondine_, _Il Trittico_, and _Turandot_.

A mention of Sibelius, for instance, would only refer to Symphonies 6 and 7, Tapiola, and an assortment of some fairly obscure works.

A mention of Rachmaninoff would exclude his 2nd and 3rd piano concerti, his 2nd symphony, and so on. A mention of Stravinsky would exclude the first three of the major ballets.

Just wanted to clear the air a bit. Ken has done this thread before and that was the intention.


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## Guest (Dec 26, 2015)

nathanb said:


> Just to clear things up, Ken's original post specifies last 100 years, so the name Puccini only refers to _La Rondine_, _Il Trittico_, and _Turandot_.
> 
> A mention of Sibelius, for instance, would only refer to Symphonies 6 and 7, Tapiola, and an assortment of some fairly obscure works.
> 
> ...


In that case that only leaves Deutscher.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Today Sibelius, tomorrow Rachmaninov, next week maybe Roussel or Shostakovich. Or Charles Ives.


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

Ginastera. Bam.

Reasons why: Cello Concerti, popol vuh.

While we're talking about from 1916 onward, I don't understand chamber music or solo piano music from here on......the piano as we know it today was built for the repertoire of the 19th century particularly, and I think Ravel (duh) did the best job of making it do other things, but other than that, I feel like more recent composers have been searching in a forest that has no fruit. Maybe the problem isn't them, it's the instrument or the genres that needed an imaginative re-working.

I think the orchestra has flowered so far beyond what happened previously, to the extent that most 19th century orchestra music has to me the austere novelty of an heirloom or something like that. A lot of modernist scores don't appeal to me but if you search beyond some of the self-aggrandizing names that register prominently for music historians, I think there are amazing finds and a lot of under-developed territory.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Gaspard de la Nuit said:


> Ginastera. Bam.
> 
> Reasons why: Cello Concerti, popol vuh.
> 
> While we're talking about from 1916 onward, I don't understand chamber music or solo piano music from here on......the piano as we know it today was built for the repertoire of the 19th century particularly, and I think Ravel (duh) did the best job of making it do other things, but other than that, I feel like more recent composers have been searching in a forest that has no fruit. Maybe the problem isn't them, it's the instrument or the genres that needed an imaginative re-working.


Have you heard Ligeti's Musica Ricercata and Études and Messiaen's Vingt regards and Catalogue d'oiseaux? Some of the best piano music I know.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Jean Sibelius.

None comes close. Maybe RVW, Khachaturan and some Minimalist composers.


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Amazing how few people are willing to give a plain answer, here in our culture of non-commitment. Really, it's like an election: "Check one box."


Plain answer: RVW.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

KenOC said:


> C'mon, tough it out. Focus. Just one, none of those lists. No cheating!


I kinda wish I did have a single favourite composer of the past 100 years, that it could be a simple case of one composer who's far above the others, that this would be like asking a monotheist who their favourite deity is.

But there isn't such a composer for me, there's quite a few to choose from, and all of them have their own particular qualities that can't necessarily be compared, so I'm going to have to settle on some arbitrary way of deciding how to pick a favourite.

So my answer is Julia Wolfe.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

For sheer variety within the oeuvre, the choice is probably between Stravinsky and Nørgård, since Ligeti has a smaller production. So I might go with Nørgård. Hypothetically. A lot of extremely different works to explore, including the early ones, that sound like early/mid 20th century.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

nathanb said:


> Just to clear things up, Ken's original post specifies last 100 years, so the name Puccini only refers to _La Rondine_, _Il Trittico_, and _Turandot_.
> 
> A mention of Sibelius, for instance, would only refer to Symphonies 6 and 7, Tapiola, and an assortment of some fairly obscure works.
> 
> ...


And Stravinsky would exclude the three early ballets, unless we get into revisions. He still might be my choice.

Lots of Ives would be lost as well.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Same answer as in the other thread, Ligeti.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

The fact that Rachmaninov qualifies as "of the last hundred years" makes this quite easy for me. 

Last 100 years? Rach. 
All time? Rach.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

From looking at my CD stack, it appears that Bartok is in the lead.


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## rsikora (Dec 27, 2015)

My favorite: Helmut Lachenmann


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## MrTortoise (Dec 25, 2008)

Silly rabbit, Béla Bartók!


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## Aleksandar (Feb 21, 2015)

It's between Stravinsky and Prokofiev for me. Than you got Bartok, Barber, Copland, Ligeti, Shostakovich...


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Ken, I am trying really hard but just can't make up my mind.
Damn you sir this is too hard for my small brain 
I don't care about the rules I choose Haydn


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Last hundred years: 1916 through 2015.

Favorite composer who wrote music during the past 100 years (and was also born and died within these parameters) = Richard Rodney Bennett (b 1936 & d 2012).

Bennett wrote film music, opera, solo keyboard pieces, jazz, the usual absolute forms (concerti, symphonies, etc.), and was a cabaret pianist. RRB's musical life very much represented the avenues pursued & options taken by composers during this time period.
The reason why he's a fave is because he utilized dodecaphonic techniques in almost anything he wrote during the 1960s and the 1970s.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Scriabin died in 1915, lame.


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## Stavrogin (Apr 20, 2014)

Prokofiev for me.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

talking of classical music the one I've listened the most in the last few years is Maurice Ohana.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

I would have chosen *Glazunov*, but since his most effective composing period was between 1881 & 1906 (the year of his last symphony), I'll choose instead *Nikolai Myaskovsky*, whose composing career essentially took off after WWI, the Russian Revolution, and the Civil War (the effective start-off point very similar to *Bax*, my next runner-up).

*Boris Tchaikovsky* (1925-1996) would be my next runner-up after Bax. But I'll be cheating too much if I add more, so I'll stop here.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Haydn man said:


> Ken, I am trying really hard but just can't make up my mind.
> Damn you sir this is too hard for my small brain
> I don't care about the rules I choose Haydn


lol........................


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

As the OP, maybe I'd better state my opinion: Shostakovich. And I'm not alone.

Elsewhere, we had voting games for the top ten works of each decade in the 20th century. So, in total 100 works. I assigned ten points for the number one work in each decade and so on down. Shostakovich placed first in total points easily, with twice the points of #2. He was helped both by the large number of works placed over his 50 years of composing and the high placements of so many.

https://sites.google.com/site/kenocstuff/ama/best-works-by-decade


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

KenOC said:


> As the OP, maybe I'd better state my opinion: Shostakovich. And I'm not alone.
> 
> Elsewhere, we had voting games for the top ten works of each decade in the 20th century. So, in total 100 works. I assigned ten points for the number one work in each decade and so on down. Shostakovich placed first in total points easily, with twice the points of #2. He was helped both by the large number of works placed over his 50 years of composing and the high placements of so many.
> 
> https://sites.google.com/site/kenocstuff/ama/best-works-by-decade


Wait... didn't we also do something similar on TC at some point?


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## PeterFromLA (Jul 22, 2011)

Is the question: favorite composer born within the last 100 years? Favorite composer who worked at any point during the past 100 years? Or favorite composer based on works written only during the past 100 years? The answers might differ a bit based on how the question is understood.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I'd say, favorite composer based on works written in the last 100 years.


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2015)

PeterFromLA said:


> Is the question: favorite composer born within the last 100 years? Favorite composer who worked at any point during the past 100 years? Or favorite composer based on works written only during the past 100 years? The answers might differ a bit based on how the question is understood.


There has to be wiggle room - that's where the action is!

Personally I'd think the intention was "Which is your favourite composer whose music was exclusively or mainly created in the last 100 years." To me, too much straying from that muddies the waters as to make the OP redundant.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Can't pick just one...

Stockhausen
Ligeti
Schoenberg
Webern
Berg
Xenakis
Nono . . . 

There are simply too many.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Not tough enough! See the OP...


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I should also mention the great John Williams. His composed music is currently more popular than ever.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

KenOC said:


> I can't believe the amount of cheating here. Might as well be track and field. I'm calling the IAAF!


Is that to ensure that more cheating occurs or that a large blind eye is turned to it?


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Right! I am a man of action, my mind is made up 
I pick Vaughan Williams
Well today at least


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Anton Webern..........


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

norman bates said:


> talking of classical music the one I've listened the most in the last few years is Maurice Ohana.


Ohana is one of my top 10 favorite composers, but the OP wants us to limit candidates to one person (so I'm glad you mentioned him as I used up my roll of the dice).


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2015)

Prodromides said:


> Ohana is one of my top 10 favorite composers, but the OP wants us to limit candidates to one person (so I'm glad you mentioned him as I used up my roll of the dice).


I would urge you two to stop by the Composer Guestbooks subforums and do little casual write-ups of Bennett and Ohana and your favorite pieces. I have listened to music by both, but am only vaguely familiar, and I'm sure I'm not the only one


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

KenOC said:


> : Shostakovich. And I'm not alone...
> ...Shostakovich placed first in total points easily, with twice the points of #2.


You may reside with a lot of companionship regarding praise hoisted into Shostakovich, but voluminous appreciation - to me - is not something that I place value on.
When a lot of people like something, this typically indicates that I will not care for it. 
Since 1993, I've been blind-buying CD albums of music by composers whom I was hitherto unacquainted with. Bypassing the typical listener habits on so-called established composers such as Britten or Shostakovich, I delved into the deep end of post-WWII 20th century compositions by listening instead to those infrequently recorded works on specialty labels by composers such as Henri Poussier, Alessandro Solbiati, Geert van Kuelen, Edith Canat de Chizy, etc.
I'm so accustomed to being the only person who I know of who's aware of such names that I DO want to be 'alone' in my appreciation of their music. I feel special and unique in my lonely discoveries - as if I am one of just a select few human beings on the planet who have gotten such music in their personal collections/library.

I suspect the reasons why composers such as Shostakovich and Bartok and Stravinsky continue to be at the forefront of 20th century compositions is because 1) their music benefits from significant dissemination and 2) their musical reputations have non-musical backstories to them (scandals, political issues, conflicts, etc.)
If more listeners were intimately acquainted with music by Maurice Ohana or Erik Bergman, for example, then I think there would be less people nominating Shostakovich in such topics.
Have the people who listen to Shostakovich even heard of Ivan Fedele or Eero Hameenniemi let alone heard their music?


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

nathanb said:


> I would urge you two to stop by the Composer Guestbooks subforums and do little casual write-ups of Bennett and Ohana and your favorite pieces. I have listened to music by both, but am only vaguely familiar, and I'm sure I'm not the only one


I might just do that someday. 

For starters, you can see some of the info I typed here @ TC about my username's namesake - Jean Prodromides (amongst others) in a thread on rare French language opera recordings.

http://www.talkclassical.com/20127-vintage-french-opera-albums.html?highlight=chaynes

... and here's a thread on British composers (with RRB included):

http://www.talkclassical.com/20733-do-you-have-any-2.html?highlight=Imprecateur


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2015)

Prodromides said:


> I might just do that someday.
> 
> For starters, you can see some of the info I typed here @ TC about my username's namesake - Jean Prodromides (amongst others) in a thread on rare French language opera recordings.
> 
> ...


I know more Ohana than Bennett at this point, but I am on the brink of clicking "buy" on the MP3s for _The Mines Of Sulphur_.


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

Igor Stravinsky


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## Guest (Dec 28, 2015)

Glad you asked "favorite" and not "the greatest" which would lead to a more heated discussion. 

If I had to pick only one I would sake BARTOK

Because the music is combines all of the best elements of the 20th century.

But in Opera Richard Strauss


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Probably Carl Nielsen, whose last music will be more than a century distant from my present perceptions in less than 15 years time.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I certainly have some sympathy for those who say they can't pick just one (presumably meaning they are not sure who is their favorite or their favorite changes often). On the other hand, I think it's perfectly possible to have a favorite composer and know with some certainty who the composer is. My favorite composer of all time is, and has been, Mozart for many, many years. I have confidence in this view since my view has not changed after repeated listening to many composers including those I truly love. 

However, I'm not sure who my favorite composer of the past 100 years is. My best guess is Stravinsky, but it might be John Adams or maybe Schnittke (making an intense late run).


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## Truckload (Feb 15, 2012)

If the major works of the composer have to have been within the last hundred years you would have to leave out so many composers who were still alive 100 years ago, but their major achievements were before the cutoff. For those thinking Stravinski, Rite of Spring was 1913 and Firebird was 1910. 

How about Gustav Holst.

The Planets was written between 1914 and 1916, so it qualifies, barely. And few single works have had as much impact on audiences and composers as The Planets in my view.

Runner up would be Copland.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

If I'm to choose a composer whose entire output is from within the last 100 years then it's Shostakovich, otherwise Hindemith may have snuck in. Honorary mentions go to Britten and Schnittke.

_'Have the people who listen to Shostakovich even heard of Ivan Fedele or Eero Hameenniemi let alone heard their music?'_

I can't say I have, but it's always good to hear the championing of unfamiliar names.


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## dzc4627 (Apr 23, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> If I'm to choose a composer whose entire output is from within the last 100 years then it's Shostakovich, otherwise Hindemith may have snuck in. Honorary mentions go to Britten and Schnittke.
> 
> _'Have the people who listen to Shostakovich even heard of Ivan Fedele or Eero Hameenniemi let alone heard their music?'_
> 
> I can't say I have, but it's always good to hear the championing of unfamiliar names.


Wooo Shostakovich. Been listening to a lot recently. Before Schnittke stole my heart, Stravinsky was my favorite. He is now in 2nd. But Shosty has been rising recently very rapidly at 3rd place.


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