# Best Modern Symphony Composers



## mahlernerd

What composers of the symphony born in at least 1900 are the most important? I know of Shostakovich, but he is the only one who comes to mind. Do you know of any others?


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## Art Rock

Plenty, depending on what you call important. Finland alone has substantial cycles (all recorded on CD) by Rautavaara, Aho and Sallinen, for example.


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## mbhaub

I tend to like 20th c British composers:

Humphrey Searle
Robert Simpson
Malcolm Arnold
William Walton
William Alwyn
Edmund Rubbra
Richard Arnell

There are others, but I don't care for their music - I find Tippett and Davies unbearable.


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## mikeh375

mbhaub said:


> I tend to like 20th c British composers:
> 
> Humphrey Searle
> Robert Simpson
> Malcolm Arnold
> William Walton
> William Alwyn
> Edmund Rubbra
> Richard Arnell
> 
> There are others, but I don't care for their music - I find Tippett and Davies unbearable.


Good list mbhaub. I would add Tippett, not so much Davies, but also David Matthews and John McCabe.


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## HenryPenfold

I don't know about best, but my favourite symphonists whose music I listen to very often includes, but are not limited to:

Robert Simpson
Ernst Krenek
Karl Amadeus Hartmann
Hans-Werner Henze
Allan Pettersson
Edmund Rubbra
Michael Tippet
Peter Maxwell Davies 
Humphrey Searle
Witold Lutoslawski
Krzysztof Penderecki
Alfred Schnittke


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## Allegro Con Brio

I've really been impressed by the symphonies of Eduard Tubin.


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## HenryPenfold

Allegro Con Brio said:


> I've really been impressed by the symphonies of Eduard Tubin.


Me too, especially no.8. I bought some of the BIS CDs in the early 90s in a secondhand shop and last year I bought the complete set as 16 bit lossless downloads from Qobuz. They are available from the Qobuz UK site for just £15.99, which I think is very cheap for what you get!


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## elgar's ghost

The only other names I would add are Alfred Schnittke (10) and Mikhail Nosyrev (4) - all my other 'born 1900 or after' favourites have been mentioned.


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## Becca

"...are the most important" - define the criteria for importance?


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## mahlernerd

Becca said:


> "...are the most important" - define the criteria for importance?


In your opinion, which composer's (or composers') symphonies stand out or had a major influence on 20th Century/Contemporary classical music?


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## CnC Bartok

The 1900 birthday cut-off is probably a weird restriction on this, considering the likes of Sibelius, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Martinu, Nielsen and Vaughan Williams were all composing symphonies well into the 20th century. Besides "Influence" is a difficult thing to gauge without the benefit of a generation of the influenced to be able to consider, evaluate and weigh up as yet....

Of the later composers, I am myself delighted to see Eduard Tubin and Aulis Sallinen both getting a mention, but I am surprised that nobody has yet brought up Per Norgard, and especially notable by his absence so far is Vagn Homboe......


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## Josquin13

Not mentioned so far (with the exception of Lutoslawski. EDIT: & I see that Cncb Bartok mentioned Holmboe & Nørgård yesterday--I wrote my post the day before & am just now getting around to posting it. I agree, Holmboe is an important 20th century symphonic composer & teacher),

--Dmitri Shostakovich--a major figure, whose 15 Symphonies you say you already know.

--Vagn Holmboe (influential teacher): Symphonies 1-13, for example: Symphony no. 8 "Sinfonia Boreale": 








https://www.amazon.com/Symphonies-8...=vagn+holmboe+8&qid=1582650744&s=music&sr=1-4
https://www.amazon.com/Holmboe-Comp...ds=vagn+holmboe&qid=1582650716&s=music&sr=1-2

--Witold Lutoslawski: Symphonies 1-4:

1 & 4: 



2 & 3: 




--Vincent Persichetti (influential teacher): Symphony no. 9 "Janiculum": 



https://www.amazon.com/Penderecki-P...etti+symphony+9&qid=1582650779&s=music&sr=1-1

--Joonas Kokkonen: Symphonies 1-4:

No. 1: 



No. 2: 



Nos. 3 & 4:



Nos. 1 & 4 (Berglund): 



No. 3 (Berglund): 




--Walter Piston (influential teacher): Symphony no. 6: 




--Einojuhani Rautavaara (influential teacher): Symphonies 5, 7, 8:

No. 5: 



No. 7 "Angel of Light": 



No. 8: 




--William Schuman: Symphonies 3, 9, & 10:

No. 3: 



No. 9 "The Ardeatine Caves": 



No. 10: 




--Ib Nørholm--Symphony no. 9: 




--Per Nørgård--Symphonies 3 & 6 "At the End of the Day":

No. 3: 



No. 6: 




--Einar Englund--Symphonies nos. 2, 4, & 7:

No. 2 "The Blackbird": 



No. 4 "Nostalgic": 



No. 7: 




--Pehr Henrik Nordgren
--Roger Sessions--Symphony no. 2: 




--Oliver Knussen (influential teacher): Symphonies 2 & 3:

No. 2: 



No. 3: 




--Hans Werner Henze: Symphony no. 7: 



--George Rochberg: Symphony no. 6: 



--Andre Jolivet: Symphony 2: 



--John Harbison: Symphony no. 2:



--Kalevi Aho
--Tobias Picker: Symphony 2 "Aussöhnung": 



--Christopher Rouse: Symphony no. 3: 



--Libby Larsen: Symphony no. 4: 



--Peteris Vasks: Symphony no. 3: 



--Arvo Pärt: Symphony no. 3: 




Born before 1900, but influential in the 20th century:

Vaughan Williams
Serge Prokofiev
Jean Sibelius
Carl Nielsen
Bohuslav Martinu
Darius Milhaud (influential teacher)
Charles Koechlin (influential teacher)
Frank Martin

Still to explore: the symphonies of Kurt Atterberg, Erkki Melartin, Ned Rorem, Alexander Tansman, Malcolm Arnold, & Paavo Heininen. I'm currently in the process of exploring the symphonies of Eduard Tübin and Aullus Sallinen...


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## CnC Bartok

Good areas to explore, even if you managed to give Tubin a superfluous umlaut!!

Actually, Harald Saeverud seriously deserves a mention. Some very fine music from that chap!


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## Josquin13

Harald Saeverud is a new name to me. Is there a symphony that you'd especially recommend? Thanks for mentioning him, CnCB.


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## Roger Knox

Josquin13 said:


> Still to explore: the symphonies of Kurt Atterberg, Erkki Melartin, Ned Rorem, Alexander Tansman, Malcolm Arnold, & Paavo Heininen. I'm currently in the process of exploring the symphonies of Eduard Tübin and Aullus Sallinen...


Great list! I love Erkki Melartin's symphonies, now working through all six of Karl Weigl's.


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## gvn

At first I was surprised by the preponderance of East European & Nordic names in the above lists... but when I reflect on my own listening habits, I find the same thing. I play repeatedly Pärt's Third (not his First, Second, or Fourth), many of the symphonies of Tubin, Penderecki, Rautavaara, etc. In our household, the only Western symphony by a post-1900 composer that gets anything like the same amount of playing is Walton's First. (Oh, and I do revisit Britten's Spring Symphony fairly often, but I don't suppose that counts. I'm a sucker for anything with a strong & unusual literary foundation, no matter how jerry-built it may be in other respects!)

But I greatly respect many symphonists whose works I don't often revisit. Robert Simpson, for instance: I don't play him much, but every one of his symphonies seems to me intelligent, beautifully constructed, built out of materials totally appropriate for symphonic treatment, and the creation of someone 100% devoted to his art. You can't ask much more from a symphonist than that!

However, all this is really off topic, because we're talking here about importance, not mere personal taste or admiration. If so, what about Hovhaness? I personally am not competent to say whether his symphonies are music or mush, but if we're talking importance rather than personal preference, his symphonies maintained a decidedly higher profile during the 20th century than many of the names that spring more readily to our minds.

But I wonder whether some dark horse may ultimately outrun all those already mentioned. I fear that, if anyone sees this thread in 100 years' time, they may exclaim in amazement: "Look at that! All that talk, and not a single contributor mentioned the three most famous symphonies of the century--Dorati's Second, Serebrier's Third, and George Lloyd's Fourth!!!" (Names chosen almost at random.)


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## CnC Bartok

Josquin13 said:


> Harald Saeverud is a new name to me. Is there a symphony that you'd especially recommend? Thanks for mentioning him, CnCB.


Saeverud is a slightly weird composer, I suppose you could compare him to somebody like Langgaard? But he's very listenable to, and I enjoy quite a bit of his orchestral music. Of the symphonies, maybe the middle war-time symphonies - No.5, the very brief No.6, and No.7 (possibly the best of the bunch?) are the best place to start.

You should also try his Peer Gynt music. Nothing like Grieg's (neither a bad nor good thing, that!)


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## sbmonty

I have been listening to Mieczyslaw Weinberg's symphonies over the past couple of years. I'd encourage exploring his works in general.


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## Prodromides

The CPO label should also be your friend in this regard.

There are plenty of symphonic cycles. Below are some composers who wrote such after 1975 (to illustrate that DS was by no means the 'last' symphonist).

Isang Yun
Josef Tal
Ahmed Adnan Saygun
Daniel Pinkham
Meyer Kupferman
Eero Hameenniemi
Gloria Coates
Luc Brewaeys
Irwin Bazelon,
etc. 

(& don't forget Leif Segerstam  )


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## CnC Bartok

I'm as guilty as anyone, but I am very surprised - nay, shocked and scandalised - that Andrzej Panufnik has not been mentioned yet. He's a superb symphonist, ten really excellent works. (1st existent Symphony from 1948, 10th 1988-90)

Unfortunately, it took the excellent nudge towards the CPO label above to remind me of him.


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## Enthusiast

I'm not sure there have been many composers writing symphonies in a truly contemporary language, have there? Maxwell Davies is one but for the most part it has seemed that the symphony is a form that is kept alive by composers of a more conservative bent.


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## starthrower

> Born before 1900, but influential in the 20th century:
> 
> Vaughan Williams
> Serge Prokofiev
> Jean Sibelius
> Carl Nielsen
> Bohuslav Martinu
> Darius Milhaud (influential teacher)
> Charles Koechlin (influential teacher)
> Frank Martin


I would include Honegger. A very fine symphonist. Also Roberto Gerhard, and Laszlo Lajtha. All born in the 1890s.

I'm just getting into Peter Mennin. A composer of 9 symphonies. He was born in 1923.


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## starthrower

CnC Bartok said:


> I'm as guilty as anyone, but I am very surprised - nay, shocked and scandalised - that Andrzej Panufnik has not been mentioned yet. He's a superb symphonist, ten really excellent works. (1st existent Symphony from 1948, 10th 1988-90)
> 
> Unfortunately, it took the excellent nudge towards the CPO label above to remind me of him.
> 
> View attachment 131069


I'm the proud owner of that box. His concertos are excellent as well.


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## arpeggio

Wow. No Howard Hanson?

There are some other interesting omissions.


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## Josquin13

I'm surprised there's been only one mention of the Swedish composer Allan Pettersson, so far. I find Pettersson's symphonies to be vast landscapes that can be challenging but rewarding, and at times, moving. To date, Sergiu Comissiona, who was Pettersson's choice to premiere a number of his symphonies, remains the best conductor I've heard of this music. Comissiona understands perfectly how moving and searing Pettersson's music can be, and how it contains strong romantic elements, yet at the same time how modern it can be. In contrast, I think some of the more recent conductors have tried to downplay these romantic elements, in order to present Pettersson as a more purely modern symphonist, and the symphonies end up losing some of their power and raw emotion, or at least it gets tamed. Comissiona doesn't make that mistake.

Symphony #7: 





Lindberg: 




Interestingly, Pettersson considered his Symphony no. 4 to be his best work. It was composed after the death of his mother. In Pettersson's journal he wrote, "Symphony no. 4. To my mother, who has gone home to the life in which goodness is personified in God.":

Segerstam: 



Lindberg:


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## Hiawatha

The word "important" in the OP is a little tricky. I like the question but important in what way and to whom?

Copland was born in 1900. He's certainly important but not especially to the symphony other than in respect of the strong No 3. 

Similarly, I agree with some of the suggestions to date on important composers per se, ie important but not directly because of the symphony. For example, Walton is an important figure and his symphonies are strong but he had many other strings to his bow. 

Some composers are symphonically important in/to their own countries or what they say to the rest of us about those countries. Examples here include Braga Santos, Guarnieri and Lilburn. 

I do agree with the inclusion of Gorecki and Part for their crossover appeal and also Rautavaara although that wonderful distinctiveness of his has wider if not necessarily deeper implications in respect of future appraisal. 

Then there is Lenny who towered in a myriad of ways. Some like Bernstein's symphonies and some don't. As it happens I do but I am not sure that I see them as extremely important. 

Finally, the category "Among my favourites - plus a bit". The composers here are essentially among my personal preferences but "the bit" that is the "plus" is that I would like to think they could also be seen by many as important or important enough in their own way:

Lloyd (large cycle set against the backdrop of difficult wartime and other experience). Gipps about whom we are finally hearing more (British female at a time when men dominated). 

A Panufnik as mentioned by another poster (Transition to Western Europe even if the best symphonies were his earliest ones, plus an early nod in a sense towards minimalism and yet they were so uniquely (less is) more. 

The great Lou Harrison (West meets East - his No 3 is or really should be seen as a big "moment"). Hovhaness (The sheer number of symphonies and some mysticism/"exoticism"). 

Rochberg (Twelve Tone, a retreat because of personal circumstances, and then slightly back again). Samuel Jones (whose underrated No 3 encapsulated a certain still identifiable aspect of historical America very, very late in the last century). I dare say there are many others.

Re the posts above, all interesting, but I was especially happy to see the name of Daniel Pinkham. I would like to know more about how to hear his symphonies as I have found most of his music difficult to access, notwithstanding the lovely Christmas Cantata.


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## Prodromides

Hiawatha said:


> Re the posts above, all interesting, but I was especially happy to see the name of Daniel Pinkham. I would like to know more about how to hear his symphonies as I have found most of his music difficult to access, notwithstanding the lovely Christmas Cantata.


This 25-year-old Koch CD (from 1995) was a blind buy for me and, still, is the only way I got to hear some of the Pinkham compositions:


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## Guest002

Thanks for the Eduard Tubin suggestion. Am enjoying the symphonies I've listened to since it was made and am enjoying them muchly. Am embarrassed never to have heard of him before!


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## Simplicissimus

Very much leaning toward Americans, as I know their work the best and we hear it a lot in North America, I'd first observe that some very influential composers barely miss the cut-off, all born in the 1890s: George Gershwin, Roy Harris, Howard Hanson, Ferde Grofe, and Walter Piston (actually Josquin13 mentioned Piston already).

Josquin13 already mentioned William Shuman, born 1910. His "Symphony for Strings" (No. 5) is quite well known among my generation (born in the 1950s).

Other well known, often heard, and apparently influential American composers of symphonies born after 1900:

Leonard Bernstein (b. 1918), with his Symphonies 1 and 2. In another thread about Bernstein, he tends to be acknowledged as a conductor and pianist more than as a composer of symphonies, but his symphonies are actually pretty well known and get some air time.

Alan Hovhaness (b. 1911) is well known for his "Mysterious Mountain" (No. 2) symphony, which was even performed and recorded on Living Stereo by Reiner and the CSO. I hear it on WFMT every couple of months at least. He has a ton of other symphonic compositions that I've never heard, though several besides "Mysterious Mountain" are played occasionally.

Morton Gould (b. 1913) is of course best known as a conductor and band leader, but he was a prolific composer. I am very fond of his "Symphony of Spirituals" and consider it underrated. He composed four other symphonies (I've read), but I haven't heard them. His "Symphonettes" No. 3 and 4 are available and get played occasionally. I find them delightful. I'm sure I'm leaving myself open to charges of philistinism by admitting my admiration of Morton Gould, but there you have it. I really think he has had a lot of influence on American music since the middle of the 20th Century.

I recently acquired a 1968 recording Jean Martinon (b. 1910, French) conducting the CSO in his own Sympony No. 4, Op. 53 "Altitudes". I think this is really great music and underrated. I'm not clear about Martinon's influence as a composer, though. Certainly he was a huge figure in both France and North America as a conductor.

I'm looking forward to exploring the numerous European composers of symphonies that posters have mentioned -- none of whom I know at all.


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## Hiawatha

Prodromides said:


> This 25-year-old Koch CD (from 1995) was a blind buy for me and, still, is the only way I got to hear some of the Pinkham compositions:


Thank you very much for this information.

Much appreciated.

To the OP, Ross Edwards is another name I have recalled since posting. He is arguably important in this age of the environment, drawing as he does (often) on the sounds of nature. I am not so sure I hear that personally in a piece like Symphony No 1 (1991) but then it wasn't especially meant to be heard it that way. Why I mention it is that it is in my humble opinion one of the great symphonies of the last 30 years.

https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read...alia/ross-edwards-symphony-no-1-1991/10619828


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## Sad Al

Late Schnittke. I saw Melartin's symphonies for sale for 1 euro recently. Perhaps I made a mistake, 1 EUR isn't very much. Most people hate classical music and like wrestling, boxing, tennis, soccer etc. If you live long, your **** lasts biblical 70 years and then there's nothing.

Melartin was a bit crazy, he believed in all that theological stuff, in the occult and that sort of bs. He was a silly theosophist. Thanks to science, in 2020 we know much better, we just buy hamburgers from St. Ronald and know after we die there's nothing.


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