# 20th Century Master Composers



## pendereckiobsessed (Sep 21, 2012)

Hello Everyone,
We all know of the classical master composers: ie. Mozart, Hayden, Schubert etc. Who would you consider to be the master composers of the 20th century to now? I would say Penderecki, Schoenberg, and Boulez and a few others.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Sibelius, Faure, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Bartok, and Ligeti.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Sibelius, Bartok, Shostakovich, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Hovhaness, Rachmaninoff and Khachaturian.

I need to listen to my 2 Stravinsky CDs Petrushka and Rite of the Spring to understand him! Also to Prokofiev, Ravel and Adams works.
I think Barber is overrated...


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## Renaissance (Jul 10, 2012)

Ravel, Debussy, Prokofiev, Holst, Arvo Part, William Alwyn, Rautavaara.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

It's mainly an Era of many good Composers. Also Poulenc, Villa-Lobos, Hovhaness, Respighi, Nielsen, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Satie, and Rodrigo.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Boulez, Lutoslawski, Berio, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Ligeti, Varese, Xenakis, Zimmermann.

Thats 10.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

In addition to many others already suggested: Messiaen, Zappa, Stockhausen, Cage, Feldman, Webern, Berg, Scelsi, and I would include Mahler on the basis of him completing the majority of his symphonic works (4-9, DLvdE) in the early 20th century, as well as the Kindertotenlieder and Ruckert Lieder.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

A list of some of my favorite master composers of the 20th century and surely probably forgetting a name or two: 

Ravel
Debussy
Bartok
Mahler
Britten
Ives
Berg
Janacek
Villa Lobos
Sibelius
Rodrigo
Schnittke
Stravinsky
Copland
Brouwer
Prokofiev
Webern
Takemitsu
Shostakovich
Penderecki
Barber
Schoenberg
Rachmaninoff
Cage
Medtner


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

Oh, Takemitsu! I knew I was going to forget someone so just went along with it, but still, that's a huge omission.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

My 5 Personal Favorites:

Debussy
Holst
Stravinsky
Shostakovich
Copland

My second 5
Bernstein
Prokofiev
Schoenberg
Reich
Higdon


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

Prokofiev, Bartok, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Ligeti, and, last but not least, Messiaen, (who has only been mentioned once! Shameful!)

The minimalists narrowly missed making it onto my list, as well as Xenakis, Varese, and Boulez.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

*György Sándor Ligeti,* Stockhausen, Xenakis, Steve Reich, *György Sándor Ligeti*, Takemitsu, Stravinsky, Schnittke, Second Viennese School, *György Sándor Ligeti, *Cage, Carter, Shostakovich, Zappa, Britten and *György Sándor Ligeti.*


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

For a century that loved the composers of the past, it certainly had it's fair share of great composer. For me Shostakovich would be at the top, but there are several others who are right up there as well. Stravinsky, Rachmaninof, Bartok, Gershwin, Ravel, "The task of filling up the list i'd rather leave to you."


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Aren't *Ligeti* and *Boulez* twins?! They look so similar!


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

The 20th century composers who I find "most important"... who resonate most with me... would include:

*Gabriel Fauré
Gustav Mahler*
Leoš Janáček
*Giacomo Puccini
Alexander Scriabin
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Claude Debussy*
Frederick Delius
*Richard Strauss*
Alexander Glazunov
Jean Sibelius
Ralph Vaughan Williams
*Maurice Ravel*
*Béla Bartók*
Nikolai Myaskovsky
Igor Stravinsky
Alban Berg
Francis Poulenc
*Sergei Prokofiev*
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
George Gershwin
Samuel Barber
Aaron Copland
Harry Partch
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Olivier Messiaen
*Toru Takemitsu*
*Dimitri Shostakovitch*
*Benjamin Britten
Henri Dutilleux
Mieczysław Weinberg*
Ned Rorem
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Carl Nielsen 
Krzysztof Penderecki
Arvo Pärt
Philip Glass 
Valentin Silvestrov
John Adams
Tristan Murail
Giacinto Scelsi
John Taverner
James MacMillan
Osvaldo Golijov

Beyond these... there's a slew of other composers who I admire... albeit to a lesser degree... perhaps due to a limited body of works... or a limited number of works that I find of interest. Among these I would include:

Charles Koechlin
Alexander Zemlinsky
Karol Szymanowski
Herbert Howells
Mily Balakirev
Alexander Gretchaninov
Granville Bantock
Franz Lehár
Arnold Schoenberg
Mieczysław Karłowicz
Manuel de Falla
Franz Schreker
Cyril Scott
Nikolai Roslavets
Arnold Bax
Frank Martin
Egon Wellesz
Marcel Dupré
Othmar Schoeck
Jacques Ibert
Bohuslav Martinů
Ernest John Moeran
Paul Hindemith
Howard Hanson
Virgil Thomson
Roger Sessions
Roy Harris
Ernst Krenek
Maurice Duruflé
Aram Khachaturian
Karl Amadeus Hartmann
Elliott Carter
Alan Hovhaness
Witold Lutosławski
Leonard Bernstein
George Rochberg
Malcolm Arnold
Ástor Piazzolla
György Ligeti
Hans Werner Henze
Lee Hoiby
George Crumb
Henryk Górecki
Alfred Schnittke
Steve Reich
John Corigliano
William Bolcom
Joan Tower
John Harbison
Joseph Schwantner
Kalevi Aho
Daniel Catán
David Diamond
Jake Heggie
Takashi Yoshimatsu
Pascal Dusapin
David Lang
Peter Lieberson
Laurent Petitgirard
Toshio Hosokawa

Although I'm not a worshiper of Ligeti, Xenakis, and Stockhausen... I actually listen to quite a bit of 20th century Classical Music.


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

I have a sneaking fondness for Benjamin Britten above all other 20th century masters, but that's probably because I studied his works for my first year History of Music assignment when I did my MEWS (Musical Enrichment WorkShop) course - a three year part time non-degree course at one of our local universities.  It was the first and only time I have immersed myself in the works of one composer.


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## Turangalîla (Jan 29, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> The 20th century composers who I find "most important"... who resonate most with me... would include:
> 
> *Gabriel Fauré
> Gustav Mahler*
> ...


I just _knew_ I could count on you to provide an exhaustive list!


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## Jimm (Jun 29, 2012)

Bartók, Stravinsky, Webern, Ligeti, Stockhausen


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