# Who is your favorite living composer of music and why?



## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Interested in the composers of today enjoyed by our TC members and why? I base my answer on whose music I listen to the most. That would be Rodion Shchedrin the Russian composer or Krysztof Penderecki the Polish composer. Why because their music speaks to me the most and they are very diverse in that they write music in all the major forms and chamber works as well as showing a vast range of compositional ability. 

I've been told I may enjoy John Adams who I've not had a chance to listen to anything if he is someone here's favorite what should I start with and why do you like his music?


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2014)

Dozens of my favorite composers are alive.

Over a hundred, I'm sure.

You want the whole list? And a "why" for each one? When would I have time to listen to their music if I did that?

I'll say it again: Listen to some music. Tell us about it. (You do your exploring for yourself, on your own. We'll do ours. We'll meet up when we have anything to report.)


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

some guy said:


> Dozens of my favorite composers are alive.
> 
> Over a hundred, I'm sure.
> 
> ...


We all have favorite living (and dead) composers, and most of us are not shy of naming names and favorite works. It's a simple human interaction of sharing things we like. I don't struggle doing that at a music chat forum like here at TC. I don't think many would struggle doing that either. A very few might consistently so. Anyway, my favorite living composer of late is the very great *Einojuhani Rautavaara* who is a fine model for many living composrs. His music reaches out to many who do not normally listen to contemporary classical music. *John Adams* already mention is a close second.

It's ever so easy to mention favorites. Pure and simple.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Well, I'll mention mine: Salvatore Sciarrino.


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## Rapide (Oct 11, 2011)

Well, I'll mention mine: Monsieur Pierre Boulez. The master of serialism, a great conductor and musician.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Wayne Shorter.TOk I know he's not a classical composer.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

norman bates said:


> Wayne Shorter.TOk I know he's not a classical composer.


Depends on your definition of 'Classical'. Jazz is America's very own Classical Music.

My favorite living composer is either *Brian Ferneyhough* or *Richard Barrett*. Difficult to choose.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Saariaho, Nørgård, Gubaidulina, Silvestrov and Artyomov are among those at the top for me. 

Interesting ones, at least at times, include for instance Penderecki, Narbutaite, Szymanski/Symanski, Maxwell-Davies, Cerha, Eötvös, Murail, Ruders, Crumb, Rautavaara, Killmayer, Kopelent, Klusak, Dorokhov, Corigliano, Kapustin, Trojahn and Furrer.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Arvo Pärt.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Your question asks only for one. I don't have one -- at least since the death of György Ligeti in 2006. (And we lost a few great ones just recently: Henri Dutilleux, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze). I listen to and enjoy many: Steve Reich, Arvo Part, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Nikolai Kapustin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Frederick Rzewski, Paul Moravec, Valentin Silvestrov, Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Daugherty, Kaija Saariaho, David Lang, and Unsuk Chin (whose _Piano Concerto_ and _Cello Concerto_ are due out any day). And I keep discovering new ones. In the last year, Dobrinka Tabakova, Bryce Dessner, Mason Bates. That said, the two I now probably listen to most are Per Nørgård and John Adams.

Since you mentioned John Adams in your opening post, let me say a few things about him. Adams got his start in the so-called "minimalist" camp, but his style has continued to evolve and enter into dialogue with styles he initially rejected (romanticism, serialism). When he studied at Harvard as an undergraduate, he rebelled against the then-reigning serialist "orthodoxy" of Webern and Boulez (his term, not mine). A New Englander by birth, he moved to the West Coast in the early 70s and there encountered Terry Riley's _In C_ and Steve Reich's _Drumming_. From that early "minimalist" phase in his career, his most interesting works are two piano works--_China Gates_ and _Phrygian Gates_ (1977)--and a small orchestral work, _Shaker Loops_. Adams' minimalism is not Riley's or Reich's (let alone, Glass'); he has quirky unexpected shifts. Unlike most of the "minimalists," he has always been comfortable writing for and unusually successful in orchestral (even large orchestral) settings. For me, the breakthrough work of his is _Harmonielehre_, what Tom Service has referred to as a "symphony in all but name". (The title plays on the the title of Schoenberg's textbook on harmony). Here's a link to Service's essay (with YouTube links to a performance): http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2014/mar/11/symphony-guide-john-adams-harmonielehre-tom-service For the most part, I don't listen much to opera, but I do enjoy his _Nixon in China_, which, by the way, has quickly established itself into the opera repertoire. (His later operas and oratorios have met with more mixed reception). He also has a real knack for the concerto genre. He has two violin concertos: _Violin Concerto_ from 1993, commissioned and premiered by Gidon Kramer; and especially _Dharma at Big Sur_ from 2003, a concerto for _electric_ violin and a homage to two West Coast composers, Terry Riley and Lou Harrison. I also enjoy his piano concerto, _Century Rolls_, commissioned by and premiered by Emmanuel Ax. Other works that I enjoy and recommend: a quirky set of divertimentos for string quartet, _John's Book of Alleged Dances_ (1994); the orchestral _My Father Knew Charles Ives_ (2003); his two-piano _Hallelujah Junction_ (1996); and the recent tone poem, _City Noir_ (premiered in 2009, first studio release: 2014). Many enjoy his brief fanfare, _Short Ride in a Fast Machine_. Adams clearly has a wide range of styles and writes in a variety of genre. I find him inconsistent (at least for me), but what I enjoy of his, I enjoy a lot.

The Danish composer Per Nørgård is a somewhat newer discovery for me. He has 8 symphonies, the latest was released just this month (and I've only heard it on YouTube, but have it on order). In his symphonic works, he creates these orchestral effects that are both shimmering and mesmerizing. He is best known for his _Symphony #3_, which draws on a sort of orchestral polyphony and takes its array of pitches and harmonic repertoire from a rather unique and idiosyncratic mathematics he refers to as an "infinity series". It has this magnificent wall of sound that shifts in surprising ways. After #3, his aesthetic shifted and he became inspired by an unusual expressionist Swiss painter (who went crazy -- a sort of Vincent Van Gogh character). His _Symphony #6 ("At the End of the Day")_ is less immediately accessible, but has similar seismic shifting sound cloud, experimenting with lots of low-pitched instruments within the orchestra. Here's a link to Tom Service's discussion:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2012/jul/30/per-norgard-contemporary-music-guide
A very different side of his work are his mostly brief string quartets (the first 6 on a single CD, the next 4 on another). His early ones have a lyricism reminiscent of his teacher (Vagn Holmboe), the middle ones are more avant-garde in their use of microtones; #10 is unusually lucid. I have yet to explore his other chamber works and his solo piano works.

Two recent threads that may offer helpful resources on contemporary composers are:

(1) "Recommend Me Some Late 20th Century Works": http://www.talkclassical.com/32482-recommend-me-some-late.html. I posted two lists there: a 50-entry list of favorite works from 1975-1999; and 40-entry list of favorite works from 2000-2014.

(2) "New Generations": http://www.talkclassical.com/31712-new-generations.html. A discussion of composers under 40 years ago. Lot of valuable links.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Probably Steve Reich.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I could list dozens of composers who died within the last half century or so that I consider to be favourites, but favourite ones still living is more difficult. As discussed on other threads, and as is generally accepted by (the most vocal majority of) TC-ites, including me: one needs the perspective of time in order to objectively recognize the ones that stand out, so they are typically either very old or dead, before it is possible to know who they are.

However, here are ones I have considered worth collecting, grouped in crude ranks of importance to me:

Group 1: Penderecki, Boulez, Malec
Group 2: Birtwistle, Ferneyhough, Gubaidulina

Lately, I've also come to know Per Nørgård, Kaija Saariaho, Beat Furrer, Helmut Lachenmann, Toshio Hosokawa and Unsuk Chin, who I wouldn't yet consider to be favourites, but who I find very interesting, above and beyond a whole slew of others I have sampled.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2014)

brotagonist said:


> ...as is generally accepted by (the most vocal majority of) TC-ites, including me: one needs the perspective of time in order to objectively recognize the ones that stand out....


Oh Frost, dear, dear Robert Frost. No one listens to you any more, do they lad?

I'll give your words another go, here, though. Rest easy, blithe spirit. No more restless nights in the grave.

"It is absurd to think that the only way to tell if a poem is lasting is to wait and see if it lasts. The right reader of a good poem can tell the moment it strikes him that he has taken an immortal wound, that he will never get over it. That is to say, permanence in poetry as in love is perceived instantly. It has not to wait the test of time. The proof of a poem is not that we have never forgotten it, but that we knew at sight that we never could forget it. There was a barb to it and a toxin that we owned to at once."

As for Mr. Sly Innuendo, no, I am not shy about naming my favorites, either, as a quick glance over my posts at TC will show. You know that. But you chose to suggest that it is otherwise. Tut tut.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Tom Service, who writes for _The Guardian_, has a series that highlights 50 contemporary composers. A few of them have died (e.g. Stockhausen, Tavener, Dutilleux, Feldman, Henze, Carter), but the majority are still living. Here's the link to the introduction to the series (and this page has the links to the 50):
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/apr/23/welcome-new-contemporary-music-guide


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I can name a few, and the only reason I like "them" is cuz they write fabulous music..

Peter Eötvös
Kaija Saariaho
Georg Friedrich Haas
HK Gruber
York Höller
Beat Furrer
Brian Ferneyhough
Dror Feiler
Gavin Bryars
Helena Tulve
Helmut Lachenmann
James Dillon
Rebecca Saunders
Naji Hakim

And dozens of others, but all alive unless I've not been notified by some recent death..

/ptr


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2014)

I think it is necessary in a thread like this, at this point in history, to differentiate between living composers and active composers under the age of, say, 70... I love Boulez and Norgard and others, without a doubt, but I'm not expecting a whole lot of new material from them, and it wouldn't be a huge shock if they croaked soon (what a sad thought, I know). 

Of the composers still going strong and from whom I still have high hopes for exciting new compositions, I would say my #1 is Kaija Saariaho. Unsuk Chin and Richard Barrett are two other names that come to mind, for still being in the midst of exciting compositional periods.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Just one??*

I can not pick just one.

I could easily come up with a list of at least fifty composers, many have already been mentioned.


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Salvatore Sciarrino, with George Benjamin in second place.


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## nightscape (Jun 22, 2013)

John Williams. I welcome your scorn.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2014)

You got it!

.......


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## Marschallin Blair (Jan 23, 2014)

nightscape said:


> John Williams. I welcome your scorn.


I certainly love his fanfares and marches; and of course _Raiders_ and _Empire_; _Superman_ too, derivative of Sibelius as parts of that score are.


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## Actor (Jul 23, 2014)

I love Andrew Loyd Webber, especially his score for the Phantom of The Opera, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Beautiful creations.


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## jdcbr (Jul 21, 2014)

Aaron Jay Kernis


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## worov (Oct 12, 2012)

John Corigliano:


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2014)

Where are the Einaudi fans? Where?

Oh the humanity!!


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I have to say after hearing Esa-Pekka Salonen's album Wing on Wing, he may be my favorite living composer.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

nightscape said:


> John Williams. I welcome your scorn.


He's just about the name in this thread of whom I have heard any music. Some of the others are familiar, but I am not too familiar with the contemporary classical music scene. One hears so much of it that is utterly unlistenable that I tend not to bother. Probably a mistake, but I have only so many hours in my day.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

nightscape said:


> John Williams. I welcome your scorn.


You are not alone.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Ian Anderson


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I like many.

Off the top of my head...


Magnus Lindberg
Penderecki
Esa Pekka Salonen
Joan Tower
Pierre Boulez
Joseph Schwantner
Steve Reich
Brian Ferneyhough

There are others...


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*We Can Not Pick Just One.*

There are many threads that ask who is the best this and what is the best recording of what. Well guess what? Based on our experiences many of us here find such questions meaningless, not just 'some guy'.

The opening post requested "Who is your favorite living composer?" Many of us do not know the answer to that question. Those of us who follow contemporary music can not choose just one. When we try to explain why, some members get mad at us. I realize that many times we loose our cool when we respond to the same questions many times.

Now if the original post ask us for a list of our favorite living composers, I know I could come with a list of twenty composers that have not yet been mentioned. Most of them would be band composers and many still here consider band music to be an illegitimate form of classical music.

There are probably at least a hundred great European Classical Composers. Many of us could not tell you if any one of them is significantly better than the other ninety-nine. I know I could not tell you who is a better composer, Mozart or Beethoven. If I tried to explain why I do not know I would probably irritate some of the members. I have seen threads like this and I tend to avoid them.

Also sometimes the questions are too broad. What about Elliott Carter. He was an active composer until he passed away in 2012 just short of his one hundred and fourth birthday. Would he be a valid response?


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## Chordalrock (Jan 21, 2014)

I notice that Finnish composers seem over-represented, four having been mentioned, at least three of them more than once, two of them many times. Our state sponsored high culture and basically free educational institutions (such as Sibelius Academy) seem to have paid off.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

This thread was temporarily closed for repairs ... 

Please stay on topic and lets keep the reference to specific members out of the conversation.

*Thread is re-opened for member participation* ...


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## vincentfernandes (Jan 8, 2013)

Not sure if we're allowed to include film composers, but my all-time favourite is Patrick Doyle. His beautiful, romantic and emotional music often helps me through difficult times or cheers me up. I also admire him for not jumping on the Hans Zimmer bandwagon ad can't wait for his upcoming Cinderella.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Samuel Barber was a great living composer who died not too long ago in 1981. He must be easily regarded by now as a great contemporary composer for sure. I only wish we have many more living composers in Barber's musical path. I know he is obviously not living but a great name to mention for this thread.


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## Kilgore Trout (Feb 26, 2014)

I don't know who my favorite composer is, but he's better than all the ones anyone can name.


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## TheCTViolinist (Jun 28, 2014)

Eric Whitacre. He is the master of harmonies in modern choral music.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Honestly, I don't have much difficulty naming my favorite composer of all time (J.S. Bach)... but living composers? Not too long ago I would have said Henri Dutilleux. Now? Among the living composers that I listen to at least semi-regularly:

Tarik O'Regan
Eric Whitacre
Donnacha Dennehy
Osvaldo Golijov
Erkki-Sven Tüür
James MacMillan
David Lang
Paul Moravec
Kenneth Fuchs
Pascal Dusapin
Michael Daugherty
Oliver Knussen
John Adams
Tristan Murail
Pēteris Vasks
John Tavener
Joseph Schwantner
Morten Lauridsen
Emmanuel Nunes
William Bolcom
Jake Heggie
Ned Rorem
Valentin Silvestrov
Steve Reich
Philip Glass
Krzysztof Penderecki
Per Nørgård
Einojuhani Rautavaara

... most have a few works that I find absolutely splendid... but few (if any) have a large oeuvre of works that I find myself returning to again and again. The closest for me would include Penderecki, Silvestrov, Glass, Reich, Rorem, and Golijov.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Fifty*

'StlukesguildOhio' inspired me to come up with my own list. I had to stop at fifty. There are many other living and recently deceased composers who wrote music that I enjoy. All of the following composers have composed at least several works that I like.

Why? The simple answer is that all of them make my ears happy.

John	Adams
Kalevi Aho
Leonardo Balada
James Barnes
Michael Berkeley
Elliott Carter
Michael Colgrass
John	Corigliano
George Crumb
Richard Danielpour
Michael Daugherty
David Del Tredici
David Gillingham
Donald Grantham
Edward Gregson
Jennifer Higdon
Karel	Husa
Anthony Iannaccone
Robert Jager
Libby	Larson
Lowell Liebermann
Magnus Lindberg
David Maslanka
John	McCabe
James McMillan
Edgar Myer
Ron Nelson
Per Nørgård
Arvo	Pärt
Krzysztof Penderecki
Tobias Picker
David Rakowski
Einojuhani	Rautavaara
Poul	Ruders
John	Rutter
Kaija	Saariaho
Joseph Schwantner
Peter Sculthrope
Phillip Sparke
Jack	Stamp
Steven Stucky
Christopher Theofanidis
Frank Ticheli
Joan Tower
Peteris Vasks
George Walker
Dan	Welcher
Eric	Whicacre
John	Williams
Ellen Taafe Zwilich


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## Kilgore Trout (Feb 26, 2014)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> John Tavener
> Emmanuel Nunes


Sorry to tell you that, but Tavener died a few months ago and Nunes died in 2012.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

Thanks for the great listings people. Love those long lists, you guys are keeping me busy for a long while. It's amazing how much music we'll never even get to listen to because there simply isn't time in life. You think you know a lot about music (compared to the average joe) until you come to a forum like this... I mean there are so many composers listed on this thread I've never even heard of.. It really puts it in perspective. So much music... so much.. 

Well off to it I suppose think I'll start with this Eric Whitacre fellow I've seen him mentioned a few times..


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Kilgore Trout said:


> Sorry to tell you that, but Tavener died a few months ago and Nunes died in 2012.


This is one of the problems I had with the OP. There were many fine composers who were active in the 21st century who recently passed away. In addition to the above Elliot Carter (2012, who was on my list), Richard Rodney Bennett(2012), Eino Tamberg (2010) and Henri Lazarof (2013). There are many others.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

*Some of us actually can pick just one*

If it were possible to add up all the minutes of listening pleasure I've got from still-living composers in the twenty-some years I've been listening to classical music, then the easy winner would be Philip Glass.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

arpeggio said:


> 'StlukesguildOhio' inspired me to come up with my own list. I had to stop at fifty. There are many other living and recently deceased composers who wrote music that I enjoy. All of the following composers have composed at least several works that I like.
> 
> Why? The simple answer is that all of them make my ears happy.
> 
> ...


Of those you listed, I would suggest the top 5 (i.e. top 10% of the 50) most well known overall, and two of whom I listed myself, are:

John Adams
Elliot Carter
Arvo Pärt
Krzysztof Penderecki
Einojuhani Rautavaara


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Elliot Carter would have been among my favourite Americans living composers for sure.
Now I'd say that Steve Reich has replaced him in my shortlist.

In Europe my shortlist includes:
- Wolfgang Rihm for his astonishing variety of styles;
- Fabio Vacchi for his great attention to sounds. One of the most accessible avant-garde composers imo;
- Salvatore Sciarrino, probably the most innovative among those I'm a bit familiar with.

I have to confess that many composers listed above are quite obscure to me. It would have been of great help (not only for me I believe) to have just a few words of remark beside each name (as asked by the OP...)


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## cjvinthechair (Aug 6, 2012)

Marschallin Blair said:


> I certainly love his fanfares and marches; and of course _Raiders_ and _Empire_; _Superman_ too, derivative of Sibelius as parts of that score are.


Yes, indeed - let's not dismiss Williams; he has a variety of concerti to his name that I take pleasure in listening to, for bassoon, flute, trumpet et alteri.
In no way worthy of scorn.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

GioCar said:


> ... It would have been of great help (not only for me I believe) to have just a few words of remark beside each name (as asked by the OP...)


I agree. Earlier I gave a fairly lengthy post on John Adams and Per Norgard. I also put links to two other threads where people sometimes speak more about what they have heard from individual composers (esp. the _New Generations_ thread).

I would like to hear more about some of those that ptr, arpeggio, and StLukesGuildOhio listed: e.g.
*Peter Eötvös
*Beat Furrer
*Gavin Bryars
*Donnacha Dennehy
*Erkki-Sven Tüür
*Oliver Knussen
*Tristan Murail
*Emmanuel Nunes
*Jake Heggie
*Kalevi Aho
*Lowell Liebermann
*Magnus Lindberg
*Poul Ruders
*Peter Sculthrope
*Joan Tower
What would be of help to me is a couple of sentences about their style and a couple of recommended works to start with.

Several, in their listings, have said things like: These are composers who are not per se their "favorites", at least not yet, but rather composers who have one or more works that they have enjoyed and found intriguing. And so, in commenting (briefly), that is the perspective in which I am bringing. I have one or more intriguing works by the following composers. For some I know a variety of works of theirs, for others I know only a few of their compositions and have not really explored their oeuvre.

**Frederick Rzewski (b.1938):* American composer who spent his career teaching mainly in Belgium (Liege). A brilliant pianist with a gift for improvisation. Recommended: _The People United Will Never Be Defeated!_, a brilliant set of variations on a Latin American revolutionary song "El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido". I would describe as the 20th-century's answer to Bach's _Goldberg Variations_ and Beethoven's _Diabelli Variations_, and I would number it among the finest works of the 20th century. There are various performances. I have a well-reviewed one by Marc-Andre Hamelin. Here's a YouTube of the composer himself performing the work: 




**Nikolai Kapustin (b. 1937):* Russian composer who (intriguingly) writes using a jazz idiom--and, often enough, a somewhat old-style jazz idiom (e.g. Oscar Peterson, Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington). Recommended: _Eight Concert Etudes_, op. 40 (check out the performance by Marc-Andre Hamelin). Here's a YouTube performance of "Toccatina", #3 of the _Etudes_: 




**Michael Daugherty (b.1954):* American composer; teaches at the University of Michigan. His compositions are mostly in the Gershwin - Copland - Bernstein populist style. His titles often make references to pop culture -- which risks undermining the genuine quality and seriousness of his work. A brief introduction to his style is the work _Route 66_, an exuberant orchestral work. His finest work, in my mind, is the violin concerto _Fire and Blood_, a homage to the brilliant Mexican painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Here's a YouTube to the third movement: 




**Joseph Schwantner (b. 1943):* American composer. He won the Pulitzer Prize for music early in his career, in 1979, for a serialist work, _Aftertones of Infinity_. I have enjoyed his works from the 1990s, notably _Chasing Light ... _ and especially his _Percussion Concerto_, which recently appeared in the Naxos "American Classics" series (and won a Grammy). Here's a YouTube of the 3rd movement: 




**Paul Moravec (b. 1957):* American composer. What I've heard of his is in the neo-romantic style, reminiscent, say, of a Samuel Barber. In 2004, he won the Pulitzer Prize for _Tempest Fantasy_ (a quartet for piano, clarinet, cello, and violin). I guess you could call it "program music"; individual movements are character pieces inspired by Shakespeare's _The Tempest_. It is available in the Naxos "American Classics" series. There is a live performance of it on YouTube: 




I hope others would consider expanding on their earlier recommendations.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

I have a hard time finding a living composer who I consistently like. A lot of the ones listed above have some good works, but they also have a lot of stuff that I don't get at all. Like Joseph Schwantner and Lowell Liebermann. I've only heard two pieces by David Mallamud and liked them both. But I don't think that's enough to call him a favorite living composer. John Estacio has written some cool stuff too. But I only know a couple of pieces.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*???????????????*

I will try to respond without alienating some of the members and getting me another warning for violating the forum rules.

Out of my list I really can not pick just five composers. Such a selection would imply that I think the five are better than the other forty-five. For me, the weakest composers on the list are James Barnes, Robert Jager and Jack Stamp. Yet each of these composers have produced works that have knocked my socks off. Two works that I have performed are Barnes' _Third Symphony for Band_ and Stamp's _Band Dancing_.



GioCar said:


> I have to confess that many composers listed above are quite obscure to me. It would have been of great help (not only for me I believe) to have just a few words of remark beside each name (as asked by the OP...)


There is more to life than Talk Classical. I have too many projects, musical and non-musical, that I am involved with. I am preparing for a concert next week and I am still working on my Ojai Journal for my Ojai thread.

I have provided samples in other threads concerning contemporary music. For example, I have posted the following entries concerning David Maslanka:

http://www.talkclassical.com/32410-suggest-new-composer-me-3.html#post668572

http://www.talkclassical.com/8001-american-symphonies-6.html#post652644

http://www.talkclassical.com/21085-your-ten-favorite-american-6.html#post636223

http://www.talkclassical.com/31171-american-symphonies-without-excessive.html#post627804

http://www.talkclassical.com/29475-contemporary-composers-recommendations.html#post569598

http://www.talkclassical.com/1006-latest-purchases-417.html#post562860

http://www.talkclassical.com/1006-latest-purchases-417.html#post562404

http://www.talkclassical.com/1006-latest-purchases-416.html#post561416

http://www.talkclassical.com/26509-symphony-dead-art-form-2.html#post487327

http://www.talkclassical.com/22354-concert-band-thread.html#post383564

I had to stop at ten. There are many more. I am surprised that no one is saying, "There goes arpeggio carrying on about Maslanka again." I keep wondering how many times and in how many threads do I have to keep recommending the music of Maslanka?

One can see that from the above links that there have been many threads requesting suggestions for contemporary music.

I just did a search of Talk Classical and found over fifty entries on Maslanka, nineteen from me.

One can easily perform a search on Talk Classical and You Tube to find entries concerning the above composers.

Anyways just because I like a composer does it mean you are going to like him. The final arbiter are your ears not mine.


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## PeterFromLA (Jul 22, 2011)

If this question had been asked of me thirty years ago, in 1984, the answer would have been simple: Ligeti, Feldman, Lutoslawski, and Schnittke. They were each attaining theses fantastic compositional heights in their music, a flowering that made every one of their works at around that time something to listen to. I remember traveling up and down the state of California to hear works by them that weren't yet recorded, scouring radio broadcasts of concert series to hear premieres (thanks Charles Amirkhanian, Berkeley and San Francisco Symphonies, LA Phil, and Chicago Symphony in particular), heading to new music recitals and festivals... There were other composers alive then who I listened to with great enthusiasm (especially Reich, Messiaen, Boulez, and Berio), but these four seemed to be peaking in ways that were thrilling.


Is there a quartet of composers writing today whose new works I want to hear as soon as possible, with the same enthusiasm? Yeah, I guess there are, now that I think about it: Kurtag, Dusapin, Chin, and Saariaho. Saariaho is capable of writing instrumentally dazzling works. Kurtag's works are mysterious and evocative. Dusapin's writing is blazing and transcendent. Chin's music is exciting and sensuous. Each of these composers are must listens for me, fresh off the presses... It's easier to get a hold of their new stuff now, compared to what one had to do in the pre-internet days, so the thrill of the chase isn't quite the same, but it's still very cool to be around at a time when new work is being released that reaffirms one's belief in the persistence of musical creativity.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Tristan Murail... along with Gérard Grisey... and Giacinto Scelsi... is one of the masters of Spectralism. _Gondwana_ is the work by Murail to get:


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Erkki-Sven Tüür is an Estonian composer. He studied at the the Tallinn Music School. From 1979 to 1984 he headed the rock group In Spe, which quickly became one of the most popular in Estonia. Tüür left In Spe to concentrate on composition, and with the advent of perestroika soon found an audience in the west. This is the recording that first grabbed by attention.










Tüür's work shares many of the elements of Spectralism.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Jake Heggie is a Neo-Romantic composer and the likely heir to Ned Rorem as the "great American songwriter". He is at his best as a composer for song and opera and his music has been champiuoned and recorded by singers such as Isabel Bayrakdarian, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Joyce DiDonato, Jennifer Larmore, Bryn Terfel and many others. I find his greatyest work to be his song cycles... especially:




























His operas include _Dead Man Walking_, _The End of the Affair_, and _Moby Dick_.

Very little in top-rate performances is available by Heggie on YouTube.


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Tristan Murail...


Stlukes, Thanks so much for the posts & YouTube links. They are a great help. I really appreciate it. I've listened to two of the three already (Tüür and Murail). Wonderful sound worlds. Heggie's next up.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Emmanuel Nunes was a Portuguese composer who lived and worked in Paris from 1964 until his death in 2012. The work that I am most familiar with is his _Quodlibet_ for 28 instruments, 6 percussionists and orchestra, led by 2 conductors, which once again exhibits many of the same elements of Spectralism as heard in Scelsi and Murail.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

The best sample of Heggie's work that I can find on line is this collection of outtakes/trailers to the release of his Here/After disc:


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## Guest (Jul 26, 2014)

Fugue Meister said:


> Interested in the composers of today enjoyed by our TC members and why? I base my answer on whose music I listen to the most. That would be Rodion Shchedrin the Russian composer or Krysztof Penderecki the Polish composer. Why because their music speaks to me the most and they are very diverse in that they write music in all the major forms and chamber works as well as showing a vast range of compositional ability.
> 
> I've been told I may enjoy John Adams who I've not had a chance to listen to anything if he is someone here's favorite what should I start with and why do you like his music?


I can see why your OP has attracted a little criticism - the last para seems to suggest that you'd rather talk about the possibility of liking something rather than just listening to it and finding out.

But asking for others' opinions on who they listen to out of those composing today - what's odd about that?

I can't actually answer your question because I'm currently stuck listening to the dead. Even though I heard a world premiere at the Proms the other night, the composer (Tavener) is dead! I have tried to mark out the works by current composers at the Proms, but which should I choose, since I can't listen to all of them, and I can't record all of them.

Panufnik? (European Premiere)
Qigang Chen? (UK Premiere)
David Horne? (London Premiere)
etc....

You get the idea. I'm not asking anyone to tell me who I will like - no one can do that - but if anyone else is listening to the Proms, or has listened already, a recommendation of which I might start with would be appreciated.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Arpeggio and Stlukes, thank you so much for your time and effort in giving some more details and example of you favourites. 
IMO this is much more effective to attrack attention than a lifeless "phone book" list.

Arpeggio, I am quite new to TC, and unfortunately with not much time to spend on it (probably as you). 
I am sorry I didn't notice before your passion for Maslanka. Now you definitely raised my attention and curiosity.
I am not familliar at all with music for concert band.
I'll give his music a try and let you know if I like it or not....


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

MacLeod said:


> .... I'm not asking anyone to tell me who I will like - no one can do that - but ...... a recommendation of which I might start with would be appreciated.


That's the point in threads like this, imo.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Krzysztof Penderecki (b. 1933) is definitely my favourite living composer. His large-scale choral works range from the extreme atonality of St. Luke Passion and Utrenja, to the more accessible but still amazing sounds of his Symphony No. 7 (Seven Gates of Jerusalem) and Credo. His Piano Concerto (2002, rev. 2007) is stunning, with a really powerful chorale idea that recurs throughout.


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## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Esa-Pekka Salonen! I don't know _why_...


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

arpeggio said:


> This is one of the problems I had with the OP. There were many fine composers who were active in the 21st century who recently passed away. In addition to the above Elliot Carter (2012, who was on my list), Richard Rodney Bennett(2012), Eino Tamberg (2010) and Henri Lazarof (2013). There are many others.


I had thought Richard Rodney Bennett died years ago. I don't think he composed late in life. I remember Eliot Carter had a new work premier at Tanglewood when he was 100!


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Radames said:


> I had thought Richard Rodney Bennett died years ago. I don't think he composed late in life. I remember Eliot Carter had a new work premier at Tanglewood when he was 100!


I checked this out before I submitted the post (I learned along time ago that most of the time one has to substantiate ones posts.) In the last decade of his life, Bennett composed mostly choral works: http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/works/100/#


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