# Modern chamber music composers



## whispering (Oct 26, 2013)

Hello

I once read the best way to grow your knowledge is to recognise a gap in your understanding and then seek help from those who know about the subject matter. To put down your hold on ideas which no longer suit your best interests.

I have posted several threads on this forum in the last year and received very helpful replies on the symphonies of Vaughan Williams and Sibelius. Now as they say for something completely different.

Firstly my apology as my lack of musical knowledge is rather large on this point. Okay my appreciation of classical music tends to petter out circa 1900 to 1945. I enjoy the piano concertos of Medtner, Rachmaninov and Prokovief. The later chamber pieces by Elgar, Delius and RVW are known to me. Frank Bridge appeals on some of his music. However get to about 1945 and my knowledge and interest until now just ended.

I think this is partly based on a misconceived idea that anything beyond 1945 was not true “classical music”. I confess to that being a simple and misguided belief. It was also partly due to me listening to some music under the atonal heading and running for the hills. I like melody, music with a carry through message, music which develops. The symphonies and quartets of Shostakovich left me unmoved. That is my issue but it was experiences like that which always pushed me backwards in time, pre 1945, in reality the nearer I got to 1900 and earlier the more comfortable I found the sound experience.

My main passion is chamber music. It suddenly strikes me that there may well be some great modern chamber music, but my past ideas have meant I never heard it. In turn this is where my ignorance makes it hard for me to even correctly word my question. I know there are modern day string quartets, but what about piano trios and quintets. if not piano sonatas then what piano pieces have replaced them. Reading this thread demonstrates a far bigger gap in my musical knowledge and appreciation than even I thought I had identidied.


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

There's thousands to recommend. Will have to place some kind of limit in order to sift through them all. How about American composers?

Some good starting points would be the following:






















If you want anything a little more advance than this, let me know. But there is some wonderful music here and is a great place to start.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

My interest in classical music just gets started in the years that you are unfamiliar with, and/or have not enjoyed. I have stated before on TC, that I have so far (not for lack of trying) not been able to find any classical music from before the mid 1920's that does anything for me. 

I especially like classical music post 1945 until the present. But for me, there are other important aspects of music besides obvious melodies, that are artistically, musically, emotionally, and/or intellectually satisfying. I also think, that melodies don't have to be obvious, they can be implied, when other aspects of the music are taken into consideration. 

I would suggest giving Bartok's string quartets a listen. They may be a stepping stone to more 'thorny' sounding pieces.

Ligeti's string quartet No. 1 is also worth a listen. Especially if you like Bartok's. It is often referred to as, "Bartok's 7th string quartet".

I also love Penderecki's Sextet, which I don't find that intimidating at all. To me, there is plenty of melody with repeating variations thereof. YMMV.






I will post more soon...


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

whispering said:


> Hello
> 
> I know there are modern day string quartets,


very nice quintet (cello + string quartet) by Wolfgang Rihm, called Epilog. It may be on YouTube.


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## Gallus (Feb 8, 2018)

I recently listened to a very lovely Thomas Adès piece for cello and piano, Lieux retrouvés.






This is a canonical name you might already have heard, but Britten's final SQ 3 is profound and deeply moving.


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