# Greatest living composer



## Andreas

I've recently bought a ticket for a concert with Krzysztof Penderecki conducting. This made me wonder: Who do you think is the greatest composer alive today?

Not trying to get into a discussion about how "greatest" would have to be defined. Let's take it as something like "overall artistic achievement" or "contribution to classical music". You know what I mean.

To me, Ligeti held that position until his death in 2006. But since then, in my opinion, it has been Penderecki.

What do you think?


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## Art Rock

Andreas said:


> Not trying to get into a discussion about how "greatest" would have to be defined. Let's take it as something like "overall artistic achievement" or "contribution to classical music". You know what I mean.


I'll take it to mean my personal favourite. Sofia Gubaidulina.


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## SimonNZ

With my heart I'm saying Peteris Vasks. With my head I'm saying Kaija Saariaho.


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## DrKilroy

Many do not like Penderecki here, I still enjoy some of his compositions, but it is probably because I'm Polish.  He is surely the greatest of Polish living composers, along with Kilar. 

My choice is John Adams. Kaija Saariaho is close second. Nikolai Kapustin deserves a honorable mention. 

Best regards, Dr


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## sonnenuntergangstunde

George Crumb, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, surely all contenders?


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## techniquest

Rodion Shchedrin, no contest


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

If only Brett Dean was better known....
I'm not a big fan of Penderecki's more recent stuff, his earlier works from before his neo-romantic style are really spectacular!
Sofia Gubaidulina and Kaija Saariaho are great as is John Adams and Steve Reich and maybe Philip Glass too.....I would have said Elliott Carter but he died last year along with a bunch of other terrific composers too! Perhaps Nørgård? Crumb? Boulez? This doesn't even scrape the surface of all the composers around today. There are too many to pick only one!

But I do like Nørgåd, maybe he is my favourite!


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## Kleinzeit

Magnus Lindberg & Kalevi Aho. Time will come!


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## aleazk

Georg Friedrich Haas. 





 (_limited approximations_, composed in 2010)

"In the past decade, Haas, who is now fifty-seven and living in Basel, Switzerland, has emerged as one of the major European composers of his generation.".-Alex Ross.

http://www.therestisnoise.com/2010/11/georg-friedrich-haas.html


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## peeyaj

Arvo Part. He gets my vote.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

How about Rautavaara ?


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## violadude

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> How about Rautavaara ?


I'd stick with Norgard if I were you. 

Rautavaara is good. I like his music, but sometimes his music is a lot less meaty than I would like, if you know what I mean. A lot of the appeal of his music ends up being atmosphere a lot of the time.


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## Art Rock

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> How about Rautavaara ?


He would be my second choice.


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## violadude

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> If only Brett Dean was better known....
> I'm not a big fan of Penderecki's more recent stuff, his earlier works from before his neo-romantic style are really spectacular!


Penderecki is the king of rehash these days.

Compare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OQ4-FFfxFzg#t=298 4:58

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jfo_CdAqNsg#t=573 9:33

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=IWA2qvfx0UA#t=475 7:54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mTfU6s-hevg#t=386 8:27

Those chromatic scales man....


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## Art Rock

Not yet mentioned, but one of my personal favourites: Valentin Silvestrov. Especially for his fifth symphony, and the song cycle _Silent songs_.


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## violadude

Art Rock said:


> Not yet mentioned, but one of my personal favourites: Valentin Silvestrov. Especially for his fifth symphony, and the song cycle _Silent songs_.


I haven't heard those pieces, but I have a disc of his string quartets and I really like those, especially the 1st one which goes from sounding pure and almost holy sounding to sonically perverted in comparison.


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## Nereffid

Yeah, without much thought I'll second Nørgård.


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## starthrower

Andreas said:


> I've recently bought a ticket for a concert with Krzysztof Penderecki conducting. This made me wonder: Who do you think is the greatest composer alive today?
> 
> Not trying to get into a discussion about how "greatest" would have to be defined. Let's take it as something like "overall artistic achievement" or "contribution to classical music". You know what I mean.
> 
> To me, Ligeti held that position until his death in 2006. But since then, in my opinion, it has been Penderecki.
> 
> What do you think?


I think you should try to get backstage after the concert to meet Penderecki. Then you can shake his hand and say "hey man, you're the greatest!"


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## science

DrKilroy said:


> Kilar


That's all it took to get that like from me. I hope Kilar gets more attention. Interesting compositions.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Just remembered Thomas Adès!


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## science

sonnenuntergangstunde said:


> George Crumb, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, surely all contenders?


I can see Reich being up there, and Crumb being in the top 15 or so.


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## science

Too many living composers whose music I know too little about, but for an ignorant opinion look no further: I say, Reich. By a nose over Vasks. Shchedrin has be to be up there, and one that I didn't notice in the thread yet is Kancheli. Another is Sciarrino, who deserves serious consideration for the title.


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## Ukko

I'm guessing that someone living hasn't done his/her best work yet, also that there's a reasonable possibility I won't be around to hear it.

Yesterday I listened to José Miguel Moreno play lute music* by Silvius Leopold Weiss. Afterwards, as I prepared my supper, I wondered (for the umpteenth time I suppose) if music so evocative of 'the tender emotions' will ever be composed again.

Maybe it's all around me, and I don't recognize it, troglodyte that I am.

*Glossa CD GCD 2K0102. "Ars Melancholiae".


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## mstar

Hilltroll72 said:


> I'm guessing that someone living hasn't done his/her best work yet, also that there's a reasonable possibility I won't be around to hear it./QUOTE]
> 
> Hilltroll72 - It's not that they haven't written it yet until around the time when they die.... It's that we don't really know what it is until around the time that they die. And you, Hilltroll72, I pray will be around to hear countless best works.


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## imallearz

peeyaj said:


> Arvo Part. He gets my vote.


I'll second that....especially in the narrow genre of sacred music.


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## brotagonist

I'd have to go with Pierre Boulez. He is one of the few (only) remaining _old garde_ modern composers whose contribution to music, both as a composer and as a proponent of the music of other composers via his conducting have been and continue to be immeasurable.


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## Aramis

Andreas said:


> Who do you think is the greatest composer alive today?


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## Kleinzeit

Arthur Bliss?

I'm sorry to have to break this to you...


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## joen_cph

Gubadulina & Nørgård would probably be my main choices as well. Extremey many-facetted, ambitious and formally innovative oeuvres.


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## ptr

I find it really difficult to designate the term "Greatest" to anyone living! What are the criteria You use to define who is great and who is not?

I'm not a great fan of Penderecki, Salonen or Nørgård and most contemporary composers whose music I have heard "many" works by generally produce more works that don't appeal to me then works that does. But there are a few that I find more consistent like Helmuth Lachenmann, Georg Friedrich Haas, Wolfgang Rihm, Peter Eötvös, HK Gruber, Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho to mention a few but I find it hard to say if any of them will have to musical longevity to merit greatness. 

I quite think that most of Sofia Gubaidulina's works I've heard are brilliant, but often I find her constant underlying religious themes very disturbing. On the other hand, I have no problems with thematically religious music from historical genres... Is it Ok to think someone great despite having "doubts" about the conceptual idea of their music?

/ptr


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## Ukko

brotagonist said:


> I'd have to go with Pierre Boulez. He is one of the few (only) remaining _old garde_ modern composers whose contribution to music, both as a composer and as a proponent of the music of other composers via his conducting have been and continue to be immeasurable.


Well, you have the 'immeasurable' part right... .


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## arpeggio

I have no idea who the greatest is.

My favorite is probably John Corigliano.


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## Mahlerian

brotagonist said:


> I'd have to go with Pierre Boulez. He is one of the few (only) remaining _old garde_ modern composers whose contribution to music, both as a composer and as a proponent of the music of other composers via his conducting have been and continue to be immeasurable.


If he were still composing, I think he would be the clear front-runner, but he seems to have stopped pretty much entirely.


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## Schumann

Most definitely JOHN WILLIAMS!!!


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## brotagonist

Mahlerian said:


> If he were still composing, I think he would be the clear front-runner, but he seems to have stopped pretty much entirely.


Curiosity led me to Wikipedia (not exactly the final word, but a reference with shaky credibility) which states that Pierre Boulez, born in 1925, "continues to conduct and compose" in recent years (although he has had to cancel some engagements due to illness) and that one of his recent works from 2005 for piano is _Une page d'éphéméride_.


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## Weston

Aramis said:


> there was a huge picture here I edited out


Is this Aramis' triumphant return? And how did he manage to post with no characters?


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## StlukesguildOhio

5 months ago I would have gone with Henri Dutilleux. Among my favorites of the remaining contenders I would include Ned Rorem, Valentin Silvestrov, and Osvaldo Golijov.


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## Weston

Ligeti's light still blinds me to most other contemporary composers even after his death. I might have to go with Rautavaara, but I'm keeping an eye on Jennifer Higdon, whose career I hope has just barely begun.


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## violadude

As per usual, I'll provide a list of living composers I'm particularly fond of that have not been mentioned yet and might not be mentioned at all if I don't bring them up (hopefully, these lists will catch on so I don't have to feel so alone in mentioning some of these guys and gals  )

But before that...I think it's interesting to note that, while the majority of the composers mentioned so far are certainly living so they do fit the criterion for this thread, most of them belong to an older generation of composers. A lot of us might think of guys like Boulez, Gubaidulina and even Glass as contemporary composers still, which they technically are if they are still composing...but they're quickly becoming not so "contemporary" if you know what I'm getting it. So I just think it's funny that when we think of living composers, most of us automatically think of very old living composers that no longer fit in with the most contemporary trends in classical music at the moment. That's not a bad thing of course. Just an observation.

Anyway, here's my list of not yet mentioned living composers that I like.

Louis Andriessen - A Dutch composer whose music is, I believe, thought of as one of the first in the post-minimalist movement. His pieces are very colorful fun and entertaining, often taking advantage of jazzy and bright pop-like timbres. He also has much slower developing pieces that range in expression from very dark to peaceful.














Robert Ashley - Here's an interesting composer to tell your parents about. His music is quite unique sounding as it more often than not features a narrator telling some sort of story over the music. It's sort of like Schoenberg's Sprechstimme technique without the half-sung part of it, so that the narration is not musically integrated into the instrumental part. Not likely to be anyone's favorite, but quite interesting.














David Lang - A post-minimalist whose music often has similar qualities to Andriessen's but usually with less straightforward rhythms. Not too long ago he won an award from his Match Girl Passion which is a very moving piece from what I've heard. Actually, most of his music, even when fast, tends to be going for moving rather than entertaining or trance-like.


















Nico Muhly - Another composer similar to David Lang in style, but employing a bit wider variety of styles into the mix and a lot younger. He's one of the youngest composers I know of who has a name made for himself.














Ikue Mori - A great electronic music composer. I might be stretching the line a bit on this one, but if Stockhausen's electronic pieces can be considered classical, I think this can too. As well as composing solo pieces, she's also a big collaborator. She is on John Zorn's label, Tzadik, so you'll mostly find her working with other people on that label (which is chalk full of great artists that I recommend to everyone on here, even if a lot of it isn't technically classical, it's still artsy enough).


















Somei Satoh - A Japanese composer whose music is very often slow moving and meditative, like Gorecki on Valium.


















Misato Mochizuki - Her orchestral music reminds me a lot of Varese. I don't know what her chamber music reminds me of, but it's Good stuff.


















Unsuk Chin - She was trained by Ligeti...and it sounds like it. Her Alice in Wonderland Opera reminds me a lot of Le Grand Macabe. So if you like Ligeti, check her out too.






















Toshio Hosokawa - Out of all the Japanese composers I'm mentioning (and one Korean), I think Hosokawa's is the most obviously Japanese influenced or at least it sounds that way to me. A lot of his music brings Japanese mythology to my mind, especially their ghost stories. Much of his music is very moving and powerful.






















Beat Furrer - 
An Austrian-Swiss composer. From what I've heard, his music is similar in vein to Lachenmann, who was previously mentioned. His music is often full of activity, but a lot of times it's subdued activity, giving the music a feeling as if it's about to burst forward with energy.


















Tristain Murail - A spectralist composer whose music combines electronics and instrumentals to create wonderful sonic worlds of magic.


















Ken Ueno - This composer visited my school a bit ago. Besides being a composer, he is also a Tuvan throat singer. He often employs unique industrial sounds in his compositions. I can only find one piece by him on youtube but it has a score so that's cool. He reminds me of George Crumb.






Brian Ferneyhough - An English composer and poster boy for the New Complexity movement. I don't know how much I actually like this composer...but I included him anyway because his music is interesting...and if you haven't tried to listen to his music while following one of his scores before, it's something that must be experienced.


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## violadude

Weston said:


> Ligeti's light still blinds me to most other contemporary composers even after his death. I might have to go with Rautavaara, but I'm keeping an eye on Janet Higdon, whose career I hope has just barely begun.


I believe you meant to say Jennifer Higdon


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## Blancrocher

Lots of great suggestions on this thread so far--I'm hearing some of these composers for the first time today, so I really can't comment on who's the greatest! I'll make a plug for George Benjamin, though. I may have been misled by some hype, but I've been giving his whole oeuvre repeated listens since I heard his latest opera recently. I'll definitely be snapping up whatever he comes out with next.


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## Weston

violadude said:


> I believe you meant to say Jennifer Higdon


I did, thanks. Repaired.


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## Weston

violadude said:


> As per usual, I'll provide a list of living composers I'm particularly fond of that have not been mentioned yet and might not be mentioned at all if I don't bring them up


This is an awesome list (except maybe for the Ashley stuff). I'm bookmarking this page for future reference. There's enough here to keep me exploring for several months!


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## violadude

Weston said:


> This is an awesome list (except maybe for the Ashley stuff). I'm bookmarking this page for future reference. There's enough here to keep me exploring for several months!


Glad you enjoyed it 

As for the Ashley, ya I sort of expected that kind of reaction to that one. But make sure you listen to the last example of Ashley's music I provided if you haven't already. It's the most interesting.


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## BurningDesire

Of course it is I who the greatest composer there is today!~ (with Crudblud in a close second.)

Behold my people, for I am your humble Princess of Music, come to deliver great music upon thee~


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## aleazk

violadude said:


> text


I checked the full list. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
The first six composers of the list were somewhat 'meh' to me. 
I find Mochizuki very interesting. 'Varesian', indeed.
I already knew Chin. Great stuff, if not maybe too Ligetian... But, anyway, her music is astonishingly well crafted.
I like the Hosokawa, reminds me of Takemitsu.
I really, really liked Furrer, particularly the piece _spur_ for piano and string quartet. Very frenetic!.
I already knew Murail. As you say, spectral music is a wonderful sonic world of magic. Definitely one of my favorite styles right now (I recommend also Grisey and Haas for more spectralism).
I'm listening to the Ueno right now, pretty cool. I really like it. Very intense, with, perhaps, meditative elements, in the eastern sense. Great use of the electric guitar.
I already knew Ferneyhough. I find it interesting, but I'm not crazy about it. There's a conceptual art element in the New Complexity movement, I think. 
Thanks again, I have music for listening these days with this.


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## PetrB

Art Rock said:


> Not yet mentioned, but one of my personal favourites: Valentin Silvestrov. Especially for his fifth symphony, and the song cycle _Silent songs_.


I wonder if these sort of post / neo romantics are going to be of any "importance" years down the road -- they sound to me like they are nothing newer, or with a current jargon slant, on Brahms / Mahler.

_People eat them up because they are really romantic but in slightly more modern dress, and that is just slightly._


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## violadude

aleazk said:


> I checked the full list. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
> The first six composers of the list were somewhat 'meh' to me.
> I find Mochizuki very interesting. 'Varesian', indeed.
> I already knew Chin. Great stuff, if not maybe too Ligetian... But, anyway, her music is astonishingly well crafted.
> I like the Hosokawa, reminds me of Takemitsu.
> I really, really liked Furrer, particularly the piece _spur_ for piano and string quartet. Very frenetic!.
> I already knew Murail. As you say, spectral music is a wonderful sonic world of magic. Definitely one of my favorite styles right now (I recommend also Grisey and Haas for more spectralism).
> I'm listening to the Ueno right now, pretty cool. I really like it. Very intense, with, perhaps, meditative elements, in the eastern sense. Great use of the electric guitar.
> I already knew Ferneyhough. I find it interesting, but I'm not crazy about it. There's a conceptual art element in the New Complexity movement, I think.
> Thanks again, I have music for listening these days with this.


I'm glad you found stuff you liked in that list 

It took me a couple hours to compile and think of what to write. So I hope everyone enjoys something out of there!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Im getting into Aho at the moment.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I wonder if these sort of post / neo romantics are going to be of any "importance" years down the road -- they sound to me like they are nothing newer, or with a current jargon slant, on Brahms / Mahler.

People eat them up because they are really romantic but in slightly more modern dress, and that is just slightly.

I wonder how much any of the already named composers will be deemed as of any "importance" years down the road. I suspect that your guess (or mine) is as good (or bad) as anyone else'.


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## StlukesguildOhio

Anyway, here's my list of not yet mentioned living composers that I like...

Yes... Hosokawa and Lang are names that I thought of as well. Murail?? I simply forgot that he was still alive.


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## violadude

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Anyway, here's my list of not yet mentioned living composers that I like...
> 
> Murail?? I simply forgot that he was still alive.


Maybe you got him mixed up with the now deceased Grisey?


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## aleazk

violadude said:


> I'm glad you found stuff you liked in that list
> 
> It took me a couple hours to compile and think of what to write. So I hope everyone enjoys something out of there!


Sorry that some of those didn't click for me. I will try later again.


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## Itullian

Ian Anderson.......................


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## violadude

aleazk said:


> Sorry that some of those didn't click for me. I will try later again.


Oh don't even worry about it! It's a large range of different composers. I don't expect everyone to like everything. I just hoped that most people would get SOMETHING out of it.


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## mmsbls

I just spent most of the past year listening to new music (new to me) including music of past eras. I heard a lot of contemporary composers, but I didn't spend much time on the vast majority of them. This thread has motivated me to dig a bit deeper into those who others especially value.

I came to TC having heard relatively little music composed after 1950. My favorite composers and works remain those long dead or composed a long time ago, but there is a significant change in my listening desires. I find myself often itching to hear modern or contemporary music. I may listen to Mozart, Brahms, and Schubert, and revel in the sheer beauty. But then I _need_ to hear something modern. It's an odd feeling for someone who almost had an aversion to such music several years ago.

So thank you to all those who have suggested modern or contemporary works in various threads, to those who have talked so positively about living composers, and to all those who pushed me to change my listening habits.

@violadude: Thanks for the detailed list. I'm liking what I'm hearing from Muhly so far and expect to sample everyone on your list.

I wouldn't try to say who might be the greatest living composer, but I would say that I would place Adams and Reich among the greats.


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## TrevBus

Of all that has been listed, AHO is my favorite. Took me awhile but once there, OH MY!!!!!!!

I'm going to list 3 more.

Americans: George Tsontakis and Michael Torke
Australian: Carl Vine


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## PetrB

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I wonder if these sort of post / neo romantics are going to be of any "importance" years down the road -- they sound to me like they are nothing newer, or with a current jargon slant, on Brahms / Mahler.
> 
> People eat them up because they are really romantic but in slightly more modern dress, and that is just slightly.
> 
> I wonder how much any of the already named composers will be deemed as of any "importance" years down the road. I suspect that your guess (or mine) is as good (or bad) as anyone else'.


I suspect you are about as maybe correct as I in making the statement. One could say something similar about the possible later "importance" of Fernyhough, and be just about as speculatively 'right or wrong.' It is just that I don't think of Silvestrov or Rautavaara, for example, as very "modern" though by the fact they are writing now, they are contemporary.


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## Weston

Itullian said:


> Ian Anderson.......................


Nah - never mind the alternating 7/8 and 9/8 time signatures. He uses harmony and old fashioned major and minor modes and stuff. Can't be having that.


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## maestro267

My favourite living composer is Krzysztof Penderecki. I had three discs of his music before, but this year the collection has grown to seven.


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## Guest

Of course when you introduce the concept of greatness, you open the door for the concept of posterity. How many of these people will be played or considered important 50 or 100 or 200 years from now?

If you are focused on the music itself, however, and on your own experience with each piece, then neither posterity nor posterity really seem all that important. In fact, if you are simply logical, you probably won't consider posterity to be all that important. Some of us will be alive 50 years from now. Fewer will be alive 100 years from now.

As far as each of us is concerned, and limited to our own experiences, there's only now. And whatever of the past "now" includes. The future is not really accessible except to speculation. Idle, I almost sure.

Oh, it's fun. But it doesn't really have any sort of intellectual gravitas. Come to think of it, neither does "greatness."

One thing is sure; we have now. It's enough.

And for now, here are a few people I have found entirely satisfying. Others experiences will differ.

Zbigniew Karkowski
Simon Steen-Andersen
Beatriz Ferreyra
Natasha Barrett
Iancu Dumitrescu
Ana-Maria Avram
Helmut Lachenmann
Carola Bauckholt

There are more. So many more that the idea of "greatest living composer" seems pretty silly and feeble. Certainly reductionist. These different people do many different things. And they are different from dozens of other composers I haven't mentioned. How can you possibly have a reasonable or reliable metric for greatness in all this variety? It just doesn't make any sense. (Same goes, I'm sure you'll have noticed already, with all the variety of the entire history of western classical music, too. J.S. Bach? Lovely music. But Bach never tried (nor could he have imagined) any of the things Berlioz did. Same for Berlioz and Schoenberg. Same for Schoenberg and Francisco Lopez.)

And so forth.


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## starthrower

Enjoying Muhly's Wish You Were Here. Funny, I almost bought the Pink Floyd CD yesterday, but I put it back!

This piece doesn't sound all that original or earth shattering, but at least it's musical. Some of these other "composers" sound like organizers of sounds and tones, but it's not much fun to listen to as music.


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## PetrB

starthrower said:


> Enjoying Muhly's Wish You Were Here. Funny, I almost bought the Pink Floyd CD yesterday, but I put it back!
> 
> This piece doesn't sound all that original or earth shattering, but at least it's musical. Some of these other "composers" sound like organizers of sounds and tones, but it's not much fun to listen to as music.


I like me some Nico Muhly, too, but John Adams, Beat FUrrer, and Georg Friedrich Haas (all previous mentions) are nothing less than very "musical" also 
Adams ~ Dharma at Big Sur; II Sri Suhshine




Beat Furrer ~ Piano concerto




Haas ~ In vain


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## Weston

some guy said:


> Zbigniew Karkowski
> Simon Steen-Andersen
> Beatriz Ferreyra
> Natasha Barrett
> Iancu Dumitrescu
> Ana-Maria Avram
> Helmut Lachenmann
> Carola Bauckholt


Of this list I almost enjoyed Carola Bauckholt, a piece called "Keil" by the Cikada Ensemble.


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## Blake

Kaija Saariaho is exceptional.


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## Topamo

I am surprised to see that no one has mentioned the Georgian composer Giya Kancheli. I haven't kept up with his more recent work as much but his late Soviet-era output was formidable. Symphonies 4-6 are all well worth the trouble…

Even though I have little interest in the postwar avant-garde, I think Penderecki's music-making was stronger and of greater impact before he switched over to writing rather bland and derivative neo-Romantic or Baroque-tinged music. I don't think any of his recent output will have much, if any, staying power.

Arvo Part seems to be one of the few contemporary composers who has managed to forge a distinct and original voice. I find his work fresh and emotionally and sonically very rich. Although I have too little exposure to many of the above-listed names in order to feel justified in taking a position on this question, I can't imagine Mr. Part not figuring somewhere near the top.

John Adams, on the other hand, is a composer whose merit I think has been fantastically overstated, and I am not sure what to attribute that to. I have lacked the patience to work through his entire oeuvre, but what I have heard has been entirely uninteresting, with his opera writing being of uniquely low calibre. I agree with Donald Henahan, who reviewed the premiere of "Nixon in China" in 1987 for the _New York Times_, whose assessment of Adams's score was:

_The score jogs along uneventfully for three hours, rousing itself to a proto-tune or a thickly orchestrated fortissimo now and then, but mostly concentrating on making less out of little. Although described by Adams fans as post-Minimal, the score is given to stating a scrap of the most ordinary musical material and ruminating on it in a static style, much as a novice pianist will work on a single chord until neighbors begin to pound the wall. Mr. Adams does for the arpeggio what McDonald's did for the hamburger, grinding out one simple idea unto eternity. At one point, when something musical does threaten to take shape, it turns out to be a quotation from Wagner. _


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## Guest

Topamo said:


> Arvo Part seems to be one of the few contemporary composers who has managed to forge a distinct and original voice.


Give us a list of all the contemporary composers you know, s'il vous plaît.

(I would have said that neither distinct nor original describe Hr Pärt. He is one of the few who has managed to become well-known among people who do not otherwise listen to recently composed music. That is certain.)


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## Topamo

some guy said:


> He is one of the few who has managed to become well-known among people who do not otherwise listen to recently composed music. That is certain.


That may well be accurate and I may be guilty of falling for the hype. It just seems to me most recently composed music is either highly derivative of bygone styles or fits squarely into the latest trend of socially topical, mixed-media, harmonically accessible symphonic mood sketch music. Arvo Part seems to me to have been one of the first to start unwinding what had become an impossibly complex and emotionally detached idiom into something that didn't sound trivial and didn't become dated in a decade. But again, I am venturing into territory I know less about. Feel free to set me straight.


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## TrevBus

I have no idea who "the greatest" is(just not musically educated enough)but will go with 4 that have already been listed, that I enjoy the most: Vasks, Penderecki, Aho, Rautavaara. I will make that 5 because I really like Richard Danielpour's music.


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## Jobis

George Benjamin in my opinion. His opera _Written on Skin_ I consider a real landmark in contemporary music. Finally an English composer whose work I actually love!


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## Guest

Topamo said:


> It just seems to me most recently composed music is either highly derivative of bygone styles


Yeah, there's been a lot of that kind of thing going around.



Topamo said:


> the latest trend of socially topical, mixed-media, harmonically accessible symphonic mood sketch music.


No idea what this could be. Some examples?



Topamo said:


> what had become an impossibly complex and emotionally detached idiom


Nor this. What is this? And how did Pärt unwind it?


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## Andreas

My choice of Penderecki was probably motivated by two things in particular: 1) a fairly simple definition of greatness, namely a combination of popularity and critical acclaim, and 2) the breadth of his oeuvre, also in terms of forms and genres.

Concerning 2), breadth of course doesn't necessarily mean depth. Some immortal composers have specialized in certain forms and mostly ignored everything else. Wagner, Bruckner and Mahler, for instance.

Still, part of what is, to me, so fascinating about Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Ligeti and Penderecki is the diversity and scope of their output.

The fault with this thinking might be that is still too connected to traditional forms. That is, thinking in sonatas, quartets, concertos, symphonies, passions, requiems, operas, etc.

But these are traditional (hence outdated?) forms that help us categorize works - which, though not necessary, is comfortable. And these are the forms that many, if not most, great masters, who have stood the test of time, have worked in.

Perhaps these forms, due to the weighty tradition they're associated with, already lend a certain degree of (potential) greatness to any composer who uses them.


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## Guest

What would you guys consider the best works to start with when trying to get into Aho? I've listened to symphonies 10 and 12 a couple of times...didn't understand 

Edit: Guess I'd have to answer the thread with Norgard. I like a couple others better that are alive, but with Norgard's 8th being written in 2011, I'd say he's the only one I know of that's not on the downhill.


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## PetrB

Topamo said:


> Arvo Part seems to be one of the few contemporary composers who has managed to forge a distinct and original voice.


Past his 'modern' phase, which few know much of or from, the category "Spiritual Minimalist' is bandied about for Part and a number of other composers.

So we have 'minimalist' as part of the tag, nothing fresh from Part there.

The works he is most known for which do fall under the Spiritual Minimalism banner are also more drily called "neomedieval."

So now we have another tag which means he went back to a long-ago era.

Altogether, whether it was drones, or those first minimalists re-claiming tertian triads and chords for their innate strength of basic resonance, Part may have made something distinctive enough to be readily identifiable, but I think it is going more than a bit too far to call it "original," at least in that more complete sense of a word I would reserve more for Debussy or Stravinsky, Ligeti, Berio or a good handful of other composers, many in one way or another his contemporaries.


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## Andreas

PetrB said:


> Past his 'modern' phase, which few know much of or from, the category "Spiritual Minimalist' is bandied about for Part and a number of other composers.
> 
> So we have 'minimalist' as part of the tag, nothing fresh from Part there.
> 
> The works he is most known for which do fall under the Spiritual Minimalism banner are also more drily called "neomedieval."
> 
> So now we have another tag which means he went back to a long-ago era.
> 
> Altogether, whether it was drones, or those first minimalists re-claiming tertian triads and chords for their innate strength of basic resonance, Part may have made something distinctive enough to be readily identifiable, but I think it is going more than a bit to far to call it "original," at least in that more complete sense of a word I would reserve more for Debussy or Stravinsky, Ligeti, Berio or a good handful of other composers, many in one way or another his contemporaries.


Somewhat in defense of Pärt, though he's not in need of it:
I find it difficult to think of Pärt as a composer, at least in the traditional sense of, say, Beethoven or Mahler. I sense little, if any, striving or ambition in his music from the mid-70s onward. Now, critics may say: well, that definitely shows! But I wonder: maybe that's exactly the point. I've heard his Passio in concert and couldn't help thinking: this music is not going anywhere. Which sounds like a bad thing, but personally, I see it as just the opposite: freedom from painful desire. I know Pärt's not a Buddhist, but I see why he would be popular with them. His music strikes me as self-evident and self-sufficient. Music I wouldn't expect from a composer, but rather from someone who is something else but also composes. That's the kind of way I see Pärt.


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## Guest

The urge to narrow is just too great.

Even my impossibly small list a couple of posts back was instantly narrowed down to one--one "almost like."

The urge to "like" things, instantly, is just too great.

Liking instantly is only likely (as it were!) if the thing you're listening to is quite a lot like (!) what you already know. The less familiar it is, the more likely it will be unlikable. Contemporary music, at least of the kind that's not consciously and ostentatiously after your dollar by mimicking what is old (and hence more likely to be familiar), is by definition unfamiliar. So naturally, one should expect it to be less likable, at first.

Of course, one can change one's desires. From "I want what I already know I like" to "I want what I've never heard before or never even imagined."

But the desire for comfort is just too great.

All I know from my own journey is that if you stick with what you can like right now, then it will be very difficult for you to like anything else. It will be very difficult for you to even imagine anyone else liking what you do not like. You will have boxed yourself in so that your capacities are smaller and smaller. And as you add more and more things of the same type to your listening repertoire, you will experience the illusion of broadening even while you are narrowing. And for many, that illusion is the only reality that matters.

If you reach out for what you don't already like, however, for what you don't already know--if you forget about yourself and your likes and dislikes, however, something really magical happens: you find yourself able to like more and more things. 

The urge to marginalize and invalidate your experience, however, is very powerful. If you weren't such a sociable person, whose love for one's fellow travelers was so great that you very naturally want to share with them your delightful discoveries, you would probably at this point realize that engaging in the corrosive discussions typical of all online forums will gradually eat away at your soul until you're completely destroyed. Or maybe love really is more powerful than hate and your soul is just fine.

Hey! It could happen.:angel:


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## BiggusD

In my humble opinion the greatest living composer is Pierre Boulez.


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## dgee

^^^^^^ correct!


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## Masada

Hands down, first place goes to Arvo Pärt for me. Followed up with second place, I've got to go with two: Peter Eötvös and Esa Pekka Salonen. I do love contemporary minimalism as well as the passions that come with our current era, as stunningly captured by these masters of the art.


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## Whistler Fred

I'm hesitant about calling him _the_ greatest living composer, but I would certainly put William Bolcom on the list. His music covers such a wide range, sometimes all at once, and he handles this range with ease. His "Songs of Innocence and Experience" could be considered a summation of all of the sometimes conflicting trends in 20th music, from expanded tonality to country and pop. And it works, at least IMHO.


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## Kilgore Trout

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> If only Brett Dean was better known....


This. His works are the perfect synthesis of european post-serial avant-garde and of post-modernism/neo-romantism, without the conservatist aspect of it. I would not consider him a genius, but his works are to me the greatest representation today's music, while keeping a personal voice.
And his opera _Bliss_ is insanely good.


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## hpowders

I like the American composer Ned Rorem and would put him up against any composer still alive.


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## samurai

What, no love here for Philip Glass?


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## Guest

Hahaha, funny.

And while everyone's busy falling over each other to narrow things down to either Ned or William or Pierre or Brett or Arvo [edit: or Phil], I'm sitting quietly over here in my corner listening quite contentedly to all of them, and to Natasha and Michele and Diana and Beatriz and Cristina and Lyn and Emmanuelle as well, not to mention.


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## Kilgore Trout

some guy said:


> And while everyone's busy falling over each other to narrow things down to either Ned or William or Pierre or Brett or Arvo [edit: or Phil], I'm sitting quietly over here in my corner listening quite contentedly to all of them, and to Natasha and Michele and Diana and Beatriz and Cristina and Lyn and Emmanuelle as well, not to mention.


And while you were writing this message mocking people, we were too listening to whoever we wanted to listen at the time...

In 1913, people were also discussing wether Igor or Arnold or Claude-Achille or Maurice was the greatest living composer. It made no harm. But history did narrow, and some people ended being more right than others...


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## Eviticus

Schumann said:


> Most definitely JOHN WILLIAMS!!!


I concur. Or to put it another way he is my 'favourite' living composer of orchestral music.


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## mtmailey

I think the best composers are dead like BEETHOVEN,SCHUBERT,DVORAK.


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## Itullian

Ian Anderson...


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## Stavrogin

Arvo Part and, above all, Giya Kancheli stand out from the rest for me.


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## hpowders

Perhaps John Corigliano.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I need to mention how much I just love the music of Thomas Adès!


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## Itullian

Ian Anderson. .....................


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## Crudblud

violadude said:


> Penderecki is the king of rehash these days.


I'd go so far as to say that's always been his modus operandi. To my ears, the only thing that's changed between the Threnody and those pieces is the material, the method remains largely the same.



violadude said:


> Robert Ashley - Here's an interesting composer to tell your parents about. His music is quite unique sounding as it more often than not features a narrator telling some sort of story over the music. It's sort of like Schoenberg's Sprechstimme technique without the half-sung part of it, so that the narration is not musically integrated into the instrumental part. Not likely to be anyone's favorite, but quite interesting.


Sadly no longer with us, as of the 3rd of March. For me his greatest achievement is _Perfect Lives_, still the most engrossing presentation of music, images and words I have ever witnessed, and a grand metaphysical comedy to boot. I bought the libretto some months ago, and it is one of my goals to write an essay on it, but the text (though a joy to read) is so dense and multi-layered that it will take a very long time, and that's not even taking the doubly cryptic visuals into account. All told I might as well be analysing _Finnegans Wake_.


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## Morimur

Crudblud said:


> I'd go so far as to say that's always been his modus operandi. To my ears, the only thing that's changed between the Threnody and those pieces is the material, the method remains largely the same.
> 
> Sadly no longer with us, as of the 3rd of March. For me his greatest achievement is _Perfect Lives_, still the most engrossing presentation of music, images and words I have ever witnessed, and a grand metaphysical comedy to boot. I bought the libretto some months ago, and it is one of my goals to write an essay on it, but the text (though a joy to read) is so dense and multi-layered that it will take a very long time, and that's not even taking the doubly cryptic visuals into account. All told I might as well be analysing _Finnegans Wake_.


I've been enjoying Ashley's work without text or visuals. The music stands on its own.


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## Alypius

I have no answer to this question, to who might be the greatest living composer. My interest is not so much to figure out who is the best living composer, but rather to broaden my knowledge of who the better living composers are and what their major works are. And so I went back through the thread noting down names and who was mentioned most often. (Let me know if I missed any). Here's the names to this point in alphabetical order:

John Adams ***, Thomas Adès, Kalevi Aho ***, Louis Andriessen,
Robert Ashley, Ana-Maria Avram, Natasha Barrett, Carola Bauckholt,
George Benjamin, William Bolcom, Pierre Boulez ***, Unsuk Chin,
John Corigliano, George Crumb, Richard Danielpour, Iancu Dumitrescu, 
Peter Eötvös, Brian Ferneyhough, Beatriz Ferreyra, Beat Furrer, 
Philip Glass, Osvaldo Golijov, HK Gruber, Sofia Gubaidulina ***, 
Georg Friedrich Haas ***, Jennifer Higdon, Toshio Hosokawa, Giya Kancheli ***, 
Zbigniew Karkowski, Nikolai Kapustin, Helmuth Lachenmann, David Lang , 
Magnus Lindberg, Misato Mochizuki, Ikue Mori, Nico Muhly, 
Tristan Murail, Per Norgard ***, Arvo Pärt ***, Krzysztof Penderecki, 
Einojuhani Rautavaara ***, Steve Reich ***, Wolfgang Rihm, Ned Rorem, 
Kaija Saariaho ***, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Somei Satoh, Salvatore Sciarrino, 
Rodion Shchedrin, Valentin Silestrov, Simon Steen-Andersen, Michael Torke, 
George Tsontakis, Ken Ueno, Peteris Vasks, Carl Vine, John Williams.

Almost every one was mentioned more than one. I have put *** behind those who were frequently cited and praised. (Boulez had both the most numerous and most forceful recommendations).

As I noted, I don't have any answer to the question because I don't have sufficient knowledge of all these composers, or even the majority of them. I've heard the names of many, but I have the bulk of the discography for only four of them (Steve Reich, John Adams, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Per Norgard) and have a sprinkling of works from a number of others (e.g. Pierre Boulez, Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, George Crumb, Richard Danielpour, Osvaldo Golijov, Philip Glass, Jennifer Higdon, Rodion Shchedrin).

So I would ask to shift ever so slightly the discussion. Namely:
What would be 5 or 6 of the best works (or most representative works) of the composer(s) you recommend as best?

I suggest this so that this thread might be of help for those of us who are interested in contemporary music and composers but who don't know the breadth of knowledge to make a good assessment. Violadude had a wonderful long post with exactly such recommendations (and links to them). Could others do something similiar, at least, recommended titles?

For example: Steve Reich:

1. Music for 18 Musicians (1976)




2. Six Marimbas (1973 as "Six Pianos", rev. in 1986 for marimbas)




3. Double Sextet (2007) -- won the Pulitzer Prize for 2009




4. Electric Counterpoint (1987)




5. Tehillim (1981)





I highight these not only as personal favorites, but also because they are from a range of his styles and from different periods in his career.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

^ First name: Salvatore


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## Alypius

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> ^ First name: Salvatore


Thanks. I went back and edited it in.


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## Ukko

Noticed this thread title again this morning. Was stuck (not painfully) with the thought that _at some point_ during his long compositionally active life, which overlapped the active lives of both Brahms and Boulez, Richard Strauss may have been _*The Greatest Living Composer*_.

Or maybe not.

I do like the Opus 11 horn concerto and the Four Last Songs though.


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## Stavrogin

Ukko said:


> Noticed this thread title again this morning. Was stuck (not painfully) with the thought that _at some point_ during his long compositionally active life, which overlapped the active lives of both Brahms and Boulez, Richard Strauss may have been _*The Greatest Living Composer*_.
> 
> Or maybe not.
> 
> I do like the Opus 11 horn concerto and the Four Last Songs though.


Interesting thought.
It would be funny to make a timeline of greatest living composers.


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## Ukko

Stavrogin said:


> Interesting thought.
> It would be funny to make a timeline of greatest living composers.


Yeah. Maybe not 'greatest living', but some form of 'successful' could be entertaining if not revelatory.


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## Morimur

Greatest living composer candidates: Brian Ferneyhough, Richard Barrett, Michael Finnissy, James Dillon, Salvatore Sciarrino, Helmut Lachenmann, Pascal Dusapin, Friedrich Cerha, György Kurtág, Aribert Reimann.

I know there's countless other composers but I think these are most deserving of the title.


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## Alypius

Lope de Aguirre said:


> Greatest living composer candidates: Brian Ferneyhough, Richard Barrett, Michael Finnissy, James Dillon, Salvatore Sciarrino, Helmut Lachenmann, Pascal Dusapin, Friedrich Cerha, György Kurtág, Aribert Reimann.
> 
> I know there's countless other composers but I think these are most deserving of the title.


Lope, Could you list 4 or 5 works that you would recommend starting with? Of these, I only have a couple of works of Dusapin and Kurtag.


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## Morimur

Alypius said:


> Lope, Could you list 4 or 5 works that you would recommend starting with? Of these, I only have a couple of works of Dusapin and Kurtag.


*BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH: Terrain
KAIROS 0013072KAI
Released 2010

RICHARD BARRETT: DARK MATTER
NMC D183
Released 2012

MICHAEL FINNISSY: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN SOUND
METIER MSV77501
Released 2012

JAMES DILLON: BOOK OF ELEMENTS, VOLS. 1-5
NMC D091
Released 2004

SALVATORE SCIARRINO: SUI POEMI CONCENTRICI 1-3
KAIROS 0012812KAI
Released 2009*


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## Blancrocher

In case anyone hasn't seen it, I'll recommend Tom Service's "guide to contemporary classical music," which has entries on many of the names mentioned in this thread.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/to.../23/michael-finnissy-contemporary-music-guide

In addition to introductory commentaries, there are youtube clips for recommended works.


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## Alypius

Blancrocher said:


> In case anyone hasn't seen it, I'll recommend Tom Service's "guide to contemporary classical music," which has entries on many of the names mentioned in this thread.
> 
> http://www.theguardian.com/music/to.../23/michael-finnissy-contemporary-music-guide
> 
> In addition to introductory commentaries, there are youtube clips for recommended works.


Blancrocher, Thanks for the link to Tom Service's blog. I had seen his regular classical blog, but not this one that focuses on contemporary composers. It's at 50 at present. I went and read his Norgard article -- it's excellent and has good YouTube links (though I have the music already). I look forward to exploring more of the composers in his list. It includes many that people here have recommended earlier on this thread, some that I don't know (Lindberg, Saariaho, Lachenmann, Rihm, Ferneyhough) and some that I do (Adams, Riley, Zorn, Part, Boulez, Ades). That said, there's still some who are not (yet?) on his blog (Aho, Andriessen, Chin, Torke, Vasks, Lang, Haas, etc.). Hopefully he'll continue.

Lope, Thanks so much for the recommendations. I look forward to hearing them.


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## chalkpie

Itullian said:


> Ian Anderson. .....................


I could get on board with that :cheers:

Ian penned some TREASURES that could be placed neck-n-neck with some of my favorite classical..."Broadford Bazaar", "Grace", "One White Duck", "The Poet and the Painter " ...could list a ton here. Love Ian to death.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Lope de Aguirre said:


> *BRIAN FERNEYHOUGH: Terrain
> KAIROS 0013072KAI
> Released 2010
> 
> RICHARD BARRETT: DARK MATTER
> NMC D183
> Released 2012
> 
> MICHAEL FINNISSY: THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN SOUND
> METIER MSV77501
> Released 2012
> 
> JAMES DILLON: BOOK OF ELEMENTS, VOLS. 1-5
> NMC D091
> Released 2004
> 
> SALVATORE SCIARRINO: SUI POEMI CONCENTRICI 1-3
> KAIROS 0012812KAI
> Released 2009*


Terrain is one of the masterworks of this era!


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## Stavrogin

Ukko said:


> Noticed this thread title again this morning. Was stuck (not painfully) with the thought that _at some point_ during his long compositionally active life, which overlapped the active lives of both Brahms and Boulez, Richard Strauss may have been _*The Greatest Living Composer*_.
> 
> Or maybe not.
> 
> I do like the Opus 11 horn concerto and the Four Last Songs though.


Mmmm though.
I just don't see Richard Strauss ever getting that seat.
Mahler, Stravinskij, Prokofiev were all active during his life.


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## Polyphemus

Maestro Penderecki appears to be getting back on track after his neo-romantic excursion.


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## violadude

Polyphemus said:


> Maestro Penderecki appears to be getting back on track after his neo-romantic excursion.


Any works you would recommend?


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## PeterFromLA

Good question by the OP.

Reading through the list, I was surprised by the absence of any mention of Gyorgy Kurtag untiul page 7. In my estimation he assumed Ligeti's mantle of world's greatest, which was fitting considering the two were life long friends. If you don't know Kurtag's oeuvre, you're in for a treat. Check out his piano pieces, Jatekok, or his song cycles, Kafka Fragments (for violin and soprano) or Messages of the Late R. V. Troussova (for soprano and chamber ensemble). The last is the piece that brought Kurtag to prominence, back in 1979 or so, and he has held a special place for many modern music aficionados ever since.

Pierre Boulez is the other prime candidate. His works are something else. I can't imagine contemporary music without his Le Marteau sans Maitre, Pli Selon Pli, or many of his other now classic works.

Boulez and Kurtag are both pushing 90 now, so they can't vie for greatest living composer for much longer. In terms of younger composers, I think Pascal Dusapin, Kaija Saariaho, and Unsuk Chin have the best shot at continuing to add impressive pieces to their work lists in the coming decades. They are ferociously talented and their works get a lot of attention from top musicians.


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## Mahlerian

PeterFromLA said:


> Boulez and Kurtag are both pushing 90 now, so they can't vie for greatest living composer for much longer. In terms of younger composers, I think Pascal Dusapin, Kaija Saariaho, and Unsuk Chin have the best shot at continuing to add impressive pieces to their work lists in the coming decades. They are ferociously talented and their works get a lot of attention from top musicians.


Chin has the premiere of her Clarinet Concerto coming up. I've loved her Violin and Cello Concertos (any word on a commercial recording of the latter?), so I'm excited to see what comes out of this work, but all the same, I'd like to hear her do another piece for electronics and ensemble like Xi.


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## Blancrocher

PeterFromLA said:


> Reading through the list, I was surprised by the absence of any mention of Gyorgy Kurtag untiul page 7. In my estimation he assumed Ligeti's mantle of world's greatest, which was fitting considering the two were life long friends. If you don't know Kurtag's oeuvre, you're in for a treat. Check out his piano pieces, Jatekok, or his song cycles, Kafka Fragments (for violin and soprano) or Messages of the Late R. V. Troussova (for soprano and chamber ensemble). The last is the piece that brought Kurtag to prominence, back in 1979 or so, and he has held a special place for many modern music aficionados ever since.


I've been waiting impatiently for a chance to see his opera based on Beckett's "Endgame" since I heard about it, by the way. Good or bad, I suspect I'll enjoy it given the source material--always thought that play would make a good opera.


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## Polyphemus

violadude said:


> Any works you would recommend?


Of his newer work 7 Gates of Jerusalem (Symph 7) and Credo are probably the best of his later works. If you are new to Penderecki then go back to his earlier works like Utrenja, Symph 1 (His most popular Symphony). E M I Have 3 mid price twofers of this period of Penderecki's work, on the E M I Classics label I think. Symphony 3 is also worth a look.


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## aleazk

Beat Furrer is one of my current favorites, particularly because of his Piano Concerto.


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## Morimur

aleazk said:


> Beat Furrer is one of my current favorites, particularly because of his Piano Concerto.


Ah yes, the Beat. Gotta love the Beat.


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## violadude

Polyphemus said:


> Of his newer work 7 Gates of Jerusalem (Symph 7) and Credo are probably the best of his later works. If you are new to Penderecki then go back to his earlier works like Utrenja, Symph 1 (His most popular Symphony). E M I Have 3 mid price twofers of this period of Penderecki's work, on the E M I Classics label I think. Symphony 3 is also worth a look.


Nah, I'm not new to Penderecki. I'm someone who was disappointed with his neo-Romantic phase and it has caused me to not be interested in keeping up with his work. But since you mentioned that his newer pieces are getting better again, I'll have to check out your recommendations.


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## Morimur

*Lewis Spratlan* is good. Not well known, of course.


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## ClassicalDJ

I don't really have much insight on this subject, but for me good definition of "greatest" would be one whose music is most likely to be relevant 100 or 200 years from now. Is there a composer living among us who fits this bill?


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## violadude

ClassicalDJ said:


> I don't really have much insight on this subject, but for me good definition of "greatest" would be one whose music is most likely to be relevant 100 or 200 years from now. Is there a composer living among us who fits this bill?


How would anyone know that?


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## Selby

Won't make any claim to greatness but Lorenzo Palomo is a name yet mentioned in this thread, and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of his work that has been recorded.

http://www.lorenzopalomo.com/01_bio_en.html


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Wolfgang Rihm has some good things going for him at the moment, with the award he won for "In-Schrift 2"

Just like earlier in the thread, I still believe Brett Dean to be a fantastic example of today's music.

Other composers who've been mentioned who also get my stamp of approval p) are:
Boulez (even though he's old school now)
Pintscher
Ferneyhough
Chin
Haas
Furrer
Mundry
Adès
Liza Lim
Anthony Pateras
Adams
Reich


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## Jobis

Marc-Andre Dalbavie may be a contender, though I'm not that familiar with his work!


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## starthrower

Art Rock said:


> I'll take it to mean my personal favourite. Sofia Gubaidulina.


She gets my vote! A sweetheart of a lady too!


----------

