# I need a new composer to discover



## hillisg (Dec 1, 2013)

I'm looking for a new living composer's music to discover. Some that I know and like include:

John Adams
Thomas Adès
Richard Danielpour
Jennifer Higdon
Esa-Pekka Salonen


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

Tristan Murail, perhaps?

Pierre Boulez is one of the big ones not on your list.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Finland has a number of great contemporaries, including Aho, Rautavaara, Salinen, and Saariaho.

You can also try Peteris Vasks and Gavin Bryars.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

hillisg said:


> I'm looking for a new living composer's music to discover.


Then go ahead and do some discovering. Why let others do it for you?


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

starthrower said:


> Then go ahead and do some discovering. Why let others do it for you?


Have some understanding. He needs a ship, spyglass and helmsman first.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

The pages are overflowing with recommendations and very detailed descriptions. Literally overflowing.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I discovered an interesting living composer last month, then I forgot his name. That's the problem with living composers; you can't go to your music history book and find them again.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

The names you give are relatively "approachable" composers. Following that line, check out some 
*George Crumb*: his _Cello Solo Sonata_ is a classic 




also check out

the few orchestral works such as "_A Haunted Landscape_" 



 and "_Echoes_" 




the _Black Angels String Quartet_: 2nd Mov.: 




the_ Nocturnes_ for violin and piano ("Night music II): 



, the _Madrigals_ and some _piano works_, such as _Makrokosmos_ 




For something different, two marvellous piano concertos by a couple of other important composers:

*Per Nørgård* 




*Tristan Keuris*


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I recently discovered another Finnish composer, Magnus Lindberg. 

I am really impressed with what I've heard so far.

He's not breaking any new ground that I can detect, but I'm not sure that is a major detraction.

EDIT: Another new find is John Psathas from New Zealand. What I've heard from him is pretty approachable.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Have a look at the current listening thread and you will find composers that nobody ever heard of.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

moody said:


> Have a look at the current listening thread and you will find composers that nobody ever heard of.


Even the people who mention them.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Guillaume Connesson*

Check out my post about Guillaume Connesson in the "Latest Purchase" Thread: http://www.talkclassical.com/1006-latest-purchases-420.html#post567180


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

Aramis said:


> Even the people who mention them.


:lol::lol::lol:


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## Jobis (Jun 13, 2013)

Olivier Messiaen
George Benjamin
Salvatore Sciarrino


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Looks like the definition of "living composer" is not as straightforward as I assumed...


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*Embarrassment*

This is embarrassing. No one has mentioned our fearless leader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Magle

​


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

-*Beat Furrer*: 




-*Georg Friedrich Haas*: 




-*Unsuk Chin*: 




-*Harrison Birtwistle*:


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

arpeggio said:


> This is embarrassing. No one has mentioned our fearless leader.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Magle
> 
> ​


I love his unexpected chord progressions. I just wish I appreciated organ more. Still, it has been on my want list for some time.

For those who want other living common practice composers, I recommend also Lowell Liebermann.


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

How about David Lang? He's pretty well-known and wrote an accessible though heartbreaking piece called the Little Match-Girl Passion.
Or Dobrinka Tabakova, more obscure, has written some utterly gorgeous music for strings. I think she's a bit younger/earlier-career than Lang.
You might like Gwyneth Walker or she might be too conventional for you given the composers you mentioned... worth a try in any case. She is retired but still composing.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Ned Rorem
Sofia Gubaidulina


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

Lera Auerbach - comes down the Shosta/Schnittke line. Recently played her preludes for violin and piano, very cool! Awesome recording by Gluzman.


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## Guest (Dec 8, 2013)

Here's my Christmas wish for 2013, that the word "accessible" no longer be used to (attempt to) describe music.

ACCESSIBLE TO WHOM?*

Accessible does not describe any music, ever. It refers to the capacity of a type of listener to understand something quickly and easily. It privileges that one type over all other listeners. Since that type is either a (relatively) inexperienced listener or a clearly conservative listener, the privileging excludes experienced and adventurous listeners.

Think about how that would work out in, oh, science, say. The experienced scientists and the experimental scientists are consistently passed over in favor of politicians who failed high school chemistry.

Oh, wait. We already KNOW how that's working out in science. Yikes. Catastrophe.

Anyway, here's a list of living composers whose music *I* have found quite accessible, in the sense of "instantly delightful to hear." In the sense of "easy to find and purchase," um, not so much. (I blame everyone who uses "accessible," of course.)

Zbigniew Karkowski 




Francisco Lopez 




Emmanuelle Gibello 




eRikm 




Diana Salazar 




Jennifer Walshe 




You're welcome!

*Yeah, yeah, I know. Accessible to the thread starter. Still. Maybe the thread starter is more adventurous than we think. (Than even he thinks.)

And if Karkowski and crew are too adventurous for today, or even tomorrow, then here's another wee list. For tomorrow.

Mark Andre 




Carola Bauckholt 




Helmut Lachenmann 




Lidia Zielinska 




And again, you're very welcome. Next week, the Maryanne Amacher marathon.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Try Alexander Goehr - there's a nice 2-disc set on ECM which mainly features some of his orchestral output:

Metamorphosis/Dance (theme and variations) - 18:19
Romanza (for 'cello and orch.) - 22:59
...a musical offering (JSB 1985) - 15:44 (nothing really to do with Bach's work, btw...)
Behold the Sun (concert aria) - 14:40
Lyric Pieces (for six winds and double bass) - 18:51
Sinfonia - 22:58


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

some guy said:


> Accessible does not describe any music, ever. It refers to the capacity of a type of listener to understand something quickly and easily.


Agreed. It's just that some don't want to make the effort to improve that. Replying to the 'I need' threads encourages it in a way.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

Try the symphonies of Per Nørgård starting with the 3rd (his most accessible, IMO) and also the various concertos available on the Chandos and Da Capo labels.

I concur with elgars ghost about Alexander Goehr but my current favorite recordings are:


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## Gilberto (Sep 12, 2013)

I discovered Jóhann Jóhannsson a year or so ago and have heard almost everything he has written. His work just clicks with me. He is still living and composing.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

aleazk said:


> -*Beat Furrer*:


Beat Furrer - that's the guy I discovered and forgot his name! Thanks! (How could I forget a name like that?)


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

hillisg said:


> I'm looking for a new living composer's music to discover. Some that I know and like include:
> 
> John Adams
> Thomas Adès
> ...


Since two of the composers above incorporate things like rock in their music, I think its worthwhile to check out two Australian composers whose music I know who are in some ways similar:

*Matthew Hindson*, his piece for guitar and string quartet called Rush takes in influences as eclectic as Boccherini and Mendelssohn to rock, jazz and country.

*Graeme Koehne* takes in influences from film music by Henry Mancini and John Barry to serialism and minimalism. There are a few things by him on youtube, but the pieces I am thinking of is his trilogy of orchestral pieces, _Powerhouse, Elevator Music, Unchained Melody_. They've been recorded on the Naxos label with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Takuo Yuasa. Similar to John Adams, Koehne brings together many things - particularly from outside of highbrow classical - to present these colourful showpieces with memorable tunes and strong beats, basically designed to give the audience a good time. He's not aiming at profundity, but so what?

But generally speaking, this thread which focuses on people's favourite pieces of Modern and contemporary classical may be of help to you:

http://www.talkclassical.com/11807-exploring-modern-contemporary-music.html


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## Guest (Dec 9, 2013)

starry said:


> Agreed. It's just that some don't want to make the effort to improve that. Replying to the 'I need' threads encourages it in a way.


Yeah, I know. I think of that every time I reply to one of these threads, too.

But I'm a bad person and unable to resist temptation.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

hillisg, this has been a nice thread. Thanks for starting it.


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

If you want to go down a "rock" sort of path how about Fausto Romitelli (1963-2004). He's pretty awesome - try Professor Bad Trip or his opera An Index of Metals


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

This year I finally got to hear Eric Moe's music via a Naxos disc. Well written, nothing pretentious, a touch of humor now and then.


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