# Your list of the five greatest among 36 LIVING composers



## neofite (Feb 19, 2017)

I found the poll Your list of five greatest LIVING composers very useful. It is providing me, and hopefully others as well, with additional unfamiliar composers whose music might be worthy of exploration.

I am curious about the 36 living composers who received only one vote each. Who are the greatest among them? Any? Why? Please provide a list of the five greatest, along with the reasons for your choices if possible. I will then calculate the resulting statistic. It will be interesting to see if there are any overwhelming favorites, and also whether any such favorites should perhaps be ranked higher than any of the composers who received two or more votes in the previous poll.



VoiceFromTheEther said:


> *36 Nominees with 1 vote each:
> *Hans Abrahamsen, Sergey Akhunov, Julian Anderson, Georges Aperghis, Richard Barrett, William Bolcom, Édith Canat de Chizy, Richard Danielpour, Alma Deutscher, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez, Paul Dupré, Péter Eötvös, Sebastian Fagerlund, Osvaldo Golijov, Donald Grantham, Paavo Heininen, Mike Hewer, Toshio Hosokawa, Carl Jenkins, Pat Metheny, Krzysztof Meyer, Yasunori Mitsuda, Nico Muhly, Michael Nyman, Enno Poppe, Max Richter, Ned Rorem, John Rutter, Alexey Rybnikov, Simon Steen-Andersen, Jeremy Soule, Joan Tower, Nobu Uematsu, Michel van der Aa, Frederik van Rossum, Wolfgang von Schweinitz


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

My favourites among these are: Abrahamsen, Richard Barrett, Hosokawa, Poppe, Steen-Andersen. The criteria used are diversity in the composer's catalog (many include opera or stage works), the innovative approach (especially Barrett and Steen-Andersen), the overall quality of their works (very few ditties) and the capacity to produce masterpieces.On top of all this I like the sound of their compositions.


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## allaroundmusicenthusiast (Jun 3, 2020)

Among those: Abrahamsen, Poppe, Golijov, Eötvös and Steen- Andersen


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I didn't find much in the list of 36 but would certainly include Peter Eotvos and Julian Anderson in a tops list. Many in the 36 are composers I would go some distance not to hear, I'm afraid.


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## justekaia (Jan 2, 2022)

Enthusiast said:


> I didn't find much in the list of 36 but would certainly include Peter Eotvos and Julian Anderson in a tops list. Many in the 36 are composers I would go some distance not to hear, I'm afraid.


I do think you should show more enthusiasm. More than half of the composers listed are top-drawer composers. You sound like a pre-historical species.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

My favorites of those 36 are:

Hans Abrahamsen, William Bolcom, Nico Muhly, Michael Nyman, and Ned Rorem


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Paavo Heininen recently deceased.

van Rossum & Canat de Chizy are my picks from that thread, but I have more faves that did not even get yet mentioned due to that thread's limit of 5.
Geert van Keulen is one such living composer whom I'd rank highly even if he didn't attain Top 5. Plus I feel Friedrich Cerha should be cited while he's still with us.


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## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

-Hosokawa - I was the lone voter for him...
-Eötvös - I`m actually very surprised that he only got one vote. Major composer.
-Aperghis - I`m not very interested in his more famous (?) stage works but his instrumental works are more than enough to grant him a solid position here.
-Golijov - To be honest, I`m mostly attracted to the Klezmer-ish sound he often produces.
-Canat de Chizy - Not very sure about this one. Poppe, Steen-Andersen, van der Aa, Fagerlund and even Rorem might be contenders for this last spot. I`ve been listening much more of Heininen after his very recent demise and he definitely would have been a strong candidate for top five here if he was still alive...


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## Bernamej (Feb 24, 2014)

Anyone you guys named that actually creates melodies or is it forever gone ?


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

justekaia said:


> I do think you should show more enthusiasm. More than half of the composers listed are top-drawer composers. You sound like a pre-historical species.


Taste is taste. Sorry if I seem to lack enthusiasm - there is much more living composers that I love but I assume they had already had more than one vote (sorry, I haven't checked carefully but was George Benjamin even listed?).

There were many names (perhaps 10 or 12) in the list I was not familiar with - they may be wonderful but I can't say and many that I was familiar with but have got no enjoyment from. Then there were a few who I knew and like but didn't think worthy of elevation to a top 5 living composers list. And finally there were two who have written a lot of music that I absolutely love.

I didn't get your "prehistorical species" comment (insult?). I'm sorry that I didn't pick the ones you like (judging by your earlier post they are mostly composers I like but wouldn't go so far as to elevate) but tastes do vary and most of us can accommodate that without throwing insults at those who don't coincide with our own tastes.


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## neofite (Feb 19, 2017)

I just realized that I also should have cast my vote:

Max Richter 
Osvaldo Golijov
Paul Dupré
Péter Eötvös
Toshio Hosokawa

Actually, I was surprised to see that all five of these received only one vote each in the original poll (Your list of five greatest LIVING composers), as they are all truly creative and quite unique and interesting and/or even beautiful. But I expect that the results may have differed somewhat with a larger sample size.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

justekaia said:


> I do think you should show more enthusiasm. More than half of the composers listed are top-drawer composers. You sound like a pre-historical species.


Why should he? If this member doesn't care anything about the composers within that list, this is their own prerogative. Also your "pre-historical species" comment was unnecessary. People like what they like, so who are you to judge? To be honest, I don't find the future of classical music to be very encouraging. My cut-off point is the post-war avant-garde (Boulez, Xenakis, Scelsi, Ligeti, Penderecki et. al.). After this fascinating group of composers, I have to say that I haven't heard many composers that have stood out or have done anything that hasn't been bettered by an earlier composer.


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

Enthusiast said:


> Taste is taste. Sorry if I seem to lack enthusiasm - there is much more living composers that I love but I assume they had already had more than one vote (sorry, I haven't checked carefully but was George Benjamin even listed?).


I fully agree. - As long as John Rutter is on the list (don't get me wrong - I like his output, but not for "composition") and Per Nørgård and Erkki-Sven Tüür are missing, I can't take this seriously. This even holds, if I don't know all composers on this list.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Bernamej said:


> Anyone you guys named that actually creates melodies or is it forever gone ?


You like Bel Canto?






or is Swing Low Sweet Chariot more your sort of melody?


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## Philidor (11 mo ago)

Bernamej said:


> Anyone you guys named that actually creates melodies or is it forever gone ?


Melody ... what is this ... some technique popular in the 18th and 19th century for catching the ears of tone-deaf listeners?


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I am always surprised that Joan Tower does not get more appreciation around here.

I am sure the one vote that she got, was mine.

But this is a seriously great piece:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Philidor said:


> I fully agree. - As long as John Rutter is on the list (don't get me wrong - I like his output, but not for "composition") and Per Nørgård and Erkki-Sven Tüür are missing, I can't take this seriously. This even holds, if I don't know all composers on this list.


This is the list of composers who received only one vote. The good news for you is that Per Nørgård received 11 votes, resulting on 4th place overall among living composers. The bad news is that Erkki-Sven Tüür did not get even one mention.
Your list of five greatest LIVING composers


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

György Kurtág
Richard Barrett
Anthony Braxton
Michael Hersch
Not Philip Glass


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

My pick:

Hans Abrahamsen, Osvaldo Golijov, Toshio Hosokawa, Ned Rorem, John Rutter.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

neofite said:


> I found the poll Your list of five greatest LIVING composers very useful. It is providing me, and hopefully others as well, with additional unfamiliar composers whose music might be worthy of exploration.
> 
> I am curious about the 36 living composers who received only one vote each. *Who are the greatest among them?* Any? Why? Please provide a list of the five greatest, along with the reasons for your choices if possible. I will then calculate the resulting statistic. It will be interesting to see if there are any overwhelming favorites, and also whether any such favorites should perhaps be ranked higher than any of the composers who received two or more votes in the previous poll.
> 
> ...


I don't do "greatest" but I can name the composers from this list whose music I find the most interesting and enjoyable.

*Osvaldo Golijov
Krzysztof Meyer*
Péter Eötvös
Joan Tower
Michel van der Aa
Nico Muhly

The two I've bolded are on my list of ten favorite composers from among all.


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## neofite (Feb 19, 2017)

Here are the tentative* results of TC members' selections of the five greatest composers from the list of 36 that received only one vote each in the thread https://www.talkclassical.com/72930-your-list-five-greatest.html:

5 votes: (2) Péter Eötvös, Osvaldo Golijov

4 votes: (2) Hans Abrahamsen, Toshio Hosokawa

3 votes: (0)

2 votes: (6) Richard Barrett, Édith Canat de Chizy, Nico Muhly, Enno Poppe, Ned Rorem, Simon Steen-Andersen

1 vote: (11) Julian Anderson, Georges Aperghis, William Bolcom, Paul Dupré, Krzysztof Meyer, Michael Nyman, Max Richter, John Rutter, Michel van der Aa, Frederik van Rossum, Joan Tower

0 votes: (15) Sergey Akhunov, Richard Danielpour, Alma Deutscher, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez, Sebastian Fagerlund, Donald Grantham, Paavo Heininen, Mike Hewer, Carl Jenkins, Pat Metheny, Yasunori Mitsuda, Alexey Rybnikov, Jeremy Soule, Nobu Uematsu, Wolfgang von Schweinitz

I find it interesting to observe that some composers who I had thought were among the leading (most well known and/or best music) contemporary composers received only a single vote or none at all, whereas several who I had never heard of before received one or even multiple votes. Of course, this could be a result of the extremely small sample size.

I suspect that some of the respondents are not familiar with some, or many, of these 36 composers, as is the case with me, and thus the results could have been rather different if everybody had been familiar with each of the 36.

I also wonder how composers who received five or four votes here would compare with those who received only one vote on the original thread? Are they still less highly regarded?
______
*Please correct me if I have counted wrong.


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## RuggiràIntornoATe! (5 mo ago)

1.Bolcom
2.Poppe
3.Heininen 
4.Barrett 
5.Hosokawa


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## Artran (Sep 16, 2016)

Hosokawa (a great composer, who should have been much higher in the original poll)
Abrahamsen
Aperghis

There are other interesting names like Steen-Andersen or Poppe, but I didn't hear many of their works, unfortunately.

Not sure why there're people like Uematsu, Richter, or Soule. As much as I respect them in their field, they're not classical music composers.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I'd say the greatest living composer is *John Rutter*, beloved and performed by millions regularly. Otherwise *John Adams*, the composer of two operas that have found their way into regular performance, is probably the best purely classical composer. I'd classify most of the others I've seen listed here as curiosities.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

My honest opinion is there are lots of great, highly-skilled contemporary composers, but no great contemporary works that would survive the test of time in terms of popularity, no matter the awards they get at the time, or even if the Classical community would get together and canonize certain works. From time to time, they might get performed for the connoisseurs that pay their due respect. It is way too diversified, and that is both good and bad.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Phil loves classical said:


> great works that survive the test of time in terms of popularity


Welcome back to the forum. Let me ask you; why can't Pachelbel's canon, for example, be seen as such?


hammeredklavier said:


> One could ask-
> "Upon seeing the phenomenon of hundreds of millions of people (even without the knowledge of how a canon works) going onto youtube to listen to it (something written for the sensibilities of an age 350 years of the past), -aren't you in AWE, of the power of Western classical music?"





> In 2002, pop music producer Pete Waterman described Canon in D as "almost the godfather of pop music because we've all used that in our own ways for the past 30 years".


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

^ But Pachelbel's Canon did survive the test of time in terms of popularity.


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