# Who are you accessible "inaccessible" composers?



## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Are you someone that likes mostly more traditional ideas of classical music, maybe just going with the usuals more moderns like Stravinsky, Debussy, a few minimalists perhaps but not the serialists or very dissonant moderns? Are there some that you like however?

I am a bit like that and I do like much of Messiaen, Schnittke, Rautavaara, and Xenakis. 

There are some I really don't like, who I won't mention just to try to make this a little more impersonal. What about you? Do you fall into the more traditional mode but have exceptions?


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

I have fallen in love with the 20th century for its astounding musical diversity. In these 100 years unabashedly tonal composers like Rochberg work alongside ardent modernists such as Nono, Valen, and more; the famous French school that consisted of Ravel, Debussy, Dukas, Poulenc, Roussel, Pierné, Schmitt - the great Soviets that included Prokofiev, Shebalin, Shostakovich, Myaskovsky, Kabalevsky, Schnittke, Ustvolskaya, and Gubaidulina (still alive today). I can only hope the century we live in will be half as good for classical music as its predecessor.

That being said, I also have a strange affection for Fibich, who falls (slightly) out of my timezone.


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## Anankasmo (Jun 23, 2017)

While my disography consists of mainly tuneful and tonal composers i find myself having a soft spot for freely atonal music. Such music was e.g. composed by the early Berg as well as early Webern (Passacaglia). Serialist music i don't like to listen to most of the times. Imho Schönberg put a dogma at the beginning of the 20th century which hurt the serious music business almost more than it did good. I mean just when composers were about to break free as had Ravel, Stravinsky, Debussy, etc done before there comes a new composer who did the final step towards atonal music and gives out new rules made up only by him. There is however dodecaphonic music i like such as Berg's Violin Concerto or his Kammerkonzert.

Other great modern composers i find more accessible:

Schnittke (his should get a place in the realm of the great composers imo)
Pärt (holy Minimalism at is best)
Gorecki (the most sold modern symphony ever (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)
Glass (while almost too repetitive he conjures up quite interesting soundscapes)
Messiaen (such spirituality)
Rautavaara


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## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

There are so many composers that I had considered completely "inaccessible" 5 years ago. But I felt I've just had a revelation over the past year, being able to return and try again to listen to Berg and Schoenberg and others, and find that they actually sound pretty good, and not like complete diarrhea anymore!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

About 90% of the names mentioned so far I would rate as accessible to most classical music listeners.

I would pick Ustvolskaya for the OP's question.


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## Anankasmo (Jun 23, 2017)

regenmusic said:


> Are you someone that likes mostly more traditional ideas of classical music, maybe just going with the usuals more moderns like Stravinsky, Debussy, a few minimalists perhaps but not the serialists or very dissonant moderns? Are there some that you like however?
> 
> I am a bit like that and I do like much of Messiaen, Schnittke, Rautavaara, and Xenakis.
> 
> There are some I really don't like, who I won't mention just to try to make this a little more impersonal. What about you? Do you fall into the more traditional mode but have exceptions?


Just wanted to add that i really like your username


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I would say Bartok.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

I used to feel that I disliked modern music a lot, but as I listened to more of it, I've found a lot that I've liked.

Alfred Schnittke, Magnus Lindberg, Henri Dutilleux, Gyorgy Ligeti, Max Reger, Witold Lutoslawski, Morton Feldman, ...


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Yes, that's a good name - Alfred Schnittke to some extent. I recall listening to his symphonies once. While I have not returned, I thought it was an OK one-off experience.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

ArtMusic said:


> Yes, that's a good name - Alfred Schnittke to some extent. I recall listening to his symphonies once. While I have not returned, I thought it was an OK one-off experience.


You might also enjoy his "Suite in the Old Style" for violin and piano, which is one of his more "accessible" works.


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## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

The music of Charles Ives comes very easily to me. I almost always love his pieces on first listen, unlike a composer such as Bruckner who, despite being much more traditional, I really have to struggle with to understand.






This is in all likelihood my favorite symphony of all time. I don't adore Beethoven's symphonies (I'm more for the Chamber music, piano music and concertos), so I can only compare the majesty and glory of it to a great Bruckner symphony.






The brilliant Piano Sonata No. 2 "hpowders" played by Stephen Drury






An INCREDIBLE song by Ives (Best version is Naxos - Victoria Villamil on Spotify)


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