# Who is your favorite 20th/21st century composer?



## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

Choose whichever ones you would like.


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

I will start, Bartok - especially the piano concerti and the string quartets. Though I also have a fondness for the Solo Violin Sonata.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

20th century would be a long list of candidates, but I'd go with Stravinsky. Bartok is among my favorites as well. 

Post WW2? Maybe Ligeti. 

21st century? I don't know. Maybe too soon for me to vote. I'd like to let the composers finish most of their careers first.


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## Grizzled Ghost (Jun 10, 2015)

Heitor Villa-Lobos. I like or love just about everything I've heard. He seems so fecund.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Mahler, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Debussy, Bartok....

Takemitsu, Boulez, Messiaen, Ligeti, Carter, Chin....


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

One of my friends is a big devotee of Carter, having done his MA dissertation on one piece of his. course I like decent because I am in the center of Carter's hometown.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

...Berg, Webern, Hindemith, Britten, Poulenc, Kurtag...


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2015)

The vast majority of my favorite composers are 20th/21st century composers.

If pressed, my answer is Stockhausen.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

Olivier Messiaen.


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

John Cage (1912 - 1992)


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Mahlerian said:


> Mahler, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Debussy, Bartok....
> 
> Takemitsu, Boulez, Messiaen, Ligeti, Carter, Chin....


Great picks. I would have to say it's Scriabin, Takemitsu, and Mahler.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Stirling said:


> Choose whichever ones you would like.


"Ones" plural. Very well. There are many. My problem is how to define favorites as opposed to those I merely like. I have no idea, but I'll try.

*Schoenberg* - is he a favorite? Many of his works are though not all -- not yet.
*Vaughan Williams* for very different reasons.*
Martinu* - always satisfying
*Boulez* - I've enjoyed everything I've heard so far, if only because based on its reputation I'm surprised I _can_ enjoy it.
*Ligeti* - perhaps my all time favorite from the 20th century. My listening to the Requiem last night was profoundly moving.
*Messiaen* - if only I didn't have to look up how to spell the infernal name every time I mention him. 
*Bernard Hermann* - for personal reasons
*Respighi* -astounding orchestrator.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Weston said:


> *Messiaen* - if only I didn't have to look up how to spell the infernal name every time I mention him.


Hahahahaha, my sentiments exactly! :tiphat:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Let me answer you in a single word: Prokofiev

Let me answer you in a single word: Bartok


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## Gaspard de la Nuit (Oct 20, 2014)

Ginastera, Ravel, Walton, Revueltas, Chávez, Stravinsky, Bartok, Vaughan Williams, Prokofiev

What I really like in a musical experience is novelty and beauty simultaneously; when I hear something that's weird but familiar at the same time it really hits me.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I like to listen to (in no particular order)
Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Vaughn Williams, Bartok, Poulenc, Bernstein, Adams, Britten, Sibelius, Prokofiev, Respighi, Debussy, Ravel, Walton, Villa Lobos.....


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## PeterFromLA (Jul 22, 2011)

Early Modern:

Mahler
Debussy
Bartok
Stravinsky
Varese

Mid Century Modern

Messiaen
Lutoslawski

Post War Modern

Feldman
Ligeti
Boulez
Xenakis
Berio

Late Modern

Kurtag
Schnittke
Silvestrov
Reich

Latest Modern

Chin
Dusapin
Saariaho
Szymanski


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## Steatopygous (Jul 5, 2015)

Stravinsky by a short head from Shostakovich. I rule out Mahler, as he did not write the large majority of his works in the 20th century.
Re Villa Lobos above, lovely quote from Stravinsky: "Why, when I hear music I don't like, is it always by Villa Lobos?"
Also Britten, R. Strauss, Bartok, Sibelius, Ravel, Debussy, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Poulenc, Walton, Nielsen, de Falla, Medtner, Milhaud, Reich, Adams, HIndemith, Weill, Gershwin...
I have to stop now, my brain hurts, but I'm sure I missed many I should have included. A very rich century!


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## Steatopygous (Jul 5, 2015)

Peter from LA posted at the same time as me. From his list I'd add Kurtag, Ligeti, Boulez, Lutoslawski and Messiaen. Definitely not Varese. Sorry. 
thanks Peter


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Not a lot of love for Scriabin here, I guess.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Here's a dozen, in order: Mahler, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Ravel, Debussy, Moeran, Takemitsu, Gubaidulina, Bax, Barber, Vaughan Williams, Alwyn.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Mahler, Richard Strauss, Sibelius and quite recently, Hanns Eisler


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2015)

Plenty of great (GREAT!!!) names already, so I'll wave a flag for some others: Coates, Haas, Murail and Scelsi.


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2015)

I couldn't possibly put them in order but here are is the short list:

Stravinsky
Prokofiev
Shostakovich
Debussy
Rachmaninoff
Ravel
Gershwin
Copland
Bartok
Holst
Rodrigo
Sibelius


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

There is not enough love for Haas.


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## dzc4627 (Apr 23, 2015)

Schnittke, Shostakovich, Stravinsky. The big S's, as I like to call them,


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Lukecash12 said:


> Not a lot of love for Scriabin here, I guess.


Lots of love from me (see avatar). I like Scriabin so much that I'll make up for all the ones who don't. 

Some of my favorites are more late 19th century and early 20th century figures. But all of this will probably expand as I have many, many things to listen to.

20th century favorites at the moment: Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Mahler, Sibelius, Ravel, Vaughan Williams and... Roslavets (probably my most "progressive" choice)
Later composers I have enjoyed a few pieces by: Glass, Reich, Adams, Silvestrov, Pärt


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2015)

Many good onces but I seem to go back to Bartok, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Mahler the most. Particularly Bartok. 

Also enjoy some of: Pärt, Dutilleux, Rachmaninoff, Berg, Poulenc.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

DeepR said:


> Lots of love from me (see avatar). I like Scriabin so much that I'll make up for all the ones who don't.
> 
> Some of my favorites are more late 19th century and early 20th century figures. But all of this will probably expand as I have many, many things to listen to.
> 
> ...


Oh boy, I almost forget Roslavets, Mosolov, and Feinberg. Thanks for reminding me  Roslavet's Cello sonatas and piano trios are top notch. His piano trio no. 4, specifically the allegro vivace movement, has me right there with Powell saying his chamber works are "the single most impressive contribution to chamber music by an early 20th-century Russian composer."

Chamber music aside, he also wrote one of my favorite symphonic poems:


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

I'll just post my absolute favorites, otherwise It'd be a long list since the 20th century is probably my favorite for music:

Debussy
Scriabin
Mahler
Stravinsky
Nielsen
Schoenberg
Berg
Webern
Sibelius
Ravel
Varese
Bartok
Ginastera
Messiaen
Dutilleux
Lutoslawski
Glass
Reich
Ligeti
Xenakis
Penderecki
Grisey
Murail
Saariaho
Haas
Andriessen
Gubaidulina
J.C. Adams
Chin
Sciarrino


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## Steatopygous (Jul 5, 2015)

Lukecash12 said:


> Not a lot of love for Scriabin here, I guess.


I told you I'd forgotten some. I like Scriabin more and more, from the early Chopin-derivative piano stuff to the megalomaniac late works.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Steatopygous said:


> I told you I'd forgotten some. I like Scriabin more and more, from the early Chopin-derivative piano stuff to the megalomaniac late works.


The beauty of those Chopin-derived early works is rarely mentioned, his late work being more "modern," more provocative and strange and therefore fashionable. But I'm ravished by them whenever I hear them. They contain much originality and can't be mistaken for Chopin or Rachmaninoff or Medtner.


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2015)

EddieRUKiddingVarese said:


> Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse


I know you're the resident Varese fanboy, so I'll tread softly here.

I have a very time awarding such a prestigious title to the likes of Varese due to the size of his oeuvre. My iPod has north of four days of Stockhausen's music, and about two and half days worth of John Cage's music, for instance, and then I have...the complete works of Edgard Varese fitting very comfortably within the complete works of Anton Webern. It's not that quantity supercedes quality, but hell, we're talking about a big quantity of high quality with those other guys too.

But I think, at least, we can safely say that just about no one in history did so much with so small an oeuvre as Edgard Varese. I might be able to squeeze him in just after Stravinsky, Debussy, Schoenberg, Bartok, Messiaen, Stockhausen, Cage, Xenakis, and Lopez, if you push me...


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

nathanb said:


> I know you're the resident Varese fanboy, so I'll tread softly here.
> 
> I have a very time awarding such a prestigious title to the likes of Varese due to the size of his oeuvre. My iPod has north of four days of Stockhausen's music, and about two and half days worth of John Cage's music, for instance, and then I have...the complete works of Edgard Varese fitting very comfortably within the complete works of Anton Webern. It's not that quantity supercedes quality, but hell, we're talking about a big quantity of high quality with those other guys too.
> 
> But I think, at least, we can safely say that just about no one in history did so much with so small an oeuvre as Edgard Varese. I might be able to squeeze him in just after Stravinsky, Debussy, Schoenberg, Bartok, Messiaen, Stockhausen, Cage, Xenakis, and Lopez, if you push me...


2 hours and a half of great music that resonates with me is enough to me!
By the way, it would be nice if you could recommend me some of your favorite Stockhausen works, so far there's only a couple of his works that I liked.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

nathanb said:


> I know you're the resident Varese fanboy, so I'll tread softly here.
> 
> I have a very time awarding such a prestigious title to the likes of Varese due to the size of his oeuvre. My iPod has north of four days of Stockhausen's music, and about two and half days worth of John Cage's music, for instance, and then I have...the complete works of Edgard Varese fitting very comfortably within the complete works of Anton Webern. It's not that quantity supercedes quality, but hell, we're talking about a big quantity of high quality with those other guys too.
> 
> But I think, at least, we can safely say that just about no one in history did so much with so small an oeuvre as Edgard Varese. I might be able to squeeze him in just after Stravinsky, Debussy, Schoenberg, Bartok, Messiaen, Stockhausen, Cage, Xenakis, and Lopez, if you push me...


Here's a push and some more to add to your iPod - I'm a vinyl guy myself, don't believe in post 1980 tech.






and some more


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

You should check out the following threads:

http://www.talkclassical.com/37569-tc-top-recommended-post.html#post857985

http://www.talkclassical.com/31843-your-top-20-late.html#post634494

http://www.talkclassical.com/16215-your-favorite-20th-21st.html

I kind of answered the question in the following posts:

http://www.talkclassical.com/36221-do-you-listen-most-2.html#post812553

http://www.talkclassical.com/41172-12-tone-music-contemporary.html

http://www.talkclassical.com/33271-who-your-favorite-living.html?highlight=stamp#post695128


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

arpeggio said:


> You should check out the following threads:


I think this forum is intended for continuous discussion, not as a repository of wisdom. If we didn't rehash earlier discussions, things would be very quiet around here.


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## PavolBrezina (Dec 24, 2015)

The list of great composers can be very long, but the most important for me are Ravel, Stravinskij and Prokofiev.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Ken,

I was just trying to be helpful. There are a lot of great post especially in the "TC Top Recommended Post 1950"

It appeared to me that the OP was looking for suggestions. I apologize to the members who feel that I was being obnoxious.


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## PavolBrezina (Dec 24, 2015)

For me they are Ravel, Stravinskij and Prokofiev


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## atsizat (Sep 14, 2015)

Ennio Morricone.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

Stravinsky, Debussy Ravel, Copland, Barber, Bernstein


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Maybe Ligeti, but hard to say. It's a huge swath of music you're talking about....


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

I knew I had forgotten someone...Prokofiev. And Honegger and Poulenc too.......And R. Strauss...


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Chronochromie said:


> I'll just post my absolute favorites, otherwise It'd be a long list since the 20th century is probably my favorite for music:
> 
> Debussy
> Scriabin
> ...


Most of my favorites are on your list. But I have to add Karl Hartmann, Egon Wellesz, Britten, Szymanowski, Bruno Maderna, Bacewicz, Schreker, Ives, Takemitsu.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

starthrower said:


> Most of my favorites are on your list. But I have to add Karl Hartmann, Egon Wellesz, Britten, Szymanowski, Bruno Maderna, Bacewicz, Schreker, Ives, Takemitsu.


Ives is pretty close to being a favorite but I've yet to hear a couple of his major works. As for the rest, I have more listening to do. Thanks for mentioning Wellesz and Bacewicz as I've never heard of them, and I didn't know Maderna was a composer.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

1901 - 1910 Debussy
1910 - 1938 Webern
1938 - 1951 Scelsi?
1951 - 1953 Stockhausen
1953 - 1973 Ligeti
1973 - *___ Boulez

*presumably the death of classical music, circa 2016


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Chronochromie said:


> Ives is pretty close to being a favorite but I've yet to hear a couple of his major works. As for the rest, I have more listening to do. Thanks for mentioning Wellesz and Bacewicz as I've never heard of them, and I didn't know Maderna was a composer.


There's a good series of Maderna's orchestral works on the Neos label. And two excellent bargain priced CDs on Naxos and Brilliant Classics.

I'm just getting into Bacewicz and Wellesz, but I'm very impressed so far. Bacewicz's chamber works are superb! The string quartets on Naxos are great recordings, as are the violin sonatas and concertos on Chandos.

I just got the Wellesz symphony set on CPO, and the string quartets on Nimbus. And the Capriccio CD of his violin and piano concertos is also excellent!

I have the new Challenge Classics Hartmann symphonies set on the way, and I can't wait to hear it!


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

starthrower said:


> There's a good series of Maderna's orchestral works on the Neos label. And two excellent bargain priced CDs on Naxos and Brilliant Classics.
> 
> I'm just getting into Bacewicz and Wellesz, but I'm very impressed so far. Bacewicz's chamber works are superb! The string quartets on Naxos are great recordings, as are the violin sonatas and concertos on Chandos.
> 
> ...


Thanks, I'll have to check those out.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I must admit to a large dose of ignorance of 20th Centuary classic music 
However this forum has helped me explore and enjoy some of the following this year
Bartok
Prokofiev
Glass
Reich
Ives
Copland

Much of the above has been outside my comfort zone, but that was what I wanted. I could go as far as to say that Glass and Bartok are now amongst my favourites overall, the others still something of a work in progress.
I think a deeper exploration of Debussy in 2016 is in order


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I really think you should give Prokofiev a lot more attention. I spent many years thinking of him as the composer who wrote Peter and the Wolf and left it at that. What a mistake!

I greatly expanded my exposure to Bartók in these last couple of years, too. Very rewarding.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet by Lorin Maazel/Cleveland Orchestra is a work I really enjoy. His 2nd piano concerto is another favorite. And his solo piano music is right at the top of 20th century repertoire. I haven't really gotten into his symphonies.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

brotagonist said:


> I really think you should give Prokofiev a lot more attention. I spent many years thinking of him as the composer who wrote Peter and the Wolf and left it at that. What a mistake!
> 
> I greatly expanded my exposure to Bartók in these last couple of years, too. Very rewarding.


You could be right and I have to admit that Prokofiev merits more investigation.
So much to listen to and so little time


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Prokofiev -- absolute winners include his Symphonies 1, 5 and 6, Piano Concertos 2 and 3, both violin concertos, Romeo and Juliet ballet, Cello Sonata, Symphony-Concerto for Cello, and some others I'm too lazy to check on. Probably one of the three great 20th century composers, post Mahler. Everybody knows, deep down, that Mahler was a 19th century composer...


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Prokofiev: listen to the Third Symphony a couple of times, and it really gets under your skin. Second Quartet, too. And the First Piano Concerto got his whole ball rolling. Overture on Hebrew Themes. Seventh Symphony. So much to love.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Right Prokofiev it is!
That Debussy can't be up to much, he is French after all. So thanks for some interesting suggestions and I shall seek out some versions of what has been suggested with Prokofiev
My exploration of the 20th Centuary will continue


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

There are several composers' bodies of works I don't know well enough to claim as favorites yet, so I hesitated to post them. One of them is *Poul Ruders*. What I've heard so far could well make a favorite list, but I seldom see him mentioned. Here are a couple of examples:


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## Luiz Barbieri (Dec 26, 2015)

Well, I am very new to the world of classical music, but Shostakovich is by now my second favorite composer, so I go with him


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Stirling said:


> One of my friends is a big devotee of Carter, having done his MA dissertation on one piece of his.


What was the piece? If you have a link, please share or PM.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

This seems to have become an excuse to compile lists of composers we like. I'll resist the temptation, as there are too many 20th-century composers whose work I enjoy. 

Technically, since most of the best works of Sibelius and Rachmaninoff were composed in the 20th century, they share the honor of being my favorite 20th-century composers. But if the OP is looking not for strict chronology but for "modernity" (loosely defined as departure from Romantic tradition) I would choose Prokofiev, and after him Bartok. 

21st-century composers? If the same criterion of modernity is applied, I haven't yet heard anything signaling a departure from 20th century ideas that stands a chance of ranking with the above. But we're only fifteen years in.


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> This seems to have become an excuse to compile lists of composers we like. I'll resist the temptation, as there are too many 20th-century composers whose work I enjoy.
> 
> ...since most of the best works of Sibelius and Rachmaninoff were composed in the 20th century, they share the honor of being my favorite 20th-century composers. But if the OP is looking not for strict chronology but for "modernity" (loosely defined as departure from Romantic tradition) I would choose Prokofiev, and after him Bartok.


I like your post, namely because I _dislike _ these "favorite" threads that just have people listing every known composer between [insert years]. I do not fault anyone, but we have a serious need to whittle down our list to the utmost revered -- *favorite* does not share. Like, we know everyone loves _*a lot of frickin' music*_, but when the thread asks for favorites, can we get precise and specific?

No, we cannot. At least around here. And that is fine. This is just a personal gripe, I know. But I appreciate when someone at least _*tries*_ to remain narrow.

But, Woodduck, then you listed four composers as well, after ridiculing "compil[ing] lists."(!) So, what gives? I dunno. I liked it anyway. And then I attempt to explain my disagreement. Probably equally rebuttable and hypocritical. Sure.

Proto-_touche_.


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> This seems to have become an excuse to compile lists of composers we like.


Well, that was the idea of the thread, was it not?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Avey said:


> I like your post, namely because I _dislike _ these "favorite" threads that just have people listing every known composer between [insert years]. I do not fault anyone, but we have a serious need to whittle down our list to the utmost revered -- *favorite* does not share. Like, we know everyone loves _*a lot of frickin' music*_, but when the thread asks for favorites, can we get precise and specific?
> 
> No, we cannot. At least around here. And that is fine. This is just a personal gripe, I know. But I appreciate when someone at least _*tries*_ to remain narrow.
> 
> ...


Ah, but Avey! My list is not really a list at all.

My favorite 20th-century composer is, unequivocally, Sergean Sibelianoff. But I felt it necessary to qualify that choice for the sake of those who cannot regard this Heroic-Romantic son of the Finnish-Russian borderlands as truly 20th-century. Desiring nothing more than to spare Modernist sensiblities, I cited Prokofiev, my favorite composer of more Modern complexion, and then named Bartok as another composer for whom I have a properly Modern regard, which I hoped might please all but the most captious or thin-skinned and soften the blow of hearing not a single word of praise for our own uncertain times.

You can understand, can't you? And forgive? :tiphat:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

The thoughtful observer will see that, despite the hyperenthusiasm of the compilers of gigantic lists, a few names of key composers turn up again and again. And We Know Who They Are!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Perhaps then a thread titled "Who are your second through thirty-fifth favorite 20th and 21st-century composers?"


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

My favorite composer who wrote most of his music in the 20th century would probably be Jean Sibelius. 
My favorite composer who wrote _only _in the 20th century is probably Dmitri Shostakovich. 
For the 21st century, I would probably have to say Magnus Lindberg.

Of course, I like many more composers; these are just the ones that suit my individual taste in music the most.


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## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

_Edit: Retracted. I was aggressive. That is not me. I reassessed my response just now, and yeah._


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

No-one has yet mentioned Delius (no one ever does!), but all his mature works were published after 1900.

Here is a composer who developed a distinctive, evocative style of music making "always bound up with an experience of absence and loss", that hasn't always been understood or appreciated.

I've just been reading a little treatise which caught my attention and struck me as plausible. 

The author puts forawrd the idea that "Delius's music profoundly re-centres our understanding of place in music, not as a fixed or reductive category, but rather through a process of flux or drift".

Delius didn't necessarily go down quite the same path of modernism as many of his contemporaries in the first third of the 20th century, but it was a modern 'path' nonetheless, and not simply a rehashing of late-romantic ideas.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

musicrom said:


> For the 21st century, I would probably have to say Magnus Lindberg.


Without derailing the thread I'd be curious what others hear and feel in Lindberg's music. From what I have sampled so far I am missing something -- my lack, not necessarily the music's.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Weston said:


> Without derailing the thread I'd be curious what others hear and feel in Lindberg's music. From what I have sampled so far I am missing something -- my lack, not necessarily the music's.


I like the early, raucous Kraft a lot. His more recent works sound very different, e.g., his Clarinet Concerto. It's hard to explain why I like something though. Kraft is (as its name suggests) powerful.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

GreenMamba said:


> I like the early, raucous Kraft a lot. His more recent works sound very different, e.g., his Clarinet Concerto. It's hard to explain why I like something though. Kraft is (as its name suggests) powerful.


I'm actually kind of the opposite. I like his more recent works (Clarinet Concerto, Violin Concerto, Gran Duo) a lot, while his earlier works like Kraft don't appeal quite as much. His more recent works kind of remind me of a modern version of Sibelius, which might be why they appeal more to me. It might take a couple of listens to "understand" his sound world, but it has become really intriguing to me.


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

Modern Era: Claude Debussy
Contemporary Era: Luciano Berio


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## gHeadphone (Mar 30, 2015)

Tough on Debussy and Arvo Part but for me it has to be Stravinsky.


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## Steatopygous (Jul 5, 2015)

Avey said:


> I like your post, namely because I _dislike _ these "favorite" threads that just have people listing every known composer between [insert years]. I do not fault anyone, but we have a serious need to whittle down our list to the utmost revered -- *favorite* does not share. Like, we know everyone loves _*a lot of frickin' music*_, but when the thread asks for favorites, can we get precise and specific?
> 
> No, we cannot. At least around here. And that is fine. This is just a personal gripe, I know. But I appreciate when someone at least _*tries*_ to remain narrow.
> 
> ...


Oh, I can be narrow-minded when I put my narrow mind to it. Just watch me!


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

gHeadphone said:


> Tough on Debussy and Arvo Part but for me it has to be Stravinsky.


That's an interesting statement coming from Claude himself!


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

TurnaboutVox said:


> No-one has yet mentioned Delius (no one ever does!), but all his mature works were published after 1900.
> 
> Here is a composer who developed a distinctive, evocative style of music making "always bound up with an experience of absence and loss", that hasn't always been understood or appreciated.
> 
> ...


You will have no problem singing the praises of Delius with me (or my wife)
The works for Violin and orchestra are a real treat and for those not familiar with Delius, would be a good place to start


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Richard Strauss, without question.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

OK, I think I can match Woodduck's reduction of a personal list of favourite composers from the 20th / 21st centuries to four, if we're discounting Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy as too firmly rooted in the 19th.

1900 - 40 Arnold Schoenberg
1925 - 45 Bela Bartok
1945 - 75 Benjamin Britten
1960 - present Gyorgy Kurtag

Given a fifth it would probably be Paul Hindemith whose important compositions came between about 1920 and 1955, or Igor Stravinsky who I haven't properly explored yet. The obvious caveat is, there are many important composers of whose work I have only just scratched the surface to date. Still, this is 'favourite', not 'best'.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

TurnaboutVox said:


> OK, I think I can match Woodduck's reduction of a personal list of favourite composers from the 20th / 21st centuries to four, if we're discounting Gustav Mahler and *Claude Debussy* as too firmly rooted in the 19th.
> 
> .


That's a strange call to make though. Debussy's music was arguably the least rooted in 19th century tradition of all the early modernists.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

21st century—György Kurtág

No other 21st century composer comes close.


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## TurnaboutVox (Sep 22, 2013)

"


violadude said:


> That's a strange call to make though. Debussy's music was arguably the least rooted in 19th century tradition of all the early modernists.


It is, actually, now I come to read back what I wrote. Rather I meant to say something closer to "Debussy, like Mahler, was already an established composer in the 19th century, so I'm discounting them". I'm aware that Debussy pioneered a number of quite new ideas about dissonance, the use of alternative scales, and expanded tonality. I withdraw my original remark.

However, may I also invite you to expand on your comment, please, violadude?


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

Hello there people! This is my first post here. I love 20/21. century music. I recently "discovered" Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Magnus Lindberg. Also I like Bartok, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Denisov, (Maxwell) Davies & a bunch...so not only one composer...


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## Torkelburger (Jan 14, 2014)

20th century: Igor Stravinsky
21st century: Beat Furrer


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## Guest (Jan 4, 2016)

Morimur said:


> 21st century-György Kurtág
> 
> No other 21st century composer comes close.


Man you're worse than me.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Have said this around TC before, 20 years ago I would have said Shostakovich without hesitation, today I'm much more experienced and have come to terms with that its is not a composers that makes the 20th and 21fst centuries the most vibrant musical periods to experience, it's the share plurality of choice that excites!

/ptr


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

ptr said:


> Have said this around TC before, 20 years ago I would have said Shostakovich without hesitation, today I'm much more experienced and have come to terms with that its is not a composers that makes the 20th and 21fst centuries the most vibrant musical periods to experience, it's the share plurality of choice that excites!
> 
> /ptr


New-Style Cultural Stasis, also known as Brownian Motion in the Arts. So many choices.......


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## danielstahl (Jan 5, 2016)

I agree that Magnus Lindberg is one of the great modern composers. Another great contemporary Finish composer, in my opinion, is Kaija Saariaho. Du cristal, 



, for instance is a great piece.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The Shostakovich of the Fourth Symphony; the Prokofiev of the Third Piano Concerto and the Second Violin Concerto; the Bartók of the Second Violin Concerto; the Schoenberg of the Piano Concerto; the Berg of the Violin Concerto; the Schuman of the Tenth Symphony; the Persichetti of the Tenth Piano Sonata; the Ives of the Concord Piano Sonata; the Copland of the Clarinet Concerto and Appalachian Spring; the Walton of the Violin Concerto; the Bernstein of Facsimile.

Hard to choose one composer that stands out from the rest. All of these works are vital for me.


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2016)

Morimur said:


> 21st century-György Kurtág
> 
> No other 21st century composer comes close.


Kurtag is supposed to be honored with a new KAIROS release this year. I do hope, though, that it's not just yet another Jatekok selection.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> 1901 - 1910 Debussy
> 1910 - 1938 Webern
> 1938 - 1951 Scelsi?
> 1951 - 1953 Stockhausen
> ...


Well, it happened. Now we are left with second raters. It was nice while it lasted.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> Well, it happened. Now we are left with second raters. It was nice while it lasted.


Look, there goes the last wave!


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Since I only like 20th and 21st century music, my list would be long.

I would start with:

Bartok
Stravinsky
Carter
Penderscki
Ligetii
Berg
Webern
Tower
Lindberg


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2016)

And then God said "Let there be light." And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. But Wrahms found the light to be overrated, and so Wrahms said "Meh." As a side note, Wrahms also found the darkness to be "Double Meh", and so, on the seventh day, God got depressed and took a nap.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Strange Magic said:


> The thoughtful observer will see that, despite the hyperenthusiasm of the compilers of gigantic lists, a few names of key composers turn up again and again. And We Know Who They Are!


Some names don't turn up that really are worthy.


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

nathanb said:


> And then God said "Let there be light." And there was light. And God saw that the light was good. But Wrahms found the light to be overrated, and so Wrahms said "Meh." As a side note, Wrahms also found the darkness to be "Double Meh", and so, on the seventh day, God got depressed and took a nap.


I told him the Big Bang needed a Prelude, he told me it made no sense, I replied that he was short sighted. We've been at odds about creation ever since.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2016)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> I told him the Big Bang needed a Prelude, he told me it made no sense, I replied that he was short sighted. We've been at odds about creation ever since.


What time signature would the Prelude be in, given that time commenced at the Big Bang?


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## Richannes Wrahms (Jan 6, 2014)

dogen said:


> What time signature would the Prelude be in, given that time commenced at the Big Bang?


If the Big Bang is the birth of rhythm, then the Prelude is simply pre-rhythm.


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## Guest (Jan 8, 2016)

Richannes Wrahms said:


> If the Big Bang is the birth of rhythm, then the Prelude is simply pre-rhythm.


...and Minimalism provides support for the Steady State Theory, presumably.


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

No, it is just the liberation of consonance. And as a great orchestrator noted with all things - its use is defined by it's user.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

A link to help decide--two pages of 20/21 composer guides. :tiphat:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/series/a-guide-to-contemporary-classical-music


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

My favorite is *Richard Strauss*. Yes, he was born in 19th century, but died in 1948.


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## Stirling (Nov 18, 2015)

He produce the Majority of his opera works in the 20th century. Not the choice I would made, but still within the bounds.


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## Crystal (Aug 8, 2017)

Gershwin, Ravel, Bernstein...


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