# Some top modern classical works?



## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

Looking for recommendations on 21st-century 'classical' music. Not Varese, Cage, Stockhausen etc, but more cutting edge stuff. 

I like Max Richter, for instance - and MacMillan's Stabat Mater sounds interesting.

Definitiely not rediculous kitchy stuff like Caroline Shaw's Partitas for 8 Voices or Steve Reich's WTC 9/11, nor atonal music please.

:tiphat:


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Uh... so you want tonal music that is "more cutting edge" than Varèse, Cage, or Stockhausen?

I can tell this is going to get _very_ subjective.


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

Portamento said:


> Uh... so you want tonal music that is "more cutting edge" than Varèse, Cage, or Stockhausen?
> 
> I can tell this is going to get _very_ subjective.


I'm literally just looking for suggestions of things to listen to, created this century.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

There is a list of recommendations with dates provided....


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

science said:


> There is a list of recommendations with dates provided....


............. and where would that be?

I've found this but it looks like a catalogue, not suggestions of what's good.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

RogerWaters said:


> ............. and where would that be?
> 
> I've found this but it looks like a catalogue, not suggestions of what's good.


That's actually an awesome resource though. I don't know what you expect to gain from belittling it.

You could try this too: Music Selector. Slide the knobs over to select your dates and see what you come up with.


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

science said:


> That's actually an awesome resource though. I don't know what you expect to gain from belittling it.


Wasn't belittling anything.



science said:


> You could try this too: Music Selector. Slide the knobs over to select your dates and see what you come up with.


Thanks!


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Not atonal, not kitschy...

Does something like this work? The requirements you provide are kind of vague.






From 2006.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

RogerWaters said:


> Looking for recommendations on 21st-century 'classical' music. Not Varese, Cage, Stockhausen etc, but more cutting edge stuff.
> 
> I like Max Richter, for instance - and MacMillan's Stabat Mater sounds interesting.
> 
> ...


Hard to know whether to offer an opinion, because I like Richter and MacMillan, but I also enjoy those two "ridiculous" works.

Anyway, how about John Luther Adams's _Become Ocean_. You might hate it, you might love it.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

science said:


> That's actually an awesome resource though.


Exactly. Trout has clearly spent a lot of time making that list, and it's one of the best things on this site! Here are the two- and three-starred-"most acclaimed"-works dating from the 21st century:

Abrahamsen: Schnee [10 canons for 9 instrs.] (2006-08)
Abrahamsen: let me tell you [soprano & orchestra] (2013)
Adams, JL: Become Desert [orch.] (2017)
Adams, JL: Become Ocean [orch.] (2013)
Adams, JL: Inuksuit [9-99 percussionists] (2009)
Adams, JL: The Wind in High Places [string quartet] (2011)
Adams: Doctor Atomic [opera] (2005)
Adams: My Father Knew Charles Ives [orch.] (2003)
Adams: On the Transmigration of Souls [chorus, children's chorus, orch. & tape] (2002)
Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur [electric violin & orch.] (2003)
Adès: In Seven Days [piano & orch.] (2008)
Adès: Piano Quintet, op. 20 (2000)
Adès: Tevot [orch.] (2007)
Adès: The Exterminating Angel [opera] (2016)
Adès: The Tempest, op. 22 [opera] (2003-04)
Adès: Totentanz [mezzo-soprano, baritone & orch.] (2013)
Adès: Violin Concerto, op. 24 "Concentric Paths" (2005)
Benjamin: Written on Skin [opera] (2009-12)
Berio: Sequenza XIII "Chanson" [accordion] (1995)
Berio: Sequenza XIV [cello] (2002)
Birtwistle: The Minotaur [opera] (2005-07)
Birtwistle: Theseus Game [large ensemble & 2 conductors] (2002)
Carter: Cello Concerto (2000)
Chin: Alice in Wonderland [opera] (2004-07)
Chin: Cello Concerto (2006-09, rev. 2013)
Chin: Violin Concerto (2001)
Dark Waves [orch. & electronic sounds] (2007)
Dillon: ESA (In cauda V) [orch.] (2000)
Dillon: String Quartet No. 6 (2010)
Dillon: The Book of Elements [piano in 5 volumes] (1997-2002)
Dutilleux: Correspondances [soprano & orch.] (2003)
Eötvös: Seven (Violin Concerto No. 1) (2006)
Ferneyhough: Shadowtime [opera] (1999-2004)
Ferneyhough: String Quartet No. 5 (2006)
Ferneyhough: String Quartet No. 6 (2010)
Finnissy: The History of Photography in Sound [piano; incl. _North American Spirituals_, _Etched Bright with Sunlight_] (1995-2001)
Furrer: FAMA [opera] (2004)
Furrer: Piano Concerto (2007)
Glass: Symphony No. 8 (2005)
Glass: The Hours [film score] (2002)
Glass: Violin Concerto No. 2 "The American Four Seasons" (2009)
Gubaidulina: In Tempus Praesens [concerto for violin & orch.] (2007)
Gubaidulina: Johannes-Passion [soloists, double chorus, organ & orch.] (2000)
Haas: Hyperion [concerto for light & orch.] (2005)
Haas: String Quartet No. 3 "In iij. Noct." (2001)
Haas: in vain [24 instrs.] (2000)
Haas: limited approximations [6 micro-tonally tuned pianos & orch.] (2010)
Harvey: Speakings [large orch. & electronics] (2007-08)
Harvey: String Quartet No. 4 [with live electronics] (2003)
Hosokawa: Circulating Ocean [orch.] (2005)
Kurtág: Fin de Partie [opera] (2010-18)
Kurtág: Six Moments musicaux, op. 44 [string quartet] (2005)
Lachenmann: Concertini [large ensemble] (2005)
Lachenmann: Grido [string quartet] (2001)
Lachenmann: Schreiben [orch.] (2003)
Ligeti: Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel [mezzo-soprano & percussion esemble] (2000)
Ligeti: Études pour piano [18 pieces in 3 books] (1985, 1988-94, 1995-2001)
Lindberg: Clarinet Concerto (2001-02)
Lindberg: Violin Concerto No. 1 (2006)
Murail: Les Sept Paroles [orch., chorus & electronics] (2010)
Murail: Winter Fragments [ensemble & electronics] (2000)
Nyman: The Claim [film score] (2000)
Nørgård: String Quartet No. 10 "Harvest Timeless" (2005)
Nørgård: Symphony No. 7 (2006)
Nørgård: Symphony No. 8 (2011)
Nørgård: Terrains Vagues [orch.] (2000-01)
Pärt: Da Pacem Domine [chorus & orch.] (2004)
Pärt: Lamentate [piano & orch.] (2002)
Pärt: Symphony No. 4 "Los Angeles" (2008)
Rautavaara: Harp Concerto (2000)
Rihm: An Index of Metals [video opera for soprano, ensemble, multiple projections & electronics] (2003)
Rihm: Dead City Radio (Audiodrome) [orch.] (2003)
Rihm: Deus Passus (St. Luke Passion) [soli, mixed choir & orch.] (1999-2000)
Rihm: Dionysos [opera] (2009-10)
Rihm: Jagden und Formen [small orch.] (1995-2001)
Rădulescu: Intimate Rituals XI, op. 63 [scordatura viola & sound icons] (2003)
Saariaho: D'Om le Vrai Sens [clarinet & orch.] (2010)
Saariaho: L'Amour de loin [opera] (2000)
Saariaho: Laterna Magica [orch.] (2008)
Saariaho: Notes on Light [cello & orch.] (2006)
Saariaho: Orion [orch.] (2002)
Saariaho: Sept Papillons [cello] (2000)
Sciarrino: Macbeth [opera] (2002)
Sciarrino: Quaderno di strada [voice & orch.] (2003)
Sciarrino: Studi per l'intonazione del mare [voice, 4 flutes, 4 saxes, percussion & orch. of 100 flutes] (2000)
Sculthorpe: String Quartet No. 16 [with optional didgeridoo] (2005)
Silvestrov: Bagatellen [13 pieces for piano] (2005-06)
Stockhausen: Cosmic Pulses [electronic music; from Klang] (2006-07)
Stockhausen: Freude [2 harps & voices; from Klang] (2005)
Stockhausen: Sonntag aus Licht [opera] (1998-2003)
Van der Aa: Blank Out [chamber opera for soprano & film] (2015)
Van der Aa: Up-close [cello, string orch. & film] (2010)

92 entries. I'm not going to sort out what's "tonal" or "not kitschy" for you, but there's a lot of great stuff here.


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

Portamento said:


> Exactly. Trout has clearly spent a lot of time making that list, and it's one of the best things on this site! Here are the two- and three-starred-"most acclaimed"-works dating from the 21st century:
> 
> Abrahamsen: Schnee [10 canons for 9 instrs.] (2006-08)
> Abrahamsen: let me tell you [soprano & orchestra] (2013)
> ...


Thanks mate. I did not realise they were starred and it wasn't just a catalogue. Appreciate it.


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

Nereffid said:


> Hard to know whether to offer an opinion, because I like Richter and MacMillan, but I also enjoy those two "ridiculous" works.
> 
> Anyway, how about John Luther Adams's _Become Ocean_. You might hate it, you might love it.


Thank you. I like that.

I'm into ambient music more generally, so that makes sense.

I don't see a big different between a lot of post-modern 'classical' (of the less 'crazy' variety) and ambient music.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

RogerWaters said:


> Thanks mate. I did not realise they were starred and it wasn't just a catalogue. Appreciate it.


No problem. You may want to start with Magnus Lindberg, who writes in a very accessible tonal-ish idiom. Here is his _Clarinet Concerto_:


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## Guest (Jul 23, 2020)

RogerWaters said:


> Thank you. I like that.
> 
> I'm into ambient music more generally, so that makes sense.
> 
> I don't see a big different between a lot of post-modern 'classical' and ambient music.


See thread on 'ambient classical'.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

*"Secret, Lost, Undone" by David Wolfson*

*Zeno Baldi - "Mold"*

*Anna Pidgorna - "Through Closed Doors"*

*Richard Barrett - "No" for orchestra*

*Nomi Epstein - "long, after"*

I interviewed all of these composers for my music blog, *Musica Kaleidoskopea* - along with dozens more writing new music.


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