# Who'd you have Canonized last?



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Congratulations, you are one of the few that have been selected out of many to be a new member on the prestigious Committee of Classical Music Canonization (CCMC) that is represented by every continent. You meet yearly to discuss works or composers that merit the inclusion to their well-regarded Master Composers List which includes the likes of Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Stravinsky. Unlike the Grammy's, etc. this prestigious committee is not obligated to hand out awards to recognize anyone in any regular fashion. 

Who is/are the latest or most recent composer(s) you would have confidently and comfortably casted your vote for inclusion into that Master Composers List?


----------



## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Shostakovich..........................


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Pauline Oliveiros


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Pierre Boulez


.


----------



## John Zito (Sep 11, 2021)

Henri Dutilleux.


----------



## GucciManeIsTheNewWebern (Jul 29, 2020)

Billy McBride. 

‐‐--‐----


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

^ Ah, yes, the great Billy McBride. 

I'm thinking Lutoslawski for myself. I'm not so confident yet on somebody like Rihm.


----------



## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

Morton Feldman , with the big caveat of me not knowing much about stuff since the 80s or so.


(originally was Steve Reich but I gotta give it to Morton, though I think Reich was more important)


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Sofia Gubaidulina


----------



## StDior (May 28, 2015)

Jan Dismas Zelenka


----------



## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Who do you think is in practice the last "canonized"?

Probably several composers of the Ligeti, Stockhausen generation. I.e. these two, maybe Henze and a few more. Or about 10 years younger the Minimalists Reich, Glass etc. At least semi-canonized  (blessed, not quite santified yet)


----------



## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

What is canonized? Is it like Canon in D?


----------



## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

You may find the results of a recent poll informative:

after 41 votes for the top 5 living composers, for all 68 nominees:

*Top 10:*
1. Sofia Gubaidulina (17)
2., 3., György Kurtág, Kaija Saariaho (12)
4., 5. Harrison Birtwistle, Per Nørgård (10)
6., John Adams (9)
7. Steve Reich (8)
8., 9. Magnus Lindberg, John Williams (7)
10., 11. Philip Glass, Wolfgang Rihm (6)

*1 Nominee with 5 votes:*
John Corigliano

*7 Nominees with 4 votes each:*
Thomas Adès, Unsuk Chin, Brian Ferneyhough, James MacMillan, Arvo Pärt, Valentin Silvestrov, Pēteris Vasks

*4 Nominees with 3 votes each:*
Pascal Dusapin, Tristan Murail, Aulis Sallinen, Salvatore Sciarrino

*9 Nominees with 2 votes each:*
Kalevi Aho, Leo Brouwer, George Crumb, Hughes Dufourt, Georg Friedrich Haas, Joe Hisaishi, Helmut Lachenmann, Terry Riley, Howard Shore

*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


----------



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Ethereality said:


> What is canonized? Is it like Canon in D?


No, an overweight detective in volume 1 of The Quinn Martin Collection


----------



## 59540 (May 16, 2021)

Pärt and Ligeti


----------



## Op.123 (Mar 25, 2013)

Kaija Saariaho

….


----------



## John Zito (Sep 11, 2021)

I couldn't resist.


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Ethereality said:


> What is canonized? Is it like Canon in D?


Tchaikovsky made sure himself (cannons), whereas Händel was more into mere explosives/fireworks.


----------



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Sibelius, and it's not close.


----------



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Prodromides said:


> No, an overweight detective in volume 1 of The Quinn Martin Collection


Now I remember: Cannon liked cannelloni too much.


----------



## Ulfilas (Mar 5, 2020)

Steve Reich, without a doubt


----------



## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

Interesting how there seems to be absolutely no agreement here.


----------



## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

VoiceFromTheEther said:


> Interesting how there seems to be absolutely no agreement here.


If we are to take this exercise seriously (which I don't advocate  ) only works written prior to 1946 can be included. There has to have been at least 75 years (up for debate) since a work's premier in order to gauge its lasting power. If a work premiered in 1946 or before is still being performed and recorded, and has at least a dozen (up for debate) of recordings already, then we can assume that it has passed the test of time and that composer is a nominee for the "canon."

An easy way to screen out composers of works premiering after 1946 would be limit consideration to only those that died prior to 1946.

Given this criteria I nominate, some may already be included the canon, no list was published that I can see:

Manuel de Falla
Pietro Mascagni
Béla Bartók
Anton Webern
Pavel Haas
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Erwin Schulhoff
Frank Bridge
Silvestre Revueltas
Jehan Alain
Charles Tournemire
Gabriel Pierné
Albert Roussel
Maurice Ravel
Karol Szymanowski
George Gershwin
Alexander Glazunov
Ottorino Respighi


----------



## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Charles Wuorinen

Without a doubt.


----------



## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

VoiceFromTheEther said:


> Interesting how there seems to be absolutely no agreement here.


I think one reason is the different timeline of each poster. I think Ligeti is a shoo-in for a late 20th century canonized composer. But I was willing to go further to include Lutoslawski, who I felt hit his stride after Ligeti. Some may have went more recently than me, others ended earlier.


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

George Winston (for "Variationizing" the Canon)


----------



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Bela Fleck. !


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

VoiceFromTheEther said:


> Interesting how there seems to be absolutely no agreement here.


That's because the question is nonsense.


----------



## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

I do think minimalism is one of the latest movements where we have a decent idea of it having macroscopic impact on musical culture, which is why I went with Reich/Feldman - I think anything past that and we're in territory where macroscopic analysis is impossible because we're approaching the present day. Someone else might have a better clue, however.


----------



## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

fbjim said:


> I do think minimalism is one of the latest movements where we have a decent idea of it having macroscopic impact on musical culture, which is why I went with Reich/Feldman - I think anything past that and we're in territory where macroscopic analysis is impossible because we're approaching the present day. Someone else might have a better clue, however.


There's nothing minimal about Feldman!


----------



## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

Yeah its not the best named style but what can ya do?


----------



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

SanAntone said:


> If we are to take this exercise seriously (which I don't advocate  ) only works written prior to 1946 can be included. There has to have been at least 75 years (up for debate) since a work's premier in order to gauge its lasting power. If a work premiered in 1946 or before is still being performed and recorded, and has at least a dozen (up for debate) of recordings already, then we can assume that it has passed the test of time and that composer is a nominee for the "canon."
> 
> An easy way to screen out composers of works premiering after 1946 would be limit consideration to only those that died prior to 1946.


Regardless of how seriously these lists ultimately are taken, I think that yours in post #23 is a very good contribution. There isn't a name I would disagree with. It has a few clear boundaries. My impression is that it's taken quite a bit of thought and listening, over a long period of time.


----------



## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

After Shostakovich,

Schnittke, Xenakis, Part, and Ligeti


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Mandryka said:


> There's nothing minimal about Feldman!


"Don't leave now - the next piece is a minimal medley by Morton Feldman."


----------



## Shea82821 (Nov 19, 2021)

Going by ones who died after Shostakovich: Rubbra (d.1986), Sorabji (d.1988), Weinberg (d.1996), Hovhaness (d.2000), Lilburn (d.2001), Malcolm Arnold (d.2006), Rouse (d.2019), and lastly Kapustin (d.2020).

As to composers still living, my most recent favourite is Brusa, who's 67 at the moment. There is another I like, who's in their...70's I think, but their name has slipped me at the moment.


----------

