1. What generation of C20th composers' music are you most familiar with & care most about? Which ones resonate with you the most?

2. Can you think of any commonalities & differences between composers of the same generation?

3. Would you add any composers whom I have possibly missed out (the list was taken from The Rough Guide to Classical Music, Fourth Edition, published in 2005).

Born 1850-1874:

Humperdinck, Janacek, Elgar, Leoncavallo, Smyth, Albeniz, Mahler, Wolf, Debussy, Delius, Mascagni, Richard Strauss, Dukas, Glazunov, Nielsen, Sibelius, Busoni, Satie, Giordano, Granados, Lehar, Zemlinsky, Scriabin, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov, Reger, Holst, Ives, Schoenberg, Suk...

Born 1875-1899:

Ravel, de Falla, Schreker, Canteloube, Respighi, Bartok, Grainger, Kodaly, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Varese, Webern, Bax, Pio Barrios, Berg, Villa-Lobos, Martin, Martinu, Prokofiev, Honegger, Milhaud, Lili Boulanger, Hindemith, Orff, Gerhard, Korngold, Eisler, Gershwin, Ullmann, Poulenc...

Born 1900-1924:

Copland, Weill, Rodrigo, Walton, Durufle, Khatchaturian, Dallapiccola, K. A. Hartmann, Sclesi, Tippett, Lutyens, Shostakovich, Maconchy, Carter, Messiaen, Bacewicz, Barber, Cage, Nancarrow, Britten, Lutoslawski, Dutilleux, Bernstein, Arnold, Xenakis, Ligeti, Nono...

Born 1925-1949:

Berio, Boulez, Feldman, Henze, Kurtag, Rautavaara, Stockhausen, Takemitsu, Gubaidulina, Kagel, Gorecki, Penderecki, Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies, Schnittke, Maw, Arvo Part, Reich, Glass, Andriessen, Harvey, Nyman, Tavener, Adams, Murail, Ruders...

Born 1950-1974:

Rihm, Saariaho, Knussen, Weir, Lindberg, MacMillan, George Benjamin, Turnage, Torke, Ades...

Born 1975-present:

I have heard music by composers of this generation, but not too much. However, there are undoubtedly many rising stars in classical, whose music goes beyond the styles of the "established" composers. Their time will come, no doubt...

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"Contrary to general belief an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs" - Edgard Varese

To get the ball rolling, I'll answer my own questions:

1. What generation of C20th composers' music are you most familiar with & care most about? Which ones resonate with you the most?

Born 1875-1899.

2. Can you think of any commonalities & differences between composers of the same generation?

A generation of great experimentation & departure from previous styles of the C19th (Romanticism, Impressionism). A movement further back to the neo-classical period. A preoccupation with non-Classical influences such as Jazz. An integration of the idioms of folk music. Further developments of the innovations of older generations (chromaticism, atonality, etc).

3. Would you add any composers whom I have possibly missed out (the list was taken from The Rough Guide to Classical Music, Fourth Edition, published in 2005).

Definitely left out Enescu...

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"Contrary to general belief an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs" - Edgard Varese

It's a tricky one as there is good music from all generations and alot of this is dependent on what music people know the most from. It's easy to go for some of the famous names in the earlier two periods maybe. My own generation (I was born early 70s) hasn't perhaps covered itself in glory (in popular music either). Also exactly where you draw the line between one generation and another is up for debate anyway. I might go with 25-49, although I might make it 35-59.

The one I pick I would say is the introspective generation, the final maturing of modernism, and I'm not sure much has been added to it since. The one before that are more the remnants of romanticism and the more rhetorical style of modernism which drew on romantic gesture in some ways.

Probably 1925-49 just edges it for me.

I think there is a nice wide spectrum of styles present in these composers, although there seems to be domination by two camps, the avant-garde experimentalists and the minimalists. But even within these over-arching musical ideologogies there is considerable difference between even composers who often get lumped together like Reich and Glass or Riley and Young. I also think this is the first generation that really began to fully realise the potential for the studio as an instrument and the scope of electronics. Works for traditional instruments was still quite popular amongst many of these composers but the acceptance of new instruments and audio inventions seems a key part of their make-up. The recording became as important as the the live performance and things that were only possible on records came to prominence.

Some composers you missed out that I like are, as I've already mentioned Terry Riley and La Monte Young, Brian Eno, Frank Zappa, Ennio Morricone John Williams.

If we extend the question to include not only classical but all musicians/composers born between 25-49 then that period wins by an absolute landslide.

Andre, you know me very well. My favourite is Arnie Schoenberg.

I hesitate to say which group I admire most, as there are composers from almost each that I hold dearly. I can say, however, that there aren't any composers post-1950 that have caught on for me. As for question 3, I think you could have added Edward MacDowell to the first group. Not a major composer per se, but still very much worthy of mention.

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"Without craftsmanship, inspiration is a mere reed shaken in the wind." - Johannes Brahms
"I look at the Third Symphony of Brahms and I feel like a tinker." - Edward Elgar
"I believe in Bach the Father, Beethoven the Son, and Brahms the Holy Ghost of music." - Hans von Bülow

Listen to some of my compositions here at SoundClick

I had to go with this at the end too. The spell of Romanticism was finally broken and C20th music had begun to find its own footing...

Born 1850-1874:

Mahler, Debussy, Delius, Richard Strauss, Sibelius, Zemlinsky, Scriabin, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov, Puccini...

There doesn't seem to be much to compete with this line-up by my reckoning... in spite of the fact that I listen to a hell of a lot of Modern/Contemporary music.

I agree with you Argus, some prominent non (strictly) classical composers could have been included as well. One that easily comes to mind is Duke Ellington (& perhaps even Count Basie as well). These guys, particularly the former, composed prolifically in many forms (such as suites or longer pieces), not only the short songs that we associate with jazz music. Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane & Kenny Dorham also put out many albums that were exclusively of their own music (sometimes one track lasts over half an hour, certainly the type of timing we tend to associate more with classical than jazz). On the other side of the Atlantic, Django Reinhardt was hugely admired by composers & musicians of all genres. Frank Zappa easily fits the bill, as do the film composers you mention (if you're talking fim music, maybe Nino Rota or Howard Shore, too). I don't think it's the musicians who bother about what "camp" they are in (just look at the collaborations between say Ravi Shankar & Menuhin & later with Glass). I think it's some of the fans/listeners of a particular genre that tend to be flustered about the distinctions. But, I didn't want to be too "controversial."

I think all of the "generations" (yes, it's hard to draw the line, but I chose the standard 25 years) have added to the richness of the music produced in the past 110 years or so. It's wierd, but in a way, composers didn't really care what "generation" they belonged to, they just wrote music. Janacek probably felt he had more in common with the next two generations, while Korngold's music seems to have much more in common with the previous two. Villa-Lobos' music spans the gamut of styles, from late Romanticism, to "Impressionism" (hate the term, I prefer early modernism, but anyway), modernism and even a hint of atonality (but not serialism). One can perhaps say the same thing about composers like Enescu, Ernest Bloch (another significant composer not on my original list), or Martinu.

I was more interested in the music people are familiar with most, so maybe a poll is a bit crude in this context. Perhaps I could have made it possible for people to choose three, not one, preferences. But anyway, at least it provides a "snapshot" of where people's tastes and interests lie.

The post 1925 generations are the ones I am less familiar with, and trying to come to grips with now. For example, I've recently acquired cd's of composers like Boulez, Henze, Feldman, etc. I think that there are vast riches on offer from all of the "generations." One just has to "grab" them & go with it, build upon one's knowledge and understanding. I try to be as eclectic as possible, in terms of eras, styles, genres and viewpoints. That's the main reason I'm into classical music.

& yes, harpsichord, I know you love Schoenberg (& Berg & Webern as well?), as long as they are played on period instruments!!!

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"Contrary to general belief an artist is never ahead of his time but most people are far behind theirs" - Edgard Varese

Maybe the biggest of those list are Debussy, Sibelius, Puccini and Richard Strauss, the last 2 famous primarily for their operas.

You can base it around big names, but just as interesting is whether there is much depth below those. That's a much harder thing to judge and depends really on what is easily available on recordings.

As I said before both classical music and popular music of recent generations have probably declined overall in quantity of quality over the last one and a half generations in the West, though that doesn't mean there can't be some good stuff still. I think there may have been a confluence of good classical and popular creativity from the 60s through the first half of the 80s. The 20/30s period with earlier jazz and the great musical writers was a strong period in its way, but probably not as strong worldwide (music with the Western influence - popular or classical - possibly spread it's net worldwide more later).

I know and like all the generations. Polls like this are like asking me which of my sons is my favorite. Um, all?

But with a little tweaking, I suppose I can play this game. The music I listen to most is from the past ten or fifteen years,* so odds are it's by the generation I finally checked off. Though even there. (Some of my favorite currently working people are in their sixties and seventies. A couple are in their eighties.)

*But out of the last fifty CDs I bought, 32 are of older music.

Six Schubert, four Kodaly; two each of Pergolesi, Haydn, Lutoslawski, Xenakis, Bartok, Maderna; one each (including some split CDs) of Franck, Saint-Saens, Ravel, Vivaldi, Strauss (Richard), Kalinnikov, Janacek, Martinu, Britten, Stravinsky, Husa, Penderecki, Weiss, Perron, Van de Vate, Wellesz, and Skalkottas.

This is along with the more ordinary purchases. Wolfgang Mitterer, Wolfgang Rihm, Jim O'Rourke, Otomo Yoshihide, eRikm, Mattin, Sachiko M, and folks like that. You know, for kids!!

For me, I'd say mostly composers born in 1850-1874, with a few composers in the next bracket and then tapering off quickly (I think I may have accidentally clicked on the wrong one a few days ago actually).

That used to not be the case-- when I was younger I think I preferred the 1900-1924 generation the most, but I've mellowed over the years.

Debussy, Vaughan Williams, Satie, Delius, Holst and Sibelius from that generation I especially like. To me, they represent a bridge from tonality to modern music which is less concerned with traditional tonality. Triads (and chords based on thirds) are often used, but not in a traiditional way-- the function of the triads have been removed (Debussy's Faun, for example). There is a strong interest in colour rather than harmonic function, though there is still a sense of tonality. This really appeals to me.

Sibelius is different, however, having more a darker "Nordic" sound to my ear (though I suppose Tapiola could be considered a kind of Finnish "impressionism").

I still can't really can't get into Mahler or Strauss-- I notice I often tend to have an aversion to Austrians and Germans, and I find I am naturally drawn more to French and English music more (Bach and Beethoven being major exceptions!).

Some composers I particularly like bleed into the other generations, though sound-wise I feel they are related more to that 1850-1874 generation, at least to some extent: Ravel, Resphigi, Bax, the early Stravinsky. When I look at my classical collection, this is what I own the most of (aside from my Bach collection).

It surprises me that I have gotten a bit more conservative in my tastes over the years-- not that I still don't like or listen to Copland, later Stravinsky, Cage, Feldman, Reich, Takemitsu and so on-- but I listen to it less often and with less enthusiasm than when I was younger (I'm 40). Again, its nt that I dislike other generations, but I do notice my tendency is toward that particular generation.

Interestingly, my interest in jazz is along similar lines-- that is, the jazz I like best is from the 50s and the 60s (Miles, Mingus, Monk, early Coltrane, early Ornette, early Cecil Taylor) which is really a transition into free jazz, but short of being free jazz. In classical likewise, it is what I feel is a transition from traditional classical into modernism that interests me most.

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At last to guess, instead of always knowing. To be able to say “ah” and “oh” and “hey” instead of “yea” and “amen. ” ~ Wings of Desire

Some guy: I am like you in many ways, I like music of all of the generations. In the last few weeks I have been to concerts in Sydney, where they performed Arvo Part, Granados, Goossens, as well as an electoacoustic concert of some of the latest composers. That's not to mention older music like by Mozart, Schumann, Haydn, etc. Tomorrow I'm going to an a capella concert of works by Monteverdi & USA contemporary composer Morten Lauridsen. How's that for an "eclectic" program? I really like the variety/diversity, and figuring out the differences and similarities between these composers.

Earthling: I also like the earliest generation (1850-74), as you say, many of them provided a "transition" from late Romanticism through to early Modernism. It would have been interesting to see what Mahler would have done had he lived (much) longer. Likewise with Sibelius, who virtually stopped composing from the mid 1920's to the end of his life in the '50's. Tapiola seems to point in new directions, but sadly he was either unwilling or unable to follow it up. Most of what I've heard of Richard Strauss has not really grabbed me, except for maybe some of his last works (Metamorphosen, Four Last Songs, Oboe Concerto). Vaughan Williams I find inconsistent and a bit overrated, imo, Holst seemed more interesting and less conventional (and thus more interesting for me). As for Debussy, absolutely love his music, especially his orchestration and use of the piano, which seemed far more unconventional than Ravel (the two are often lumped together, but I don't really hear much in common between them at all, except maybe how both of them moved towards neo-classicism later on, but even in that there were differences of emphasis/style. Perhaps part of the reason is that they belonged to two different generations?).

I'm going to be thrashed for this but, hands down, Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948 [11 years younger than I]) followed by Puccini