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A Contemporary Music Repertoire (a work in progress)

346K views 208 replies 41 participants last post by  Chat Noir 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi everyone,

For the past year or so, I've been on and off working on compiling a large, but hopefully comprehensive, list of contemporary classical music. In fact, I'm still working on it, but I thought I would share my current progress in case anyone is interested.

What is this list exactly? Well, in the most precise terms, it is simply an aggregation of works of the most-acclaimed contemporary composers that both critics and casual listeners seem to recommend. I did this through plenty of research across various forums, books, articles and reviews (including a drop of my own preferences). As I disclaim in the link, this list is obviously not scientific nor perfect by any means, but I hope it provides a good overview of contemporary classical music especially for novices.

To breakdown its sheer vastness, I created a couple tiers to distinguish the most-recommended works:

⋆⋆⋆ means an essential work, among the most esteemed of the contemporary era
⋆⋆ means a fairly important work, good to know especially if you're interested in that particular composer

Of the composers listed, am I missing any of their important works or your favorites? Do you disagree strongly with any of the star ratings (or lack thereof)? Or generally, if anyone has any questions or feedback, I'd be happy to hear!

Edit: I should have made it more clear that there are tons of absent composers that I just haven't had time to include yet. Each composer entry takes many hours to complete thoroughly so I appreciate all of your patience.
 
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#4 ·
Thanks for checking it out, Lisztian!

Just wondering what the cut-off point is, as I was struck by the absence of Xenakis and Stockhausen (while their contemporaries are up there). I also realise you said it's a work in progress: just curious!
I forgot to mention that I've been tackling this project by going through one composer at a time in a quasi-alphabetical order. (I did the Schnittke and Takemitsu entries early on before becoming a bit more methodical.) Xenakis and Stockhausen are definitely in the pipeline!

Here's a (non-exhaustive) list of all other composers I definitely intend to do at some point:

Nono, Luigi
Nørgård, Per
Nyman, Michael
Pärt, Arvo
Partch, Harry
Penderecki, Krzysztof
Rautavaara, Einojuhani
Reich, Steve
Rihm, Wolfgang
Riley, Terry
Romitelli, Fausto
Rzewski, Frederic
Saariaho, Kaija
Scelsi, Giacinto
Sciarrino, Salvatore
Sculthorpe, Peter
Sessions, Roger
Silvestrov, Valentin
Stockhausen, Karlheinz
Tavener, John
Ustvolskaya, Galina
Vasks, Pēteris
Wuorinen, Charles
Xenakis, Iannis
Young, La Monte

Once I hit all of the big names, I'll probably start adding some more lesser-knowns.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Great list. I would add:

Jón Leifs
Vyacheslav Artyomov
Richard Barrett
Michael Hersch
Kaija Saariaho
Aribert Reimann
George Benjamin
Ben Johnston
Lou Harrison
Pascal Dusapin
Olivier Greif
Jason Eckardt
Djuro Zivkovic
Michel Chion
Evan Ziporyn
Luciano Cilio
Magnus Lindberg
Mick Rossi
Franco Evangelisti
Friedrich Cerha
Noah Creshevsky
Hans Kox
Rolf Riehm
Horațiu Rădulescu
Steve Martland
Rytis Mažulis
Robert Kyr
Anders Koppel
Georg Katzer
Giya Kancheli
Vinko Globokar
 
#5 ·
Great list. I would add:

Vyacheslav Artyomov
Richard Barrett
Michael Hersch
Kaija Saariaho
Aribert Reimann
George Benjamin
Thanks for the suggestions. Saariaho is definitely on the shortlist. Benjamin and Barrett will probably follow once I finish the above list. The others deserve more research on my part, though I definitely do really like Reimann's Lear and Hersch's The Vanishing Pavilions.
 
#8 ·
It's a piece that I just barely left out the first time, so your support and an enthusiastic Guardian review that I missed is more than enough to push it on the list. It would need the support of several others more to climb to the next tier though, which is pretty difficult without a proper recording and also for being such a new piece.
 
#9 ·
Two female composers I'd definitely add: Chaya Czernowin and Rebecca Saunders

and worth conisdering:
Isabel Mundry
Clara Ianotta
Olga Neuwirth
Marina Khorkova

And from the other gender: James Dillon and Alexander Goehr are both very important IMO.
 
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#14 · (Edited)
In all fairness this is a humongous undertaking so I am not too disappointed at the many omissions. The one that have made the list so far are excellent. But as a band junkie I am sad :(
I appreciate your understanding and your advocacy. You are right though, band music has been almost entirely absent from my radar and from most of my sources, as if the "contemporary classical" and "concert band" worlds were entirely insular and distinct. I will certainly spend some more time researching, but for now I find that Wikipedia has a pretty good list of contemporary concert band composers, that I'll use as a starting basis. Are there others that you would personally add?
 
#17 ·
Its going to develop into a great work! I wonder how you are handling the evaluative and categorising decisions? How do you decide where to place the bar for who to include and who not to? If it is open to all suggestions it will grow so big that it will be only good to refer to (looking up composers you already know) but if it is more discerning it might also function as a guide that takes you to composers who you don't know yet. Also, how did you decide which works are *** and **?
 
#22 ·
Its going to develop into a great work! I wonder how you are handling the evaluative and categorising decisions? How do you decide where to place the bar for who to include and who not to? If it is open to all suggestions it will grow so big that it will be only good to refer to (looking up composers you already know) but if it is more discerning it might also function as a guide that takes you to composers who you don't know yet.
Good question! I honestly haven't thought too much about that ultimate cutoff. It might depend moreso on my motivation than anything else. It will probably take several more months before I finish up all the remaining primary composers. After that point, who knows. I am still in the "passion project" phase right now, but it's possible that will change with time.

In an ideal world, I would probably include as many composers as are deemed significant to at least some niche of listeners. In more specific terms, that would be any composer on which I can find a good amount of articles, guestbook threads, etc. to learn and explore from. My guess is that would make a gigantic list though with hundreds of composers from all across the globe.

Also, how did you decide which works are *** and **?
These tier distinctions were made admittedly somewhat arbitrarily but, I think, pretty consistently.

  • 2 stars are any works that I found at least 10 (net) positive recommendations across multiple sources with preferably at least 1 "professional" opinion, like a book author or newspaper columnist.
  • 3 stars are works with around 20 such recommendations, although I made this cutoff a bit more subjective. What I noticed in my research is that composer popularity seems to be a bit exponential. By this, I mean that the most popular composers would have several times more recommendations than others (for a quick comparison, Adams, Boulez, Cage, and Carter each have around 500 total work recommendations while at the other end Abrahamsen and Furrer have only about 70). So, I loosened this criteria just a bit for some of the less-popular composers by dropping the number to around 15 to 17.

As I said in my preface, this is not really a scientific process, but I think the results so far seem to align pretty well with the typical consensuses.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Thanks for this list, I look forward to exploring more of it. I recently picked up a cd of Mark Anthony Turnage, Your Rockaby. It's a Saxophone Concerto. I've heard some more of his music a year ago, but I don't remember what exactly. Sorry, not much help here. But yet another composer to listen to in your excellent but mammoth project.
Thanks for the suggestions. I have both Shchedrin and Turnage pegged to be in the next batch of composers.

In my earlier listing of female composers to consider I neglected to include the extremely talented and innovative Liza Lim from Australia, currently based at the University of Huddersfield as Professor of Composition.
Thanks, I am slightly familiar with Lim (thanks in part to a pretty enthusiastic fan around these parts...), but I will need to do some more listening and reading!
 
#20 ·
Thanks for this list, I look forward to exploring more of it. I recently picked up a cd of Mark Anthony Turnage, Your Rockaby. It's a Saxophone Concerto. I've heard some more of his music a year ago, but I don't remember what exactly. Sorry, not much help here. But yet another composer to listen to in your excellent but mammoth project.
 
#21 ·
In my earlier listing of female composers to consider I neglected to include the extremely talented and innovative Liza Lim from Australia, currently based at the University of Huddersfield as Professor of Composition.
 
#24 ·
This is a great start! My first question would be about the significance of works with no stars. Are they still considered central works? If so, I suggest that single stars are included.

Looking at Schnittke's entries, there are a few works whose inclusion I would question, namely:

Symphony #0 (1957)
Piano Concerto (1960)
Violin Sonata #1 (1963)
Labyrinths (1971)​

The majority of these are early works that I don't consider to be essential to any Schnittke collection. Sure, Symphony #0 has the distinction of being recorded in BIS's trailblazing Schnittke Edition, but just because it isn't completely forgotten doesn't make it a central work of its composer.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I appreciate the feedback.

I wouldn't consider the no-stars to be central works necessarily. I would say they are less-popular works that are still recommended. This could mean central works with limited exposure/accessibility but also perhaps less-important works that have some well-known/well-regarded recordings. In the case of big-name composers like Schnittke, un-starred works are typically the latter since the composer's name typically is a big enough spotlight or brand, if you will, to grant most of their works with a proper recording.

Now in my bookkeeping, I do factor in "anti-recommendations" which decrements a piece's number of recommendations. Shall I count your post as such? In doing so, you may bump 1 or 2 of those pieces off the list...
 
#28 ·
All in all, the list very well researched and has no "glaring omissions." Trying to keep with the standards of previous entries, I've compiled lists for two more composers (subjective and open to change, of course) that can be added if Trout agrees.

Cardew, Cornelius (1936-81; British)

- February Pieces [piano] (1959-61)
- Autumn '60 [orch.] (1960)
- Octet '61 for Jasper Johns [open instrumentation ensemble] (1961)
- Treatise [open instrumentation ensemble] (1963-67) ***
- Memories of You [piano] (1964)
- Solo with Accompaniment [open instrumentation ensemble] (1964)
- Bun No. 1 [orch.] (1965)
- The Great Learning [7 pieces for various ensembles] (1968-70, rev. 1972) ***
- Unintended Piano Music (1970/71)
- Piano Album 1973 (1973)
- Piano Album 1974 (1974)
- Thälmann Variations [piano] (1974) **
- We Sing for the Future! [piano] (1979)

Eastman, Julius (1940-90; American)

- Stay on It [open instrumentation ensemble including voice, piano, percussion] (1973)
- Femenine [chamber ensemble] (1974) **
- If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? [ensemble] (1977)
- Evil ****** [open instrumentation ensemble] (1979) ***
- Gay Guerilla [open instrumentation ensemble] (ca. 1980) **
- Crazy ****** [open instrumentation ensemble] (ca. 1980) **
- The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc [10 cellos] (1981) **
 
#29 · (Edited)
Wow you even got my formatting down and everything!

I'll tell you what, since you did a lot of my work for me, I'll get to those composers next once I finish Luigi Nono (almost done...). Now, I can't guarantee that the entries I will get will look exactly like those (with the same star ratings and exactly all those pieces) but you mentioning them all will really help their cause. Were those completely subjective tier assignments and selected pieces or did you use any particular sources for them? I'd love to read anything you found!
 
#30 · (Edited)
The tier assignments were a blend of my personal preferences and what I found to be the composers' most popular works. I may have been too inclusive with Cardew, but this article makes a great case for some of his lesser-known experimental works. Eastman has been a favorite for a while (and his discography is pretty small) so it was easier to include what I thought were must-hears.
 
G
#33 ·
terrific initiative; may I suggest you consult my blogspot; it lists composers from all eras, but is specialised in contemporary composers, because it is my major interest; among your list only babitt is missing just because I do not fancy his work;
my blogspot is: marcbollansee.blogspot.com
 
#35 ·
Are you sure about including Sessions as a contemporary composer? You previously said that your cut-off was "any composer that has a substantial or important body of work post circa-1975," but Sessions only composed three works post-1975 (albeit three very fine works). Arguably his most important works were composed in the '40s and '60s, and if you include him I'm afraid there will be grounds to list also Ginastera, Orff, Krenek, Tubin, Pettersson, etc. (whom I don't consider to be contemporary composers in the strict sense).

Since I'm familiar with Ustvolskaya, I'll try to help you out with that one.
 
#36 ·
Are you sure about including Sessions as a contemporary composer? You previously said that your cut-off was "any composer that has a substantial or important body of work post circa-1975," but Sessions only composed three works post-1975 (albeit three very fine works). Arguably his most important works were composed in the '40s and '60s, and if you include him I'm afraid there will be grounds to list also Ginastera, Orff, Krenek, Tubin, Pettersson, etc. (whom I don't consider to be contemporary composers in the strict sense).

Since I'm familiar with Ustvolskaya, I'll try to help you out with that one.
You're right, including Sessions was an oversight on my part. Scelsi is too, looking back on my list. I made this list a while ago, and I think it was originally supposed to be for post-war composers, but I later narrowed my focus to the contemporary "era."
 
#37 ·
New entry for Cornelius Cardew.

I remember interpreting and performing a sheet of his Treatise for a modern music class I took. Super bizarre but very memorable experience. And now, in the context with the rest of his ouevre, it was interesting to read about how radically Cardew shifted from the avant-garde to Romantic agitprop.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Cardew is an interesting case. He worked closely with Stockhausen for several years, but later became a radical Marxist-Leninist-Maoist and denounced the avant garde, his own prior works and especially Stockhausen, in decidedly violent language.

On his own major work, which is based on Confucius: "No longer do I want to conceal the facts about bourgeois society, I want to expose them. My standpoint in criticising The Great Learning is the standpoint of the working class. For the working class The Great Learning is or would be if they ever got to hear it a piece of inflated rubbish which obviously has no role to play in their struggles; its role is to promote and consolidate bourgeois ideas in one guise or another amongst the intelligentsia."

http://ubu.com/historical/cardew/cardew_stockhausen.pdf

 
#40 ·
Below is probably what I would list for Ustvolskaya:

Ustvolskaya, Galina (1919-2006; Russian)

- Concerto for Piano, String Orchestra, and Timpani (1946)
- Piano Sonata No. 1 (1947)
- Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano (1949)
- Octet [2 oboes, 4 violins, timpani, and piano] (1949-50)
- Violin Sonata (1952)
- Grand Duet [cello & piano] (1959) **
- Composition No. 1 "Dona nobis pacem" [piccolo, tuba, and piano] (1970-71)
- Composition No. 2 "Dies irae" [8 double basses, piano, and cube] (1972-73) **
- Composition No. 3 "Benedictus, qui venit" [4 flutes, 4 bassoons, and piano] (1974-75)
- Symphony No. 3 "Jesus Messiah, Save Us!" (1983)
- Symphony No. 4 "Prayer" (1985-87)
- Piano Sonata No. 5 (1986) **
- Piano Sonata No. 6 (1988) ***
- Symphony No. 5 "Amen" (1989-90) **

There are still many, many more composers to go through but I see this being a valuable resource for contemporary music.
 
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