Who are your favorite contemporary composers?

[jada8]

I am putting together a recital program and would like to include at least one contemporary work. (Perhaps something along the lines of the Muczynski Preludes Op. 6.) I want something exciting!

[soliloquy]

Favorite modern composers:

Yves Prin, Henri Dutilleux, Pierre Boulez, Michael Finnissy, Brian Ferneyhough, George Flynn, Bernd Aloys Zimmermann, Alberto Ginastera, Nikolai Roslavets, Alexander Mosolov, Sylvano Bussotti, Salvatore Sciarrino, Mauricio Kagel, Gyorgy Kurtag, Carl Vine, Beat Furrer, Iannis Xenakis, Krzysztof Penderecki, James Dillon, Wolfgang Rihm, Sergei Protopopov, Claude Vivier, Jean Barraque, Alfred Schnittke, Eino-Juhani Rautavaara, Tristan Murail, Benjamin Britten, Frederic Rzewski, Yoshihisa Taira, Rolf Gehlhaar, Edgard Varese, Vinko Globokar, Arthur Kampela, Stefano Scodanibbio, Pascal Dusapin, Horatiu Radulescu, Helmut Lachenmann

[jre58591]

i have too many to list, so i wont even try (too tired to also). many are in soliloquy's list.

[mikey6]

Ligeti!

[mephisto]

Define contemporary and I will answer.

[clavicembalisticum]

"All art has been contemporary"

[mattgreenecomposer]

The Muscinsky preludes are great!  I think Ginestera would interest you.  (Someone else mentioned him).  Andre' Previn has written a few things you might be interested in for fun, I don't know if it's what your looking for.
You may be interested in my music as well, I update once a week on my website.  Pieces range from intermediate to difficult.

mattgreenecomposer.com

[pies]

Bach

[rach n bach]

Dude, you are behind the times, but still awesome. 

How modern is modern?  I love Rach (duh) but also will go with Holst and the like, just not too much atonal stuff.

RnB

[pies]

I am in love with Iannis Xenakis at the moment.

[phil13]

Carl Vine, Alexander Rosenblatt, Nikolai Kapustin, and Samuel Barber.

(Defining 'contemporary' as composers who are either still alive or died within the last 30 years.)

Phil

[clavicembalisticum]

 As I have stated before,...


All art has been contemporary 

[increpatio]

[deleted...thought that I was on a different thread...]

[horsejumper4ever]

Yann Tiersen, look him up. He's got some great pieces.

[imbetter]

david alpher (my piano teacher) 

he has several CDs out

[mephisto]

Maybe Rautavaara

[g_s_223]

Maybe Rautavaara

Good call, me too.

Also:
Arvo Pärt
James MacMillan
Max Richter
Marc-André Dalbavie

[arensky]

I define "contemporary" as anything written since 1945, although this creates problems as some composers (Hindemith,Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Villa-Lobos) who wrote most or much of their music before the 40's were still writing after that time. I think that if a composer went through significant stylistic evolution and development after 1945, we can consider them contemporary.

Or not.

At any rate my favorites are Ginastera, Messiaen and Elliot Carter. I never tire of their music. I also enjoy Penderecki, Ligeti, and some Xenakis and Husa. But my taste is usually for the music of about 100 years ago.

[radmila]

I like a lot music by Marko Tajcevic. You can find in USA three of his scores: Seven Balkan Dances  ; Serbian Dances  and Songs from the Mur Island. They are pretty easy to read and learn but have a lot of interesting rhythms and unconventional sounds. Seven Balkan DAnces are especially effective for a concert setting.

[maxreger]

Ligeti and Penderecki by far... I love both to death, I spend every day with their scores and music...

But, many more, tons of other composers I would say as well.

[pita bread]

Carter
Vine
Ligeti
Messiaen
Dutilleux

[sevencircles]

Atli Ingolfsson

Now you have a name to check out 

[tompilk]

Carl Vine is great. So is Yedidia - some of his works are absolutely stunning - sound like 20 hands. He makes discord sound natural by repetition. You'd struggle to get scores though unless you like in the US - I was going to buy directly from him but it costs so much to send money to other countries in a different currency.
Tom

[elevateme_returns]

kapustin!!!

[jre58591]

for me: vine, carter, messiaen, kapustin, sculthorpe, bolcom, rzewski, tveitt (dont know if he counts), rautavaara, ligeti, etc...

[pita bread]

Ah yes, Rzewski, forgot about him.

[elevateme_returns]

what about thomas ades?

[jre58591]

yeah i forgot about adès till now. hes really great.

[moi_not_toi]

Dude, you are behind the times, but still awesome. 

How modern is modern?  I love Rach (duh) but also will go with Holst and the like, just not too much atonal stuff.

RnB

0.o
>.>

How can anyone dislike atonal music? It's just a matter of analysing and exposing yourself to it. I didn't like it a few years ago, but after hearing Rite of Spring 3 times (the fourth was last night @ the ASO) I got used to it, and I wish my piano teacher felt the same way...


Rochberg
Ligeti
Glass
Poulenc
Stravinsky (anyone who thinks he isn't contemporary isn't rite)
Thomas Tallis

[elevateme_returns]

is rite of spring atonal?

[jre58591]

is rite of spring atonal?

does it matter?

[elevateme_returns]

does it matter?

to me. i'd like to know

[jre58591]

use your ear, look at the full score, and find out.

[elevateme_returns]

use your ear, look at the full score, and find out.

would it not be quicker to say it is or it isnt? anyway i know the piece well and i know there are some sections that are not atonal . i just wasnt sure

[jre58591]

well, the terms "tonal" and "atonal" are absolute extremes, and this piece isnt reall either one completely. and does it really matter?

[soliloquy]

It is tonal and dissonant.

Atonal is not the same as dissonant.
Tonal is not the same as consonant.


PUH-LEAZE people.

[mephisto]

Please tell me if I am correct:

Tonal: A piece has a tonic and that certain notes of the scale are more important than others

Atonal: Has no tonic, and every note of the cromatic scale are equal.

What about music such as Debussy, with hole-tone scales, and Messiaen with his modes of limited transposition?

[mccoy]

We should perhaps add the concept of bi- or polytonality here. Notes of (at least:) one different scale are played "against" the actual scale. The effect is commonly used by "classical" composers as well as by jazz musicians (e.g. when the soloist is shifting the scale a half step up or down for a while).