Members:
As always, I seek the cutting edge of music.. the ULTRA Beethoven in the horizon who is knocking on the FUTURE'S door while living in the PRESENT [which to a "modern composer" is THE PAST]... the composer who is not only EXPERIMENTING with new scale transitions and new tones and hidden musical themes, but ACTUALLY is actually close to hitting the OIL.
... okay, this is just an ANALOGY.
Here's a list of some composers, and so far, I do like CRESTON an KLEIN, but they just don't make the cut for me to say NOW THESE GUYS are the PROKOFIEV of the "20th Century" - YES, I SAY "20TH CENTURY" based on the Year/Century T-H-E-Y W-E-R-E B-O-R-N.. as this is more helpful way in my opinion to gauge whether or not a composer is a modern composer or not, and NOT THE TIME/DATE/YEAR AT WHICH THEY CREATED THE COMPOSITION [I'm getting into too much MUSIC APPRECIATION 101 AND MUSIC HISTORY 202 here].
Mind you, the list below will break some of my parameters above, but it's a list for what I can label as 'modern composers' - I'M TRYING TO GET SOME OF YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO GOOD COMPOSERS THAT REALLY ARE "KNOCKING" ON THE FUTURE OF MODERN CLASSICAL MUSIC.
PAUL CRESTON
GIDEON KLEIN
PROKOFIEV - NO! HE DOESN'T CUT IT, BECAUSE HE WAS BORN IN THE 19TH C.
SHOSTAKOVICH - MAYBE, BUT HE'S TOO 19TH C., SINCE HE WAS BORN CLOSE TO THE 19TH C... AT LEAST RIGHT AFTER THIS ERA WAS OVER
CARL VINE
GEORGE ANTHEIL
ERWIN SCHULHOFF (NEVER HEARD OF HIM, BUT HE SEEMS TO BE IN THE SHOSTAKOVICH CAMP HAVING BEEN BORN IN THE VERY VERY VERY LATE 19TH C.)
MARC-ANDRE HAMELIN
NIKOLAI MEDTNER
CYRIL SCOTT
SEROCKI
KLETZKI
WEISMANN
STANCHINSKY
RATHAUS
PETRYEK
NEPOMUCENO
KOSENKO
_________________________________________________________________
These names may be quite esoteric. And to many, this attempt to simplify such a mass array of complex modern composers will really bother some/many of you; however, I'm curious which you think is actually really pushing the boundaries of the next MUSIC TREND of the 21st century.
If Yanni played his pieces to Mozart in 1787 (for example), they'd either be blown away in amazement, OR, think it's some kind of demonic withcraft oriented music --- they wouldn't be ready for it. or even new composers such as John Williams.
... or even young guys like Crane (which many will say his compositions are too basic ... [although he's got a huge following because the music 'sounds' good])
....... or even more romantic, emotional pieces from that guy from South Korea - Yurima.
How about David Foster?
Imagine if a Crane or Yiruma or J. Williams or David Foster came into Beethoven's theatre and introduced a piece - I think the audience would be SHOCKED to their amazement ... AND DELIGHT!
... NOW, having said this, apart from the MODERN CLASSICAL COMPOSERS trying to knock on our future's door, I'm getting a sense that these basic compositions made by these young guys may be the future of what we call "MODERN MUSIC".... yes, probably inspired by the roots of what we now call JAZZ THEORY/MUSIC.
Having given you a context of this question, other than the list above or FROM IT, is there anyone you believe would be a good listen? Beethoven really and truly transcended and created that bridge from Classical to Romantic to probably even MODERN CLASSICAL [it's actually INCREDIBLE].
Who's next? What are some good Classical Modern Composers and their Pieces, I can try listening to?
Prokofiev's Toccata in D Minor /or/ Sonata No. 2 seems like it's trying.. but just doesn't cut it... but it's trying.