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Topic: 21 century composers?  (Read 1508 times)

Offline sammmue

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21 century composers?
on: July 18, 2021, 11:26:36 AM
What are some living composers of our times?
I have been listening to Nahre Sol.

Do advice?

Offline visitor

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #1 on: July 28, 2021, 06:31:54 PM
Missy Mazzoli is definitely one to watch /listen to
Her Bolts of Loving Thunder for solo piano is amazing


Alt Audio here  (Emanuel Ax piano )
"Bolts of Loving Thunder — Missy Mazzoli" https://missymazzoli.com/works/bolts-of-loving-thunder/

Program Note
Composer Note
Bolts of Loving Thunder was composed in 2013 for pianist Emanuel Ax. When Manny asked me to write a piece that would appear on a program of works by Brahms, I immediately thought back to my experiences as a young pianist. I have clear memories of crashing sloppily but enthusiastically through the Rhapsodies and Intermezzi, and knew I wanted to create a work based on this romantic, stormy idea of Brahms, complete with hand crossing and dense layers of chords. I also felt that there needed to be a touch of the exuberant, floating melodies typical of young, “pre-beard” Brahms. Brahms’ “F-A-F” motive (shorthand for “frei aber froh” or “free but happy”) gradually breaks through the surface of this work, frenetically bubbling out in the final section. The title comes from a line in John Ashbery’s poem Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape.

Bolts of Loving Thunder was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, music director; Symphony Center Presents, Chicago; Cal Performances, University of California, Berkeley; and Carnegie Hall.

— Missy Mazzoli

Offline lelle

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #2 on: July 28, 2021, 11:05:52 PM
Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Unsuk Chin, Kaija Saariaho... there are tons and tons of composers today.

Offline rachorascho

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #3 on: July 29, 2021, 05:39:36 AM
You can also try Jan Ryant Dřízal's music. He is the winner of the composers competition of Czech philharmony. :)

Offline composer

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #4 on: August 19, 2021, 06:15:49 PM
There are a lot on musescore.com.

Offline fftransform

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #5 on: August 29, 2021, 06:05:41 PM
As far as 2010-present, such that the composer is still living, you could probably group the 'big dogs' into three chunks:

1) The Living Legends (Ferneyhough, Finnissy, Sciarrino, Kurtag, Haas, Saariaho, Lachenmann, Dufourt, Murail, Dumitrescu, Ades, Levinas etc.)

2) The 2nd wave spectralists, who aren't always necessarily 'actual spectralists', not that any composer ever likes getting pigeonholed with those sorts of labels (Feinberg, Steinke, Casale, Adamek, Avram, Francesconi, Gervasoni, Neuwirth etc.)  This is where the energy was at from like 2010-2016.

3) The new wave of women composers (not including Saariaho or Neuwirth, possibly Chin and Avram, who were already well-established) - basically since Trump was elected the new music scene has been FIERCELY and with extreme focus promoting its women composers, trying to make up for lost time (Chin, Saunders, Firsova, Czernowin, Stulginska, la Barbara, Paredes, etc.)  The labels haven't caught up, but that's what's going on in the halls rn.

There was also a brief but intense interest in Asian composers, though it seems like Fujikura is the only one who walked away from that with a big career (Chin and Ge were already established).

There are also important composers who don't fit in any of those categories working in New Complexity (e.g. Cassidy, Aperghis), new simplicity (Zimmermann), musique concrete (e.g. Ablinger) or with some folk influence (e.g. Ge or Alizadeh).  There are also some composers still working in the serialist tradition, usually associated with IRCAM, like Manoury, Lucier or Pousseur, any of whom could also probably squeeze in under the 'living legend' umbrella.  Just start trawling the new music youtube channels and find what you like.

But you're aware that many important composers have died fairly recently, right?  The past few years have been rough, you'd be missing out on Dutilleux, Boulez, Rzewski (only died like a month ago) and Halffter (a few months ago) first and foremost.

Offline lhb_

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #6 on: August 29, 2021, 08:08:51 PM
As far as 2010-present, such that the composer is still living, you could probably group the 'big dogs' into three chunks:

1) The Living Legends (Ferneyhough, Finnissy, Sciarrino, Kurtag, Haas, Saariaho, Lachenmann, Dufourt, Murail, Dumitrescu, Ades, Levinas etc.)

2) The 2nd wave spectralists, who aren't always necessarily 'actual spectralists', not that any composer ever likes getting pigeonholed with those sorts of labels (Feinberg, Steinke, Casale, Adamek, Avram, Francesconi, Gervasoni, Neuwirth etc.)  This is where the energy was at from like 2010-2016.

3) The new wave of women composers (not including Saariaho or Neuwirth, possibly Chin and Avram, who were already well-established) - basically since Trump was elected the new music scene has been FIERCELY and with extreme focus promoting its women composers, trying to make up for lost time (Chin, Saunders, Firsova, Czernowin, Stulginska, la Barbara, Paredes, etc.)  The labels haven't caught up, but that's what's going on in the halls rn.

There was also a brief but intense interest in Asian composers, though it seems like Fujikura is the only one who walked away from that with a big career (Chin and Ge were already established).

There are also important composers who don't fit in any of those categories working in New Complexity (e.g. Cassidy, Aperghis), new simplicity (Zimmermann), musique concrete (e.g. Ablinger) or with some folk influence (e.g. Ge or Alizadeh).  There are also some composers still working in the serialist tradition, usually associated with IRCAM, like Manoury, Lucier or Pousseur, any of whom could also probably squeeze in under the 'living legend' umbrella.  Just start trawling the new music youtube channels and find what you like.

But you're aware that many important composers have died fairly recently, right?  The past few years have been rough, you'd be missing out on Dutilleux, Boulez, Rzewski (only died like a month ago) and Halffter (a few months ago) first and foremost.



Out of curiosity, what are the best cities to live in for hearing this sort of music? I live in Houston, TX and it's a *** cultural dead zone here, though I think the Houston Symphony is playing a piece by Chin this season at least. Probably nowhere in the US I'm assuming. I remember I used to tune into some French radio station that occasionally broadcasted festivals where I'd hear some new pieces being premiered.

Offline fftransform

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #7 on: August 29, 2021, 08:33:14 PM
Out of curiosity, what are the best cities to live in for hearing this sort of music? I live in Houston, TX and it's a *** cultural dead zone here, though I think the Houston Symphony is playing a piece by Chin this season at least. Probably nowhere in the US I'm assuming. I remember I used to tune into some French radio station that occasionally broadcasted festivals where I'd hear some new pieces being premiered.

Boston, Philly or NYC - basically where there are big conservatories and Ivies.  You'd think some west coast spots like LA/San Francisco/Seattle might be good, but naw, not really.

Btw are you done with youtubing?  If you still have that Adamek Ombre Cri or Manoury La partition du ciel et de l'enfer I've been wanting to hear those again.  Also never managed to find Finnissy's all.fall.down., as far as I know it only exists on a private cassette and I could never convince anyone to rip it.

Offline lhb_

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #8 on: August 30, 2021, 02:06:09 AM
Boston, Philly or NYC - basically where there are big conservatories and Ivies.  You'd think some west coast spots like LA/San Francisco/Seattle might be good, but naw, not really.

Btw are you done with youtubing?  If you still have that Adamek Ombre Cri or Manoury La partition du ciel et de l'enfer I've been wanting to hear those again.  Also never managed to find Finnissy's all.fall.down., as far as I know it only exists on a private cassette and I could never convince anyone to rip it.
I don't plan on uploading any videos again any time soon, sorry... I can send you both of those though.

Offline visitor

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #9 on: December 17, 2021, 12:15:58 PM
More Missy mazzoli this just hit my feed
What a cool piece
https://twitter.com/ssss_clav/status/1471803184931033090?t=dkBY-rYshaoIPOvyA59isQ&s=19

Offline david2233

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #10 on: December 17, 2021, 12:37:16 PM
Thats brilliant music for sure! Thanks for sharing! If you need help with college paper tasks check this writers https://www.collegessaywriter.com/buy-college-essays/ they helped me with my last dissertation!

Offline visitor

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #11 on: December 17, 2021, 09:55:28 PM

Offline fftransform

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #12 on: December 18, 2021, 06:32:27 AM
w t f, I like the broken link to a picture of sheet music, but the response as if it wasn't?  What does that even mean???  Who would reply to this thread out of the blue just to have pretended to have heard a piece by some crappy nobody composer?  Is this composer paying for clout on pianostreet?  xD

Astoundingly lazy writing, emotionally vacuous, sounds like what I hear from 12 year olds writing their first 'serious' pieces.  An ostinato, a couple modulations, and a couple chords.  That's it, that's all that piece is.   It's elevator music with a vague hint of dissonance.  Any composer could puke such a thing out in five minutes.  Unskilled, tasteless and simple-minded.

Offline klavieronin

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #13 on: December 18, 2021, 07:14:42 AM
I liked it. I thought that driving, irregular pulse was interesting and I liked the thick, slightly dissonant harmonies. Reminds me a bit of Norman Dello Joio.

Offline f flat minor

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Re: 21 century composers?
Reply #14 on: January 01, 2022, 08:30:04 AM
You might go to other forums such as MuseScore in order to get acquainted with composers that are still alive.
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