favorite 20th century composers

Definitely Sibelius and Walton as being as favourite as any except Bach and Haydn for me.

Love Poulenc as well, but mostly I struggle more with 20th Century Music than 18th C. Mostly music seems to demand more and give less after Bach - Haydn excepted - for me.

ATB from George

Many - I love 20th Century music. Some of the better ones (sticking to "classical" music):

Bartok
Stravinsky
Janacek
Berg
Webern
Schoenberg
Shostakovich
Debussy
Ravel
Nancarrow
Prokofiev
Carter
Boulez
Dutilleux
Martinu

and of course,

Mahler
Elgar
Sibelius
Hovhaness
Arnold
Copland
Bernstein
and, and
The list could be a very long one.

quote:

Originally posted by KenM:
Mahler

Er, um, I can't believe I forgot Mahler. I knew I was leaving someone out, but Mahler? Sheesh! (Same to a lesser extent with Sibelius!)


--

Dear Todd,,

Do you really think Mahler was a greater composer than Sibelius?

For me one one was in the line from Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, whilst the other was a noisy quack.

ATB from George

Todd we can add also:

Dukas,
Barber,
Magnard

Bye

Fabian

Don't forget Britten and Puccini (I think the latter made it into the 20th!)

also:
and
Satie,
Holst,
Faure,
Respighi,
Bantock,Balakirev,
Glazunov,Gershwin,Massenet,Mackenzie,Paderewski,
Busoni,Scharwenka, Saint-Saens,Stanford,Walton,Wallace...

Any one mention Tippet and Rubbra?

If Micheal can Tippett, then Boosey can Hawke it!

In front of either [Tippett or Britten], give me Simpson, Lloyd, Arnold, or Rubbra. Even Coates is a real advance on them, and he reckoned himself a solon-music composer - IMHO, of course.

ATB from George

Nielsen
Honneger
Roussel
Ives
Arvo Part
John Adams

Birtwistle
Boulez
Brian
Gerhard
Henze
Lachenmann
Ligeti
Messiaen
Rihm
Schnittke
Stockhausen
Takemitsu
Webern
Xenakis

Although I naturally gravitate towards ALL 19th, 18th, 17th century right to medieval music I absolutely love 20th century music as well but in a much more limited way. Basically, I draw the line where atonality and other funny stuff begins. I prefer tonal music and this includes impressionism with its whole-tone scale. I haven't yet found a love of the atonal expressionism and the 12-tone sound of Schoenberg and the resulting Viennese school as well as the likes of Cage etc.

Also, my love of piano and chamber music pretty much drives my list. Some of these I'd normally think of as 19th century but since most of these guys at least died in the 20th century here you go (in random order and probably not complete by any means):

Claude Debussy
Maurice Ravel
Gabriel Faure
Ernest Chausson
Alexander Scriabin
Ferruccio Busoni
Leos Janacek
Isaac Albeniz
Bela Bartok
Serge Prokofiev
Dmitri Shostakovich
Sergei Rachmaninov
Nikolai Medtner
Camille Saint-Saens

Best Regards,
Doug

If I consider the shelf space consumed, then Shostakovich, Sibelius and Vaughan Williams. Malcolm Arnold seems to crop up quite a bit with William Walton as well.

Bartok & Sibelius, plus Alban Berg for his Violin Concerto, and Mahler for his 9th and Lied von der Erde.

quote:

Originally posted by Florestan:
Basically, I draw the line where atonality and other funny stuff begins. I haven't yet found a love of the atonal expressionism and the 12-tone sound of Schoenberg and the resulting Viennese school as well as the likes of Cage etc.

Best Regards,
Doug

i have a sizable collection of 12 tone music which i listened to religiously as a music student. i even got to play some :-)

but now at 58, it makes me psychotic to listen to this stuff. where is the joy of music?
i remember trying to keep a grip on my intonation when playing this stuff. migrane territory! if you can play this music in tune and on time you are a real musician.

i have recordings of schoenberg's moses and arron and pendereki's devils of loudon that i put on Halloween night to scare the neighborhood children. it works every time!

the one exception currently is messiaen.
his quartet for the end of time and the illuminations from the beyond give me pause for thought. i keep returning to the well on these.

at any rate it was fun to poke at the void i feel when listening to much twelve tone music,
even if i feel a bit ashamed to turn my back on a whole venue pursued with genius by a number of composers i respect :-)

thanks for the opportunity ...

quote:

i have recordings of schoenberg's moses and arron and pendereki's devils of loudon that i put on Halloween night to scare the neighborhood children. it works every time!

Rats! I wish I would have thought of that a couple of nights ago.

To be fair though, I said that just to make the distinction of who my current and longtime favorites are. I honestly haven't given the other side of the 20th century a fair shake and I certainly haven't made an effort to delve a little deeper into it. I have taken many University level music courses as well and I guess my sense was that that was enough. Life is too short and I basically focus on the things that naturally draw me in (or suit my character).

But, I've learned never to say never. My tastes and sensibilities do evolve over time and I listen to some things now that I could never have imagined I would have some 20 or 30 years ago. I try to keep an open mind...

When the time comes, I'll be sure to try and get your insight on where to start in collecting some of these works.

Thanks and Best Regards,
Doug

It's funny. I always think of Mahler as very much a 19th century composer, though he did continue on into the 20th.

My favourites are probably Janacek - there is nobody quite like him and the orchestral sound he produces. His operas are stunning, as are pieces like the sinfionetta and glagolitic mass, but I have recently been impressed by his chamber music too.

I'm a great fan of Britten, particularly for operas like Paul Bunyan and Peter Grimes, but also things like his wonderful string quartets.

Sibelius (though he also straddled the centuries), for reasons I've explored at length in my thread on the subject.

Messiaen is a favourite. I like the piano word, and birdsong particularly but also his more epic works which are wonderfully powerful. St Francis of Assisi is an extraordinary experience live but I think I prefer from the Canyons to the Stars, since it can more easily be taken as spiritual rather the so overtly religious.

I don't love everything by Tippett, but the concerto for double string orchestra is one of my favourite pieces of the 20th century.

Bernstein, mainly for the Mass, which I think is an incredible work, but many other things besides.

John Adams has greatly impressed me with the Death of Klinghoffer when they staged it here a couple of years ago, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing Dr Atomic in London this spring.

While he probably belongs more as a 21st century composer, I have very much enjoyed Thomas Ades work, especially his violin concerto and living toys.

I'm not an unreserved fan of Richard Strauss, and he also straddles the 19th and 20th centuries. However, I think Metamorphosen is one of the great compositions of the 20th century, and have recently fallen in love with the Alpensinfonie with Mariss Janson's recording with the Concertgebouw.

I'm sure I'll think of other favourites in due course, but that's enough for now.

regards, Tam

p.s. In his first post mike mentioned Percy Grainger. I don't know his work at all well, but I heard an arrangement he did of the Tchaik piano concerto for solo piano in a concert a couple of years ago which I thought was wonderful.

First and foremost Bela Bartok, but even Stravinsky, Prokofieff, Nielsen of course, and also Frank Martin.

I have made some effort to get to know Satie (piano works) and Messian (organ works) and recently some orchestral works by Sibelius, but I do not warm to these (yet?).

So as to 20th century (as elsewhere) my taste is rather conservative.

Bartok
Bernstein
Copland
Stockhausen
Satie
Cage
Zappa

There are many composes I respect and like from the 20th Century, but personally only one fit’s into my ‘favourite’ category. : )

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Russian: Серге́й Серге́евич Проко́фьев, Sergéj Sergéjevič Prokófjev) (27 April [O.S. 15 April] 1891 - 5 March 1953[1]) was a Russian composer who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. (Alternative transliterations of his name include Sergey or Serge, and Prokofief, Prokofieff, or Prokofyev.)

Two of my favorite recent pieces are the fabulous new violin concerto by Sofia Gubaidulina, played beautifully by Mutter/Gergiev, and the Lindberg Violin concerto played by Lisa Batiashvili. While these composers may not be the best of the century, these works to me should be included on the list of 20th century masterworks. As much as I love many of the works of Bartok, Prokofieff, Mahler, Debussy, Ravel and others, quite frankly none of them can hold a candle to the great 18th and 19th century masters......

I am very sorry that my post seems to have been removed. I don't know why. I simply named my favourite 20th Century composer, Jehan Alain (nothing too controversial or commercially sensitive there, I hope?).

For those who may be interested in this French musical genius (a pupil of Dupre amongst others) who was killed in action aged 29, in defence of Saumur in June 1940, there is a website run his sister, the celebrated organist, Marie-Claire Alain.

I first came across Alain as a page-turner for a friend at school who was studying the organ - Alain's most celebrated piece 'Litanies' (which the friend played at our wedding a few years later).

Unfortunately, you do have to look quite hard for recordings. Understandably it is his organ music that is the most easily found, but other works, such as piano are around if you look hard.

James