I'm amazed that Philip Glass is included in your list. I would have thought he would go into your "BAD composers" series. Most of the time when his music is played, I can't stand it & quickly change radio stations. I was surprised when one time I heard something that I liked & it turned out to be by him.
I like highly approachable (no less complicated) music, so with that in mind, I enjoy: 1. Marjan Mozetich 2. Michael Torke 3. Takashi Yoshimatsu 4. Mark O'Connor 5. Philip Glass is an oldy but a goody.
This was great, David! Thank you. You included some of my favorite composers in your list. I would add Caroline Shaw, Konstantia Gourzi, Fazil Say, Per Nørgård, Toshio Hosokawa, Kalevi Aho, Pēteris Vasks. I hope you get to talk about some of them.
Not familiar with all of those, but I may investigate. As for the ones I know, I'd definitely add Say, Nørgård, and Aho to the list but ( would be in no hurry to add Vasks (not that he's bad, his music just doesn't appeal to me as much as the others.)
I have been listening to Jonathan Leshnoff...very interesting composer and his music at times very moving. I am always looking for something new to hear.
Thanks dave for another great talk...just went and found and listened to lera auerbach's symphony no 1 "chimera" here on youtube and was very impressed and enjoyed it very much...you can find so much music by all these composers mentioned by you and everyone in the comments that we can keep on listening forever!
Nice video, David. So glad you mentioned Paul Schoenfield. I found that Argo disc about 25 years ago and became hooked on his music, primarily because of the piece Vaudeville. I like to describe the work as seriously-hilarious! I’d also recommend the works Cafe Music and Camp Songs for anyone who wants to further explore Paul’s music.
Great mention!! I was introduced to Silvestrov through the 'MUSICA NON GRATA' series on BMG (which featured his magnificent 5th symphony). I will always treasure that disc. The 90's spawned a veritable 'gold rush' of discs featuring composers from the former Soviet Union and I enjoyed the many musical discoveries I made in that era.
My favorite living composers are all predominantly film composers, especially John Williams (of course!), Patrick Doyle and James Newton Howard. They all also wrote classical orchestral music
Thank you for this list, Dave! I would like to make a mention of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Atmospheric, landscape music. Terrific youngish composer. Metacosmos and In The Light of Air are two works of hers I can highly recommend.
In the recently deceased category: Rouse, Gorecki, and Malcolm Arnold. Each wrote at least two works that are among my favorites. Rouse died too early and I'm still waiting to hear his 2003 Requiem.
I'm so happy that there are other composers out there who are ecletcic. I myself can't just write for one style/genre of music, there are just so many out there!
Just adding a few more that I like off the top of my head: Morton Subotnik, Carl Stone, Michael Daugherty, Louis Andriessen, Jean-Claude Eloy, The Magic Band (for its enormous influence on both pop and avant-garde), Ferneyhough and Lachenmann (both included for the singular experience). As for Glass, yes he's a genius (I've been listening to his music since I was a kid). I don't like everything he did, but I can apply that remark to most composers.
@@subplantant thus not yet fully de-composed (pun intended); we should be allowed to include those with the living on technical grounds... unless he was incinerated
I love Subotnik. He's given a few video interviews on UA-cam and he's a fantastic storyteller - I remember his bit where he was in the military as a clarinetist (he was a talented clarinetist as a child), but hated playing the clarinet so much that when he dreamed of his arm getting blown off in a battle, he'd wake up relieved that he wouldn't have to play the clarinet anymore!
Check out "Musica Celestis" by Aaron Jay Kernis. I heard the Boston Symphony perform the string orchestra version of this at Tanglewood, and I was moved and overcome by its beauty.
Interesting list - brilliant food for thought. I'd add for myself John Corigliano (his 1st Symphony and Three Hallucinations for orchestra are just great IMHO), Michael Daugherty (Tales of Hemingway, and the brilliant American Gothic) Gavin Bryars, if only for the wonderful Adnan Songbook and Gloria Coates (some of her glissando pieces are just extraordinary).
I am so glad you highlighted the wonderful Cuban composer Leo Brouwer! I knew the late guitarist Ernesto Tamayo somewhat in Washington DC, and he talked so affectionately about Brouwer having been his teacher in Cuba, and what a marvelous human being he was too. There is a video on UA-cam of Tamayo discussing Brouwer, and playing his music. I agree he has written many very effective works for guitar, and sort of vindicated it as a serious instrument for composition.
One of my favorite contemporary composers who recently passed was David Maslanka, known primarily for his works for wind band. His Fourth Symphony is wonderful, and pushes the limits of the wind band. The Dallas Wind Symphony made an excellent recording of it from Reference Recordings.
I don't know much about comtemporary works, but I'm trying and learning. Often, I'm surprised how accessible they are and how much I get to love them: Higdon's String Poetic (played by Jennifer Koh), Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto (by Kari Krikku), Philip Glass piano works (by Jeroen van Veen), Arvo Part' Te Deum (by Tonu Kaljuste) and Petris Vasks's Violin Concerto (by John Storgards), and Unsuk Chin's 2nd Violin Concerto (by Leonidas Kavakos on UA-cam), to name a few. There is so much music out there and time is limited. What am I supposed to do....?
I was excited to see Magnus Lindberg on this list! He's probably my favorite living composer - great orchestration, strikingly modern, but still incredibly accessible. Also happy to see Lera Auerbach getting some recognition. Some others I would have included are: Sofia Gubaidulina, Michael Gordon, Pascal Dusapin, and Valentyn Silvestrov . But your list has definitely given me some more listening to do, thanks for the recommendations!
Dear Mr. Hurwitz,thank you for this inspiring list. For 20 years I have followed your website, and therefore I know Shapero, Converse, Rouse, Rorem and many more. I will not mention the ones you dont mentioned, because you know them already, and have talked about a lot. I look forward to one day sooner or later, that you find time and a way to do a little about Vagn Holmboe. Take your time, and thank you for this channel. Oh, listening to music YES, but also listening when DH talks!
Very, very interesting, indeed. And I finished my homework. The composers from your list I didn't know, have been Gabriela Lena Frank, Paul Lansky, Jonathan Leshnoff, Paul Schoenfeld. Leshnoff is a great discovery - thank you very much, that is a composer for me, he speaks through his music to me, that's really fantastic. Lansky gets a 2nd chance - the Bridge-CD with "Imaginary Islands" is fabulous, "Islands" is a truly great work full of energy and color, and "Idle Chatter" is fun, but the other works convinced me less. I must listen again, maybe I wasn't in the right mood. Frank - well, yes and no. "Leyendas" convinced me because of the colors she gets from a string orchestra. But the "Dances" and some other orchestra stuff remind me that I heard such music better from Bernstein, Ginastera, Chavez and Roldan. But she is gifted, no question about that. Paul Schoenfeld's "Cafe Music" was the only work I could get from this composer, it has charm and wit, but I must listen to more of him. As so often, I find it also interesting, which composers you did NOT list, especially the european avantgarde like Lachenmann, Holliger a.s.o., whom I also would exclude, but also the hyped Brits like Adès, Turnage and MacMillan. I must confess, I enjoyed MacMillan's "Isobel Gowdie" and his "Veni, veni, Emmanuel", but not so much more, and neither Turnage nor Adès convinced me; rather did that George Benjamin in "Written On Skin", but his purely orchestral works have their weaknesses. But let me add a few living composers, which, in my opinion, are worth a listening. - John Corigliano (his symphonies, the "Pied Piper" and the "Ghosts" are very powerful and enjoyable works) - David del Tredici with his mahlerian "Alice"-works (thanks to Slatkin I got to know "In Memory of a Summer Day", thanks to Solti "Final Alice", thanks to Knussen the "Alice Symphony"), and his sound spectaculars "Steps" (with Mehta) and "Tattoo" (with Bernstein, of course). - Johanna Doderer, who wrote four fantastic Piano Trios and a marvellous 2nd symphony of true power and deep emotion. (The Symphony and the Trios are recorded on Capriccio.) - Valentin Silvestrov, whose 5th symphony is incredibly touching as are so many of his works since his 4th symphony. - Rodion Shchedrin is alive, and he gave me such pleasure with his "Naughty Limericks" and his "Carmen-Fantasy" and so many other works, that I am willing to forgive him the "Dead Souls" and call him a genius. The best comes at the end: - Ned Rorem. I just write the name. Oh, what a composer!
Fascinating list. Great to see Sallinen and Lindberg there. As with many such lists in contemporary music, you could fill it with Finns and folk from the Baltic countries, but I'd like to put in a mention for Sebastian Fagerlund who seems to build on the work of these two predecessors. In a different, but related, vein I also much enjoy Guillaume Connesson.
This was great, and I appreciate the honorable mention up Joan Tower . . . and Timo Korhonen's Leo Brouwer disc! It seems everybody has their additions, so why shouldn't I? Margaret Brouwer (no relation) writes good stuff that finds occasional performance among current orchestral programs, but don't discount her chamber and vocal music. David Bruce has a popular, accessible UA-cam channel and manages to be both modern and accessible . . . and is recorded to "major" labels (whatever that means in the current classical climate). Loris Chobanian often fun, often inspired by Armenian folk music. Johanna Doderer: I was torn here because I'm aware of so little of her music to be recorded, but I like it so much. Carlo Domenico, Dale Kavanagh, Maximo Diego Pujol, Stepan Rak, Angelo Gilardino (more substantial, perhaps less accessible, and recently deceased), etc. are popular, (mostly) accessible, and often substantial guitar composers. Avner Dorman is a crafter of concerti worth hearing. Gareth Farr is a percussion specialist of interest. Tan Dun does more than just film music. Etc.
Fantastic talk, Dave! I'm with you on the difficulty of talking about contemporary composers -- I still change my mind about some of them. Glad you included Auerbach. Bolcom needs no further recommendation after Hamelin's stupefying interpretation of New Etudes. Lindberg's Graffiti I find pompous. How about doing a sequel talk with more recommendations? I really like Tuur, and I'm adding my vote for Silvestrov, Eotvos, and Saariaho (nothing against the many others, though).
A couple of additions: Guillaume Connesson - top drawer works recorded on Sony (chamber music), Chandos (Cosmic Trilogy- amaaaaaazing), DG (Lucifer ballet and cello concerto). Kevin Puts
Gabriela Lena Frank's opera El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego is premiering this month in San Francisco. I first heard her music performed by a local chamber orchestra and loved it. As a long-time fan of Bolcom, Sallinen and Schoenfeld, I'm overjoyed to hear them getting attention here.
GREAT VIDEO DAVE!!! Do another one. I'm listening to each person here, I've heard several, but several I've never heard. Can't wait to hear who else you have up your sleeve!!
Good list David. Thank you for pointing out that we living composers are no more or less valid that the ‘famous’ dead ones. If only the average listener would make the effort to notice that.
I love Adams, Gubaidulina, and Rouse. I feel Rouse's is for the most part very expressively emotional. Adams (John) is very clever and exciting (examples Harmonielehre and Shaker Loops). There are a few others but these sprang to mind right away.
I am pleased that William Bolcom is on your list. Being from the uncivilized hinterlands of Michigan beyond the Hudson in Ann Arbor I was privileged to attend the premier of his clarinet concerto and symphony band (UofM's, of course). Quite a treat. Also, I would add Arturo Marques to your list. Many know his Danzon No.2 but he has written much more that is worth hearing. I think that the many good "Latin" composers are not more well known is due to lack of exposure in the US and elsewhere. There is so much good music on the other side of the wall.
I've recently been digging the playful works of Viet Cuong, especially the double oboe concerto "Extra(ordinarily) Fancy" (in the video by Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra).
Some Brits I've found enjoyable: Philip Sawyers, Matthew Taylor, Derek B. Scott, Anna Clyne. All have been recorded, and can be found on streaming services.
Well, a month has passed and I guess everyone's gone now, but I just want to report that I completed the homework David set us (!). I listened to pieces by all the composers listed, (except for Arvo Part and John Adams, who were known to me already), though I didn't always listen to the specific pieces recommended by David. I'm happy to say that it was overall a very positive experience: I liked the overwhelming majority of the pieces I heard. I particularly enjoyed works by Lera Auerbach, Esa-Pekka Salonen, William Bolcom and Joan Tower. Although I already knew about Steve Reich and Philip Glass, I tried them again, as in the past, I've never really 'got' minimalism. It turns out I still don't get it.
I'm bummed that you couldn't add George Crumb to the list...I didn't hear about his death last month until recently (actually, from your earlier video). I'm thankful for Bridge Records for recording his music (and Paul Lansky, Stefan Wolpe, David Starobin, both the composer and guitarist, and many others).
I will check out the names that I have not encountered before. Might want to add Thomas Ades. Start with: These Premises Are Alarmed, Piano Concerto, and Totentanz. I also want to give a shout out to Sofia Gubaidulina. I find her music to be both adventuresome and accessible. Check out her violin concerto.
Thank you for your wonderful chat!!!! Just wanted to share 2 names from Australia that I discovered here: Elena Kats-Chernin and Nigel Westlake. Cheers
My galloping enthusiasm after discovering Arvo Part came to a dead halt once I bought the St. John Passion. That must have been commissioned by an order of cloistered monks. I'm glad you didn't dismiss Philip Glass. I think it's too easy to do that, and even I find much of his music banal and repetitive, in the sense of reusing musical material in new works--always those same arpeggiated chord progressions! But, having seen the full staging of Einstein on the Beach twice, it's clear that Glass's music is most of what makes that work significant (and bearable to sit through.) I'm glad you were convinced to do this talk. I'm eager to follow up on many of your recommendations. Based on her strikingly original film score for "Jackie" I'm very curious to hear more of Micah Levi.
Favorite composers either living or recently dead Arnold Rosner James MacMillan Jennifer Higdon Lera Auerbach Sofia Gubaidulina Christopher Rouse David Schiff Paul Schoenfeld Leo Brouwer John Adams Michael Daugherty William Bolcom Caroline Shaw Veljo Tormis
I sort of gave up on John Luther Adams after being underwhelmed by "Become Ocean." I'll give some of his other stuff a try. Some I like are Thomas Ades, Peter Eotvos, Akira Nishimura, Michael Hersch (approach with caution), and Kaija Saariaho (yet another Finn). I was thinking of adding Wolfgang Rihm just to annoy you but I decided not to.
I take full credit for the idea of this chat. What a threat to wake-up to the sound of your voice. Next: Best recently dead composers who died in their sleep. Or the 10 best conductors who died on stage.
@@DavesClassicalGuide LOL! No, I would never wish any composer to be dead soon. I wish every composer to find an audience that appreciates their music. As soon as a composer is able to reach only one listener they are worth of existing. I myself will probably never be able to hear my music in Carnegie Hall, performed by first class musicians. My circles will most certainly be very limited throughout my whole lifetime, but I know there is a handful of people who like what I do and who care, that makes me happy and fills me with the feeling that I have a right to exist and call myself a composer.
Dave, last year BIS released an album by the German chamber orchestra “c/o”, titled “Divertissement!”. It includes a piece by the American composer Michael Ippolito named “Divertimento”. It’s a small masterpiece. I’m never too enthusiastic about contemporary music (I call it “underwater music”) but Ippolito’s piece really has grown on me. It’s that good.
@@chrissahar2014 During his recent court case,his lawyer stated that Mr.Sheeran is a genius.He can write 35 songs in a week. Is that contempt of court? That lazy bugger Ludwig only wrote 9 symphonies in a lifetime.
Great talk! A lot of composers that I didn't know with some of my favorites. I listen to a couple since yesterday and for sure I want to hear more from Roberto Sierra, for example.. I saw people mentionning some other composers that I like below (Vasks !), but it seems that nobody mentioned Osvaldo Golijov. I find him to be very imaginative. Any thoughts on him ?
Wonderful list! Many new names for me and lots of listening to do. I'd add Stephen Hartke, Peteris Vasks, Frode Haltli, Kaija Saariaho and Sofia Gubaidulina.
Glass and Part are the two major names I share from your list, although I also have fond memories of the wildly exciting Schonfeld Argo disc. My own list would include: 1.Vangelis (most people only know a tiny bit of his music which includes a number of stage and ballet scores, but his electronic and soundtrack work of the 60s thru early 90s has been massively influential). He's also a great percussion player. Dave look for pictures of his London studio percussion setup.) 2. Ross Edwards (for his gorgeous Violin Concerto) 3. Sergey Akhunov 4. Eleni Karaindrou 5. Ketil Bjornstad 6. Vassilis Tsabropoulos 7. Peteris Vasks (try the Cor Anglais Concerto)
Hello Dave, A lot of comments on this one. I may have over looked it, but did anyone mention HOWARD SKEMPTON? Just as a listener, would you consider him a minimalist? Took a liking to his LENTO some years ago. It's basically the same tune over and over again starting softly, getting louder and louder only to fall back quiet again and ending abruptly. THANKS !!!!
Bolcom was definitely on my list for the Blake epic, symphonies and the greatly underrated McTeague. View from the Bridge not so much. No.1 on my list is Corigliano who has written some fantastic works capped by Ghosts of Versailles which used every weapon in his arsenal. (Sadly his most recent work for Santa Fe showed a considerable falling off largely due to a terrible libretto). Ellen Taafe Zwilich is high on my list, she doesn't seem to get played as much as she should but I have never heard a piece of hers I didn't enjoy tremendously, Millenium Fantasy, 4th Symohony, Violin Concerto to name three. H.K. Gruber, I love his whimsy, fantasy, and use of elements from non tonal to tonal. Peter Shickele gets a vote from me and not just for PDQ, but you mentioned him at the end. Had this come up a year ago, Carlisle Floyd would have been a must have on my list. Not just for Susannah either, I like his Wuthering Heights better than Bernard Herrmann. Jake Heggie gets on my list, but I'm an opera guy and I'll add Kevin Puts because Silent Nights is a masterpiece. (Ades does nothing at all for me except to make me cranky.)
I've tried listening to modern compositions, honestly I have, but found very few so far that I'd want to revisit. Mostly, they feel either tedious, shapeless, or long-winded to me (I even got impatient with Michael Torke's Bright Blue Music after a few minutes, waiting for the music to get out of its rut). Maybe by checking out David's list --- and all the contributions provided in the comments -- I'll find that connection to contemporary music that has eluded me thus far. But not John Luther Adams -- his music puts me to sleep (literally).
@@DavesClassicalGuide I'll opt for "keep on listening"! Warning, anecdote ahead: Bravely attended a Modern Music series in Seattle a while back, featuring works by Bruno Maderna, Nicholas Maw, and other gnarly types. Stephen Albert, Gerard Schwarz, et. al. were on stage fielding questions from the audience and I asked them to react to the popularity of minimalist music and got quite an earful (universally negative). Albert commented that he heard a Reich piece at a concert during which someone in the audience yelled "I confess.....I did it!". We all laughed, but next year the concert series nevertheless included one all-minimalist program.
The pianist Trifonov composed a very enjoyable piano concerto that can be found played by himself in youtube. Everybody who listened to it seems to have liked it a lot, the criticism is it could be from 100 years ago, it's in the stile of Rach and Scriabin.
A composer to possibly keep one's eye out for is Iman Habibi. His "Jeder Baum spricht" was premiered by both the PO and the BSO (a co-commission) to critical success recently. Not much in the way of recordings yet, however, which places him outside the purview of Dave's discussion.
Great list! Some interesting ones to check out...! I would like to have seen a disc representing Steve Reich! His style has developed in quite a different direction from Glass (who hasn't really developed all that much). Maybe the latest one with Pulse and Quartet, or Alarm Will Sound's FANTASTIC recording of Tehillim and The Desert Music.
I think Reich's advantage over Glass is simply that he doesn't publish as much music. Glass and Reich might have the same number of works I love, but Glass made a ton of fairly Glass™ By The Numbers music, especially soundtracks (one writer compared him to a modern Rossini that way)
Glass's symphonies, especially his recent ones, are great, by the way, and he has one of my favorite post-war Violin Concertos. I'm actually comfortable saying Glass is better than Reich when it comes to works with traditional orchestral ensembles - Reich was always at his best to me in his early pre-Desert Music/Different Trains years when it was more percussion-oriented.
I totally agree to all you've said in the introduction to your video! Nontheless, here is my list of some of my favorite composers, who happen to be alive momentarily: Pascal Dusapin (Piano Concerto "A quia", Trombone Concerto, Flute Concerto...) Steve Reich (Electric Counterpoint, Triple Quartet, Vermont Counterpoint, Telehim...) John Luther Adams (Becoming Ocean, Becoming Desert, Songbirdsong...) Kalevi Aho (Symphonies, Concertos...) Julian Anderson (Book of Hours, The Stations of the Sun, Fantaisias, Harmony...) Mason Bates (Violin Concerto, Mothership, Auditorium...) Matthew Bridgham (look out for his witty Violin Sonata!) David Bruce (Gumboots, The Lick Quartet, Sidechaining, Steampunk...) John Corigliano (Three Symphonies, The Red Violin, Piano Concerto, Clarinet Concerto, Flute Concerto "Pied Piper Fantasy", Percussion Concerto "Conjurer", Fantasia on an Ostinato...) Christopher Cerrone (Liminal Highway, Memory Palace, Concerto for Trumpet, Strings & Timpani...) Sebastian Currier (Time machine, Departures and Arrivals, Microsymph, Next Atlantis...) Bernd Franke (BlueGreen, CUT, Veil, Bandoneon Concerto "Open doors", Violin Concerto "Myo"...) Sofia Gubaidulina (In Croce, Violin Concerto "Offertorium"...) Anders Hilborg (Two Violin Concertos, Bach Material, Cold Heat, Eleven Gates, Through Lost Landscapes, Clarinet Concerto "Peacock Tales"...) Slavomír Hořínka (Cherubic Hymn, A Few Minutes with BERG, Magnificat, Songs of Immigrants, Murmurings, Lacrimosa...) Geert van Keulen (Horn Concerto, Armonia, Scena, Tracks...) Gotta go now, to be continued...
Part Two of my list: Andrew Norman (Spiral, Play, Suspend, Unstuck, The Companion Guide to Rome...) Carter Pann (Antares, My Brother's Brain, Love Letters, Three Secrets in Maine...) Arvo Pärt (Fratres, Stabat Mater, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Symphonies No. 3&4, Magnificat...) Anthony Ritchie (Violin Concerto, Gallipoli to The Somme, French Overture, A Bugle will do, Balkan Bagpipes, The large Canvas...) Rodion Shchedrin (Concerto for Orchestra, Oboe Concerto, Piano Concertos, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, 24 Preludes and Fugues...) Tan Dun (Concerto for Orchestra, Water Passion after St. Matthew, Crouching Tiger Concerto, Ghost Opera for String Quartet, Symphonic Poem of Three Notes, Tears of Nature...) Alexander Tchaikovsky (Symphonies...) Mark Anthony Turnage (Blood on the Floor, Three screaming Popes, Hidden Love Song, Momentum, Fractured Lines, Dispelling the Fear, Silent Cities...) Erkki Sven Tüür (Magma, Insula Deserta, Lamentatio, Light House, Symphonies, Violin Concerto, Piano Sonata...) Carl Vine (Piano Sonata No 1...) Jörg Widmann (Ad Absurdum, Jagd-Quartett, Con brio, Air, Aria, Implosion, Flute en suite, Oktett...)
@@FranzKaernBiederstedt Thanks for those lists, very helpful to those interested in current musical composition styles and recordings. I'm not a fan of J.L. Adams, he really bores me, as do others on your lists, but many are unknown to me while others have produced engaging and intriguing works. I agree with you though: the validity or worth of a particular composer does not depend on how many people listen. The validity or worth of a particular composition lies in its inherent potentials: wide or narrow interpretative options; wide to narrow potential in making you feel and think; originality and coherence; potential in making you a better person and a more discerning human being; and last but not least, musical ingenuity and know-how. This is why, should no one listen to Shostakovich bar one, he's an immensely valid composer, while Bantock much less so. Cheers. P.S.: the jury is still out with regards to Boulez and Stockhausen. My condensed and personal take on this is: I've attended a composition master-class with Boulez in the 1990's and that was hugely underwhelming and a f*****g waste of time. As for the other, I think he was a genius, as a fraud, but a genius nonetheless. "Trrrrrrrumpet is the morning", sure nuff'. We need a Stockhausen that isn't a fraud. Some of his ideas have huge potential, he was onto something sometimes in the 1970's. Fill his ideas with real music and you might have a massive winner there!
Marc-Andre Hamelin needs to be on this list. He is basically the only virtuoso pianist in the last 80 years that also composes serious works. Most of his etudes are kind of kitschy (though fun) and are mainly pianistic pyrotechnics, but his Prelude and Fugue, Toccata, Suite in the Old Style, and his Erlkonig are very serious, and very harmonically complex works that deserve more attention. He really has his own style too, like someone put Scriabin, Gershwin, and Alkan into a room with a bunch of cocaine. I suspect he will be composing a lot more as he ages too, because the thing that has stopped him from composing more is that his main gig is being a concert pianist. Composing doesn't pay the bills. However, there will be a point where can't perform nearly as much, and in the past 5-10 years he's really grown as a composer.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I agree 100%. But the potential is definitely there. It may not seem that way from the etudes (outside of no.8 and no.12). But recently he's shown great promise. Not sure if you've heard the toccata or suite in the old style, but I highly recommend checking them out! Thanks for replying, would love to hear your thoughts on them.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Awesome, I have a sheet music video of the Toccata on my channel if your interested. One of the good things about Hamelin is how well done the scores themselves are.
Two of my favorite living composers seems to have been left out. First is Georg Friedrich Haas, who is doing something completely different. Often, completely different can be completely boring, but Hass is a spectralist who has written some astonishing pieces. The most well known is "In Vain" which sets a conflict between just intonation and even temperament. It takes some concentration but there are many astonishing moments in the work. It's even better if you can follow his lighting cues (some parts should be played in the dark). My other addition is Michael Harrison who also in interested in non mainstream tuning. A recent release "Time Loops" is great fun, especially "Just Ancient Loops."
Closer and closer to my dream "the IDEAL minimalist repitoire" video :) Beethoven and Wagner's "influence" are interesting in that - just from a layman perspective - it seems that their impact almost involved music having to turn away from them for a long time, which is why nobody we care about particularly sounds like Wagner, except Wagner. Off the top of my head, they might represent points of culmination of styles, rather than the genesis of new ones (or you could consider them a bridge between eras in history, if you wanted)
Great video as usual Dave, there were only 3 I didn't know about but will soon check out based on your recommendation...but there are 2 that are not mentioned, both pulitzer prize winners, that NOBODY talks about...John Harbison and John Corigliano...any thoughts on these two???
@@ericleiter6179 Well, after all it's a matter of taste, and nobody will ever love everything. I happen to love Corigliano's music very much and have even covered analyses of some of his compositions in music theory courses I held. Enormously versatile and challenging composer!
Leo Brouwer (not Brower) who, since I'm a guitarist, I have to say is probably my favourite (after Part). It's truly amazing music and also often extremely difficult. Naxos does a great seres on his guitar music and definitely worth getting. You make some great points re music however I also feel art is more than just entertainment (but it probably should be entertaining). Thanks for the list!
@@jerelzoltick6900 So? I explained this was the list I came up with within 5 minutes of thinking about it. It could have been much longer, but you have to stop somewhere.
I would've sworn Ned Rorem would be mentioned. Then again he already has a video all to his own, in which (if I remember well) you mention him as perhaps one of the best living American composers.
One name I'd like to add is Max Richter. I don't like him as much as I used to becuase of his activism, but he wrote some truly gorgeous and fun music, for example 'On the nature of daylight' and a recomposition of Vivaldi's 'Four seasons', wich is really a lot of fun!
10 of my favorite living composers in alphabetical order: Hans Abrahamsen, John Adams (not John Luther Adams), Thomas Ades, Francisco Coll, Marc-Andre Dalbavie, Peter Eotvos, Sofia Gubaidulina, Magnus Lindberg, Arvo Part, and Joan Tower. These are just the 10 that immediately came to mind. But, thank you, Dave, how could I have forgotten Lera Auerbach! I love her chamber music especially her piano trios. And I should add John Williams for his film scores. So that’s a dozen!
I would also have included Gyorgy Kurtag, but I forgot he is still alive and it was his wife Marta who recently died. The problem I have with Kurtag is that most of his works are so short it is difficult to grasp what he’s doing. Not so his orchestral pieces Stele and Grabstein fur Stephan-both marvelous works!
Well yes they are often very short but in response to this I was listening to the first volume of the games that the Budapest music centre put out (you can still get this on Amazon). I was really surprised by how mellifluous and delightful it all is (it’s still a lot of short pieces). It sounds like Bartok, it definitely sounds like Debussy, Bach obviously but I can’t think anyone wouldn’t enjoy it even if they think Kurtag has a sort of feirsome reputation. A lot of it is lovely
Love this thank you for giving me a bunch of names to check out! I do have to say I will always stand by my saying that John Williams is the greatest living composer we have right now and I know that unfortunately film music puts an asterisk next to his name... He did write a harp concerto though :-)
Another big vote for the innovative and moving work by Caroline Shaw; and I've loved what I've heard from Andrew Norman (especially "Sustain", mp3 only but still recorded!)
@@filiplengyel5610 He isn't, and I've never understood the reverence in which he is held in Europe. I don't dislike his music at all; I just don't hear much in it.
To not be redundant I checked the comments and did not see listed the Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen. I love several discs of his most notably, The 'Sonic Mind' on Aurora. This 1998 disc has 2 well written orchestral works, 'Illuminations: Concerto For Two Celli & Orchestra' and the 'Symphonic Concerto For Violin & Orchestra' both of which beautifully recorded and stunningly played. I purchased the disc in the late 90's and am surprised it has not worn out yet. This is a disc with 2 exciting orchestral compositions and needs a wider audience to hear them.
I'm amazed that Philip Glass is included in your list. I would have thought he would go into your "BAD composers" series. Most of the time when his music is played, I can't stand it & quickly change radio stations. I was surprised when one time I heard something that I liked & it turned out to be by him.
Great list! By the way, some of Brazil's greatest living composers are Marlos Nobre, Edino Krieger and Liduino Pitombeira.
You should add Ronaldo Miranda and Dimitri Cervo
Thank you for this. I just turned on Jonathan Leshnoff's Violin Concerto no. 1. I'd never heard of him. This is fantastic!
I think the Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür (*1959) is also worth mentioning.
ECM has well-represented Tüür for sure but my favorite disc of his is 'Architectonics' on Finlandia - glad you mentioned him.
Erkki-Sven is a friend. And a great choice too.
I like highly approachable (no less complicated) music, so with that in mind, I enjoy:
1. Marjan Mozetich
2. Michael Torke
3. Takashi Yoshimatsu
4. Mark O'Connor
5. Philip Glass is an oldy but a goody.
Yes! Yoshimatsu is a beast!
This was great, David! Thank you. You included some of my favorite composers in your list. I would add Caroline Shaw, Konstantia Gourzi, Fazil Say, Per Nørgård, Toshio Hosokawa, Kalevi Aho, Pēteris Vasks. I hope you get to talk about some of them.
Gourzi - 'new' name..thank you !
Not familiar with all of those, but I may investigate. As for the ones I know, I'd definitely add Say, Nørgård, and Aho to the list but ( would be in no hurry to add Vasks (not that he's bad, his music just doesn't appeal to me as much as the others.)
I have been listening to Jonathan Leshnoff...very interesting composer and his music at times very moving. I am always looking for something new to hear.
Thanks dave for another great talk...just went and found and listened to lera auerbach's symphony no 1 "chimera" here on youtube and was very impressed and enjoyed it very much...you can find so much music by all these composers mentioned by you and everyone in the comments that we can keep on listening forever!
That's the idea!
Nice video, David. So glad you mentioned Paul Schoenfield. I found that Argo disc about 25 years ago and became hooked on his music, primarily because of the piece Vaudeville. I like to describe the work as seriously-hilarious! I’d also recommend the works Cafe Music and Camp Songs for anyone who wants to further explore Paul’s music.
I want to mention the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov (*1937), whose work I enjoy very much.
Great mention!! I was introduced to Silvestrov through the 'MUSICA NON GRATA' series on BMG (which featured his magnificent 5th symphony). I will always treasure that disc. The 90's spawned a veritable 'gold rush' of discs featuring composers from the former Soviet Union and I enjoyed the many musical discoveries I made in that era.
My favorite living composers are all predominantly film composers, especially John Williams (of course!), Patrick Doyle and James Newton Howard. They all also wrote classical orchestral music
Thank you for this list, Dave! I would like to make a mention of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Atmospheric, landscape music. Terrific youngish composer. Metacosmos and In The Light of Air are two works of hers I can highly recommend.
In the recently deceased category: Rouse, Gorecki, and Malcolm Arnold. Each wrote at least two works that are among my favorites. Rouse died too early and I'm still waiting to hear his 2003 Requiem.
I'm glad you said what you said about Glass. It was nice to hear.
I'm so happy that there are other composers out there who are ecletcic. I myself can't just write for one style/genre of music, there are just so many out there!
Just adding a few more that I like off the top of my head: Morton Subotnik, Carl Stone, Michael Daugherty, Louis Andriessen, Jean-Claude Eloy, The Magic Band (for its enormous influence on both pop and avant-garde), Ferneyhough and Lachenmann (both included for the singular experience). As for Glass, yes he's a genius (I've been listening to his music since I was a kid). I don't like everything he did, but I can apply that remark to most composers.
@@subplantant thus not yet fully de-composed (pun intended); we should be allowed to include those with the living on technical grounds... unless he was incinerated
@@ronmills5234 You're not the only one, if that'sany consolation. Subplantant also informed me.
I love Subotnik. He's given a few video interviews on UA-cam and he's a fantastic storyteller - I remember his bit where he was in the military as a clarinetist (he was a talented clarinetist as a child), but hated playing the clarinet so much that when he dreamed of his arm getting blown off in a battle, he'd wake up relieved that he wouldn't have to play the clarinet anymore!
Check out "Musica Celestis" by Aaron Jay Kernis. I heard the Boston Symphony perform the string orchestra version of this at Tanglewood, and I was moved and overcome by its beauty.
I enjoy Lowell Lieberman's dramatic piano concertos.
Me too.
Interesting list - brilliant food for thought. I'd add for myself John Corigliano (his 1st Symphony and Three Hallucinations for orchestra are just great IMHO), Michael Daugherty (Tales of Hemingway, and the brilliant American Gothic) Gavin Bryars, if only for the wonderful Adnan Songbook and Gloria Coates (some of her glissando pieces are just extraordinary).
I am so glad you highlighted the wonderful Cuban composer Leo Brouwer! I knew the late guitarist Ernesto Tamayo somewhat in Washington DC, and he talked so affectionately about Brouwer having been his teacher in Cuba, and what a marvelous human being he was too. There is a video on UA-cam of Tamayo discussing Brouwer, and playing his music. I agree he has written many very effective works for guitar, and sort of vindicated it as a serious instrument for composition.
One of my favorite contemporary composers who recently passed was David Maslanka, known primarily for his works for wind band. His Fourth Symphony is wonderful, and pushes the limits of the wind band. The Dallas Wind Symphony made an excellent recording of it from Reference Recordings.
His orchestration for band is the most compelling I know of.
An excellent list, thoughtfully put together with a few names new to me which I will explore. thank you for the introduction.
I don't know much about comtemporary works, but I'm trying and learning. Often, I'm surprised how accessible they are and how much I get to love them: Higdon's String Poetic (played by Jennifer Koh), Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto (by Kari Krikku), Philip Glass piano works (by Jeroen van Veen), Arvo Part' Te Deum (by Tonu Kaljuste) and Petris Vasks's Violin Concerto (by John Storgards), and Unsuk Chin's 2nd Violin Concerto (by Leonidas Kavakos on UA-cam), to name a few. There is so much music out there and time is limited. What am I supposed to do....?
I was excited to see Magnus Lindberg on this list! He's probably my favorite living composer - great orchestration, strikingly modern, but still incredibly accessible. Also happy to see Lera Auerbach getting some recognition. Some others I would have included are: Sofia Gubaidulina, Michael Gordon, Pascal Dusapin, and Valentyn Silvestrov
. But your list has definitely given me some more listening to do, thanks for the recommendations!
Dear Mr. Hurwitz,thank you for this inspiring list. For 20 years I have followed your website, and therefore I know Shapero, Converse, Rouse, Rorem and many more. I will not mention the ones you dont mentioned, because you know them already, and have talked about a lot. I look forward to one day sooner or later, that you find time and a way to do a little about Vagn Holmboe. Take your time, and thank you for this channel. Oh, listening to music YES, but also listening when DH talks!
Very, very interesting, indeed. And I finished my homework. The composers from your list I didn't know, have been Gabriela Lena Frank, Paul Lansky, Jonathan Leshnoff, Paul Schoenfeld.
Leshnoff is a great discovery - thank you very much, that is a composer for me, he speaks through his music to me, that's really fantastic.
Lansky gets a 2nd chance - the Bridge-CD with "Imaginary Islands" is fabulous, "Islands" is a truly great work full of energy and color, and "Idle Chatter" is fun, but the other works convinced me less. I must listen again, maybe I wasn't in the right mood.
Frank - well, yes and no. "Leyendas" convinced me because of the colors she gets from a string orchestra. But the "Dances" and some other orchestra stuff remind me that I heard such music better from Bernstein, Ginastera, Chavez and Roldan. But she is gifted, no question about that.
Paul Schoenfeld's "Cafe Music" was the only work I could get from this composer, it has charm and wit, but I must listen to more of him.
As so often, I find it also interesting, which composers you did NOT list, especially the european avantgarde like Lachenmann, Holliger a.s.o., whom I also would exclude, but also the hyped Brits like Adès, Turnage and MacMillan. I must confess, I enjoyed MacMillan's "Isobel Gowdie" and his "Veni, veni, Emmanuel", but not so much more, and neither Turnage nor Adès convinced me; rather did that George Benjamin in "Written On Skin", but his purely orchestral works have their weaknesses.
But let me add a few living composers, which, in my opinion, are worth a listening.
- John Corigliano (his symphonies, the "Pied Piper" and the "Ghosts" are very powerful and enjoyable works)
- David del Tredici with his mahlerian "Alice"-works (thanks to Slatkin I got to know "In Memory of a Summer Day", thanks to Solti "Final Alice", thanks to Knussen the "Alice Symphony"), and his sound spectaculars "Steps" (with Mehta) and "Tattoo" (with Bernstein, of course).
- Johanna Doderer, who wrote four fantastic Piano Trios and a marvellous 2nd symphony of true power and deep emotion. (The Symphony and the Trios are recorded on Capriccio.)
- Valentin Silvestrov, whose 5th symphony is incredibly touching as are so many of his works since his 4th symphony.
- Rodion Shchedrin is alive, and he gave me such pleasure with his "Naughty Limericks" and his "Carmen-Fantasy" and so many other works, that I am willing to forgive him the "Dead Souls" and call him a genius.
The best comes at the end:
- Ned Rorem. I just write the name. Oh, what a composer!
Another great chat, well done.
Fascinating list. Great to see Sallinen and Lindberg there. As with many such lists in contemporary music, you could fill it with Finns and folk from the Baltic countries, but I'd like to put in a mention for Sebastian Fagerlund who seems to build on the work of these two predecessors. In a different, but related, vein I also much enjoy Guillaume Connesson.
This was great, and I appreciate the honorable mention up Joan Tower . . . and Timo Korhonen's Leo Brouwer disc! It seems everybody has their additions, so why shouldn't I? Margaret Brouwer (no relation) writes good stuff that finds occasional performance among current orchestral programs, but don't discount her chamber and vocal music. David Bruce has a popular, accessible UA-cam channel and manages to be both modern and accessible . . . and is recorded to "major" labels (whatever that means in the current classical climate). Loris Chobanian often fun, often inspired by Armenian folk music. Johanna Doderer: I was torn here because I'm aware of so little of her music to be recorded, but I like it so much. Carlo Domenico, Dale Kavanagh, Maximo Diego Pujol, Stepan Rak, Angelo Gilardino (more substantial, perhaps less accessible, and recently deceased), etc. are popular, (mostly) accessible, and often substantial guitar composers. Avner Dorman is a crafter of concerti worth hearing. Gareth Farr is a percussion specialist of interest. Tan Dun does more than just film music. Etc.
Fantastic talk, Dave! I'm with you on the difficulty of talking about contemporary composers -- I still change my mind about some of them. Glad you included Auerbach. Bolcom needs no further recommendation after Hamelin's stupefying interpretation of New Etudes. Lindberg's Graffiti I find pompous. How about doing a sequel talk with more recommendations? I really like Tuur, and I'm adding my vote for Silvestrov, Eotvos, and Saariaho (nothing against the many others, though).
A couple of additions:
Guillaume Connesson - top drawer works recorded on Sony (chamber music), Chandos (Cosmic Trilogy- amaaaaaazing), DG (Lucifer ballet and cello concerto).
Kevin Puts
Gabriela Lena Frank's opera El Ultimo Sueno de Frida y Diego is premiering this month in San Francisco. I first heard her music performed by a local chamber orchestra and loved it. As a long-time fan of Bolcom, Sallinen and Schoenfeld, I'm overjoyed to hear them getting attention here.
I just heard the Brasil Guitar Duo perform Brouwer in concert last weekend, and I loved it! I'm definitely going to seek out more of his music.
I saw them just before COVID. They are splendid, and I'm not normally a guitar person. It was great.
GREAT VIDEO DAVE!!! Do another one. I'm listening to each person here, I've heard several, but several I've never heard. Can't wait to hear who else you have up your sleeve!!
Wonderful video and content! I really enjoyed it and learned a few composers to explore. More motivation to keep on listening.
Good list David. Thank you for pointing out that we living composers are no more or less valid that the ‘famous’ dead ones. If only the average listener would make the effort to notice that.
I love Adams, Gubaidulina, and Rouse. I feel Rouse's is for the most part very expressively emotional. Adams (John) is very clever and exciting (examples Harmonielehre and Shaker Loops). There are a few others but these sprang to mind right away.
I am pleased that William Bolcom is on your list. Being from the uncivilized hinterlands of Michigan beyond the Hudson in Ann Arbor I was privileged to attend the premier of his clarinet concerto and symphony band (UofM's, of course). Quite a treat. Also, I would add Arturo Marques to your list. Many know his Danzon No.2 but he has written much more that is worth hearing. I think that the many good "Latin" composers are not more well known is due to lack of exposure in the US and elsewhere. There is so much good music on the other side of the wall.
I've recently been digging the playful works of Viet Cuong, especially the double oboe concerto "Extra(ordinarily) Fancy" (in the video by Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra).
Some Brits I've found enjoyable: Philip Sawyers, Matthew Taylor, Derek B. Scott, Anna Clyne. All have been recorded, and can be found on streaming services.
Well, a month has passed and I guess everyone's gone now, but I just want to report that I completed the homework David set us (!). I listened to pieces by all the composers listed, (except for Arvo Part and John Adams, who were known to me already), though I didn't always listen to the specific pieces recommended by David. I'm happy to say that it was overall a very positive experience: I liked the overwhelming majority of the pieces I heard. I particularly enjoyed works by Lera Auerbach, Esa-Pekka Salonen, William Bolcom and Joan Tower. Although I already knew about Steve Reich and Philip Glass, I tried them again, as in the past, I've never really 'got' minimalism. It turns out I still don't get it.
I'm bummed that you couldn't add George Crumb to the list...I didn't hear about his death last month until recently (actually, from your earlier video). I'm thankful for Bridge Records for recording his music (and Paul Lansky, Stefan Wolpe, David Starobin, both the composer and guitarist, and many others).
I will check out the names that I have not encountered before.
Might want to add Thomas Ades. Start with: These Premises Are Alarmed, Piano Concerto, and Totentanz.
I also want to give a shout out to Sofia Gubaidulina. I find her music to be both adventuresome and accessible. Check out her violin concerto.
She wrote 3 violin concertos and they are all terrific!
Terrific list, David. I'd add Michael Daugherty, Sofia Gubaidulina and Leonardo Balada... oh, they are so many thank you for all your work :)
Thank you for your wonderful chat!!!! Just wanted to share 2 names from Australia that I discovered here: Elena Kats-Chernin and Nigel Westlake. Cheers
Kats-Chernin is a very fine composer, especially.
My galloping enthusiasm after discovering Arvo Part came to a dead halt once I bought the St. John Passion. That must have been commissioned by an order of cloistered monks.
I'm glad you didn't dismiss Philip Glass. I think it's too easy to do that, and even I find much of his music banal and repetitive, in the sense of reusing musical material in new works--always those same arpeggiated chord progressions! But, having seen the full staging of Einstein on the Beach twice, it's clear that Glass's music is most of what makes that work significant (and bearable to sit through.)
I'm glad you were convinced to do this talk. I'm eager to follow up on many of your recommendations.
Based on her strikingly original film score for "Jackie" I'm very curious to hear more of Micah Levi.
Favorite composers either living or recently dead
Arnold Rosner
James MacMillan
Jennifer Higdon
Lera Auerbach
Sofia Gubaidulina
Christopher Rouse
David Schiff
Paul Schoenfeld
Leo Brouwer
John Adams
Michael Daugherty
William Bolcom
Caroline Shaw
Veljo Tormis
I sort of gave up on John Luther Adams after being underwhelmed by "Become Ocean." I'll give some of his other stuff a try.
Some I like are Thomas Ades, Peter Eotvos, Akira Nishimura, Michael Hersch (approach with caution), and Kaija Saariaho (yet another Finn).
I was thinking of adding Wolfgang Rihm just to annoy you but I decided not to.
It won't annoy me but it might make YOU look silly.
I take full credit for the idea of this chat. What a threat to wake-up to the sound of your voice. Next: Best recently dead composers who died in their sleep. Or the 10 best conductors who died on stage.
Or the Ten Best Living Composers that You Wish Were Dead.
@@DavesClassicalGuide LOL! No, I would never wish any composer to be dead soon. I wish every composer to find an audience that appreciates their music. As soon as a composer is able to reach only one listener they are worth of existing. I myself will probably never be able to hear my music in Carnegie Hall, performed by first class musicians. My circles will most certainly be very limited throughout my whole lifetime, but I know there is a handful of people who like what I do and who care, that makes me happy and fills me with the feeling that I have a right to exist and call myself a composer.
@@DavesClassicalGuide you’re bad.
I'd like to see a list of composers who died during their audience's sleep.
@@ftumschk The audience did not notice. Hence the conductor is not dead. Just like when a tree falls in the forest when nobody’s around.
Dave, last year BIS released an album by the German chamber orchestra “c/o”, titled “Divertissement!”. It includes a piece by the American composer Michael Ippolito named “Divertimento”. It’s a small masterpiece. I’m never too enthusiastic about contemporary music (I call it “underwater music”) but Ippolito’s piece really has grown on me. It’s that good.
Found it on YT - thanks for 'steer' !
I would love to see your list of favorite POP groups/songwriters.
Are you hoping for a video about the genius of Ed Sheeran ?
@@heifetz14 LOL yeah I dare you too.
@@chrissahar2014 During his recent court case,his lawyer stated that Mr.Sheeran is a genius.He can write 35 songs in a week. Is that contempt of court? That lazy bugger Ludwig only wrote 9 symphonies in a lifetime.
@@heifetz14 Perfect!
Great talk! A lot of composers that I didn't know with some of my favorites. I listen to a couple since yesterday and for sure I want to hear more from Roberto Sierra, for example..
I saw people mentionning some other composers that I like below (Vasks !), but it seems that nobody mentioned Osvaldo Golijov. I find him to be very imaginative. Any thoughts on him ?
Great list! Thank you very much!
I miss James MacMillan in it. What do you think about his music?
Yawn...
It’s incomprehensible for the most part. I’ve been a fair few performances and premieres of his by virtue of living in Edinburgh for too long.
I love Eric Whitacre too- great list Dave!
Wonderful list! Many new names for me and lots of listening to do. I'd add Stephen Hartke, Peteris Vasks, Frode Haltli, Kaija Saariaho and Sofia Gubaidulina.
Glass and Part are the two major names I share from your list, although I also have fond memories of the wildly exciting Schonfeld Argo disc.
My own list would include:
1.Vangelis (most people only know a tiny bit of his music which includes a number of stage and ballet scores, but his electronic and soundtrack work of the 60s thru early 90s has been massively influential). He's also a great percussion player. Dave look for pictures of his London studio percussion setup.)
2. Ross Edwards (for his gorgeous Violin Concerto)
3. Sergey Akhunov
4. Eleni Karaindrou
5. Ketil Bjornstad
6. Vassilis Tsabropoulos
7. Peteris Vasks (try the Cor Anglais Concerto)
Vasks definitely.
Hello Dave, A lot of comments on this one. I may have over looked it, but did anyone mention HOWARD SKEMPTON? Just as a listener, would you consider him a minimalist? Took a liking to his LENTO some years ago. It's basically the same tune over and over again starting softly, getting louder and louder only to fall back quiet again and ending abruptly. THANKS !!!!
Sounds pretty minimal to me.
I quite like the music of the American composer Kenneth Fuchs. "Atlantic Riband" is a particular favorite.
Bolcom was definitely on my list for the Blake epic, symphonies and the greatly underrated McTeague. View from the Bridge not so much.
No.1 on my list is Corigliano who has written some fantastic works capped by Ghosts of Versailles which used every weapon in his arsenal. (Sadly his most recent work for Santa Fe showed a considerable falling off largely due to a terrible libretto).
Ellen Taafe Zwilich is high on my list, she doesn't seem to get played as much as she should but I have never heard a piece of hers I didn't enjoy tremendously, Millenium Fantasy, 4th Symohony, Violin Concerto to name three.
H.K. Gruber, I love his whimsy, fantasy, and use of elements from non tonal to tonal. Peter Shickele gets a vote from me and not just for PDQ, but you mentioned him at the end.
Had this come up a year ago, Carlisle Floyd would have been a must have on my list. Not just for Susannah either, I like his Wuthering Heights better than Bernard Herrmann.
Jake Heggie gets on my list, but I'm an opera guy and I'll add Kevin Puts because Silent Nights is a masterpiece.
(Ades does nothing at all for me except to make me cranky.)
McTeague is a masterpiece. What a pity, that not even the performance in Linz (conducted by Dennis Russell Davies) was recorded.
I care about living composers because they still need to make a living!
But not from composing.
David what do you think of Alma Deutscher, do you like her music?
I've tried listening to modern compositions, honestly I have, but found very few so far that I'd want to revisit. Mostly, they feel either tedious, shapeless, or long-winded to me (I even got impatient with Michael Torke's Bright Blue Music after a few minutes, waiting for the music to get out of its rut). Maybe by checking out David's list --- and all the contributions provided in the comments -- I'll find that connection to contemporary music that has eluded me thus far. But not John Luther Adams -- his music puts me to sleep (literally).
That's perfectly fair. All you can do is "keep on listening"--or not!
@@DavesClassicalGuide I'll opt for "keep on listening"! Warning, anecdote ahead: Bravely attended a Modern Music series in Seattle a while back, featuring works by Bruno Maderna, Nicholas Maw, and other gnarly types. Stephen Albert, Gerard Schwarz, et. al. were on stage fielding questions from the audience and I asked them to react to the popularity of minimalist music and got quite an earful (universally negative). Albert commented that he heard a Reich piece at a concert during which someone in the audience yelled "I confess.....I did it!". We all laughed, but next year the concert series nevertheless included one all-minimalist program.
The pianist Trifonov composed a very enjoyable piano concerto that can be found played by himself in youtube. Everybody who listened to it seems to have liked it a lot, the criticism is it could be from 100 years ago, it's in the stile of Rach and Scriabin.
A composer to possibly keep one's eye out for is Iman Habibi. His "Jeder Baum spricht" was premiered by both the PO and the BSO (a co-commission) to critical success recently. Not much in the way of recordings yet, however, which places him outside the purview of Dave's discussion.
Kiitos! Tack!
Great list! Some interesting ones to check out...! I would like to have seen a disc representing Steve Reich! His style has developed in quite a different direction from Glass (who hasn't really developed all that much). Maybe the latest one with Pulse and Quartet, or Alarm Will Sound's FANTASTIC recording of Tehillim and The Desert Music.
I think Reich's advantage over Glass is simply that he doesn't publish as much music. Glass and Reich might have the same number of works I love, but Glass made a ton of fairly Glass™ By The Numbers music, especially soundtracks (one writer compared him to a modern Rossini that way)
Glass's symphonies, especially his recent ones, are great, by the way, and he has one of my favorite post-war Violin Concertos. I'm actually comfortable saying Glass is better than Reich when it comes to works with traditional orchestral ensembles - Reich was always at his best to me in his early pre-Desert Music/Different Trains years when it was more percussion-oriented.
I totally agree to all you've said in the introduction to your video! Nontheless, here is my list of some of my favorite composers, who happen to be alive momentarily:
Pascal Dusapin (Piano Concerto "A quia", Trombone Concerto, Flute Concerto...)
Steve Reich (Electric Counterpoint, Triple Quartet, Vermont Counterpoint, Telehim...)
John Luther Adams (Becoming Ocean, Becoming Desert, Songbirdsong...)
Kalevi Aho (Symphonies, Concertos...)
Julian Anderson (Book of Hours, The Stations of the Sun, Fantaisias, Harmony...)
Mason Bates (Violin Concerto, Mothership, Auditorium...)
Matthew Bridgham (look out for his witty Violin Sonata!)
David Bruce (Gumboots, The Lick Quartet, Sidechaining, Steampunk...)
John Corigliano (Three Symphonies, The Red Violin, Piano Concerto, Clarinet Concerto, Flute Concerto "Pied Piper Fantasy", Percussion Concerto "Conjurer", Fantasia on an Ostinato...)
Christopher Cerrone (Liminal Highway, Memory Palace, Concerto for Trumpet, Strings & Timpani...)
Sebastian Currier (Time machine, Departures and Arrivals, Microsymph, Next Atlantis...)
Bernd Franke (BlueGreen, CUT, Veil, Bandoneon Concerto "Open doors", Violin Concerto "Myo"...)
Sofia Gubaidulina (In Croce, Violin Concerto "Offertorium"...)
Anders Hilborg (Two Violin Concertos, Bach Material, Cold Heat, Eleven Gates, Through Lost Landscapes, Clarinet Concerto "Peacock Tales"...)
Slavomír Hořínka (Cherubic Hymn, A Few Minutes with BERG, Magnificat, Songs of Immigrants, Murmurings, Lacrimosa...)
Geert van Keulen (Horn Concerto, Armonia, Scena, Tracks...)
Gotta go now, to be continued...
Part Two of my list:
Andrew Norman (Spiral, Play, Suspend, Unstuck, The Companion Guide to Rome...)
Carter Pann (Antares, My Brother's Brain, Love Letters, Three Secrets in Maine...)
Arvo Pärt (Fratres, Stabat Mater, Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Symphonies No. 3&4, Magnificat...)
Anthony Ritchie (Violin Concerto, Gallipoli to The Somme, French Overture, A Bugle will do, Balkan Bagpipes, The large Canvas...)
Rodion Shchedrin (Concerto for Orchestra, Oboe Concerto, Piano Concertos, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, 24 Preludes and Fugues...)
Tan Dun (Concerto for Orchestra, Water Passion after St. Matthew, Crouching Tiger Concerto, Ghost Opera for String Quartet, Symphonic Poem of Three Notes, Tears of Nature...)
Alexander Tchaikovsky (Symphonies...)
Mark Anthony Turnage (Blood on the Floor, Three screaming Popes, Hidden Love Song, Momentum, Fractured Lines, Dispelling the Fear, Silent Cities...)
Erkki Sven Tüür (Magma, Insula Deserta, Lamentatio, Light House, Symphonies, Violin Concerto, Piano Sonata...)
Carl Vine (Piano Sonata No 1...)
Jörg Widmann (Ad Absurdum, Jagd-Quartett, Con brio, Air, Aria, Implosion, Flute en suite, Oktett...)
Carl Vine's first sonata was recorded by a friend and occasional drinking companion! And it's a fantastic bit of music.
@@FranzKaernBiederstedt Thanks for those lists, very helpful to those interested in current musical composition styles and recordings. I'm not a fan of J.L. Adams, he really bores me, as do others on your lists, but many are unknown to me while others have produced engaging and intriguing works. I agree with you though: the validity or worth of a particular composer does not depend on how many people listen. The validity or worth of a particular composition lies in its inherent potentials: wide or narrow interpretative options; wide to narrow potential in making you feel and think; originality and coherence; potential in making you a better person and a more discerning human being; and last but not least, musical ingenuity and know-how. This is why, should no one listen to Shostakovich bar one, he's an immensely valid composer, while Bantock much less so. Cheers. P.S.: the jury is still out with regards to Boulez and Stockhausen. My condensed and personal take on this is: I've attended a composition master-class with Boulez in the 1990's and that was hugely underwhelming and a f*****g waste of time. As for the other, I think he was a genius, as a fraud, but a genius nonetheless. "Trrrrrrrumpet is the morning", sure nuff'. We need a Stockhausen that isn't a fraud. Some of his ideas have huge potential, he was onto something sometimes in the 1970's. Fill his ideas with real music and you might have a massive winner there!
For guitar music, I like Dušan Bogdanović. Quite texturally intricate.
Per Norgard, Nicola Le Fanu, Giorgi Kurtag, Sally Beamish?
Why the question?
Marc-Andre Hamelin needs to be on this list. He is basically the only virtuoso pianist in the last 80 years that also composes serious works. Most of his etudes are kind of kitschy (though fun) and are mainly pianistic pyrotechnics, but his Prelude and Fugue, Toccata, Suite in the Old Style, and his Erlkonig are very serious, and very harmonically complex works that deserve more attention. He really has his own style too, like someone put Scriabin, Gershwin, and Alkan into a room with a bunch of cocaine. I suspect he will be composing a lot more as he ages too, because the thing that has stopped him from composing more is that his main gig is being a concert pianist. Composing doesn't pay the bills. However, there will be a point where can't perform nearly as much, and in the past 5-10 years he's really grown as a composer.
I'd say give him some more time.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I agree 100%. But the potential is definitely there. It may not seem that way from the etudes (outside of no.8 and no.12). But recently he's shown great promise. Not sure if you've heard the toccata or suite in the old style, but I highly recommend checking them out!
Thanks for replying, would love to hear your thoughts on them.
@@JG_1998 The Suite., yes, but not the Toccata. I'll give it a shot. I enjoyed the suite.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Awesome, I have a sheet music video of the Toccata on my channel if your interested. One of the good things about Hamelin is how well done the scores themselves are.
Two of my favorite living composers seems to have been left out. First is Georg Friedrich Haas, who is doing something completely different. Often, completely different can be completely boring, but Hass is a spectralist who has written some astonishing pieces. The most well known is "In Vain" which sets a conflict between just intonation and even temperament. It takes some concentration but there are many astonishing moments in the work. It's even better if you can follow his lighting cues (some parts should be played in the dark). My other addition is Michael Harrison who also in interested in non mainstream tuning. A recent release "Time Loops" is great fun, especially "Just Ancient Loops."
Closer and closer to my dream "the IDEAL minimalist repitoire" video :) Beethoven and Wagner's "influence" are interesting in that - just from a layman perspective - it seems that their impact almost involved music having to turn away from them for a long time, which is why nobody we care about particularly sounds like Wagner, except Wagner. Off the top of my head, they might represent points of culmination of styles, rather than the genesis of new ones (or you could consider them a bridge between eras in history, if you wanted)
Linda Catlin Smith, Wolfgang Rihm and Brian Fernyhough are probably my top 3 living composers
Actually, I would have Saariaho above Rihm
Great video as usual Dave, there were only 3 I didn't know about but will soon check out based on your recommendation...but there are 2 that are not mentioned, both pulitzer prize winners, that NOBODY talks about...John Harbison and John Corigliano...any thoughts on these two???
Nope.
LOL...I guess that would be slumming it huh!?!
@@ericleiter6179 Well, after all it's a matter of taste, and nobody will ever love everything. I happen to love Corigliano's music very much and have even covered analyses of some of his compositions in music theory courses I held. Enormously versatile and challenging composer!
After 1950 is new/ living to me.
Have you reviewed Lowell Liebermann?
On ClassicsToday.com
Leo Brouwer (not Brower) who, since I'm a guitarist, I have to say is probably my favourite (after Part). It's truly amazing music and also often extremely difficult. Naxos does a great seres on his guitar music and definitely worth getting. You make some great points re music however I also feel art is more than just entertainment (but it probably should be entertaining). Thanks for the list!
Did I spell it wrong in the list? Well, at least I got it right in the video caption. Damn. I was being extra careful about that...
There is no such thing as "more than entertainment." There are only different levels of same.
Brouwer is dead
Oops. I swear I read that a few years ago. Musta been fake news.
@@kirkpatticalma7911 He has some nerve.
Did you forget Ned Rorem...I believe he is still alive...He has been around for decades (I also find his writings entertaining)
I did a whole separate video on him.
@@DavesClassicalGuide You gave a great review of his work....but you did not include him as one of the great living composers.
@@jerelzoltick6900 So? I explained this was the list I came up with within 5 minutes of thinking about it. It could have been much longer, but you have to stop somewhere.
I would've sworn Ned Rorem would be mentioned. Then again he already has a video all to his own, in which (if I remember well) you mention him as perhaps one of the best living American composers.
Yes.
One name I'd like to add is Max Richter. I don't like him as much as I used to becuase of his activism, but he wrote some truly gorgeous and fun music, for example 'On the nature of daylight' and a recomposition of Vivaldi's 'Four seasons', wich is really a lot of fun!
10 of my favorite living composers in alphabetical order: Hans Abrahamsen, John Adams (not John Luther Adams), Thomas Ades, Francisco Coll, Marc-Andre Dalbavie, Peter Eotvos, Sofia Gubaidulina, Magnus Lindberg, Arvo Part, and Joan Tower. These are just the 10 that immediately came to mind. But, thank you, Dave, how could I have forgotten Lera Auerbach! I love her chamber music especially her piano trios. And I should add John Williams for his film scores. So that’s a dozen!
I would also have included Gyorgy Kurtag, but I forgot he is still alive and it was his wife Marta who recently died. The problem I have with Kurtag is that most of his works are so short it is difficult to grasp what he’s doing. Not so his orchestral pieces Stele and Grabstein fur Stephan-both marvelous works!
Well yes they are often very short but in response to this I was listening to the first volume of the games that the Budapest music centre put out (you can still get this on Amazon). I was really surprised by how mellifluous and delightful it all is (it’s still a lot of short pieces). It sounds like Bartok, it definitely sounds like Debussy, Bach obviously but I can’t think anyone wouldn’t enjoy it even if they think Kurtag has a sort of feirsome reputation. A lot of it is lovely
Love this thank you for giving me a bunch of names to check out! I do have to say I will always stand by my saying that John Williams is the greatest living composer we have right now and I know that unfortunately film music puts an asterisk next to his name... He did write a harp concerto though :-)
Film music does NOT put an asterisk next to his name. His best work is in film music.
Another big vote for the innovative and moving work by Caroline Shaw; and I've loved what I've heard from Andrew Norman (especially "Sustain", mp3 only but still recorded!)
You do know György Kurtág is still alive, right? :)
I do, and I don't care.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Well, you did explain your criteria well in the video. I guess he is just not your cup of tea.
@@filiplengyel5610 He isn't, and I've never understood the reverence in which he is held in Europe. I don't dislike his music at all; I just don't hear much in it.
To not be redundant I checked the comments and did not see listed the Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen. I love several discs of his most notably, The 'Sonic Mind' on Aurora. This 1998 disc has 2 well written orchestral works, 'Illuminations: Concerto For Two Celli & Orchestra' and the 'Symphonic Concerto For Violin & Orchestra' both of which beautifully recorded and stunningly played. I purchased the disc in the late 90's and am surprised it has not worn out yet. This is a disc with 2 exciting orchestral compositions and needs a wider audience to hear them.
Thank you for checking. I wish more people would.