Ten greatest composers of the 20th Century

[MrGongGong]

OK

So what IS the definition of the 20th Century ?
its still an interesting diversion which reminded me of the question my daughter was asked when doing GCSE music about what was the piece that most characterised the 20th Century ......... fwiw my suggestion was Crumbs Black Angels as it draws on the past, uses electronics and couldn't have been composed without a global awareness that one doesn't find in earlier music

[Daring Tripod]

Ladies and Gentlemen, kindly refer to the article in the NYT where the author mentions the first 5 composers and why. It is in this spirit that I launched this thread. I believe we should be looking for composers who appreciably changed the direction contemptorary classical music was going.

[ahinton]

OK
So what IS the definition of the 20th Century ?

I don't know about a "definition" per se but, for the purposes of this probably rather pointless listing exercise, I guess that we should be looking composers' works written during that century rather than the matter of whether those composers also lived and possibly also worked in the previous or following one.

[ahinton]

contemptorary classical music

As Freudian slips of the finger go, that's as good as any...

[Thomas Roth]

Hindemith
Stravinsky
Tippett
Vaughan Williams
Ravel
Debussy
Sibelius
Roy Harris
Copland
Britten

[Don Petter]

<< Originally Posted by Daring Tripod
contemptorary classical music >>

As Freudian slips of the finger go, that's as good as any...

You mean he hasn't a leg to stand on?

[Don Petter]

Hindemith
Stravinsky
Tippett
Vaughan Williams
Ravel
Debussy
Sibelius
Roy Harris
Copland
Britten

Seems an excellent list to me. I wouldn't argue against any of those. Roy Harris is not one I'd have thought of myself, but that's probably my lack of exploration which ought to be rectified.

Who would I have chosen in his place? Probably Shostakovich, I think.

[Quarky]

kindly refer to the article in the NYT where the author mentions the first 5 composers and why. .

If this thread is to have any meaning and value, I would suggest that those that have proposed lists should also give their reasons for their choice. Otherwise it requires supernatural powers on the part of the reader to appreciate the choices made.

[MrGongGong]

"composers who appreciably changed the direction contemptorary classical music was going." (with the slip !)
does imply that music "goes" somewhere which is only one way of looking at things !
but if that's the criterion (and it's confined to composers active in the last century) then
my revised list is now (with a couple of reasons !)

Schoenberg: obvious really , Serialism completely redefined music and the process of composition (whether you like it or not !)
Cage: Completely changed the way that we listen
Stockhausen: Pioneering live electronic music and having extraordinary large scale vision
Lucier: As an influence on a huge range of composers in creating music from beautiful (and sometimes ugly) sonic phenomena
La Monte Young: more than anyone redefined the way that time (and tuning ) is perceived in composition
Ligeti: for taking elements of "folk" musics and creating new ways of composing and listening
Webern: for an intimate focus on detail
Messiaen: for integrating the natural world in composition
Xenakis: for developing musical architecture
Pierre Schaeffer: for influencing many in the use of electronics though most of his music is relatively unknown outside the electroacoustic world

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Choosing the 10 most influential composers might be a more realistic way of look at this. Choosing the 10 "greatest" is surely impossible. (Except in Gramophone.)

[MrGongGong]

Choosing the 10 most influential composers might be a more realistic way of look at this. Choosing the 10 "greatest" is surely impossible. (Except in Gramophone.)

indeed which is why Cage and La Monte Young are there and not Elgar

[visualnickmos]

Yes rauschwerk, I agree. Yet another of the "list your favourites, and the rest are rubbish" questions, I fear.

[Dave2002]

Anyone mentioned Ives yet? Doesn't he have strong claims both for his role in the American repertoire, and for his somewhat original approach to composition.

Minimalists - not sure if I can make choices between them, but don't Reich, Adams and Glass all have fairly strong claims to be representative?

Perhaps too early to tell about some - such as Taverner, Maxwell Davies or even Turnage and Thomas Ades. I don't like much of their work, but some is undoubtedly very original.

Are we looking for quantity as well as quantity? William Walton does very well on quality, IMO but his output was limited.

Influence? Does it really matter?

Mahler surely deserves recognition - was he influential?

For opera note that Puccini qualifies under some of the rules [it's stretching things too far to include Verdi, who died in 1901] and with Richard Strauss must surely feature. Also Janacek, for opera and other works, and then we have to include Berg for Wozzeck.

[BBMmk2]

Thomas Roth, I am intrigued by Roy Harris and Copland?