Greatest living composer? Including 'recently' deceased!

[Petrushka]

I think we live in an age where the question of 'greatest' is largely irrelevant. By 'greatest' I would look for a composer whose latest work is awaited by the classical music world at large with eager expectation and performances lined up around the world and no-one is universally acknowledged in this way and probably hasn't been since the death of Shostakovich in 1975.

Of the recently departed I'd nominate Henze and, further back, Tippett as the closest we have come in the last 40 years.

[ahinton]

One of our regular and valued contributors, often afflicted by rotten health (and I hope that she is basking on a Caribbean beach somewhere at the moment, her every whim attended to) might feel that David Matthews deserves a mention. If so, I am happy to supply a "proxy" vote.

I trust that, even if she is doing what you hope she is, she'll be able to read this - and I'll supply another one...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think we live in an age where the question of 'greatest' is largely irrelevant. By 'greatest' I would look for a composer whose latest work is awaited by the classical music world at large with eager expectation and performances lined up around the world and no-one is universally acknowledged in this way and probably hasn't been since the death of Shostakovich in 1975.

The flaw in this definition is that it doesn't allow for Bach, whose work during his lifetime was met with huge indifference save from a tiny band of enthusiasts. (Much the same could be said of Mahler, too.)

But it's certainly true - and I think Mary Chambers at least pointed towards a similar idea earlier* ('tho' I suspect she might have suggested a different composer, and moved the date on a year) - that we don't live in the sort of culture where the importance of cultural activity is a matter of everyday concern (or, at least, "interest") to most middle and upper - class people in the same way that it was at the time of Brahms and Wagner. With the myth of audiences' attention spans being very short prevalent amongst broadcasters, airtime devoted to work that requires extended periods of concentration is marginalized (at best) - so that awareness of the work of Musicians working away from "traditional" patterns of creativity is left to ... well ... a tiny band of enthusiasts.

This matters only from the point of view that ideas/ways of thinking/opportunities are kept "hidden" from a wider public - which, admittedly, is quite a big "only" - but it doesn't stop there being as great a body of work being created in the minds, guts and fingers of astonishing Artists as there has ever been. If it's no longer relevant to talk about the "greatest" Composer - and if most of the best Musicians working today detest the very terminology - it's certainly true that there are still Great Composers producing Great Music.

(* - in #10.)

[Conchis]

Richard Rodney Bennett - he didn't die that long ago, did he?

Other than that, I reluctantly submit Karl Jenkins but ONLY for his work in Soft Machine. Couldn't give a tinker's gob about the stuff he wrote that gave him the keys to Classic FM.

[kea]

I don't know who the greatest living composers are, but if I had to pick favourites (as you all seem to have been doing)—Heinz Holliger, Salvatore Sciarrino, Pauline Oliveros, Richard Barrett (I can say that now that he's gone, right?), Ellen Fullman, Michael Finnissy, Evan Johnson, James Weeks & Liza Lim to start with.

Of the 'recently departed' the one who stands out most right now is Luc Ferrari. And maybe Horațiu Rădulescu if he's recent enough.

[Mary Chambers]

I think Mary Chambers at least pointed towards a similar idea earlier* ('tho' I suspect she might have suggested a different composer, and moved the date on a year)

Yes, I would have done, but I didn't think it worth bringing up the subject of Britten. He isn't living - well, not in the sense intended here - and I don't think someone who died almost 40 years ago could be called 'recently dead'. It's all subjective, anyway.

I apologise for chopping up your post so much, but I wanted to reply to that particular point.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

No problem, Mary - and I agree with your point about subjectivity. I think this is a fascinating Thread - reading who people value; and especially useful to read names I'd never heard of

[vinteuil]

I think this is a fascinating Thread - reading who people value....

... as long as your antennae perceive that sometimes contributors have tongues in cheeks and wd not wish in any way to be taken seriously...

... and noöne has yet mentioned Ludovico Einaudi - or Eric Whitacre, or Karl Jenkins...

[teamsaint]

No problem, Mary - and I agree with your point about subjectivity. I think this is a fascinating Thread - reading who people value; and especially useful to read names I'd never heard of

The sheer enormity of the musical wealth we have available to us now paradoxically (?) offers both opportunity and problem.

I do think we have to resort to the short cut of borrowing from the experience of others sometimes, or often, even though discovering under our own steam is so much more fun......
Interesting , for example, to read of Kea's high opinion of Horatiu Radalescu, whose music struck me forcefully on first hearing recently , and who I haven't got round to investigating further.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... as long as your antennae perceive that sometimes contributors have tongues in cheeks and wd not wish in any way to be taken seriously...

- I used to think I had a "radar" for post-Modernist Irony, but I'm increasingly coming to think of it as more of a "shield": I detect irony even where it isn't intended, just to be on the safe side!

[Serial_Apologist]

- I used to think I had a "radar" for post-Modernist Irony, but I'm increasingly coming to think of it as more of a "shield": I detect irony even where it isn't intended, just to be on the safe side!

It becomes untenable - people get offended when you take them for being ironic when they aren't being so. Or claim they aren't!

In this respect Americans tend to be so much easier to deal with!

[Beef Oven!]

Ok, some research on this that I made up this afternoon, gives the following results:

The top ten greatest living composers, including some that are recently deceased (in the last 10 years) are...........

1. Boulez & Penderecki (joint)

3. Don Van Vliet & Frank Zappa (joint)

5. For some reason, no one came fifth

6. Colin & David Matthews (joint)

8. Lloyd Webber & John Rutter (joint)

10. Jonathan King

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For some reason, no one came fifth

Beethoven's Fifth.

[Bryn]

... 3. Don Van Vliet & Frank Zappa (joint) ...

Now, now. You know perfectly well that Zappa was anti-drugs.

[MrGongGong]

8. Lloyd Webber & John Rutter (joint)

hummm