Living Composers

[Dr. Dread]

Dave, see if this excerpt from Alex Ross's article on John Luther Adams whets your interest, and if so, you can listen to Dark Waves free, at the end of the article.  It's only about 12 minutes long, so it's not a huge investment in time.

Although Adams is content to write for electronics, small ensembles, and percussion groups, he still longs to write for larger forces, and, above all, for orchestra. For most of the eighties, he was the timpanist for the Fairbanks Symphony, which, at the time, was led by the conductor, composer, and environmental activist Gordon Wright. During Adams's cabin-in-the-forest period, Wright was living nearby, and the two became close friends, often trekking into the wilderness together. Once, they drove into the Alaska Range while listening to Bruckner's Eighth Symphony, music that has the weight of mountains. "This may be where our musical worlds meet," Adams said to him.

Wright died last year, near Anchorage, at the age of seventy-two; he was found one night on the deck of his cabin. A few days later, the Anchorage Symphony played the première of Adams's "Dark Waves," an extraordinary piece for orchestra and electronics, which the composer dedicated to Wright. One of the most arresting American orchestral works of recent years, it suggests a huge entity, of indeterminate shape, that approaches slowly, exerts apocalyptic force, and then recedes. Every instrument is, in one way or another, playing with the simple interval of the perfect fifth—the basic building block of harmony—but at the climax the lines coalesce into roaring dissonances, with all twelve notes of the chromatic scale sounding together.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_ross?currentPage=all

--Bruce

Can't find the link. Must have to subscribe.

[bhodges]

No, no...it's there, at the very bottom of the page, after the article.  You'll see some Digg, Facebook and Yahoo stuff, and then in red letters, "Primary Sources" with the audio link.

--Bruce

[Dr. Dread]

No, no...it's there, at the very bottom of the page, after the article.  You'll see some Digg, Facebook and Yahoo stuff, and then in red letters, "Primary Sources" with the audio link.

--Bruce

I see "Primary Sources" but there is no link.

[bhodges]

Hm, well sorry about that!  (I'm wondering if it requires another plug-in, like a Flash update or something.  And I didn't think you had to be a subscriber to view it, but I could be mistaken.)

In any case, dang, sorry! 

--Bruce

[Dr. Dread]

Hmm, perhaps give this track a shot. It is the first movement of Erkki-Sven Tüür's violin concerto.

I came. I listened. I am not so sure.

[Dr. Dread]

Hm, well sorry about that!  (I'm wondering if it requires another plug-in, like a Flash update or something.  And I didn't think you had to be a subscriber to view it, but I could be mistaken.)

In any case, dang, sorry! 

--Bruce

No biggie. Thanks for trying.

[Dr. Dread]

I'd rather just answer this original post than do any tailoring, esp. as Mn's tastes seem to get narrower and narrower with each post, or at least more exclusive of the kinds of things one could reasonably consider to have some heat to them.

So in spite of Lethe's assessment of the post-Ligeti landscape, here are some* fairly dominant figures in new music. (You find this stuff out like you find out anything, I guess. You listen, you read, you talk, and if you're lucky, you hang out with some of the hot whos.)

In no order:

Helmut Lachenmann
Zbigniew Karkowski
Eliane Radigue
Lyn Goeringer
Christine Kubisch
Brandon LaBelle
Francis Dhomont
Dennis Smalley
Giles Gobeil
Natasha Barrett

Gosh, maybe Lethe was right!! Or at least, if s/he meant that after Ligeti, there are so many who are hot that no one stands out (which I've heard at least one warm composer advance as the new orthodoxy).

*very very few, actually

Thanks for the list.

[not edward]

I have no idea who's hot and who's not... I just know people I like and people I don't. Some personal favourites:

In my opinion, Elliott Carter does remain a giant figure, though I like his '60s works a little more than his current, somewhat more mellow style. Maybe I've lived with his music for too long, but I don't see any reason why the Boston Concerto (for example) can't enter the repertory. It's memorable, concise, full of gorgeous light textures--and anyone who thinks Carter can't write good tunes should hear the string cantilena at the climax.

Henri Dutilleux is another of the very senior figures who's still writing good music. Pretty much anything he does is crafted to an exceptional degree. Again, I've been a little less impressed with his recent work but everything from the second symphony to the violin concerto is, to my mind, phenomenal.

Helmut Lachenmann almost certainly is the exact opposite of what the OP would like, but his music never ceases to amaze me. If anyone else can create almost Brucknerian adagios out of squeaks, scratches, hisses and other "non-musical" sounds, then shock the listener when conventionally musical sounds emerge from the mix, sounding like something completely new... I've not heard them! (Not to mention the blistering satire of Tanzsuite mit Deutschlandlied, which remains one of the funniest--and one of the most disturbing--pieces of music I know.)

John Adams is probably the American neo-romantic I have the most time for (I know many people call him minimalist, but to me his music is as informed by Sibelius, Mahler and older popular music than minimalism). Sometimes I doubt his ability to craft a really fine slow movement, but then when I hear Harmonielehre I forgive him everything.

Sometimes I think Wolfgang Rihm shoots himself in the foot by being so incredibly prolific. With him producing a new work every month or so (this is, by the way, not an exaggeration) it's hard to keep track of what's out there, particularly as little of it gets recorded. His stylistic variety is just as great: one work might be a post-Nono essay in stasis and sound; the next a neo-Expressionist song-cycle followed by a chamber music in a post-Boulezian style--and then you'll suddenly turn up an hour-long symphonic movement in a post-Mahler-Shostakovichian overheated neoromanticism.

[snyprrr]

I predict that SuperBach will be born on the winter's solstice 2012, so just wait a few years .

Do you like Gorecki sym No3 "symphony of sorrowful songs"?
Do you like Ph. Glass, et al...?

My litmus test is Corigliano's Symphony, the "famous" one...if you don't like it, you won't like any living composer!

uhmm...that's a joke, but...

take two Dutilleuxs and call me in the morning!

[Cato]

Lera Auerbach is highly recommended by certain experts:

http://www.leraauerbach.com/content/compositions_listen.html

Other experts have different reasons for recommending her:

[some guy]

The article on Adams when I went there just now had a player on the bottom, which is working right now as I type.

Perhaps I should have waited to listen to the whole thing before posting, but I didn't. Perhaps because I'm a bad person. It could be. (I've enjoyed the first four minutes, I'll say that.)

Otherwise, Lera is wildly pretty, that is true. But then, so is Lyn Goeringer--whose music is outrageously good. (I do not exaggerate. Millions of people claim that I do, but they're wrong.)

[snyprrr]

Hello! 0:)

[snyprrr]

excuse me, ...she certainly looks "alive", which means it's not off topic!

[Senta]

In no order:

Helmut Lachenmann
Zbigniew Karkowski
Eliane Radigue
Lyn Goeringer
Christine Kubisch
Brandon LaBelle
Francis Dhomont
Dennis Smalley
Giles Gobeil
Natasha Barrett

Wow, I haven't heard of any of these yet aside from Lachenmann!

MnDave - let me point you to a few resources to explore - as you would like to find out how/where to find out who is hot/good in the new music scene....

Try the site Sequenza21:
http://www.sequenza21.com

This is a general new music blog/news site - I see currently filled with the recent reports from L.A.....they keep a good eye on all the premieres in the US and elsewhere thanks to a wide spread group of contributors. Usually if they are talking about it a lot, it turns out to be worth listening to!

You also might want to check out NewMusicBox, the e-zine of the American Music Center:
http://www.newmusicbox.org/

They have great articles, profiles, and also some excellent video interviews with various current composers.

American Music Center also has an awesome online digital library where you can listen to clips or view score samples to get an idea of a composer's work:
http://www.amc.net/library/search.aspx

A resource I use a LOT is also from the site Composition Today where they have a huge composer database:
http://www.compositiontoday.com/composers/

Click on the alphabet letter, and then the name, to display more info and links for each...the video section is especially helpful. Here is an example, the video section for John Adams:
http://www.compositiontoday.com/videos.asp?composer_id=162

Dave - Though I really love a variety of new music, I also profess to being turned off by some of the music you describe....but here are a few names you may enjoy looking into ->

Joan Tower,  Augusta Read Thomas, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Jennifer Higdon, Kevin Puts, Christopher Theofanidis, Steven Stucky, Aaron Jay Kernis, Michael Torke, Osvaldo Golijov

All those American, here are a few of the UK set:
Mark-Anthony Turnage, James Macmillan, Thomas Ades, Oliver Knussen

Various European:
HK Gruber, Peter Eotvos, Wolfgang Rihm, Tristan Murail, Sofia Guibaidalina, Louis Andriessen, Marc-Andre Dalbavie

Northern Europe:
Per Norgard, Erkki-Sven Tuur, Arvo Part, Anders Hillborg, Kaija Saariaho, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Magnus Lindberg, Kimmo Hakola, Aulis Sallinen, Kalevi Aho, Jouni Kaipanen

[springrite]

Thank you Senta for bring up one of my favorite that I forgot to mention, namely, Gubaidulina!

[some guy]

Thanks for the list.

You're entirely welcome. And thank you for ignoring the subtle* snippiness of my post. I've had some therapy for that, but not nearly enough!!

Anyway, I just now was listening to Trace Cuts and realized that I had left off three giants of new music, eRikm, Tetreault, and Yoshihide, who are the three composers performing on that album. And while I had at least thought of Christian Marclay (who is more into into installations and film now, I think), I didn't remember Anna Clyne until I saw that picture of Lera Auerbach. So if you want hot AND hot, Anna Clyne is a good choice (not to mention Zeena Parkins and Diana Simpson). Oops. Too late. Already mentioned them.

Point is, there are a lot of fine composers out there. More than anyone can keep track of. An embarass de richesse. Better that than having there be no one at all, eh?

*joke

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I have no idea who's hot and who's not... I just know people I like and people I don't.

Me too. Looking at recordings I have though, I notice that I listen to hardly anything by composers born after 1960. I don't know yet if this is their fault, or mine.

Living composers that I've heard, liked, and kept include: Carter, Adams, Reich, Rouse, Pärt, Lindberg, Sallinen, Penderecki, Tüür, Rihm, Gubaidulina, Dutilleux, Boulez, Norgard, Ruders, and Silvestrov.

[Guido]

I have no idea who's hot and who's not... I just know people I like and people I don't. Some personal favourites:

In my opinion, Elliott Carter does remain a giant figure, though I like his '60s works a little more than his current, somewhat more mellow style. Maybe I've lived with his music for too long, but I don't see any reason why the Boston Concerto (for example) can't enter the repertory. It's memorable, concise, full of gorgeous light textures--and anyone who thinks Carter can't write good tunes should hear the string cantilena at the climax.

No, I definitely agree - it really has the sound of 'repertoire' about it. Lets hope so!

[vandermolen]

Some living composers whose music I like:

Vasks
Sculthorpe
Bedford
McCabe (some, like The Chagall Windows, Notturni ed alba)
Arnell
Yoshimatsu
G. Butterworth
Henning 

[Dr. Dread]

Thanks, Senta! And everyone else. 

How about Giya Kancheli? I heard this last night and it was an immediate hit. The two piece are titled "Amao Omi" and "Little Imber". Here's a product description from Amazon: Georgian composer, Giya Kancheli's tenth album on ECM New Series offers two recent large-scale choral works with unconventional instrumental forces. These two highly compelling new compositions mirror impressions of both Western and Georgian sacred music without actually alluding to religion itself. Written in 2003 and 2005 respectively, both Little Imber and Amao Omi are melancholic musings about the absurdity of war in conjunction with the power of beauty. Little Imber was commissioned for a festival in the deserted village of Imber - a former Military installation on England's Salisbury Plain and is the first site-specific work in Kancheli's oeuvre, whilst Amao Omi (the title translates as "Senseless war") was commissioned by the Nederlands Kamerkoor - a moving sound tapestry, underpinned by the subtle and supple playing of the Rascher Saxophone Quartet.