Contemporary composers

[johncarey]

He's a fine musician, but he's not one of the big beasts, I can tell you that now. He just doesn't have the DNA for that. His art is treading safe & familiar territory .. he doesn't offer that much to well exposed serious music connoisseurs; I'm sure with wider exposure his brand of pastiche would please average, ordinary audiences who are looking to be pleased and nothing more ..

So is it your opinion that, for "serious music connoisseurs," music that is "safe and familiar" is not worth listening to? I fail to see why lack of innovation in Kapustin's music should discredit it or detract from its inherent craft, creativity, and enjoyability.

And I am certainly not trying to argue that he is "one of the big beasts," nor is that what I perceive to be the point of the thread; I just thought it would be worth sharing the link to the piano quintet for those who haven't heard it. Who would you consider to be the "big beasts" of today, with the exception of the composers I mentioned in my first post (Penderecki and Carter). Would you say that there are any living composers that you would consider to be on par with the likes of Stravinsky, Shostakovich, or Schoenberg?

[Elnimio]

I think the best defintion of a "hack" would be Osvaldo Golijov. If his music already sounded like boring pastiche to me, with this new scandal it's taken to a whole other level. Now it seems his boring pastiche wasn't even composed by him