GMG Consensus: Who was the greatest composer of the 20th century?

[Leon]

My vote for greatest composer of the 20th C. is Igor Stravinsky. 

But if we are allowed three, I'd add Arnold Schoenberg and Elliott Carter.  This is not to say that Bela Bartok is not of their artistic level, just that I think his footprint is not as big.

So a convincing case for the Greatest Composer of the 20th Century could be made for any of the following:

Stravinsky
Schoenberg
Carter
Bartok

[Mirror Image]

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)

That's too funny! Thanks I needed a laugh today. There's nothing great about a composer who spent more time behind a computer than actually writing great music. I think you're way off there, James.

[PaulSC]

Stockhausen might be on my top five list. He's definitely on my top ten list. Even if I don't rate Stockhausen quite as highly as James does, there's nothing laughable about valuing his music. Whereas one could be forgiven for laughing in response to the notion that Stockhausen was merely a "computer," when in truth — like all great artists — his best work fuses rigorous construction with astonishing leaps of imagination.

[starrynight]

There's an oft-quoted review of the Aeolian Quartet's complete Haydn box, to the effect that the review would happily listen to nothing else for a whole year and not feel he was missing out on anything, such is Haydn's range and comprehensiveness.  I was thinking of this when holding a similarly-sized box of complete works - the 22CD "Works of Igor Stravinsky".  If that's a test of greatness - i.e. the composer whose complete works you would take to a desert island and not get bored - then it's Stravinsky.

DF

I come from the opposite perspective.  What's made me love modern classical music isn't one big name or even a smallish group of famous names, it's actually been listening through the music of a few thousand different composers and enjoying all the variety of voices and invention they have brought to the style.  I've probably enjoyed pieces now from over 2000 twentieth century composers, no way would I give up that variety for a few composers.  I don't care if that has the historians of music shaking their heads and saying that the most famous ones are all that matters, because they aren't all that matters to me.  As a genre while I could still like it listening to just a few composers, it would also be far less enjoyable and so important to me.  That's probably not the case with some earlier periods though where there was less variety of styles.

[scarlattiglenross]

Morton Feldman

[xochitl]

has anyone said Britten yet?

just throwing it out there

[Christo]

has anyone said Britten yet?

No. And unlikely to happen. 

[xochitl]

[Mirror Image]

.. and he's an unavoidable figure in music for the 2nd half of the century without a doubt.

I've done a pretty good of avoiding him.

[Christo]

I've done a pretty good of avoiding him.

Who? 

[Mirror Image]

Greatest composers of the 20th Century?

Claude Debussy
Maurice Ravel
Bela Bartok
Igor Stravinsky
Dmitri Shostakovich
Sergei Prokofiev
Arnold Schoenberg

[Mirror Image]

You're missing half of what went on in the century there .. Say if this survey was just the latter half of the century, who would be your top 5? Just curious.

That I'm unsure, but I'll take a stab at it:

Ligeti
Stockhausen
Xenakis
Carter
Pärt
Reich

How's that? I even included Stockhausen.

[Mirror Image]

Is this a tell'em what they want to hear, not what I really think type of response. Hmmmm

You can't ask a question and end the sentence with a period. From the way it looks right now, there is no question there.

[Mirror Image]

Honestly, James, I picked these names from the second half of the 20th Century based on research that I've done and based on their critical reception. In all honesty, I don't really even know why I participated in this thread, because "who is the greatest composer of the 20th Century" is pretty irrelevant to me. What is important to me is the music and what it means to me as a listener. Putting one composer over another seems like silly thing to do and it can ultimately lead to some downright nasty arguments which I'm going to be avoiding. From the list I made, I do like Ligeti and Pärt. Xenakis is just too far out there for me, but I'm becoming more familiar with his music as I think it has a kind of brutality to it that's somewhat appealing but only in short doses.

[Mirror Image]

These sorts of discussions come up on forums .. it's nothing serious but it can be a fun or even interesting exercise that spawns musical introspection and thought. It brings into focus the music of the last century (a century we are all connected-to & are apart of) and it's pre-eminent composers - maybe people will check out composers they aren't that familiar with too as a result of a thread like this. Who knows ..

Perhaps but too often I see a thread like this turn into some kind of contest with each parties trying to prove their composer's worth to each other. Music isn't a competition.

[Mirror Image]

That's life ..

No, that's mindless bickering which doesn't mean anything.

[Mirror Image]

to you.

Well let me ask you, James. Do you honestly enjoy arguing with people over who the "better" composer was? What do you honestly have to gain by doing this?