Top 10 favorite contemporary classical works since World War II

[EigenUser]

Nice list, Nate - although a bit narrow with just six composers.
BTW, where is that Ligeti quotation in your signature from? I presume he meant 'medal' and not 'metal'. 

Yes, I know it's narrow. But it is what I love.

Thanks for pointing out that error in my signature BTW. I can't believe I've had that for over half of a year!

From this interview (in part 2, start around 7:20 in the video)
https://www.youtube.com/v/aNFq6HIlMEc
https://www.youtube.com/v/DEuUM6hAcDY

[North Star]

Yes, I know it's narrow. But it is what I love.

Nice interview, I think I must have asked about this before (and hence seen the video before, too)
Of course, and a list of ten is going to be narrow in any case. I'd rather just copy my list from the 1950-2000 thread.

Boulez: Le marteau sans maître (1953-7)
Tippett: Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli (1953)
Finzi: Cello Concerto (1955)
Stravinsky: Agon (1954–57)
Britten: Nocturne, Op. 60 (1958)

Martinů: Nonet (1959)
Villa-Lobos: Floresta do Amazonas (1959)
Ligeti: Atmosphères (1961)
Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH (1960-1962)
Hartmann: Symphony no. 8 (1962)

Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (1964)
Scelsi: Uaxuctum (1966)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 14 (1969) 
Holmboe: Chamber Symphony No. 3, op. 103a "Frise" (1969-70)
Dutilleux: Ainsi la nuit (1976)
Xenakis: Dikhthas (for vln & pno) (1979)

Lutosławski: Symphony No. 3 (1981–83)
Schnittke: Concerto for Mixed Chorus (1984–85)
Pärt: Stabat Mater (1985)
Carter: String Quartet No. 4 (1986)
Tavener: The Protecting Veil (1988)

Finnissy: Gershwin Arrangements (1975–88)
Takemitsu: A String around Autumn (1989)
Bryars: After the Requiem (1990)
Kurtág: ΣΤΗΛΗ (Stele) (1994)
Romitelli: Professor Bad Trip: Lesson I (1998)

And add to that:
Aho: Clarinet Concerto (2005)
Ligeti: Piano Etudes

[Sergeant Rock]

It's interesting to me that even expanded to 26, I couldn't think of anything between 1960 and 1989, but plenty before and after.

Suggestions 

Shostakovich
Op. 113: Symphony No. 13 in B-flat minor Babi-Yar (1962)
Op. 135: Symphony No. 14 (1969)
Op. 141: Symphony No. 15 in A major (1971)
Op. 126: Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major (1966)
Op. 129: Violin Concerto No. 2 in C-sharp minor (1967)
Op. 117: String Quartet No. 9 in E-flat major (1964)
Op. 118: String Quartet No. 10 in A-flat major (1964)
Op. 122: String Quartet No. 11 in F minor (1966)
Op. 133: String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat major (1968)
Op. 138: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat minor (1970)
Op. 142: String Quartet No. 14 in F-sharp major (1972–1973)
Op. 144: String Quartet No. 15 in E-flat minor (1974)
Op. 134: Sonata for violin and piano (1968)
Op. 147: Sonata for viola and piano (1975)

Havergal Brian Symphonies 15-32

[Cato]

Well, okay, if anyone is interested: I will do this with the caveat that minutes later, the list would be different, because I am just following my turbulent stream of consciousness, full of rapids, rocks, and waterfalls:

(And therefore not in any particular order      )

Hartmann: Symphonies VI-VIII
Carrillo: Mass for Pope John XXIII (a capella in a quarter-tone system)
Wuorinen: Grand Bamboula for Orchestra
Karl Henning: Nuhro, Annabel Lee, and Out in the Sun
Luke Ottevanger Piano Sonatas
Herrmann: Psycho
Penderecki: Threnody
Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov: Symphony #1 and War and Peace film score
Glass: The Illusionist film score

[Karl Henning]

Nice to hear such a ringing endorsement of minimalism, and indeed the entire rejection of serialist dogma we have seen in the past few decades.

I see you've met "If I like it, it breaks the mold!" James.

[Karl Henning]

Well, okay, if anyone is interested: I will do this with the caveat that minutes later, the list would be different, because I am just following my turbulent stream of consciousness, full of rapids, rocks, and waterfalls:

(And therefore not in any particular order      )

Hartmann: Symphonies VI-VIII
Carrillo: Mass for Pope John XXIII (a capella in a quarter-tone system)
Wuorinen: Grand Bamboula for Orchestra
Karl Henning: Nuhro, Annabel Lee, and Out in the Sun
Luke Ottevanger Piano Sonatas
Herrmann: Psycho
Penderecki: Threnody
Poulenc: Dialogues of the Carmelites
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov: Symphony #1 and War and Peace film score
Glass: The Illusionist film score

Thanks, and I am going to show Nuhro to this as-yet-unnamed Boston collective . . . .

[EigenUser]

Nice interview, I think I must have asked about this before (and hence seen the video before, too)
Of course, and a list of ten is going to be narrow in any case. I'd rather just copy my list from the 1950-2000 thread.

Actually, let's remove Rothko Chapel (not that I don't love it, but just to make room -- plus it gets enough love already) and put in Takemitsu's Dream/Window. Seeing Takemitsu on your list reminded me.

In approximate order:
Ligeti Clocks and Clouds
Ligeti Piano Concerto
Messiaen Des Canyons aux Etoiles
Ligeti San Francisco Polyphony
Ades Asyla
Feldman Piano and String Quartet
Takemitsu Dream/Window
Feldman Coptic Light
Boulez Notations for Orchestra (orchestrated version is post-1970)
Reich Music for 18 Musicians

If I were to add yet another I would say to remove Ligeti's San Francisco Polyphony and add Steven Mackey's Ars Moriendi to the bottom of the list, but I'm not so sure about that. I rarely listen to it (a very sad piece). So, never mind.

While narrow as far as composers go (three Ligeti and two Feldman), I think it is pretty diverse in terms of what the music sounds like and actual style. It encompasses (here we go!) post-serialism (Boulez), post-impressionism (Takemitsu), proto-minimalism (Feldman), mock-minimalism (Ligeti C&C), hardcore-minimalism (Reich), post-minimalism-fusion (Ades), birdsongism (Messiaen), and whatever-the-hell-I-want-to-do-ism (Ligeti PC).

[North Star]

Actually, let's remove Rothko Chapel (not that I don't love it, but just to make room -- plus it gets enough love already) and put in Takemitsu's Dream/Window. Seeing Takemitsu on your list reminded me.

If I were to add yet another I would say to remove Ligeti's San Francisco Polyphony and add Steven Mackey's Ars Moriendi to the bottom of the list, but I'm not so sure about that. I rarely listen to it (a very sad piece). So, never mind.

While narrow as far as composers go (three Ligeti and two Feldman), I think it is pretty diverse in terms of what the music sounds like and actual style. It encompasses (here we go!) post-serialism (Boulez), post-impressionism (Takemitsu), proto-minimalism (Feldman), mock-minimalism (Ligeti C&C), hardcore-minimalism (Reich), post-minimalism-fusion (Ades), birdsongism (Messiaen), and whatever-the-hell-I-want-to-do-ism (Ligeti PC).

Very nice list, and I agree that there is more to variety than just lots of different composers, and the Ligeti selections certainly aren't homogeneous. And Canyons is much more than just birdsongism. 

[Mirror Image]

Time to revise my list (in no particular order):

1. Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 8 (1953-55)
2. Ligeti: Melodien (1971)
3. Kurtág: Stele (1994)
4. Lutoslawski: Chantefleurs et Chantefables (1989-90)
5. Scelsi: Uaxuctum (1966)
6. Schnittke: Symphony No. 8 (1994)
7. Adams: Harmonielehre (1985)
8. Pärt: Tabula Rasa (1977)
9. Britten: Phaedra (1975)
10. Sculthorpe: Kakadu (1988)

[Trout]

Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie (1946-8)
Varèse: Déserts (1950-4)
Boulez: Le marteau sans maître (1955)
Finzi: Cello Concerto in A minor (1955)
Martinů: Oboe Concerto (1955)
Stravinsky: Requiem Canticles (1966)
Lucier: I Am Sitting in a Room (1969)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat minor (1969-70)
Feldman: Rothko Chapel (1971)
Reich: Music for 18 Musicians (1974-6)
Crumb: Apparition (1979)
Grisey: Les Espaces Acoustiques (1974-80)
Schnittke: String Quartet No. 2 (1981)
Glass: Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Xenakis: Keqrops (1986)
Welmers: Minimal Music for Organ (1989)
Takemitsu: From Me Flows What You Call Time (1990)
Pelēcis: Nevertheless (1993)
Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium (1994)
Ligeti: Études pour piano (1985-2001)
J.C. Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur (2003)
Furrer: Piano Concerto (2007)
Dusapin: Seven Solos for Orchestra (1994-2008)
Chin: Cello Concerto (2009)
Haas: limited approximations (2010)
J.L. Adams: Become Ocean (2013)



(oops)

[Christo]

Ok, time to present a second list too, with a few fresh 'discoveries' added. Again, in chronological order:

Herman D. Koppel, Symphony No. 3 (1945)
Eduard Tubin, Symphony No. 6 (1954)
Camargo Guarnieri, Chôro para violoncelo e orquestra (1961)
Henri Dutilleux, Timbres, Espace, Mouvement (1978)
Sulkhan Nassidze, Concerto for Violin, Cello and Chamber Orchestra (1982)
Vagn Holmboe, Symphony No. 13 (1994)
Richard Einhorn, Voices of Light (1994)
John Kinsella, Symphony No. 7 (1997)
Arvo Pärt, Kanon Pokajanen (1997)
Ēriks Ešenvalds, Passion and Resurrection (2005)

[Ken B]

These terms/boxes are meaningless to me.

Alexia, the next plague.

[amw]

Galina Ustvolskaya ~ Grand Duet ~ simplicity without cliché, ecstasy without sensuality
Igor Stravinsky ~ Requiem Canticles ~ the perfection of serialism Cornelius Cardew ~ The Great Learning ~ a musical mass movement
Karlheinz Stockhausen ~ Mikrophonie I ~ the invention of the sounding icon
György Kurtág ~ Messages of the late Miss R. S. Troussova ~ the postwar Dichterliebe
Heinz Holliger ~ String Quartet No. 1 ~ companion to Op. 131
Luc Ferrari ~ Presque rien ~ the composer as storyteller
Morton Feldman ~ Neither ~ a modern opera (var. 1)
Robert Ashley ~ Perfect Lives ~ a modern opera (var. 2)
La Monte Young ~ The Well-Tuned Piano ~ beyond the twelve tones
Salvatore Sciarrino ~ Quaderno di strada ~ the return of melody
Alvin Curran ~ Inner Cities ~ the piano, like the world, contains everything

[EigenUser]

Galina Ustvolskaya ~ Grand Duet ~ simplicity without cliché, ecstasy without sensuality
Igor Stravinsky ~ Requiem Canticles ~ the perfection of serialism
Karlheinz Stockhausen ~ Mikrophonie I ~ the invention of the sounding icon
György Kurtág ~ Messages of the late Miss R. S. Troussova ~ the postwar Dichterliebe
Heinz Holliger ~ String Quartet No. 1 ~ companion to Op. 131
Luc Ferrari ~ Presque rien ~ the composer as storyteller
Morton Feldman ~ Neither ~ a modern opera (var. 1)
Robert Ashley ~ Perfect Lives ~ a modern opera (var. 2)
La Monte Young ~ The Well-Tuned Piano ~ beyond the twelve tones
Salvatore Sciarrino ~ Quaderno di strada ~ the return of melody
Alvin Curran ~ Inner Cities ~ the piano, like the world, contains everything

I haven't heard Feldman's Neither, yet (at least, I don't think I have). I've only heard the Ustvolskaya a few times, but I was very much impressed by it. Indeed, "simplicity without cliche". Well said.

No Messiaen or Ligeti? (It's okay, those guys get enough love as it is... good for you for choosing some slightly less-known stuff!)

[Ken B]

Galina Ustvolskaya ~ Grand Duet ~ simplicity without cliché, ecstasy without sensuality
Igor Stravinsky ~ Requiem Canticles ~ the perfection of serialism
Karlheinz Stockhausen ~ Mikrophonie I ~ the invention of the sounding icon
György Kurtág ~ Messages of the late Miss R. S. Troussova ~ the postwar Dichterliebe
Heinz Holliger ~ String Quartet No. 1 ~ companion to Op. 131
Luc Ferrari ~ Presque rien ~ the composer as storyteller
Morton Feldman ~ Neither ~ a modern opera (var. 1)
Robert Ashley ~ Perfect Lives ~ a modern opera (var. 2)
La Monte Young ~ The Well-Tuned Piano ~ beyond the twelve tones
Salvatore Sciarrino ~ Quaderno di strada ~ the return of melody
Alvin Curran ~ Inner Cities ~ the piano, like the world, contains everything

I know a few these pieces, Strav, Stock, Young. Some intriguing comments (but of course melody never left, though some tried to banish it). I have heard a few things by Ferrari and quite liked a couple. Curran is a new name to me, as is Ashley. I will hunt a few of these on Spotify. Not the operas though!

[Dax]

Hmmm. I find these lists surprising. Perhaps I shouldn't.

Cornelius Cardew - The Great Learning
John White - Piano sonata no. 90
Lou Harrison - Double concerto for violin, cello + gamelan
Jean Barraqué - Concerto for clarinet, vibraphone etc
Aarre Merikanto - Genesis
Tom Dissevelt - Fantasy in Orbit
John Cage - Sonatas + Interludes
Harry Partch - Castor and Pollux
Terry Riley - Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band
Bernd Alois Zimmermann - Les Soupirs du Roi Ubu

I was tempted to include the Medtner piano quintet (1903-49), but that's stretching things a bit.

[Mandryka]

Galina Ustvolskaya ~ Grand Duet ~ simplicity without cliché, ecstasy without sensuality
Igor Stravinsky ~ Requiem Canticles ~ the perfection of serialism
Karlheinz Stockhausen ~ Mikrophonie I ~ the invention of the sounding icon
György Kurtág ~ Messages of the late Miss R. S. Troussova ~ the postwar Dichterliebe
Heinz Holliger ~ String Quartet No. 1 ~ companion to Op. 131
Luc Ferrari ~ Presque rien ~ the composer as storyteller
Morton Feldman ~ Neither ~ a modern opera (var. 1)
Robert Ashley ~ Perfect Lives ~ a modern opera (var. 2)
La Monte Young ~ The Well-Tuned Piano ~ beyond the twelve tones
Salvatore Sciarrino ~ Quaderno di strada ~ the return of melody
Alvin Curran ~ Inner Cities ~ the piano, like the world, contains everything

What's the op 131/Holliger connection about? Feldman denied that Neither was an opera, was it staged? Interesting choice from Kurtag rather than Kafka Fragments (post war Winterreise.) I too like the Ustvolskaya duet and the Ferrari. Some of the music I've never heard but I'll try to hear it (Curran, Ashley)

[amw]

Cornelius Cardew - The Great Learning

Excellent choice. I might displace Stravinsky for this one, actually (serialism itself being a prewar development).

(but of course melody never left, though some tried to banish it).

Sciarrino brings melody—and a sense of line—and a minimalist concentration on process and gradual transformation—to a postwar aesthetic of alienation and loss. He's not afraid of ugliness, nor of repeating ideas and beautiful colours and textures. It's music that requires relativism and pluralism, post-structuralism, to exist. (The String Quartet No. 8 & the 12 Madrigali are more accessible starting points perhaps.)

What's the op 131/Holliger connection about?

Holliger's 1st quartet seems to me to interact with its tradition in a critical and radical way, rather than in a reactionary or escapist or wilfully bizarre way. Within the string quartet literature, Op. 131 is the only other work so extreme for its time. Also important as a long work that plays continuously with no movement breaks—possibly the earliest such work in the quartet repertoire—and sharing its rhetorical force.

Feldman denied that Neither was an opera, was it staged?

That denial of course makes up part of its status as a 'modern opera': it can't be a 'normal' opera like the old-fashioned ones, not without self-awareness, without a meta-narrative of some kind. (And yes it's been staged, though not with Feldman's approval I don't think.)

[ritter]

Let' see, let' see... Sooo tough to choose only 10, but I'll give it a try (alphabetical by composer):

Luciano Berio: Sinfonía
Pierre Boulez; La Marteau sans maître
Pierre Boulez: Pli selon pli
Pierre Boulez: Répons
Elliott Carter: A Symphony of three orchestras
George Enescu: Symphonie de chambre op. 33
Cristóbal Halffter: Versus
Bruno Maderna: Vioiln Concerto
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Michaels Reise um die Erde
Igor Stravinsky: Agon

EDIT: Looking at my list, I realize it's very biased towards one composer, as well as to orchestral (or ensemble) muisc in general...but what the heck, these are the pieces that (if I have to reduce the number of works to only 10) first come to mind

[Mandryka]

Excellent choice. I might displace Stravinsky for this one, actually (serialism itself being a prewar development).
Sciarrino brings melody—and a sense of line—and a minimalist concentration on process and gradual transformation—to a postwar aesthetic of alienation and loss. He's not afraid of ugliness, nor of repeating ideas and beautiful colours and textures. It's music that requires relativism and pluralism, post-structuralism, to exist. (The String Quartet No. 8 & the 12 Madrigali are more accessible starting points perhaps.)
Holliger's 1st quartet seems to me to interact with its tradition in a critical and radical way, rather than in a reactionary or escapist or wilfully bizarre way. Within the string quartet literature, Op. 131 is the only other work so extreme for its time. Also important as a long work that plays continuously with no movement breaks—possibly the earliest such work in the quartet repertoire—and sharing its rhetorical force.
That denial of course makes up part of its status as a 'modern opera': it can't be a 'normal' opera like the old-fashioned ones, not without self-awareness, without a meta-narrative of some kind. (And yes it's been staged, though not with Feldman's approval I don't think.)

It was Ferneyhough 6 which made me think of op 131 most.