Top 11 Favorite Contemporary Composers

[Karl Henning]

Woot!

[71 dB]

Rautavaara was your neighbor and you never mentioned that before!?!?!Q?!?!?!?!?!Q

I think I have mentioned it couple of times during my years here. You haven't been reading. 

"Neighbor" is a bit extravagant term here imo. He lived in the same small suburb isle of Helsinki, a few hundred meters away.

[DavidW]

"Neighbor" is a bit extravagant term here imo. He lived in the same small suburb isle of Helsinki, a few hundred meters away.

Okay that's a big city so many people live in that distance.  In rural America he's practically intruding on your land.  I think Gurn's nearest neighbor is miles away from him.  I live in a small town, lower population density than Helsinki.

[kyjo]

Asia (yeah, I like him...shoot me  )

Don't feel bad, Sarge! I like Asia's music a lot, especially his epic Symphony no. 3.

[kyjo]

Vasks (esp Symphony 2)
Kinsella (esp symphonies 3 and 4)
Arnold Rosner
Rautavaara
Asia (Symphony 3)
Gerber
Jaz Coleman
Tavener
Aho
Poul Ruders
Eshpai

Certainly agree with your choices of Vasks, Kinsella, Rosner, Rautavaara, Asia, Gerber, Aho, and Eshpai. I'm afraid Tavener's music does little for me-it's too "new-agey" for my tastes. I've only heard a few works by Ruders (on a Chandos CD), which were pretty noisy and exciting, but haven't bothered investigating his music further (for no particular reason). Never heard of Jaz Coleman, though; are there any CDs of his music (if there were, I would probably know )?

[kyjo]

**chuckles** .. it is not bad news to me at all but what have you heard? Just curious.

The DG recordings of Boulez conducting his orchestral music, Stockhausen's Gruppen and a few of his other non-electronic works, the Timpani recordings of Xenakis' orchestral music, and some choral/orchestral works by Nono come to mind.

[North Star]

Okay that's a big city so many people live in that distance.  In rural America he's practically intruding on your land.  I think Gurn's nearest neighbor is miles away from him.  I live in a small town, lower population density than Helsinki.

It's not like there aren't areas with relatively - or very - low population density in Finland 

In no particular order:

Pärt (for the earlier works)
Aho
Lindberg
Salonen
Boulez
Kurtag
Rihm
Saariaho
Henning

[DavidW]

Is Oulu one of them?

[North Star]

Is Oulu one of them?

Well Oulu is smaller than Helsinki (or a couple of other southern cities) but it's the largest city in North Finland, and possibly in the north of Nordic countries, too.
East Finland and Lapland are the areas with really low population densities.

[Karl Henning]

Has anyone seen the Lapp of luxury lately?

[vandermolen]

Certainly agree with your choices of Vasks, Kinsella, Rosner, Rautavaara, Asia, Gerber, Aho, and Eshpai. I'm afraid Tavener's music does little for me-it's too "new-agey" for my tastes. I've only heard a few works by Ruders (on a Chandos CD), which were pretty noisy and exciting, but haven't bothered investigating his music further (for no particular reason). Never heard of Jaz Coleman, though; are there any CDs of his music (if there were, I would probably know )?

Ruders Symphony, with its rather Langgaard sounding title,  'To heaven rejoicing-cast down unto death' (Chandos, Segerstam) has the most eloquent and haunting slow movement, based on two repeating chords, which I'm sure you would like. I like Tavener's 'The Whale' the opening of which always makes me laugh.

[Mr Bloom]

Brett Dean
Huck Hodge
Heiner Goebbels
Justè Janulytè
Niels Rosing-Schow
Pierre Jodlowski
Peter Maxwell Davies (he doesn't seem to get much love around here - and although I would have says a few weeks ago that his best pieces were behind him, his latest symphony (the tenth) that premiered a few days ago is a masterpiece)
Jan Van De Putte
George Crumb
Francesco Filidei
Leonardo Balada

[Ken B]

That's okay, Ray. Are you familiar with the music of any other Canadian composers (I recall you discussing Eckhardt-Gramatte, though)? It appears that Canada hardly does anything to promote their music, which is quite sad (forgive me if I'm incorrect). The situation isn't much better in the US, though!

Depends what you mean. Canadian performers are pretty prominent these days.
Canadian composition was seriously afflicted by academic serialism. My friend doing math and music was essentially forced into serialism by his advisor for instance.
I highly recommend KMH by Lubomyr Melnyck. Malcolm Forsyth is quite popular.
Srul Glik used to get performed regularly. Robert Aitken gets played. Harry Somers (too often).
And the people forget the older ones. Healy Willan. It's not widely accepted but Bach, Haydn, and Rossini were actually Canadinan. 

[Moonfish]

Errr.....hmmmmm........mmmmmm......
I think that is why I need to read these threads!   

[Philo]

01. Liza Lim
02. Marta Gornicka
03. Marta Ptaszynska
04. Diamanda Galas
05. Meredith Monk
06. Arvo Part
07. Ingram Marshall
08. Howard Skempton
09. Michael Gordon
10. Hans Zimmer
11. Pascal Dusapin

[North Star]

Are they really your contemporaries, John?

[Mirror Image]

Are they really your contemporaries, John?

Whoops...I didn't even read the part about 'Contemporary'. Silly me

[Moonfish]

Mmmm, is it heresy to put Howard Shore forward in this thread.....     
I tend to view him as a contemporary composer and find his music quite engaging. Especially the full versions.  Or is this considered to be too "Hollywood" and taboo in the thread?
My whole family gets a kick out his pieces and when the blazing horns get going the house shakes. Could one argue that composers like Shore can be a gateway for some kids (and adults for that matter) into listening to symphonic works and possibly a gateway to classical music?

[North Star]

Mmmm, is it heresy to put Howard Shore forward in this thread.....     
I tend to view him as a contemporary composer and find his music quite engaging. Especially the full versions.  Or is this considered to be too "Hollywood" and taboo in the thread?
My whole family gets a kick out his pieces and when the blazing horns get going the house shakes. Could one argue that composers like Shore can be a gateway for some kids (and adults for that matter) into listening to symphonic works and possibly a gateway to classical music?

Nobody ought to mind it, for sure. Earlier today they played some of the LotR soundtrack (Fellowship: Concerning Hobbits), and it was very enjoyable indeed.

I'm not sure how directly soundtracks of original music make people listen to classical music, probably they help a bit at least.

[NJ Joe]

Adams
Reich
Ligeti
Penderecki
Carter
Part
Glass
Crumb