Are there any good books about 20th/21st Century composers like this, with more updated information?
The Companion To 20th-century Music
by Norman LebrechtThis is a good book I keep using as reference, but the publication year was 1996 and some recent composers are missing.
I would like to know not only famous composers but also as many contemporary composers as possible, with descriptions of their styles, list of works, relationship with other composers (influence, pupils, mentors, etc.)
A summary of books mentioned in this thread, including not only recommended books but also that are not read by anyone or yet published.
Books about music historyMusic in the Early Twentieth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music by
Richard Taruskin (pub. 2009)
Music in the Late Twentieth Century: The Oxford History of Western Music by
Richard Taruskin (pub. 2009)
A Concise History of Modern Music by
Paul Griffiths : Debussy ~ Boulez (pub. 1978)
The Rest Is Noise by
Alex Ross : 1900 ~ 2000 (pub. 2007)
Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries by
Joseph Auner : Mahler ~ Chen Yi(?) (pub. 2013)
The Companion To 20th-century Music by
Norman Lebrecht : 1900 ~ 1996 (pub. 1996)
New Music at Darmstadt: Nono, Stockhausen, Cage, and Boulez (Music Since 1900) by
Dr Martin Iddon (pub. 2013)
The Music of William Schuman, Vincent Persichetti, and Peter Mennin: Voices of Stone and Steel by
Walter Simmons (pub. 2010)
The New Music: The Avant-garde since 1945 by
Reginald Smith Brindle : 1945 ~ 1986 (pub. 1987, 2nd edition)
Modern Music - The avant garde since 1945 by
Paul Griffiths : 1945 ~ 1981 (pub. 1981)
Modern Music and After by
Paul Griffiths : 1945 ~ 21th Century (Lachenman, Sciarrino, etc.) (2011, 3rd edition)
Experimental Music by
Michael Nyman : 1950 ~ 1970, Cage, Cardew, Boulez, Berio, Stockhausen (pub. 1999, 2nd edition)
American Music in the Twentieth Century by
Kyle Gann : Ives ~ 1990s (pub. 1997)
Give My Regards to Eight Street: Collected Writings of Morton Feldman by
Morton Feldman : New York School in the 1950s (pub. 2004)
The New York Schools of Music and the Visual Arts by
Steven Johnson : 1st half of 20th Century (Cage, Feldman, Brown, Tudor) (pub. 2001)
This Life of Sounds: Evenings for New Music in Buffalo by
Renee Levine Packer : 1964 ~ 1980, new music in America (pub. 2010)
Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice by
Kyle Gann : 1980 ~ 1990s, Music in NYC (pub. 2006)
Electronic & Computer Music by
Peter Manning : 1945 ~ present (pub. 2013, 4th edition)
"a history of modern composition since 1989" by
Tim Rutherford-Johnson (not published yet) : 1989 ~ present?
A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music by
George E. Lewis : 1965 ~ (pub. 2009)
Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts After Cage by
Branden W. Joseph : 1960s art (pub. 2011)
Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis by
Michael Haas (2013)
Books about individual composersStockhausen:
Other Planets: The Music of Karlheinz Stockhausen by
Robin Maconie (pub. 2005)
Ligeti:
György Ligeti: Music of the Imagination by
Richard Steinitz (pub. 2003)
Wolff:
Christian Wolff by
Michael Hicks and Chrisitan Asplund (pub. 2012)
Schoenberg:
Schoenberg (Master Musicians Series) by
Malcolm MacDonald (pub. 2008, 2nd edition)
Schoenberg:
Arnold Schoenberg's Journey by
Allen Shawn (pub. 2002)
Stravinsky:
Experiencing Stravinsky: A Listener's Companion by
Robin Maconie (pub. 2013)
Stravinsky:
Stravinsky's Late Music by
Joseph N. Straus (pub. 2004)
Stravinsky:
Stravinsky: A Creative Spring: Russia and France, 1882-1934 by
Stephen Walsh (pub. 2002)
Stravinsky:
Stravinsky: The Second Exile: France and America, 1934-1971 by
Stephen Walsh (pub. 2008)
Stravinsky:
Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works by
Eric Walter White (pub. 1985, 2nd edition)
Bartók:
My Father by
Peter Bartók (pub. 2002)
Cardew:
Cornelius Cardew - A Life Unfinished by
John Tilbury (pub. 2008)
Boulez, André Schaeffner:
Correspondance 1954 - 1970; présentée et annotée par Rosângela Pereira de TugnyCage:
Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists by Kay Larson (2013)
Boulez, Cage:
Pierre Boulez John Cage:Correspondance et Documents edited by Jean-Jacques Nattiez, Robert Piencikowski
Boulez:
Entretien avec Pierre Boulez by François Meïmoun (2010)