Contemporary Classical Period
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to a period that started in the
mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a
broader sense to refer to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music from the death of
Anton Webern (including serial music, Concrete music, experimental music, etc.)
History
Background
At the beginning of the 20th century, composers of classical music were experimenting with an
increasingly dissonant pitch language, which sometimes yielded atonal pieces. Following
World War I, as a backlash against what they saw as the increasingly exaggerated gestures
and formlessness of late Romanticism, certain composers adopted a neoclassic style, which
sought to recapture the balanced forms and clearly perceptible thematic processes of earlier
styles; see also New Objectivity and Social Realism). After World War II, modernist composers
sought to achieve greater levels of control in their composition process (e.g., through the use of
the twelve tone technique and later total serialism). At the same time, conversely, composers
also experimented with means of abdicating control, exploring indeterminacy or aleatoric
processes in smaller or larger degrees. Technological advances led to the birth of electronic
music. Experimentation with tape loops and repetitive textures contributed to the advent of
minimalism. Still other composers started exploring the theatrical potential of the musical
performance (performance art, mixed media, fluxus).
Developments since the 1970s
Since the 1970s there has been increasing stylistic variety, with far too many schools to count,
name or label. However, in general, there are two broad trends.
The first is the continuation of modern avant-garde musical traditions, including
experimental music,
The second are schools which sought to revitalize a tonal style based on previous
common practice.
Movements
Modernism
Many of the key figures of the high modern movement are alive, or only recently deceased, and
there is also still an extremely active core of composers (e.g., Elliott Carter), performers, and
listeners who continue to advance the ideas and forms of Modernism.
Serialism is one of the most important post-war movements among the high modernist schools.
Serialism, more specifically named "integral" or "compound" serialism, was led by composers
such as Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna, Luigi Nono, and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Europe, and
by Milton Babbitt, Donald Martino, and Charles Wuorinen in America. Some of their
compositions use an ordered set or several such sets, which may be the basis for the whole
composition, while others use "unordered" sets for the same purpose. The term is also often
used for dodecaphony, or twelve-tone technique, which is alternatively regarded as the model
for integral serialism.
Active modernist composers include Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Goehr, Thomas Adès,
Magnus Lindberg and Gunther Schuller.
New Complexity
New Complexity is a current within today's European contemporary avant-garde music scene,
named in reaction to the New Simplicity. Among this diverse group are Richard Barrett, Brian
Ferneyhough, James Dillon, Michael Finnissy, James Erber, and Roger Redgate.
Electronic Music
Spectral music
Epitomized by the works of such composers as Hugues Dufourt, Gérard Grisey, Tristan
Murail, and Horatiu Radulescu, "spectral music" implies the use of the spectrum of a sound as a
basis of composition. Spectralism can thus be seen as a logical continuation of the works of
Debussy, Varèse, Messiaen as well as any other composer concerned with the timbre of music.
Spectral composition often concerns sound synthesis, the theoretical reconstruction of a
physical sound; Fast Fourier Transform is frequently used to analyze the overtone series of a
sound, and the material used for a musical piece derived from the data hence attained. Much of
Kaija Saariaho's and the last few pieces of Claude Vivier's music are influenced by the
spectralists.
In Romania an important spectralist trend developed since late 1960. Romanian spectral music
asserts from traditional Romanian folk music roots. A number of spectral composers are from
Romania; these include Iancu Dumitrescu, Octav Nemescu, Ana-Maria Avram, Costin, Calin
Ioachimescu, and Corneliu Cezar. Other spectral composers include Philippe Hurel, Michael
Levinas, and Phillippe Leroux, Joshua Fineberg, and Julian Anderson.
Post-modernism
Explanations of what post-modernism is, and why it is influential, vary widely, as do opinions
regarding whether post-modernism is "good" for music (or even good per se). There is wide
agreement that composers of instrumental concert music and "art music" have absorbed ideas
from the wider culture and that these influences can be detected in their music. Examples
include polystylism (juxtaposition of fragments of music of different genres and styles, collage,
bricolage), the use of found sounds, recorded voices, the shift from increasingly chromatic
surfaces to more triadic ones or the reverse, the use of new instrumental combinations, the use
of instruments extraneous to the Western concert tradition or altogether non-Western
instruments, and the combining of composition with video and other visual media.
Key figures include the Scottish composer James MacMillan (who draws on sources as diverse
as plainchant, South American 'liberation theology', Scottish folksongs, and Polish avant-garde
techniques of the 1960s), the American Michael Torke (drawing on European music of the early
nineteenth century, minimalism, jazz, and popular music), and Mark-Anthony Turnage from
the UK (drawing from jazz, rock, Stravinsky, and Berg).
Polystylism (eclecticism)
Some authors equate polystylism with eclecticism, while others make a sharp distinction.
Polystylism is the use of multiple styles or techniques of music, sometimes within the same
composition, and is seen as a postmodern characteristic. Polystylist composers include Luciano
Berio, William Bolcom, Peter Maxwell Davies, Sofia Gubaidulina, Roberto Carnevale, Hans
Werner Henze, George Rochberg, Frederic Rzewski, Giovanni Sollima, Alfred Schnittke,
Frank Zappa, and John Zorn.
Historicism
Musical historicism is evident to varying degrees in minimalism, post-minimalism, worldmusic, and other genres in which tonal traditions have been sustained or have undergone a
significant revival in recent decades. Some post-minimalist works employ medieval and other
genres associated with early music, such as the "Oi me lasso" and other laude of Gavin Bryars.
Other composers have assimilated elements of medieval, renaissance, baroque, classical, or
romantic styles in varying degrees, including Benjamin Bagby, Thomas Binkley, Easley
Blackwood, René Clemencic, Joseph Dillon Ford, Vladimir Godar, Ladislav Kupkovič, Winfried
Michel, George Rochberg, Christopher Rouse and Jordi Savall.
The historicist movement is closely related to the emergence of musicology and the Early
Music Revival. A number of historicist composers have been influenced by their intimate
familiarity with the instrumental practices of earlier periods (Hendrik Bouman, Alexandre
Danilevsky, Paulo Galvão, Roman Turovsky-Savchuk). The musical historicism movement has
also been stimulated by the formation of such international organizations as the Delian Society
and Vox Saeculorum.
Neo-romanticism
The vocabulary of extended tonality which flourished in the first years of the 20th century
continues through the contemporary period, though it never has been considered shocking or
controversial in the larger musical world—as has been demonstrated statistically for the
United States, at least. Composers who have worked in the neoromantic vein after 1975 include
John Corigliano, George Rochberg (in some of his works), David Del Tredici, Ladislav
Kupkovič, Gian Carlo Menotti, Krzysztof Penderecki, Isang Yun, Christopher Rouse, and
Lorenzo Ferrero.
New Simplicity
A movement in Germany in the late seventies and early eighties, reacting with a variety of
strategies to restore the subjective to composing. New Simplicity's best-known composer is
Wolfgang Rihm, who strives for the emotional volatility of late 19th-century Romanticism and
early 20th-century Expressionism. Called Die neue Einfachheit in German, it has also been
termed "New Romanticism," "New Subjectivity," "New Inwardness," "New Sensuality," "New
Expressivity," and "New Tonality."
Styles found in other countries sometimes associated with the German New Simplicity
movement include the so-called "Holy Minimalism" of the Pole Henryk Górecki and the
Estonian Arvo Pärt (in their works after 1970), as well as Englishman John Tavener, who
unlike the New Simplicity composers have turned back to Medieval and Renaissance models,
however, rather than to 19th-century romanticism for inspiration. Important representative
works include Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" (1976) by Górecki, Cantus in
memoriam Benjamin Britten (1977) by Pärt, and The Veil of the Temple (2002) by Tavener, "Silent
Songs" (1977) by Valentin Silvestrov.
Art rock influence
Similarly, many composers have emerged since the 1980s who are heavily influenced by art
rock. Many, such as Scott Johnson and Steven Mackey, started out as rock musicians and only
later moved into the realm of scored music. Other notable composers who draw on rock include
Christopher Rouse, Marc Mellits, Evan Ziporyn, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, David Lang,
Elliott Sharp, John Zorn, Steve Martland, Ben Johnston, Anne LeBaron, Paul Dresher, Kitty
Brazelton, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Robert Paterson, Annie Gosfield,
and Nick Didkovsky. Many of these composers (Gordon, Lang, Mellits, Dresher, Wolfe,
Ziporyn, Martland, Branca) are post-minimalist in orientation, but some (Didkovsky, Brazelton
and Rouse) are very much not.
"World music" influence
An increasing number of composers mix western and non-western instruments, including
gamelan from Indonesia, Chinese traditional instruments, ragas from Indian Classical music.
There is also an exploration of eastern-European and non-Western tonalities, even in relatively
traditionally structured works. This trend was present already in the 1920s and 1930s, for
example in the music of Béla Bartók, Henry Cowell, Colin McPhee, Alan Hovhaness, and Lou
Harrison, and slightly later in the work of Olivier Messiaen, Chou Wen-chung, Halim El-Dabh,
and Peggy Glanville-Hicks. The trend can be found also in the context of post-minimalist
works, such as Janice Giteck's and Evan Ziporyn's Balinese-influenced works. Some composers
have used traditional instruments from their own cultures, such as Tōru Takemitsu, Minoru
Miki, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, or Julian Kytasty. World music influence may also be found in the
context of post-classic tonality, such as in the music of Bright Sheng, or in the context of
thoroughly modernist works by composers such as Claude Vivier.
Minimalism and post-minimalism
The minimalist generation still has a prominent role in new composition. Philip Glass has been
expanding his symphony cycle, while John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, a choral
work commemorating the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, won a Pulitzer Prize.
Steve Reich has explored electronic opera (most notably in Three Tales) and Terry Riley has
been active in composing instrumental music and music theatre. But beyond the minimalists
themselves, the tropes of non-functional triadic harmony are now commonplace, even among
composers who are not regarded as minimalists per se.
Many composers are expanding the resources of minimalist music to include rock and world
instrumentation and rhythms, serialism, and many other techniques. Kyle Gann considers
William Duckworth's Time Curve Preludes as the first "post-minimalism" piece, and labels John
Adams as a "post-minimalist" composer, rather than as a minimalist. Gann defines "postminimalism" as the search for greater harmonic and rhythmic complexity by composers such as
Mikel Rouse and Glenn Branca. Another notable characteristic is storytelling and emotional
expression taking precedence over technique. Post-minimalism is also a movement in painting
and sculpture that began in the late 1960s.
Conceptualism
When Duchamp displayed a urinal in an art museum, he struck the most visible blow for
artistic conceptualism. Music conceptualism found a champion in John Cage and, a bit later, in
the composers associated with the Fluxus movement. A conceptualist work is an act whose
musical importance draws from the frame, rather than the content of the work. An example is
Alvin Singleton's 56 Blows, a work based on a speech from the floor of the United States Senate.
New Tools
Improvisation
Extended techniques
Composers often obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres through the use of nontraditional (or unconventional) instrumental techniques. Examples of extended techniques
include bowing under the bridge of a string instrument or with two different bows, using key
clicks on a wind instrument, blowing and overblowing into a wind instrument without a
mouthpiece, or inserting object on top of the strings of a piano. Composers’ use of extended
techniques is not specific to contemporary music (for instance, Berlioz’s use of col legno in his
Symphonie Fantastique is an extended technique) and it transcends compositional schools and
styles.
Twentieth-century exponents of extended techniques include Henry Cowell (use of fists and
arms on the keyboard, playing inside the piano), John Cage (prepared piano), and George
Crumb. The Kronos Quartet, which has been among the most active ensembles in promoting
contemporary American works for string quartet, takes delight in music which stretches the
manner in which sound can be drawn out of instruments.
European composers who make heavy use of extended techniques include Luigi Nono, Luciano
Berio, Helmut Lachenmann, Salvatore Sciarrino, Heinz Holliger, Carlo Forlivesi and Georgia
Spiropoulos.
Developments by medium
Orchestra
Inclusion of new instruments (amplified instruments, rock/jazz instruments,
synthesizers, computer, non-western instruments, pre-recorded parts, experimental
custom-made instruments)
Concertos for non-western instruments (Nancy Van de Vate)
Inclusion of visuals
Opera
Notable composers of operas since 1975 include:
John Adams
Thomas Adès
Robert Ashley
Luciano Berio
Harrison Birtwistle
John Cage
Roberto Carnevale
Elliott Carter
Brian Ferneyhough
Michael Daugherty
Lorenzo Ferrero
Philip Glass
Elliot Goldenthal
Ricky Ian Gordon
Hans Werner Henze
York Höller
André Laporte
Richard Meale
Olivier Messiaen
Olga Neuwirth
Luigi Nono
Per Nørgård
Michael Nyman
Einojuhani Rautavaara
Kaija Saariaho
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Judith Weir
Chamber
Choral
At the turn of the century, Eric Whitacre, whose music combines tonal music with tone
clusters and similar experimental techniques has received considerable attention. Other choral
composers of note include Karl Jenkins, Arvo Pärt, John Rutter, Veljo Tormis, and Morten
Lauridsen.
Concert band
The medium of the concert band has undergone a revival in recent years, with contributions by
composers such as Andrew Boysen, Mark Camphouse, Michael Colgrass, Michael Daugherty,
David Del Tredici, Karel Husa, David Maslanka, Olivier Messiaen, Joseph Schwantner,
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Frank Ticheli, and Eric Whitacre.
Cinema
Contemporary classical music can be heard in film scores such as John Williams' original score
for War of the Worlds, Tan Dun's original score for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Philip
Glass's score for The Hours and Kundun, as well as his scores for Godfrey Reggio's Qatsi
Trilogy of films: Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi; John Corigliano's original
score/soundtrack for François Girard's film The Red Violin; Michael Nyman's scores for Peter
Greenaway's films, Shigeru Kan-no's score for Der Rosarote Elefant or Zbigniew Preisner's
scores for Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors. Other directors have used contemporary music
in soundtracks. Stanley Kubrick, for example, in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Eyes Wide
Shut (1999) used music by György Ligeti, and in The Shining (1980) music by both Ligeti and
Krzysztof Penderecki. Both Jean-Luc Godard, in La Chinoise (1967), and Nicolas Roeg in
Walkabout (1971) used music by Karlheinz Stockhausen.