Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the 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 all post-1945
modern musical forms.
Categorization
Generally "contemporary classical music" amounts to:
In the strict historical and musicological terminology, the term "contemporary music" can not be defined.
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).
1945–75
The post-1945 period saw a huge difference between the European traditions and the American (US) tradition. In Europe among the most influential composers were
Pierre Boulez,
Karlheinz Stockhausen and
Luigi Nono. The first two were both pupils of
Olivier Messiaen but developed the
serial technique following
Arnold Schönberg's pupil
Anton Webern.
In America composers like
Milton Babbitt,
Roger Sessions,
George Rochberg.
John Cage,
Henry Cowell,
Philip Glass,
Steve Reich, and
Elliot Carter formed their own ideas. Their music often had a more rhythmical focus.
Rhythm and pulse was even more important for the
minimalist moment also sprung from the new world.
In England the Manchester school, including
Harrison Birtwistle and
Peter Maxwell Davies, rejected the pastoral idiom of composers such as
Ralph Vaughan Williams in favor of a more modernist approach to composition.
In Europe the hard-core serialists were challenged by
Alfred Schnittke and other east-European composers. Their style was
eclectic,
pluralistic and
polystylistic.
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 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 the United States. 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.
Electronic Music
Spectral music
Epitomized by the works of such composers as
Hugues Dufourt,
Gérard Grisey,
Tristan Murail, and
Horaţiu Rădulescu, "spectral music" implies the use of the
spectrum of a sound as a basis of composition. 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.
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).
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 - the use of historical materials, structures, styles, techniques, media, conceptual content, etc., whether by a single composer or those associated with a particular school, movement, or period - is evident to varying degrees in minimalism, post-minimalism, world-music, 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.
Peter Schickele wrote works that parody many different styles of classical music and often draws upon specific works for its inspiration. They were mostly published as
albums under the name of
P. D. Q. Bach, a composer he invented and then pretended to have discovered among the children of
J.S. Bach. Some of these works are published under his own name, however, such as
Eine Kleine Nichtmusik a work which layers quotes from other classical music and many folk melodies over the top of a complete performance of Mozart's
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
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,
Grant Colburn,
Michael Talbot,
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 to be used throughout the contemporary period. It never has been considered shocking or controversial in the larger musical world — as has been demonstrated statistically for the United States, at least (Straus 1999, 322–29, et passim). Composers who have worked in the neoromantic vein after 1975 include
John Williams,
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.
Art rock influence
Similarly, many composers have emerged since the 1980s who are heavily influenced by
art rock, and by
King Crimson in particular. 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
Some 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.
New Simplicity
A movement in Denmark (
Den Ny Enkelhed) in the late nineteen-sixties and another in Germany in the late seventies and early eighties, the former attempting to create more objective, impersonal music, and the latter reacting with a variety of strategies to restore the subjective to composing, both sought to create music using simple textures. The German 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.
New Complexity
New Complexity is a current within today's European contemporary avant-garde music scene, named in reaction to the New Simplicity. Amongst the candidates suggested for having coined the term are the composer
Nigel Osborne, the Belgian musicologist
Harry Halbreich, and the British/Australian musicologist Richard Toop, who gave currency to the concept of a movement with his article "Four Facets of the New Complexity".
Though often
atonal, highly abstract, and
dissonant in sound, the "New Complexity" is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complex
musical notation. This includes
extended techniques,
microtonality, odd
tunings, highly disjunct
melodic contour, innovative
timbres, complex
polyrhythms, unconventional
instrumentations, abrupt changes in loudness and intensity, and so on. The diverse group of composers writing in this style includes
Richard Barrett,
Brian Ferneyhough,
James Dillon,
Michael Finnissy,
James Erber, and
Roger Redgate.
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 "post-minimalism" 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. (See
lumpers/splitters)
New Tools
Improvisation
Extended techniques
Composers often obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres through the use of non-traditional (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)
Opera
Notable composers of operas since 1975 include:
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.
Contemporary music festivals
- Music From Angel Fire , blend of classical & contemporary—World Premiere pieces by contemporary composers
- Sound - North-East Scotland's Festival of New Music
- Concerts are held in historical venues throughout the town center of Pavia, 35km south of Milan. Mid-July.
- "Triennale" Contemporary Music Festival (Venice, Italy)
- Winnipeg New Music Festival (the largest attended new music festival in the world)
- Nevada Encounters of New Music (NEON) http://music.unlv.edu/neon.shtml (Las Vegas, NV)
- "NWEAMO" - New West Electronics Arts and Music Organization www.nweamo.org (San Diego, New York, Berlin, Mexico D.F., Venice)
See also
