Top 20th/21st Century Artists on Rhapsody Online

Claude Debussy

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:12:32 -0800

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was the first composer to radically break with the Romantic tradition, giving rise to the explorations of sound and form that dominated the twentieth century. In sharp contrast to the Wagnerian attention to leitmotif and development, Debussy's music deals with light, color and mood. Startling dissonances alternate with Eastern-influenced pentatonic harmonies and rich chordal textures that later influenced jazz. His non-linear structures move mysteriously from one sound-image to the next, leaving the listener on his own to find an overall unity or pattern. Scholars have found in his pieces the Golden Ratio, a common pattern in nature which gives Debussy's music its natural, organic quality. Critics dubbed Debussy's style Impressionism after the mysterious, sensuous landscapes of Monet and Cezanne. Debussy believed his music captured the essence of French culture, emphasizing clarity, natural beauty and elegance over the solemnity and over-ripe developments of the Romantic composers. - Noah Enelow

Philip Glass

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:50:56 -0800

Although he's one of the most influential figures in twentieth century music, Philip Glass has nevertheless earned the ire of some of his fellow Avant-Gardists for both his enormous success and his coinage of minimalist theory. A Julliard-trained classical musician whose ideas were greatly transformed when he was hired to transcribe Ravi Shankar's work, Glass embraced rhythm and repetition over the standard classical rules -- rules which had previously applied even to Avant-Garde classical. He was met with massive success during the '70s and '80s, working in concert halls, theatre, opera, film and even on pop recordings. Though often accused of overt repetition, it must be noted that Glass' music has become increasingly rich over the years, while still managing to maintain a certain accessibility on a basic, emotional level. His advances have trickled down into both the popular music we hear (David Bowie, Aphex Twin) and the alternate musical avenues that post-Glass artists are free to explore. - Nick Dedina

Erik Satie

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 10:32:38 -0700

Few composers deserve the phrase "ahead of his time" more than the French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925). Ideologically committed to a life of poverty, the composer removed his art from the unconscious confinements of class and the corruptible influences of popular acceptance. Though he did study briefly at the Conservatoire de Musique et de Declamation, Satie was primarily self-taught, a luxury that freed him to explore ideas as he found them. As a result, he broke with convention to such an extent as to become the conceptual godfather of the twentieth century's Avant-Garde movement. In an environment where Impressionism and Wagnerism ruled, Satie injected his work with dry, ironic wit and deceptively simplistic progressions. Yet underneath his seemingly casual whimsy lie crisp conceptual models explored with such discipline as to become vaguely spiritual. "Trois Gymnopedies," one of his most well-known works, depicts ancient Greek gymnastic exercises. "Vexations," made famous by a John Cage performance, consists of 152 notes and is to be played 840 times -- a process which lasts over eighteen hours. Godfather of the Avant-Garde, indeed. - Doug Russell

Sergei Rachmaninov

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:34 -0800

Sergei Rachmaninov's music is so lushly sensual that even the middlebrow Tom Ewell played it in a vain attempt to seduce Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. While "Chopsticks" turned out to float Miss Monroe's beautiful boat, the rest of us can sink into the plush splendor of Rachmaninov's musical world. A disciple of Tchaikovsky, he was one of the 20th Century's few great composers who stayed true to classical ideals rather than expanding the form. His most famous works, like the exquisite "Vocalise" for example, sound far removed from the avant-garde world of Stravinsky. A brilliant pianist whose massive hands allowed for an expansive reach across the keys, many of Rachmaninov's pieces have become musical decathlons of technical prowess. This was illustrated to sweat-popping effect in the hit film Shine. - Nick Dedina

George Gershwin

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:15 -0800

One of the true giants of American music, George Gershwin combined exceptional songcraft with a keen interest in both the new jazz and European experimental scenes, and in the process forever changed the way songs are written and performed. Gershwin brought sophisticated song structures to the dozens of great standards he wrote with his brother Ira -- "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "I Got Rhythm," and "Someone To Watch Over Me" are among his many classics. His depression-era political satire, "Of Thee I Sing," won the first Pulitzer Prize for a musical entry. He dazzled audiences with his longer pieces, "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris," as well as with his tenacious piano playing. He wrote what may be the only great American opera, "Porgy and Bess." The fact that he did all this in a mad rush is all the more impressive, as the young composer died of a brain tumor in 1937. - Nick Dedina

John Corigliano

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:49:22 -0800

American composer most famous for his critically acclaimed, neo-Romantic film scores. He received "Best Original Score" Academy Award nominations for Altered States (1980) and The Red Violin (1999). - Doug Russell

Sergey Prokofiev

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:23:24 -0800

A brilliant pianist and composer of symphonies, concertos, ballets, operas, film scores and more, Prokofiev lived and worked during a tumultuous time in Russia, writing mostly from the 1920s through the '40s. He started his career with adventurous pieces, progressively altering highly chromatic harmonies for a sound that was very modern at the time. Socialist realism forced Prokofiev to simplify his style in order to reflect the simplicity of the common man -- an image of the proletariat that Stalin was impressing on all artists at the time (those who didn't cooperate often "disappeared" permanently). Romeo and Juliet, Peter and the Wolf and Alexander Nevsky are perfect examples of Prokofiev's ability to obey Stalin's dictates while (somewhat subversively) maintaining his artistic integrity. He injected warmth and freshness into his pieces using strong, unclouded melodies with progressive orchestration and harmony. - Jessy Terry

David Darling

Sun, 4 Oct 2009 09:42:31 -0700

Listening to David Darling, you get a sense of an elderly classical musician slowly drawing his bow across his cello for the last time, drowning in a sea of self-pity so viscous that it's almost pleasurable. This is misery that likes company, and manages to sound pretty in the process. - Sarah Bardeen

Leonard Bernstein

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:51:32 -0800

Aaron Copland

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:49:14 -0800

In the first half of the twentieth century, Aaron Copland was at the forefront of American music. He was a skillful and determined composer who incorporated jazz, European post-Romanticism, and even serialism into his works. But it was his distinctively American pieces that have made him famous -- they're vigorous, energetic, highly rhythmic and extremely accessible, and Copland's original audiences loved them. Listeners still do: Fanfare for the Common Man and the ballets Billy the Kid, Rodeo and Appalachian Spring are burned into the American psyche. But the appeal he has as a popular artist does not make for work of poor quality. Even the most ostensibly jingoistic or simplistic of his pieces is multilayered, incredibly dense and harmonically sophisticated, revealing a formidable mind at work. For instance, the composer's best-known ballet Appalachian Spring is a powerful and emotional document of the pioneer spirit that subtly moves from austere phrases to full, lush textures. The piece flirts with dissonance, quotes from traditional folk tunes and utilizes effective and propulsive changes in meter. Copland was shrewd enough to craft art that still touches people, and talented enough to ensure it lasted beyond his lifetime. - Will Lerner

Michael Nyman

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:51:29 -0800

Michael Nyman is one of those rare composers whose scholarly and musical accomplishments have both brought him considerable fame. A film composer of the finest caliber, Nyman has contributed scores to several Peter Greenway films, including The Cook, The Thief, Her Wife and His Lover, and Prospero's Books, his modular style providing the perfect complement to director's beautifully composed images. His non-film music falls on the lighter side of the Avant-Garde, abandoning the bold, abstract statements of Stockhausen in favor the more accessible ethnic sound of "The Michael Nyman Band." But just as important as his musical work is his scholarly work. His 1974 book Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond has become an essential text for both casual connoisseurs of the genre to well-versed academics. And, lest we forget, Nyman coined the universally accepted musical term which many use to classify some of his own work: minimalism. - Doug Russell

Anne-Sophie Mutter

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:31 -0700

- Daphne Carr

Maurice Ravel

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:12:33 -0800

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a paramount French composer who had an incredible ability to write works for orchestra and solo piano with equal aptitude. Brought up in Paris, he studied at the Conservatoire from 1889-'95, when he met two heroes, Chabrier and Satie. As a young man, his piano pieces and songs established his precise, imitative styles and, though he failed to win the Prix de Rome in five consecutive attempts, he left the Conservatoire to produce defining works of French impressionism, neo-classicism, and highly imaginative music that explored the dangers and delights of far-flung corners of the globe. After a long illness he died in Paris in 1937. - Nate Cavalieri

Igor Stravinsky

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:49 -0800

Amongst composers who operated in the first half of the 20th century, Igor Stravinsky has few peers. The Russian-born student of Rimsky-Korsakov was born in 1882 and rose to fame through three extraordinary pieces for Ballets Russes -- 1910's The Firebird, 1911's Patrushka, and 1913's The Rite of Spring. The thundering bass drum of The Rite, which literally incited a riot at its opening, marked a lasting sea change for Western music: its supreme dissonance broke down the last walls of modernism. World War I prevented the ballet from touring, so he wrote chamber works and took a startling interest in 18th-century Italian music, resulting in a revivalist movement known as neo-classicism (best heard in 1920's Pulcinella). Even though he held French and, later, American citizenship, his Russian roots were deep, as heard in orchestrations of Tchaikovsky, settings of Russian folk tunes, and his return to the Orthodox Church. In 1939, he moved to the US, producing late works in The Rake's Progress and 1945's Symphony in Three Movements. He conducted and made recordings until his death in 1971. - Nate Cavalieri

Gustav Holst

Sat, 7 Nov 2009 11:26:22 -0800

Born in Cheltenham, England, on September 21, 1874, Gustav Holst's reputation today rests on his powerful 1916 work for orchestra, the Planets. He studied at the Royal Conservatory where he began a lifelong friendship with Vaughan Williams. Like Vaughan Williams, much of his work shows interest in traditional English folksongs, but, as a professional trombonist, Holst's orchestral scores also favor forceful brass writing in the style of Wagner, Strauss, and Stravinsky. His eclectic output also includes concertos written in confident neo-classical style, impressionistic operas and the widely-performed 1917 cantata the Hymn of Jesus. He died in London on May 25, 1934. - Nate Cavalieri

Steve Reich

Wed, 7 Oct 2009 12:13:42 -0700

Famous for his work with phasing, Reich has become one of the most recognized and popular of the American Minimalists, alongside Philip Glass. Reich's early phasing experiments involved playing several tape loops simultaneously, letting them gradually fall out of phase over a period of time. The result was a dynamic generation and degeneration of unexpected rhythms and harmonies. This technique is most directly illustrated in It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966). During the late 1960s and into the '70s, Reich applied the technique to acoustic instruments, composing Violin Phase (1967) and the popular Drumming (1971). By Music for 18 Musicians (1976), the composer had garnered both critical and popular praise, which gave him license to explore more personal subjects. Tehillim (1981), Different Trains (1988) and his multimedia opera The Cave (1990-93) all explore aspects of his Jewish heritage. Though phasing techniques figure prominently in these works, the Minimalist preoccupation with process shares the stage with content, a marriage which has earned him enormous record sales and praise from listeners who tend to approach new music with extreme caution. - Doug Russell

Arvo Part

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:21 -0700

One of contemporary classical's bestsellers, this Estonian composer's body of work is both heartbreakingly fragile and deeply contemplative. He began his career as a staunch serialist, using the style's dissonance as protest against his Soviet government. However, by the end of the '60s, Part's style shifted to what he calls "tintinnabulation," or the sound of bells. Marked by a minimalist focus on subtle, exact tone, his musical language harkens back to the simple, deep harmonies of early music while remaining absolutely modern. The music does not change key throughout the course of a given composition, giving the work its characteristic timeless, meditative quality. Themes of repentance and rebirth surround much of his work, which, choral work in particular, is unabashedly spiritual and absolutely sublime. - Doug Russell

Samuel Barber

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:25 -0800

Though the structural logic of American-born composer Samuel Barber proves him to be a dutiful student of Bach, the emotional potency of his most famous works -- namely Overture to the School for Scandal (Op. 5, 1931), Second Essay for Orchestra (Op. 17, 1942), and the ubiquitous Adagio for strings (Op. 11, 1938) -- evidence a great devotion to Brahms' dramatic romanticism. Born in West Chester, Penn., on March 9, 1910, Barber entered the Curtis Institute at 14. There, he met his lifelong lover and collaborator, Gian Carlo Menotti, who supplied libretti for Barber's operas, including Vanessa, which won the Pulitzer. During the '30s and '40s, Barber was among the most successful and widely-performed American composers, and many of his works, including his Violin Concerto (Op. 14, 1939) and a setting of James Agee's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Op. 24, 1948), are widely performed today. Though his 1966 opera, Anthony and Cleopatra, debuted at the opening of the Metropolitan Opera House, it was so poorly received that he was discouraged and unproductive during his final years. He died in New York on January 23, 1981. - Nate Cavalieri

Astor Piazzolla

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:47 -0800

Probably the most famous artist to ever emerge from Argentina, Astor Piazzolla was the creator of the nuevo Tango. Long before bringing the tensions of the street corner into the genteel salons where Tango was sheltered, he learned to play the bandoneon (a button accordion) as a child in New York, where he also got his first taste of jazz. He formed the Octeto Buenos Aires in 1955 and, in 1960, his Quinteto Nuevo Tango, an ensemble composed of violin, guitar, bass, piano and bandoneon. His sense of modernity and understanding of jazz were incorporated into bold arrangements that ebb and flow between gentle melodic phrases and tempestuous crescendos. The 1970s and '80s found him playing to larger worldwide audiences and finally attaining respect at home in Argentina. A prolific composer and recording artist, Piazzolla's popularity after his 1992 death continues to grow as fans explore the labyrinth of passion on display in his music. This legend breathed new, vital life into an old form. - Robert Leaver

E.S. Posthumus

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:19:45 -0700

The Bloody Beetroots

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:52:23 -0800

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:51:36 -0800

Ralph Vaughn Williams was an influential English composer, savior of British folk music and song, and blood relative to Charles Darwin. He studied at the Royal Conservatory and Cambridge, then later with Bruch and Ravel.

In 1904, he became a major champion and preservationist of English folk songs, which were fast becoming extinct due to the widespread circulation of printed music in rural areas. Visiting the countryside, he transcribed and preserved many songs himself, and his fascination with the beauty of the music and its anonymous history greatly shaped his own compositions. In part due to his close study of his country's folk music, Vaughan Williams' music has often been said to be characteristically English, which may have been best categorized by Fuller Maitland, who noted that when confronted with Vaughan Williams' style "one is never quite sure whether one is listening to something very old or very new." - Nate Cavalieri

Bryan EL

Sat, 4 Jul 2009 12:39:40 -0700

John Rutter

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:38:55 -0800

Bela Bartok

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:30 -0700

A laundry list of words can be associated with Bela Bartok: daring, uncompromising, nationalistic, revolutionary. There's no question that this Hungarian composer was a visionary: along with friend Zoltan Kodaly, he is noted as being one of the first ethnomusicologists, going out into the countryside and documenting countless folk songs and all the varying folk idioms in existence. He then absorbed these elements and created music that was as original and unheard of as anything composed in the early part of the twentieth century. Pieces such as Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and the Concerto for Orchestra -- easily two of his most famous works -- are simply stunning for their vigor, their heightened emotional states, and their unique and often disturbing sense of melodic and harmonic structure. The Allegro movement of the former, for example, is a cataclysm of cascading scales and jagged themes, an unparalleled whirlwind of sound. An accomplished pianist, Bartok composed a series of works entitled Mikrokosmos -- a whopping 153 pieces of keyboard music intended to adjust the student's ear to the sounds and rhythms of the "new." Bartok's music was not always accepted or played. Like Schoenberg, he was disdainful of ensembles that would take liberties with his work, and it wasn't until his final, ailing years in the United States that he had his greatest successes. Today, no one could possibly deny the inherent genius or far-reaching scope of his music, or the influence that his work has had on countless composers. - Will Lerner

Eric Phelps, Cello - Crista Phelps, Piano

Fri, 30 May 2008 10:37:24 -0700

Benjamin Britten

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:07:59 -0700

Although Benjamin Britten's best known work may be The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, much of his remarkable orchestral technique, broad musical palette and ability to revive the most traditional formal elements leave him with few peers in the 20th century.

Educated at the Royal Conservatory of Music, he signaled a second coming of English opera with his first major work for the stage, Peter Grimes. His other notable operas, still in wide performance today, include Billy Budd (1951), the The Turn of the Screw (1954), and Death in Venice (1973). His controversial War Requiem (1961) is also ubiquitously performed, as is his sophisticated work for chorus. His closing masterpiece was the abstract in the String Quartet no.3 (1975). After declining knighthood, Britten accepted a life peerage in 1976 and died later that year of heart failure. - Nate Cavalieri

Stefan Kaske

Fri, 8 May 2009 01:50:38 -0700

Dmitri Shostakovich

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:05:33 -0800

Dmitri Shostakovich was easily one of the greatest symphonists of the twentieth century, and along with Prokofiev, one of the foremost composers to emerge and exist under a Stalin-led Soviet Union. His Seventh Symphony (often referred to as the Leningrad Symphony because of the common belief that it was written in dedication to soldiers who fell during the Battle of Leningrad) is a monumental work, lengthy and evocative of images both heroic and tyrannical. Its third and fourth movements, for example, contain sections that speak softly and unsentimentally of tragedy, only to be contrasted against harsh, recurring battle music. Shostakovich did not apply the techniques prevalent in Europe at the time -- revolutionary modernists Bartok, Stravinsky and Schoenberg were simply not played or studied at all during this era in the U.S.S.R. -- but there is nothing stale or dated in Shostakovich's work. It's unfortunate Shostakovich lived in fear of his government, for there is no telling where his limitless genius could have led. - Will Lerner

Wojciech Kilar

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 17:59:31 -0700

One of the finest and most established film composers around, Poland's Wojciech Kilar has been writing music for cinema since the 1960s. His catalogue is extraordinary despite his limited fame, including The Voice From Beyond, Balance, Bram Stroker's Dracula and The Ninth Gate. Immensely talented, his scores use drama without ever becoming gaudy or insincere. Poland's rich folk tradition can be found throughout his works, offering evidence of Kilar's heartfelt connection to his homeland. Most of his recent work has a decidedly religious feel (used to powerful effect in The Ninth Gate), yet maintains a strong connection to Avant-Garde techniques. Kilar has received numerous awards, including the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Award of Boston, as well as two official commendations from the Polish Minister of Culture. - Doug Russell

Jacqueline du Pre

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:09:03 -0700

Carl Orff

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:32 -0800

Most people know German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982) through his remarkably popular 1937 work for chorus and orchestra Carmina burana. Orff was born, lived, and died in Munich, receiving much of his early training at the Munich Academy under Kaminski. In 1924 he co-founded a school for gymnastics, music and dance, which led inevitably to his pedagogical devices for young children to make music, a method still widely practiced that utilizes simple percussion instruments. His adult works also sought musical primitivism, as represented by pulsing ostinatos that bear the influence of Stravinsky. All his major works, including Carmina burana and several Greek tragedies, were designed as pageants for the stage. - Nate Cavalieri

Nicola Fasano

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:11 -0800

Trish Foti Genco

Fri, 30 May 2008 10:32:35 -0700

Katalyst

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:28:26 -0700

Laurie Anderson

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:05 -0700

Tan Dun

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800

Tan Dun grew up as a farmer in rural China; he's now scheduled to release a new opera to the New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2005. In between those two events Tan Dun has had a musical career of uncommon success. He is a composer of international stature concerned more with moving humanity on a deep level than with composing in any given school or classical genre. Among his most recent awards are the Academy Award for his soundtrack to the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the Grawemeyer Award for his opera Marco Polo.

Manuel de Falla

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:52:28 -0800

Joaquin Rodrigo

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:47 -0800

A preeminent composer of the twentieth century and an important national figure in Spain, Rodrigo writes music with luscious melodies and jazz-inflected string harmonies. His most famous work is the resplendent Concierto de Aranjuez, written for orchestra and nylon-string guitar. Many have performed the piece, including jazz stars Miles Davis and Gil Evans, who titled their collaboration Sketches of Spain. Rodrigo's guitar concertos -- performed by artists such as Pepe Romero and Julian Bream -- have a Flamenco feel and bear a marked influence from Rodrigo's friend, classical guitarist Andres Segovia. - Jessy Terry

Alexander Scriabin

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:39 -0800

The musical language of Alexander Scriabin was unique and exotic from the outset, and over the course of his career became even more so. This Russian pianist/composer born in 1871 was deeply influenced by the spiritual mysticism of his day, and explored an otherly world through his music. Compositions such as his Third Symphony, The Divine Poem deal with subjects like pantheism vs. monotheism, and late in life his intentions were to create holistic religious events, not unlike ancient Mediterranean pagan rites, infused with music, dancing, colors, and smells. Part of his eccentricity was his claim to experience synesthesia, the bleeding of one sensory experience into another; thus he equated colors, as in red, blue, or yellow, with certain tones and key relationships. F sharp, for example, he experienced as blue, and C major as red. This experience inspired the creation of a color organ, a keyboard type device that projected colors upon a screen, depending upon the chords played. However, it wasn't until the 1970s that a similar device actually succeeded at a performance, due to the necessary technology involved. His influence upon the Western tradition is perhaps felt mostly in spirit, rather than in his unique and fascinating harmonic language. - Henry B.

Andy Blueman

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:25:45 -0700

Orchestra

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:35 -0800

Apassionata

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:25:54 -0700

Brian Crain

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:08:25 -0700

Ibiza Dance Party

Fri, 29 May 2009 09:35:07 -0700

Paul Hindemith

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:49:18 -0800

(born: Hanau, nr Frankfurt, 16 Nov 1895; died: Frankfurt, 28 Dec 1963)

German composer. He studied as a violinist and composer (with Mendelssohn and Sekles) at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt (1908-17) and made an early reputation through his chamber music and expressionist operas. But then he turned to neo-classicism in his Kammermusik no.1, the first of seven such works imitating the Baroque concerto while using an expanded tonal harmony and distinctively modern elements, notably jazz. Each uses a different mixed chamber orchestra, suited to music of linear counterpoint and, in the fast movements, strongly pulsed rhythm.

During this early period Hindemith lived as a performer: he was leader of the Frankfurt Opera orchestra (1915-23, with a break for army service), and he played the viola in the Amar-Hindemith Quartet (1921-9) as well as in the first performance of Walton's Viola Concerto (1929). Much of his chamber music was written in 1917-24, including four of his six quartets and numerous sonatas, and he was also involved in promoting chamber music through his administrative work for the Donaueschingen Festival (1923-30). However, he also found time to compose abundantly in other genres; including lieder (Das Marienleben, to Rilke poems), music for newly invented mechanical instruments, music for schoolchildren and amateurs, and opera (Cardillac, a fantasy melodrama in neo-classical forms). In addition, from 1927 he taught at the Berlin Musikhochschule.

His concern with so many branches of music sprang from a sense of ethical responsibility that inevitably became more acute with the rise of the Nazis. With the beginning of the 1930s he moved from chamber ensembles to the more public domain of the symphony orchestra, and at the same time his music became harmonically smoother and less intensively contrapuntal. Then in the opera Mathis der Maler (preceded by a symphony of orchestral excerpts) he dramatized the dilemma of the artist in society, eventually opposing Brechtian engagement and insisting on a greater responsibility to art. Nevertheless, his music fell under official disapproval, and in 1938 he left for Switzerland, where Mathis had its first performance. He moved on to the USA and taught at Yale (1940-53), but spent his last decade back in Switzerland.

His later music is in the style that he had established in the early 1930s and that he had theoretically expounded in his Craft of Musical Composition (1937-9), where he ranks scale degrees and harmonic intervals in order from most consonant (tonic, octave) to most dissonant (augmented 4th, tritone), providing a justification for the primacy of the triad. His large output of the later 1930s and 1940s includes concertos (for violin, cello, piano, clarinet and horn) and other orchestral works, as well as sonatas for most of the standard instruments. His search for an all-encompassing, all-explaining harmony also found expression in his Kepler opera Die Harmonie der Welt.

Michael Harrison

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:23:58 -0700

Miklos Rozsa

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:36 -0800

Isaac Albeniz

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:14:14 -0800

Tal M. Klein

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:34:05 -0700