If you wish to be generally familiar with classical music, here is a short list of composers you should know from this period.
|
Name |
Birth |
Death |
Nationality |
Representative Pieces |
|
1947 |
|
American |
Nixon in China (opera) Short Ride in a Fast Machine (orchestra) Phyrgian Gates (piano solo) |
|
|
1925 |
2003 |
Italian |
Sinfonia (orchestra & 8 singers) Visage (tape) Sequenza IV (piano) Sequenza VIII (violin) |
|
|
1953 |
|
Chinese |
Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds (chamber ensemble) | |
|
1938 |
|
American |
Ghosts of Versailles (opera) The Red Violin (film score) Symphony No. 2 |
|
|
1929 |
|
American |
Makrokosmos (amplified piano) Ancient Voices of Children (soprano & chamber) A Haunted Landscape (orchestra) |
|
|
1937 |
|
American |
Einstein on the Beach (opera) Satyagraha (opera) Glassworks (chamber ensemble) Photographer (theatre piece) Koyaanisqatsi (film score) |
|
|
1962 |
|
American |
Violin Concerto (violin & orchestra) Piano Trio (violin, cello, & piano) |
|
|
1950 |
American |
Dancing Solo (clarinet) Chanting to Paradise (soprano & piano) A Lover's Journey (choral) |
||
|
1923 |
2006 |
Hungarian-Austrian |
Piano Etudes (piano solo) Lux Aeterna (choral) Atmospheres (orchestra) |
|
|
1935 |
|
Estonian |
Fratres (chamber ensemble) Magnificat (a cappella choir) Für Alina (piano) |
|
| Penderecki, Krzysztof |
1933 |
|
Polish |
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (string orchestra) Violin Concerto No. 1 (violin & orchestra) De Natura Sonoris No. 1 & 2 (orchestra) |
|
1936 |
|
American |
Come Out (tape piece) Music for 18 Musicians (mixed chamber ensemble) Pendulum Music (4 performers) Clapping Music (2 performers) |
|
|
1935 |
|
American |
In C (any number of performers) A Rainbow in Curved Air (keyboards & percussion) |
|
|
1935 |
|
American |
PDQ Bach compositions Symphony No. 1 "Songlines" String Quartet No. 5 A Year in the Catskills (woodwind quintet) |
|
|
1943 |
|
American |
And the Mountains Rising Nowhere (wind ensemble) Sparrows (soprano & chamber ensemble) Chasing Light (orchestra) |
|
|
1928 |
2007 |
German |
Gesang der Jünglinge (electronic & concrete music) Klavierstück IX (piano solo) Kontakte (electronic sounds, piano, & percussion) Gruppen (3 orchestras) |
|
|
1944 |
|
British |
Mahashakti (violin and orchestra) Ikon of Light (two choirs and chamber ensemble) |
|
|
1938 |
|
American |
Petroushskates (chamber ensemble |
|
|
1970 |
|
American |
Lux Aurumque (virtual choir) Ghost Train Triptych (wind symphony) Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings (musical theatre) |
|
|
1922 |
2001 |
Greek |
Metastasis (orchestra) Pleiades (percussion) |
If you are a student of Music History or Composition, here is a more detailed list of composers you should know from this period.
|
Name |
Birth |
Death |
Nationality |
Representative Pieces |
|
|
1947 |
|
American |
Nixon in China (opera) Short Ride in a Fast Machine (orchestra) Phyrgian Gates (piano solo) |
||
|
1927 |
|
American |
From the Diary of Virginia Woolf (voice & piano) Evensong (soprano, choir, & orchestra) Postcard from Morocco (opera) |
||
|
1925 |
2003 |
Italian |
Sinfonia (orchestra & 8 singers) Visage (tape) Sequenza IV (piano) Sequenza VIII (violin) |
||
|
1934 |
|
British |
The Mask of Orpheus (opera) Gawain's Journey (orchestra) |
||
|
1938 |
|
American |
Songs of Innocence and Experience (choirs & orchestra) | ||
|
1953 |
|
Chinese |
|
||
|
1932 |
|
American / Canadian |
Winds of Nagual (wind ensemble) Urban Requiem (4 saxophones & wind ensemble) |
||
|
1938 |
|
American |
Ghosts of Versailles (opera) The Red Violin (film score) Symphony No. 2 |
||
|
1929 |
|
American |
Makrokosmos (amplified piano) Ancient Voices of Children (soprano & chamber) A Haunted Landscape (orchestra) |
||
|
1956 |
|
American |
First Light (chamber ensemble) An American Requiem (opera) |
||
|
1954 |
American |
Metropolis Symphony (orchestra) Deus ex Machina (piano & orchestra) |
|||
|
1937 |
American |
Child Alice (soprano & orchestra) Ballad in Lavender (piano) |
|||
|
1957 |
|
Chinese |
Water Concerto (chorus, orchestra, & water percussion) Out of Peking Opera (violin & orchestra) |
||
|
1937 |
|
American |
Einstein on the Beach (opera) Satyagraha (opera) Glassworks (chamber ensemble) Photographer (theatre piece) Koyaanisqatsi (film score) |
||
|
1933 |
2010 |
Polish |
Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" Kleines Requiem für eine Polka (piano & chamber ensemble) |
||
|
1962 |
|
American |
Violin Concerto (violin & orchestra) Piano Trio (violin, cello, & piano) |
||
|
1943 |
American |
Apparitions (Band) Two-Piano Inventions |
|||
|
1960 |
American |
String Quartet No. 2 "Musica Intrumentalis" Symphony in Waves (orchestra) |
|||
|
1950 |
American |
Dancing Solo (clarinet) Chanting to Paradise (soprano & piano) A Lover's Journey (choral) |
|||
|
1923 |
2006 |
Hungarian-Austrian |
Piano Etudes (piano solo) Lux Aeterna (choral) Atmospheres (orchestra) |
||
|
1931 |
|
American |
Fragments (string quartet) I Am Sitting in a Room (tape) Music on a Long Thin Wire (electronic) |
||
|
1953 |
|
American |
Towards the Center (6 instruments and live computer electronics) Death and the Powers (opera) Hyperstring Trilogy (hyperviolin, hyperviola, hypercello, & chamber orchestra) |
||
|
1959 |
|
Scottish |
Veni, Veni Emmanuel (percussion & orchestra) 7 Last Words from the Cross (chorus & chamber orchestra) |
||
|
1934 |
|
English |
Symphony No. 10 (orchestra) An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise (orchestra & bagpipes) |
||
|
1942 |
|
American |
Songs of Ascension (vocalist & string quartet) Atlas (opera) |
||
|
1932 |
2016 |
American |
Sound Patterns (choir) The Ready Made Boomerang (chamber ensemble) |
||
|
1935 |
|
Estonian |
Fratres (chamber ensemble) Magnificat (a cappella choir) Für Alina (piano) |
||
| Penderecki, Krzysztof |
1933 |
|
Polish |
Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (string orchestra) Violin Concerto No. 1 (violin & orchestra) De Natura Sonoris No. 1 & 2 (orchestra) |
|
|
1936 |
|
American |
Come Out (tape piece) Music for 18 Musicians (mixed chamber ensemble) Pendulum Music (4 performers) Clapping Music (2 performers) |
||
|
1935 |
|
American |
In C (any number of performers) A Rainbow in Curved Air (keyboards & percussion) |
||
|
1923 |
|
American |
Symphony No. 3 (orchestra) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (voice & piano) |
||
|
1952 |
|
Finnish |
Jardin Secret No. 1 (electronic music) |
||
|
1950 |
American |
The End of the World (symphonic band) Wright Flight (piano and orchestra) |
|||
|
1935 |
|
American |
PDQ Bach compositions Symphony No. 1 "Songlines" String Quartet No. 5 A Year in the Catskills (woodwind quintet) |
||
|
1925 |
|
American |
Grand Concerto (100 percussionists and keyboards) Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee (orchestra) |
||
|
1943 |
|
American |
And the Mountains Rising Nowhere (wind ensemble) Sparrows (soprano & chamber ensemble) Chasing Light (orchestra) |
||
|
1928 |
2007 |
German |
Gesang der Jünglinge (electronic & concrete music) Klavierstück IX (piano solo) Kontakte (electronic sounds, piano, & percussion) Gruppen (3 orchestras) |
||
|
1933 |
|
American |
Silver Apples of the Moon (electronic music) All My Hummingbirds Have Alibis (interactive orchestra and electronic) |
||
|
1944 |
|
British |
Mahashakti (violin and orchestra) Ikon of Light (two choirs and chamber ensemble) |
||
|
1938 |
|
American |
Petroushskates (chamber ensemble) Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman (brass and orchestra) |
||
|
1970 |
|
American |
Lux Aurumque (virtual choir) Ghost Train Triptych (wind symphony) Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings (musical theatre) |
||
|
1934 |
American |
Exercises (chamber) Keyboard Miscellany (piano) |
|||
|
1938 |
American |
Archaeopteryx (bass trombone & chamber ensemble) Mass for the Restoration of St. Luke in the Fields (chorus & orchestra) Orchestral and Electronic Exchanges (orchestra & tape) |
|||
|
1922 |
2001 |
Greek |
Metastasis (orchestra) Pleiades (percussion) |
||
|
1935 |
|
American |
Five Small Pieces (string quartet) The Well-Tuned Piano (solo) |
||
|
1939 |
American |
Symphony No. 2 "Cello" Rituals (5 percussionists & orchestra) |