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History of European art music
Early
Medieval	(500 – 1400)
Renaissance	(1400 – 1600)
Common practice
Baroque	(1600 – 1760)
Classical	(1730 – 1820)
Romantic	(1815 – 1910)
Modern and contemporary
20th century classical	(1900 – 2000)
Contemporary classical	(1975 – present)

In the broadest sense, contemporary music is any music being written in the present day. Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to a period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism.^[1]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Background 1.2 Developments since the 1970s 2 Movements in contemporary music 2.1 Modernism 2.2 Post-modernism 2.2.1 Minimalism and post-minimalism 2.2.2 Polystylism (Eclecticism) 2.2.3 Post-classic tonality 2.3 New Simplicity 2.4 "World music" influence 2.5 Art rock influence 2.6 Historicism 2.7 Neo-Romanticism 2.8 Electronic music 2.9 Spectral Music 2.10 New Complexity 2.11 Improvisation 2.12 Experimental Music and Conceptualism 3 Developments by medium 3.1 Orchestra 3.2 Opera 3.3 Chamber 3.3.1 Extended Techniques 3.4 Choral 3.5 Concert Band 3.6 Cinema 4 Contemporary music festivals 5 Bibliography 6 External links 7 Notes

Main article: 20th century classical music

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 excesses of Romanticism, composers adopted a neoclassic style, which sought to recapture the elegance and emotional distance of the classical era^[2]; 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.^[3] Technological advances led to the birth of electronic music.^[4] Experimentation with tape loops and repetitive textures contributed to the advent of minimalism.^[5] Still other composers started exploring the theatrical potential of the musical performance (performance art, mixed media, fluxus).^[6]

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Since the 1970s there has been increasing stylistic variety, with far too many schools to count, name or label. However, in general, there are four 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.

• The third focuses on non-functional triadic harmony, exemplified by composers working in the minimalist and related traditions.^{[citation needed]}

• Influence of the computer. Contemporary music composition has been altered with growing force by computers in composition, which allow for composers to listen to renderings of their scores before performance, compose by layering performed parts over each other and to disseminate scores over the internet.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: Modernism (music)

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 and Lukas Foss), 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(until the 1960's), 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.

While serialism may no longer be rhetorically central, the contemporary period is beginning the process of sorting through the modern corpus, looking for works which will have repertory value.^{[citation needed]}

Modernism is also present as surface or trope^{[citation needed]} in works of a large range of composers, as atonality has lost much of its ability to terrorize listeners, and even film scores use sections of music clearly rooted in modernist musical language.

Active modernist composers include Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Goehr, Thomas Adès, Magnus Lindberg and Gunther Schuller.

Main article: Postmodern music

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 composers include the Scottish composer James MacMillan (who draws on sources as diverse as plainchant, South American Liberation Theology and Polish avant-garde techniques of the 1960s), the American Michael Torke (drawing on classical tradition, minimalism and popular music) and Mark-Anthony Turnage from the UK (drawing from jazz, English pastoralism and the avant-garde). Of more recent years, the emergence of Osvaldo Golijov has shown how diverse many post-modern composers are: his own style uses sources as wide-ranging as avant-garde music, electronica, Yiddish folk music, Argentinian tangos, Arabic folk music and the traditional classical repertoire.^{[citation needed]}

Main articles: Minimalist music, 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. In Europe, many composers such as Joe Cutler and Steve Martland have used the minimalist music of Louis Andriessen as a starting point for their personal developments, with post-minimalism in both cases verging on atonality in its use of Stravinkian harmony.^{[citation needed]} Another notable characteristic is storytelling and emotional expression taking precedence over technique. Post-minimalism is also [1] a movement in painting and sculpture which began in the late 1960s. (See lumpers/splitters)

Other composers sometimes referred to as "post-minimalist" include Erkki-Sven Tüür, Peteris Vasks, Giya Kancheli, Arvo Pärt, Gavin Bryars, Lepo Sumera, Valentin Silvestrov, Veljo Tormis, Ingram Marshall, Robert Davidson,Kevin Volans, Daniel Lentz, Frederic Rzewski, and many composers associated with the Bang on a Can festival.^{[citation needed]}

Main Article: Polystylism

Polystylism is the use of multiple styles or techniques of music, and is seen as a postmodern characteristic. Polystylist composers include George Rochberg, William Bolcom, Alfred Schnittke, Frederic Rzewski, Sofia Gubaidulina, and John Zorn. Ezequiel Viñao and Lera Auerbach are among the younger composers whose music belongs to the category.^{[citation needed]}

Other aspects of post-modernity can be seen in a "post-classic" tonality that has advocates such as Michael Daugherty, Daron Hagen, Elena Kats-Chernin and Tan Dun.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: 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.

Main article: World music

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, and Lou Harrison, and slightly later in the work of Olivier Messiaen and Chou Wen-chung, but can be found also in the context of post-minimalist works, such as Janice Giteck's and Evan Ziporyn's Balinese-influenced works and bandura works by Julian Kytasty, or 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.

Similarly, many composers have emerged since the 1980s who are heavily influenced by art rock. Many, such as Scott Johnson, Steven Mackey, and Frank Zappa started out as rock musicians and only later moved into the realm of scored music. Other notable composers who draw on rock include Steve Vai, Annie Gosfield, Evan Ziporyn, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, David Lang, John Zorn, Steve Martland, Ben Johnston, Anne LeBaron, Paul Dresher, Kitty Brazelton, Glenn Branca, Erkki-Sven Tüür, and Nick Didkovsky. Many of these composers (Gordon, Lang, Dresher, Wolfe, Ziporyn, Martland, Branca) are post-minimalist in orientation, but some (Didkovsky, Brazelton) are very much not.

Main article: Musical historicism

Musical historicism 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, such as the "Oi me lasso" cycle of Gavin Bryars, employ direct medievalism. Other composers have assimilated elements of 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, 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 (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.

Main article: Neoromanticism

The resurgence of the vocabulary of extended tonality which flourished in the first years of the 20th century continues in the contemporary period, though it is no longer considered shocking or controversial as such. Composers working in the neoromantic vein include John Corigliano, George Rochberg (in some of his works after 1971), David Del Tredici, Ladislav Kupkovič, and Krzysztof Penderecki (after about 1975).

Main article: Electronic art music

Electronics are now part of mainstream music creation. Performances of regular works often use midi synthesizers to back or replace regular musicians. Looping, sampling, and (rarely) drum machines may also be used. However, the older idea of electronic music (musique concrète, electroacoustics, acousmatic art...) - as a search for pure sound and an interaction with the hardware itself - continues to find a place in composition, from commercially successful pieces to works targeted at very narrow audiences. See, for example, the work of Michel Chion, Francis Dhomont, Earl Howard, Curtis Roads and Denis Dufour.

Main article: 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 '60. Romanian Spectral music asserts from traditional Romanian folk music roots. Among spectral Romanian composers we should emphasize the contribution of Iancu Dumitrescu, Octav Nemescu, Ana-Maria Avram, Costin, Calin Ioachimescu, Corneliu Cezar.

Philippe Hurel is an important French composer of Spectral music.

Main article: 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 and Michael Finnissy.

Main article: Experimental Music

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 would be Alvin Singleton's 56 Blows, a work based on a speech from the floor of the United States Senate.

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• 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

John Adams (composer) Brian Ferneyhough Philip Glass York Höller André Laporte

Per Nørgård Karlheinz Stockhausen Elliot Goldenthal, Grendel [2] Thomas Ades, Powder her face (1995)

Main article: 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, using key clicks on a wind instrument, blowing 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.

20th 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 and Heinz Holliger.

• See also List of contemporary classical ensembles

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, John Rutter, Veljo Tormis, and Morten Lauridsen.

The medium of the concert band has undergone a revival in recent years, with contributions by composers such as David Del Tredici, Karel Husa, Joseph Schwantner, Michael Colgrass, David Maslanka and Frank Ticheli.

Contemporary classical music can be heard in film scores such as 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) used music by György Ligeti, and in The Shining (1980) music by Krzysztof Penderecki. Both Jean-Luc Godard, in La Chinoise (1967), and Nicolas Roeg in Walkabout (1971) used music by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

• Bang on a Can Marathon.
• Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz, CA)
• Darmstädter Ferienkurse
• Donaueschingen Festival.
• Gaudeamus Foundation Music Week in Amsterdam.
• Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
• Salzburg Aspekte.
• "Triennale" Contemporary Music Festival (Venice, ITALY)
• Warsaw Autumn in Poland.
• Winnipeg New Music Festival (the largest attended new music festival in the world).

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• Dibelius, Ulrich. Moderne Musik Nach 1945. Piper Verlag. (1998)
• Duckworth, William. Talking Music: Conversations with John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers. Da Capo. (2006)
• Gann, Kyle. American Music in the Twentieth Century. Wadsworth Publishing. (1997)
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• Nyman, Michael. Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (Music in the Twentieth Century). Cambridge University Press. (1999)
• Schwartz, Elliott and Daniel Godfrey. Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials, and Literature. Schirmer. (1993)
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• Smith Brindle, Reginald. The New Music: The Avant-Garde since 1945. Oxford University Press. (1987)
• Watkins, Glenn. Pyramids at the Louvre : music, culture, and collage from Stravinsky to the postmodernists. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. (1994)
• Whittall, Arnold. Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century. Oxford University Press. (1999)
• Whittall, Arnold. Exploring Twentieth-Century Music. Cambridge University Press. (2003)

• spnm - promoting new music, UK – UK-based organisation promoting new music and composers.
• new notes magazine – Monthly UK magazine on new music
• [http://www.spnm.org.uk/forum – spnm's new music forum
• Art of the States
• Contemporary Classical, Internet radio
• Common Tone podcast
• Modern and contemporary classical music
• The Living Composers Project
• Sibeliusmusic.com - Newly Created Scores Using the Sibelius Program

1. ^ Leon Botstein: "Modernism" ¶9 Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 28 April 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
2. ^ Arnold Whittall "Neo-Classicism" 'Grove Music Online' ed. L. Macy (Accessed 30 April 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
3. ^ Elliott Schwartz and Dan Godfrey, Music since 1945, Chapter 7: "Order and Chaos" (p.78-ff), Schirmer Books, New York. 1993.
4. ^ Peter Manning, Electronic and Computer Music, Oxford University Press, 2004. (19-ff)
5. ^ Elliott Schwartz and Dan Godfrey, Music since 1945, (p.325), Schirmer Books, New York. 1993.
6. ^ Elliott Schwartz and Dan Godfrey, Music since 1945, Chapter 15: "New Views of Performance: Space, Ritual and Play" (p.289-ff), Schirmer Books, New York. 1993.