[tattoou2]

Aside from a couple already mentioned, another personal favorite is Leo Brouwer.  
 

 

[LugBug1]

Another young composer (b1971) and Germany's answer to Thomas Ades, is Matthias Pintscher. A very talented and exciting composer. His music is very much a continuum within 20th century German classical. Webern is clearly a big influence and also the likes of Henze and Lachenmann. However, he also adds something new and exciting too. Typically, big clusters of beautiful sounds and textures are followed by more reflective melancholic moments, but never dull or pretentious sounding.
 
2 recommendations that I know very well and have played to death are;

 
          

 

[DanPerezSax]

Eric Whitacre.

 

[rehabitat]

Is he young?

 
C'mon, what's going on in the world of immature composers?  I guess there are plenty in 'experimental music', if they can be called composers.  Is there anything apart from education and reputation that makes one a 'composer'?

 

[Sordel]

Quote:

Is he young?

 
C'mon, what's going on in the world of immature composers?  I guess there are plenty in 'experimental music', if they can be called composers.  Is there anything apart from education and reputation that makes one a 'composer'?

Well, the title specifies classical composer, and it's exceptional to find a composer under the age of 40 who has had any works commercially recorded, but if you want a young composer, how about Alex Prior? At the age of nineteen he has already produced four symphonies, three piano concertos and (amongst other works) a piano work called "Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and Me". (This from Wikipedia ... I'm not recommending him!)
 

 

[rehabitat]

Quote:

(This from Wikipedia ... I'm not recommending him!)
 

lol, c'mon then.  We all want to hear what you do recommend 

 

[Sordel]

Quote:

lol, c'mon then.  We all want to hear what you do recommend 

 
Already done on page 1 ... my favourite would be Reich or Part (both now quite advanced in years), my tip would be Thomas Ades, who is in his early forties. Mind you, with Elliott Carter aged 103, perhaps even many older composers are only in mid age.
 
 

 

[rroseperry]

Mason Bates is interesting. I saw "B-Sides" at the SF Symphony a few years ago

This is the one CD he's got out .

 

[LugBug1]

Heres something you couldn't have done 50yrs ago.. Name your top 5 female Composers!
 
Here goes, (all living) Jennider Higdon has already been mentioned earlier on in thread and is an award winning composer worth checking out.
 
 
Sofia Gubaidulina
 

 
 
 
 
Kaija Saariaho
 

 
 
 
 
Olga Neuwirth
 

 
 
 
 
Rebecca Saunders

 
 
 
Thea Musgrave
 

 
 
These are all brilliant living composers and I'm only pointing out that they are female as a celebration, rather than it being a novelty.
 
 
 

 

[FalconP]

Rodion Schedrin, a Russian composer one generation younger than Shostakovich, is still with us.
 
Most concert goers' knowledge about Schedrin is limited to his Carmen Suite, but he is an woefully under-recorded composer whose most popular work does not reflect his style.  I just got hold of his 24 Preludes and Fugues For Piano, a cycle written some 20 years after Shostakovich's own 24.  Performed by the composer himself, this makes an absorbing listening.  Schedrin's cycle is quite a bit more dissonant and rhythmic than Shostakovich's.  While it is true than Schedrin lacks his senior's variety, breath of vision and acerbic wit, his music is still very good: the lines are strong and they flow naturally.
 

 

[LugBug1]

James Dillon is a very special multi award winning living composer (Scottish). No formal training within composition and this for me adds a certain something unique to his compositions. His music is absolutley atonal but not stylistically in the Schoenberg tradition and he belongs to the awful label of "the New Complexity" with the likes of Ferneyhough and the late brilliant Grisey.  Most of his works are written for chamber ensembles and in particular for percussion instruments. My recommendation however is for his recently released opera Philomela (2004). A brilliantly dark piece based on the Greek tragedy. The chamber music is superbly played and although the music is highly complex it takes no effort to absorb. Utterly mesmerizing!     
 

 

 

[rehabitat]

Just getting into Glenn Branca, composer and conductor of electric guitar ensembles.  Minimal, layered, noisy, cathartic.  Classical?  Well, I'll let you decide.  Either way, I like it.

 

[One Eye]

Krzystof Penderecki. Pity about the neo-classical stuff but still way out in front based on his overall output.
 
Cheating a bit here but if Schnittke were still with us then he would definitely feature, sorry bout that.

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

Krzystof Penderecki. Pity about the neo-classical stuff but still way out in front based on his overall output.
 
Cheating a bit here but if Schnittke were still with us then he would definitely feature, sorry bout that.

Schnittke was a great composer, I think he's still not fully appreciated yet.
 
Although I do like Penderecki's early avant garde peices, they do have a kind of instant appeal that wears thin quite quickly for me. Although very original at the time, they seem like exercises in texture and sounds without the substance of composers such as Xenakis or Nono. Ofcourse this was a period of great experimentation and to be fair thats what they were all doing. I would say that "Threnody" is pretty much a modern masterpeice though.
I like his more mature works better; his Polish Requiem and 2nd violin Concerto for e.g are in a more settled and original style and for me have a more layed deeper element.
 
Having said that, His "St lukes Passion" from his avant garde years should be in everyones record collection. 
 
       
 

 

[One Eye]

You could check this out well worth a listen..