Guardian Guide to Contemporary Music

Helmut Lachenmann. The latest composer to feature in Tom Service’s guide to contemporary music.

I recommend checking out Tom Service’s excellent and evolving guide to contemporary music on the Guardian website. It started at the end of April and, during the course of a year, promises to give an introduction to a new composer each week. To qualify, a composer must either have been born within the last one hundred years or be still alive.  

The list of composers is prefaced by a passionate defence of new music that deserves to be widely read. I especially love the comment about the willingness of children, who don’t come to music with any baggage, to engage with more ‘difficult’ works. 

The guide so far includes portraits of: Elliott Carter (the only composer not born within the last one hundred years who still qualifies for inclusion), Pauline Oliveros, Harrison Birtwistle, John Zorn, Judith Weir, Oliver Knussen and Helmut Lachenmann. Each also contains a rich range of embedded links, including some to full performances of works on You Tube. 

Originally posted at Composition:Today ©Red Balloon Technology