Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Music Lane ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

Yes, you said, "born during the 20th century (or just before)"

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on January 22, 2016 at 15:28:36

In Reply to: I did say "born during the 20th century"... posted by genungo on January 22, 2016 at 11:20:28:

IMHO Shostakovich is a nothing, compared to a master like Prokofiev. DSCH's fame is all based on extra-musical clap-trap that has nothing to do with the actual quality of his music. I admit that there will always be listeners who are fascinated by this kind of external "meaning", so I don't see this kind of "popularity" dying out anytime soon. Shostakovich's music is for listeners who have a literary bent to their mentality. The trouble with this predisposition is that as soon as certain new facts come to light, their evaluation of the music can change 180 degrees. How else can you explain all the critics and listeners who couldn't praise the performances of Joyce Hatto highly enough, but who now don't care so much for those same performances since the truth came out that they were actually performances by other pianists without the same sob story attached to their recordings. The same with the Halina Czerny-Stefanska recording of the Chopin E-minor Concerto - it was "to die for" as long as people thought that the performer was Dinu Lippatti, but now, not so much. The same principle is operating with the music of Shostakovich - how he heroically stood up to Stalin by writing trivial music for important occasions. (Wow - if that isn't thumbing your nose at the authorities, I don't know what is!) I contend that what people love about the music of Shostakovich is the "back-story", not the music itself. (Well, maybe not in all cases, but that's a good chunk of the appreciation anyway.)

But, now that you've moved the goal posts a bit, I'm still happy to answer your question (about other 20th-centuy composers who are superior to Shostakovich) on your new terms! ;-)

So, among those composers BORN in the twentieth century whom I consider superior to Shostakovich, I'd certainly include Joaquin Rodrigo, although his output was comparatively limited.

And, just as certainly, I'd include Aram Khatchaturian - who worked under the same general conditions as Shostakovich, but who achieved incomparably finer results.

To a lesser extent, I would also include Dmitry Kabelevsky too, for similar reasons.

Oh, and let's not forget Richard Addinsell! (He wrote "Warsaw Concerto"!) I'm tempted to include Leroy Anderson too, but perhaps he didn't compose in a wide enough emotional range. ;-)

Miklos Rozsa wrote some fine concert music in addition to his celebrated movie scores. (BTW, one of Shostakovich's best scores IMHO is his incidental music for a Russian movie production of "Hamlet".)

Of course there's Julian Scriabin, who composed in the same scented, creepy style of his father (I love it!), before his life was cruelly snuffed out (drowning accident) at the age of 11. (Now THERE's a back-story!)

As for Olivier Messiaen, I'm kind of on the fence. All those bird (-brained) pieces haven't worn well for me over the years. Same with Samuel Barber - the first couple of movements of that Violin Concerto are awfully gooey!.

Then there's Bernard Herrmann, the Wagner of the 20th century and an absolute master of motivic manipulation!

Although probably too prolific for his own good, Alan Hovhaness sometimes achieved a level of spirituality in his music that Shostakovich could only dream of!

Based on what little I know of the music of the Dutch composer, Jan Koetsier, his total output might be better than that of Shostakovich too. It's difficult to say at this point, since I don't enough of Koetsier's total output. The same goes for the Hungarian composer, Gyula David, and the Russian composer, Georgy Sviridov. But they're all POSSIBLY better than Shostakovich IMHO.

The music of Igor Makevitch (now far better known as a conductor) seems to be becoming better known - no less a composer than Igor Stravinsky once considered Markevitch's music a threat to his own credentials as the most interesting avant garde modernist. In any case, I prefer what I've heard of Markevitch's music to Shostakovich's.

Morton Gould, Kent Kennan - POSSIBLY more interesting than Shostakovich. I don't have enough exposure to their music.

Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera wrote compelling music for piano, orchestra and voice (I'm thinking of his operas) - he certainly should be able to keep his place in the repertoire.

Shostakovich's own student, Galina Ustvolskaya, wrote far more compelling music than he did - again, just based on the small amount of her music I've heard so far. In fact, Shostakovich wrote to her "It is not you who are influenced by me; rather, it is I who am influenced by you." In fact, she could be the stronger and superior musical figure - we're only now unraveling all this.

Well, I'm stopping here with the composers who were born 1900 - 1920. It's quite a diverse group, and, overall, I think this group compares well with the composers of the 18th and 19th centuries, and, yes, I think some of them are first-rate.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

VH Audio

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---