Ten works that shaped contemporary music

By Benjamin Poore, 13 March 2018

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“Boulez’s music seems weightless and spontaneous, the work of a magician”

Tim Rutherford-Johnson, 16th February

As the idiosyncratic, laconic Hungarian composer approaches his 100th birthday, we talk to Pierre-Laurent Aimard about his decades-long relationship with György Kurtág, on his unique playfulness and gift-giving.

Dinosaurs of the Baroque: discovering Les Dinos et l’Arche

Lawrence Dunn, 2nd January

Thomas Leininger’s Baroque-inspired children’s opera at Geneva’s La Cité Bleue is a unique stylistic departure, which asks the essential question: what happened to the dinosaurs left off Noah’s Ark?

The magical world of composers’ handwriting

Lawrence Dunn, 17th December

From Buxtehude, Bach and Handel, to contemporary composer Liza Lim, we take a tour of the myriad forms of composers’ handwriting and calligraphy – and how music makes itself on the page.

The art of memory: classical music for mourning

Danny Riley, 28th October

From fulfilling funerary functions, to eulogising friends and fellow artists, or lamenting the waste of war: here are some of the finest examples of music written in mourning.

A political composer? John Adams revisits Nixon in China

Thomas May, 30th September

Returning to conduct Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia this November, John Adams reflects on the situation of music in the US – and why he has so often been labelled a ‘political’ composer.

Opera premieres 2025–26: visions and fairy tales

Bachtrack, 1st September

Contemporary music theatre seems to be in a state of rude health, and we preview several new stage works soon to hit the boards this coming season at venues and opera houses around the world.

Benjamin Poore

Benjamin Poore is a writer and critic. His book on psychoanalysis and literature is forthcoming in 2019. He has previously written about literature and culture for the Independent, the Times Literary Supplement, and Times Higher Education. In his spare time he tries to sing Schubert; he has a very patient teacher.

Ten works from the 20th century that shaped contemporary classical music