20th Century Classical Music I Like

I’m a layman when it comes to Classical music. I don’t play an instrument and I don’t read music, and I have trouble remembering the titles of pieces when they are numbers instead of evocative words.

That said, I love many Classical pieces. I prefer the Romantics and I love creative, lively, and also somber, tonal music, including choral music. Some of my favorites from the 18th and 19th Centuries are Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Beethoven, Verdi, Rimsky-Korsakov and sometimes Schubert.

Here are some composers I like who composed after the Romantic and tonal-music period had “officially” ended:

Other than the 20th Century holdovers from the 19th Century, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and Debussy (from the latter two I only enjoy certain pieces), there are some less-well-known 20th Century composers I like who were influenced by the Romantics and who composed tonal pieces with structure, lush and beautiful sounds, and uplifting emotions well into the 20th Century. These are: Paul Creston (I enjoy his Symphony No. 1 and No. 2), Randall Thompson, and William Grant Still. I like a few of Henry Cowell’s pieces too. My wife happens to play the flute on some Manhattan Chamber Orchestra recordings of a few of these composers, but that has only led me to learn of the works, not to influence my taste.

On to the 21st Century: Online I have heard samples of new compositions by M. Zachary Johnson (http://cdbaby.com/cd/mzacharyjohnson) and I like what I have heard. He is directly trying to revive the spirit of Romanticism and he may well have succeeded.

Terry Teachout, a music critic, has suggested that a return to tonal music and Romanticism by younger composers, whose pieces are being added to the concert performances of today’s orchestras, is a trend. I hope so.

Here are two essays on the subject by Terry Teachout, “Back to the Future” and “Romantics’ Return”.

http://time-proxy.yaga.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,996278,00.html
http://www.walter-simmons.com/wilderness/reviews/teachout.pdf

I don’t like (nor have I heard) all of the pieces to which he refers, nor do I necessarily agree with all he says, but I think his heart is in the right place.

In the coming week, I expect to have a new podcast available at www.zigory.solidvox.com that will be related to this topic.