Contemporary composers. Please help.

Brownsfan,

Not heresey to prefer the Britten string quartets more than the Bartok. Britten was quite the master of virtually all musical forms. I particularly like his chamber works, songs and his operas. Have you heard the Alwyn quartets? He is another overlooked English composer.

Lsd13,

You should get a listener's guide of some sort that describes the music, gives a brief biography and lists recommended recordings.

The hard part is finding the gems by composers who have little or no reputation who wrote only a few works worth tracking down. Given how personal favorites can be, it is hard to make recommendations for such composers or specific works (As an example, I like Rued Langgaard's "Antichrist," but it may not be a good general recommendation).

If you are interested in exploring further along those lines, and want either a high quality (& free!!) download or simply to research and sample-listen prior to purchasing LPs, definitely check out this website, which is a serious attempt to archive important 'new music', contemporary classical, etc. They have Kagel, Subotnick, Parmegiani, Hindemith, Babbitt, Cage, etc.

http://www.avantgardeproject.org/archive.htm

Ligeti has arrived. Amazing!
I started to put the list for the next week, with so many great advises I'm going to be busy for a wile.

Thank you guys!!!

I think you'll love Gavin Bryars. While you are at it, try some of Ryuichi Sakamoto's more classical stuff...amazing.

Lsd13,

Which Ligeti pieces have you acquired? He had quite a range of compositions and styles, from his early works which are reminescent of Bartok, to his electronic compositions and then to certain elements of the minimalist schools (he admire Reich and Riley).

I have a couple of additional suggestions. If you like solo piano music, look for the works composed for player piano by Conlon Nancarrow. These are unique works that are unplayable by a human.

From your list of likes, I would guess that you would like spare, contemplative works. You might find Ludovico Einaudi interesting, though it is a bit on the tuneful and "easy listening" side, and you appear to be much more adventurous. Still, worth checking out.