Now here's an interesting composer...

There is hope for the future of contemporary classical music. I recently discovered the music of the Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth (b.1968) and I was immediately impressed by this amazing composer. I think she's one of the most original and interesting "younger" composers out there and she knows exactly what she's doing. Her works are written in a fascinating idiom which seems to continue and extend the modernist aesthetic in an intriguing, very personal way. Her music has been praised by no one less than Boulez.

Anyone here familiar with this composer?

Some sound samples of her music can be found on this site:

jpc - your global music player - Musik, Filme und B

Well I must say I have only listened to one piece of music written by her (just now) but it was just one note. Can you recommend a more worthy work, since I would like to form an opinion of her by listening to her more accomplished music!

Tbh: I probably won't by able to appreciate this kind of thing. It basically comes down to personal tastes! Nevertheless, it is interesting, and I'm happy to see that people are doing new things in the world of music. Very important to keep pushing the boundaries, but also very important to respect the past!

The music of her I have listened to never really did much for me, but it's very possible that I just haven't found my personal access to it yet. It still interests me and I suppose I'll check some other pieces by her out and see if something has changed for me. (I suppose I'll start with the link you posted, even though that's just samples which don't tell anything about the formal structures of pieces.)

The music of her I have listened to never really did much for me, but it's very possible that I just haven't found my personal access to it yet.

Or maybe it

I know her!

She came to Oberlin two years ago to do the American Premiere of her opera "Lost Highway," based on the film by David Lynch. I attended both premiere performances and got to speak to her in masterclasses and after lectures.

She's kind of mean, actually :P.

The opera, "Lost Highway," incorporates live aural and visual electronics, and she wound up redoing all the electronics three days before opening night. Kept the cast and orchestra in rehearsal until 3 AM.

I agree that her music is very good. However, I don't know that she's "hope for contemporary music." I think that title is hard to apply to anyone, given the pluralistic nature of music being produced today. Everyone seems to be trying to break out of the "isms" of the past, either by departing from them entirely, or by mixing aspects of them together to create new aesthetic systems.

I've heard several of her things, and they really don't do very much for me. But one of my co-workers is nuts for her music. So I figure perhaps it's not written for my ears, and there are plenty of composers who fall into that category who are awful damn good, including Boulez (throws hands over head to protect from flying rocks and bottles.)

Uncle Dave

I've heard several of her things, and they really don't do very much for me. But one of my co-workers is nuts for her music. So I figure perhaps it's not written for my ears, and there are plenty of composers who fall into that category who are awful damn good, including Boulez (throws hands over head to protect from flying rocks and bottles.)

Uncle Dave

I despise Boulez :D

Boulez is the scraggy. Damn fine conductor, too.

Another great conductor/composer - Esa Pekka Salonen.

I agree that her music is very good.

I'm glad that at least we agree on one thing...;)

But I have to disagree with you on Salonen - a decent conductor, but a lousy composer (quite unlike Boulez, who excels as both a conductor and a composer).

I despise Boulez

I don't think he's a bad composer, but based on what I've heard about him, he's not a very nice guy.

As for Salonen, I agree that he's an amazing conductor (one of my favorites), but I've never heard any of his compositions.

I think I'd enjoy Boulez' music more if he didn't have such a high-and-mighty attitude about it. Unparalleled conductor, though.

Salonen, on the other hand, should stick to conducting, which he's wonderful at. Every piece I've heard of his has been plodding and heavy-handed, and waaaaaay too thickly orchestrated to sound like anything but mush in a concert hall.

I agree that Neuwirth is great, though.

Salonen's early Finnish compositions are well cobbled, but rather sterile IMHO. However, after his arrival in Los Angeles, things started to come into focus. I attended the premiere of "LA Variations," which was good, but the recording of "Wing on Wing" is great, with strong writing for the two solo sopranos. Esa-Pekka might be of a different mind about it incidentally; he might well feel that his earlier work is his best. Nevertheless, there is a new disc of Gloria Cheng playing music of Salonen dating from 1985, 1999-2000 and 2005 that I will listen to today, and it will be interesting to see what kind of stylistic progression there is.

I've met Boulez, and I must say there is not a more confident musician on the planet. At the time, I worked for Tower Records, and had with me a "Classical Pulse!" with a bad review in it of something he'd done. As I handed it to him, his eyes just beamed -- he was thrilled that people were still bothering to write negative criticism about him, and seems to have trained himself long ago to respond positively to negative evaluations of his work. Interesting.

Uncle Dave Lewis