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| New Music | |
|---|---|
| Name | New Music |
| Stylistic origins | Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg |
| Cultural origins | late 19th century to present, Vienna, Paris, Berlin, New York City |
| Instruments | piano, violin, cello, clarinet, synthesizer |
| Notable composers | Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Steve Reich, Philip Glass |
| Fusion genres | electroacoustic music, minimal music, spectral music |
New Music New Music denotes contemporary classical and avant-garde art music practices emerging from late 19th-century innovations by figures such as Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Webern and extending through 20th- and 21st-century movements linked to Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Steve Reich and Philip Glass. It encompasses compositional techniques, institutional developments, and performance practices in cities and institutions like Vienna, Paris, Berlin, New York City, IRCAM and Donaueschingen Festival that redefined tonal, rhythmic and timbral conventions.
Scholars and institutions such as The New York Philharmonic, BBC Proms, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Centre Pompidou use the term to group works by Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Olivier Messiaen, Elliott Carter, György Ligeti and later practitioners like Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio and Helmut Lachenmann. Repertoires include serialism linked to Pierre Boulez and Milton Babbitt, indeterminacy associated with John Cage and Christian Wolff, minimalism represented by Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Riley, spectralism from Gérard Grisey and Hugues Dufourt, and electroacoustic currents from Pierre Schaeffer, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis. Institutions such as IRCAM, Columbia University and Juilliard School shape canon formation and commissioning practices.
Late-19th-century shifts around Claude Debussy and Alexander Scriabin challenged Richard Wagner-centred aesthetics, leading to the Second Viennese School of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern and the serial experiments of Anton Webern that influenced postwar figures like Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Post-1945 reconstruction in Europe and United States fostered institutions such as Darmstadt International Summer Courses, Tanglewood, Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center and festivals including Donaueschingen Festival and Warsaw Autumn, which promoted Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio, Earle Brown and Morton Feldman. The 1960s and 1970s saw crossovers with popular culture via collaborations involving John Cage, David Tudor, Robert Rauschenberg, and composers like Philip Glass working with Robert Wilson; later decades expanded through MIDI, synthesizer adoption, and academic laboratories at Stanford University and IRCAM.
Serialism and total serialism advanced by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, Pierre Boulez and Milton Babbitt; indeterminacy and chance operations associated with John Cage, Christian Wolff and Cornelius Cardew; minimalism from Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass and La Monte Young; spectralism developed by Gérard Grisey and Hugues Dufourt; electroacoustic and musique concrète from Pierre Schaeffer, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luc Ferrari; stochastic and mathematical approaches by Iannis Xenakis and Ligeti's micropolyphony; postmodern pluralism in works of John Adams, George Crumb and Unsuk Chin.
Representative works include Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire", Alban Berg's "Wozzeck", Anton Webern's Op. 10, Pierre Boulez's "Le Marteau sans maître", Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Gesang der Jünglinge", John Cage's "4'33\"", Steve Reich's "Different Trains", Philip Glass's "Einstein on the Beach", Iannis Xenakis's "Metastasis", Gérard Grisey's "Partiels", Milton Babbitt's "Philomel", Elliott Carter's String Quartets, György Ligeti's "Atmosphères", Luciano Berio's "Sinfonia", Terry Riley's "In C", Helmut Lachenmann's "Pression", and Unsuk Chin's orchestral works. Ensembles and performers central to dissemination include Ensemble InterContemporain, London Sinfonietta, Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet, Martha Argerich, Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Techniques span twelve-tone technique codified by Arnold Schoenberg, total serialism explored by Pierre Boulez and Milton Babbitt, phase-shifting processes of Steve Reich, prepared piano methods of John Cage, spectral analysis rooted in practices from Gérard Grisey and Hugues Dufourt, algorithmic composition associated with Iannis Xenakis and Lejaren Hiller, live electronic integration promoted by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luigi Nono, and extended techniques exemplified by Helmut Lachenmann and George Crumb. Aesthetically, practitioners balance formalism found in Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter with experimental indeterminacy of John Cage and theatricality in collaborations such as Philip Glass with Robert Wilson.
Performance practice occurs in concert halls like Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and experimental spaces including Tate Modern, MoMA PS1, La Scala's contemporary series, and festivals such as Donaueschingen Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Bang on a Can Marathon. Institutions and ensembles—Ensemble InterContemporain, IRCAM, Brooklyn Academy of Music, BBC Proms Contemporary Music initiatives, Tanglewood Music Center and university programs at Columbia University, Stanford University and Juilliard School—support premieres, residencies, and recordings on labels like Nonesuch Records, Deutsche Grammophon and ECM Records.
Reception ranges from early controversy—Schoenberg's critics, the polemics surrounding Stravinsky and The Rite of Spring riots—to scholarly debates in journals such as The Musical Quarterly and institutions like Berklee College of Music and University of California, Berkeley's musicology departments. Critics including Theodor W. Adorno and commentators at The New York Times and The Guardian engage with debates on accessibility, elitism, innovation, and cultural policy discussed at forums like Darmstadt International Summer Courses and panels at IRCAM. Advocacy groups and presenters such as Bang on a Can, BBC Radio 3, Lincoln Center and commissioning bodies like Koussevitzky Foundation continue to shape programming and public perception.