I'll 2nd Bartok, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich, & add Elliott Carter & Messian. Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, & Copeland tend to be very "accessible", serious, but you don't have to wear a Hair Shirt to listen to them.
You HAVE to have Bartok's "Music for Strings Percussion & Celesta", & "Concerto for Orchestra". The Shostakovich String Qts., & the 24 Preludes & Fugues, are gorgeous. Pick almost any Stravinsky work, I suppose the Rite of Spring is a good place to start, it caused a riot when premiered in 1917 I think.
I left out Debussy & Ravel, but you should know them too.....very "pretty", French. And Listening to Charles Ives will put hair on your chest....
You HAVE to have Bartok's "Music for Strings Percussion & Celesta", & "Concerto for Orchestra". The Shostakovich String Qts., & the 24 Preludes & Fugues, are gorgeous. Pick almost any Stravinsky work, I suppose the Rite of Spring is a good place to start, it caused a riot when premiered in 1917 I think.
I left out Debussy & Ravel, but you should know them too.....very "pretty", French. And Listening to Charles Ives will put hair on your chest....