Contemporary composers. Please help.

I'd like to mention Britten's string quartets. This maybe heresy, but I prefer them over Bartok's quartets. I like the Belcea Quartet's recording of these works. Also, check out Jennifer Higdon's piano trio and look for her violin concerto for which she won a Pulitzer today I've been told. I heard this work premiered by Hilary Hahn in Indianapolis and it is a very worthwhile piece of music.

If you like Reich you might try the tonal minimalists such as Niblock, Tenny, Palestine, and Lucier. If you like 12 tone try Webern, Schifrin, and maybe even Verese. Also try Zorn, Cage, and most importantly MORTON FELDMAN if you like Part especially.

In addition to the good recommendations already listed I'll add Robert Simpson.

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