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Avant-Garde

 
 

Description of Avant-Garde

 
Avant-Garde classical composers shun the old masters and Schoenberg's twelve-tone theory, incorporating non-traditional structures, instruments and approaches into the classical tradition. Composer John Cage used chance operations to determine the structure of his compositions, while Harry Partch designed his own instruments. Countless Avant-Garde composers included electronic instrumentation in their music.
 

Filed Under

 
Classical  >  20th/21st Century  >  Avant-Garde
 

Avant-Garde Key Artists

 
Elliott Carter

Like many famous
modernists, Carter's
complex abstract
compositions were highly
academic in nature.

Iannis Xenakis

Xenakis' creations are
dissonant, abstract, and
heavy, resembling
fascinatingly chaotic

John Cage

Cage's avant-garde antics
brought the concept of
random chance into the
mainstream of serous art
music composition. Cage s...

Krzysztof Penderecki

A Polish aural innovator,
Penderecki sculpted dense
masses of sound far beyond
the piano tone clusters of
Charles Ives.

Morton Feldman

Experimental composer and
visual artist Feldman is
influenced by Cage's New
York circle of musicians.

Pierre Boulez

Also a renowned
conductor, Boulez'
progressive compositions
expanded serialism as
defined by Schoenberg.

Toru Takemitsu

Takemitsu is an
experimental Japanese
composer who created
sparse, silence-laden
textures with Messiaen-es...

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