Neoromanticism The vocabulary of extended tonality, which flourished in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, continues to be used by contemporary composers. It has never been considered shocking or controversial in the larger musical world—as has been demonstrated statistically for the United States, at least, where "most composers continued working in what has remained throughout this century the mainstream of tonal-oriented composition".
High modernism Serialism is one of the most important post-war movements among the high modernist schools. Serialism, more specifically named "integral" or "compound" serialism, was led by composers such as
Pierre Boulez,
Luciano Berio,
Bruno Maderna,
Luigi Nono, and
Karlheinz Stockhausen in Europe, and by
Milton Babbitt,
Donald Martino,
Mario Davidovsky, and
Charles Wuorinen in the United States. Some of their compositions use an ordered set or several such sets, which may be the basis for the whole composition, while others use "unordered" sets. The term is also often used for
dodecaphony, or
twelve-tone technique, which is alternatively regarded as the model for integral serialism. Despite its decline in the last third of the 20th century, there remained at the end of the century an active core of composers who continued to advance the ideas and forms of high modernism. Those no longer living include
Pierre Boulez,
Pauline Oliveros,
Toru Takemitsu,
Jacob Druckman,
George Perle,
Ralph Shapey,
Franco Donatoni,
Wolfgang Rihm,
Jonathan Harvey,
George Benjamin,
Brian Ferneyhough,
Richard Wilson, and
James MacMillan.
Electronic music Computer music Between 1975 and 1990, a shift in the paradigm of
computer technology had taken place, making electronic music systems affordable and widely accessible. The personal computer had become an essential component of the electronic musician's equipment, superseding
analog synthesizers and fulfilling the traditional functions of composition and scoring, synthesis and sound processing, sampling of audio input, and control over external equipment.
Music theatre Spectral music Polystylism (eclecticism) Some authors equate polystylism with
eclecticism, while others make a sharp distinction.
Post-modernism Minimalism and post-minimalism Historicism Musical historicism—the use of historical materials, structures, styles, techniques, media, conceptual content, etc., whether by a single composer or those associated with a particular school, movement, or period—is evident to varying degrees in minimalism, post-minimalism, world-music, and other genres in which tonal traditions have been sustained or have undergone a significant revival in recent decades. Some post-minimalist works employ medieval and other genres associated with early music, such as the "Oi me lasso" and other
laude of
Gavin Bryars. The historicist movement is closely related to the emergence of musicology and the
early music revival. A number of historicist composers have been influenced by their intimate familiarity with the instrumental practices of earlier periods (
Hendrik Bouman, Grant Colburn,
Michael Talbot,
Paulo Galvão,
Roman Turovsky-Savchuk). The musical historicism movement has also been stimulated by the formation of such international organizations as the
Delian Society and
Vox Saeculorum.
Art rock influence Some composers have emerged since the 1980s who are influenced by
art rock, for example,
Rhys Chatham.
New Simplicity New Complexity New Complexity is a current within today's European contemporary avant-garde music scene, named in reaction to the New Simplicity. Amongst the candidates suggested for having coined the term are the composer
Nigel Osborne, the Belgian musicologist
Harry Halbreich, and the British/Australian musicologist
Richard Toop, who gave currency to the concept of a movement with his article "Four Facets of the New Complexity". Though often
atonal, highly abstract, and
dissonant in sound, the "New Complexity" is most readily characterized by the use of techniques which require complex
musical notation. This includes
extended techniques,
microtonality, odd
tunings, highly disjunct
melodic contour, innovative
timbres, complex
polyrhythms, unconventional
instrumentations, abrupt changes in loudness and intensity, and so on. The diverse group of composers writing in this style includes
Richard Barrett,
Brian Ferneyhough,
Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf,
James Dillon,
Michael Finnissy,
James Erber, and
Roger Redgate.
Ambient music and its crossovers Modern ambient music blends classical, electronic, and minimalism, driven by artists like
Jon Hopkins,
Erland Cooper,
Max Richter,
Richard D. James,
Ludovico Einaudi,
Nils Frahm,
Ólafur Arnalds,
Lambert,
Joep Beving, and
Hania Rani. Influenced by
Brian Eno and
Steve Reich, this genre, sometimes called "neo-classical" or "indie classical", merges cinematic orchestration with electronic textures, appealing to a broader audience. Labels like
Erased Tapes Records,
New Amsterdam Records, and
130701 have played a key role in this movement, while BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music have promoted its popularity. Programs by Ólafur Arnalds and Mary Anne Hobbs highlight the fusion of ambient, classical, and experimental soundscapes. == Developments by medium ==