| Despite the increasing appeal of popular music, | | | | Britain's classical music scene in the twentieth |
| orchestral music has flourished in the modern era, | | | | century. He was above all a deeply moral artist, |
| often looking to alternative influences and stylisms. | | | | expressing an enmity towards violence with his |
| Here are some of the most famous modern | | | | acclaimed 'War Requiem'. |
| composers. | | | | The most important exponent of the postmodern |
| Bela Bartok (1881-1945) drew on his Hungarian | | | | movement, Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), |
| folk roots to revolutionise opera, chamber music | | | | simultaneously delighted and outraged the public |
| and ballet. Regarded as a great thinker as well as | | | | with operas such as 'Light' in which the members |
| a musician, his influence will remain for years to | | | | of a string quartet were suspended by helicopters |
| come. | | | | above the venue they were performing at. The |
| Philip Glass (1937- ) started out as a minimalist | | | | conductor Sir Thomas Beecham was once |
| with works such as 'Strung Out' but later | | | | famously asked if he had ever conducted any |
| expanded his oeuvre into symphony with operas | | | | Stockhausen. He replied that he hadn't, but he |
| like Satyagraha, based on the life of Mahatma | | | | might well have trodden in some. |
| Gandhi. Glass is active in the Free Tibet cause. | | | | Another of the world's most famous composers |
| Noted for his great leaps forward in total | | | | was Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) who turned his |
| serialism, Pierre Boulez (1925- ) is one of France's | | | | back on Romanticism in favour of a more |
| most famous modern composers. Although he | | | | avant-garde, irregular style epitomised by the |
| hasn't composed much in recent years, his | | | | ballet 'Firebird'. He then reworked a number of |
| greatest work is considered to be 'Pli Selon Pli', | | | | classic compositions in a modernist, experimental |
| based on the verse of the poet Mallarmé. | | | | manner. He is roday regarded as highly influential |
| Most famous for his opera 'Peter Grimes', | | | | on French and American classical music. |
| Benjamin Britten (1913-76) was the leading light of | | | | |