“Congratulations on your recent Grammys!” That is not a sentence that one gets to say often, but I was fortunate enough to say it last month. While visiting John Hopkins University, I had the pleasure of meeting composition professor Kevin Put, who is also this year’s Grammy winner for best contemporary composition. The award, among the most prestigious for composers around the world, has been awarded to some of the most influential composers of the 20th century, such as Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber.
In an effort to continue promoting contemporary classical music, I feel almost obligated to share these ingenious works with more aspiring artists. Without further ado, here are my picks for the top-five Grammy winning contemporary compositions.*
Percussion Concerto, by Jennifer Higdon (2010 winner)
Described as a “hot commodity in the contemporary music world” by the New York Times, Jennifer Higdon is a three-time Grammy-winning composer known for her vivid and attractive orchestral works, particularly the “Percussion Concerto.” The piece is definitely one of its kind in the percussion repertoire, as there are scarcely any other concerto of this scale written for percussion. But Higdon, with her brilliant techniques in orchestration, has successfully balanced the timbre between the soloist and orchestra. The work consists of a single movement and lasts around 25 minutes.
“On the Transmigration of Souls,” by John Adams (2005 winner)
To any classical music enthusiast, the name John Adams should need no introduction. As one of the most performed composers of the 21st century, his other works include the ground-breaking opera “Nixon in China” and orchestral piece “Harmonielehre.” “On the Transmigration of Souls” was written to commemorate the infamous attack that left a scare on every American—9/11. The work includes pre-recorded voices listing the names of some of the victims, followed by the word “missing” after each. During an interview with Boosey & Hawkes, Adams noted that he hopes the piece “will summon human experience that goes beyond this particular event.”
“Tales of Hemingway,” by Michael Daugherty (2017 winner)
Currently a professor of composition at University of Michigan, Michael Daugherty is known for his works inspired by pop culture, literature and American landscapes, such as “Niagara Falls” and “Metropolis Symphony” (inspired by Superman comics). His cello concerto “Tales of Hemingway”’ continues this trend, drawing inspiration from the novels of Ernest Hemingway. The work is in four movements, with each one reflecting a different novel by Hemingway, including “The Old Man and the Sea” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Through the use of leitmotifs and Spanish rhythms, Daugherty successfully recreates scenes from each of the novels. In my view, this is a musical love-letter to the golden age of American literature.
“Made in America,” by Joan Tower (2008 winner)
Regarded as “one of the most successful woman composers of all time” by The New Yorker, Joan Tower had a splendid composition career spanning over six decades. Her work “Made in America” is written for full orchestra and is inspired by her experience living in Bolivia as a child. The piece reflects on how this experience has made her realize “the basic luxuries of an American citizen that we so often take for granted,” as she observed in the program note. The main theme of the piece is based on the patriotic song “America the Beautiful,” and it reappears throughout the piece in various forms and timbres. The composition is one movement and has a duration of roughly 14 minutes.
Symphony No. 1, by John Corigliano (1991 winner)
In the contemporary music world, scarcely anyone has won an Oscar, a Grammy, and a Pulizer, but John Corigliano is definitely one of them. Corigliano is renowned around the world for his Clarinet Concerto, Symphony No. 1, and film score for “The Red Violin.” Currently, he’s serving on the composition faculty of Juilliard. According to an interview recorded in his biography “John Corigliano: A Monograph” written by mark Adamo, his first symphony was written to commemorate “my friends—those I had lost and the one I was losing” due to the AIDS pandemic, which took millions of lives in the 1980s. The first three movements are each dedicated to a victim of AIDS who were Corigliano’s close friends, and the last movement reflects on the past three movements through a brilliant brass choral combining with the reappearance of the themes from the previous movements.
*In order to stick to the topic of contemporary music, I only included winning works by living composers.
Photo courtesy of Mic JohnsonLP/Song Simian
