Contemporary Art Song
tagStarted 1945Peak 1970–presentLast big hit still active
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Contemporary art song keeps the intimacy of recital music while absorbing modern harmony, extended technique, new poetry, global influences, electronics, and post-tonal or postminimal language. The piano part may become timbral theatre, and the vocal line can move from speech-near inflection to extreme virtuosity without leaving the recital frame.
History
Postwar composers and performers refused to let song remain a museum piece, producing new cycles and miniatures by Messiaen, Crumb, Kurtág, Saariaho, Harbison, Bolcom, and many others; specialist singers and festivals built a living new-song culture in which the recital remains one of contemporary classical music’s most flexible and intellectually alive formats.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Oxford Music Online
- Grove Music Online
- composer and label notes from ECM, Ondine, Hyperion, and Naxos