Compilation of 20th Century Musical Works for Beginners Grouped by Decade
Works are selected unapologetically (hence this apologia) with extreme bias towards personal taste,
but still with a view to being fair, hence the inclusion of Shostakovich.
I have attempted to provide a broad-ish overview of the wide range of musical styles exemplary of
20th century music. It is not easy, and I have failed to include many, many things which are
deserving of the listener's attention. However, this guide is not intended to be comprehensive, rather
it provides a range of short-to-medium length pieces for the listener to use as a jumping off point for
their own exploration. In some cases I have excerpted sections of larger works that are exemplary of
major movements but far too long to be included per the list's striving toward accessibility. The
listener will find many prominent composers and compositions, as well as some relative obscurities
which I feel are worth checking out.
I have limited myself to a maximum of ten selections per decade, but in pretty much all cases have
selected fewer. All items are organised according to the known or at least probable date of
composition, rather than of publication or premiere. Each “decade” will take less than three hours to
listen through once. YouTube is your friend for finding recordings, but I have based the “three hour
rule” around recordings in my collection (ensembles/soloists noted under each item, dates noted in
the case of multiple recordings by the same musicians) so be advised you may end up taking longer
if you find some really weird performances possibly.
1900-1909
Maurice Ravel – Shéhérazade (1903)
Véronique Gens, soprano / Orchestra National de Pays de la Loire, cond. John Axelrod
Gustav Mahler – Kindertotenlieder (1904)
Janet Baker, soprano / The Hallé Orchestra, cond. John Barbirolli
Claude Debussy – La Mer (1905)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, cond. Fritz Reiner
Arnold Schoenberg – String Quartet No. 2, Op. 10 (1908)
Arditti Quartet / Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Anton Webern – Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 (1909)
Berliner Philharmoniker, cond. Pierre Boulez
Alban Berg – Piano Sonata, Op. 1 (1909)
Mitsuko Uchida, piano
Jean Sibelius – Voces Intimae, Op. 54 (1909)
Dante Quartet
Béla Bartók – String Quartet No. 1 (1909)
Takács Quartet
1910-1919
Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 10: Adagio (1910)
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, cond. Michael Gielen
Alexander Scriabin – Preludes, Op. 74 (1910)
Gordon Fergus-Thompson, piano
Ralph Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (1910)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Andrew Davis
Igor Stravinsky – Petrushka (1911)
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Leonard Bernstein
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912)
Christine Schäfer, soprano / Ensemble InterContemporain, cond. Pierre Boulez
Maurice Ravel – Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé (1913)
Felicity Palmer, soprano / The Nash Ensemble, cond. Simon Rattle
Charles Ives – String Quartet No. 2 (1913)
Blair Quartet
Edward Elgar – Cello Concerto (1919)
Jacqueline du Pré, cello / London Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Barbirolli
1920-1929
Sergei Prokofiev – Piano Concerto No. 3 (1921)
Samson François, piano / Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, cond.
André Cluytens
Charles Ives – Symphony No. 4 (1924)
The Cleveland Orchestra, cond. Christoph von Dohnányi
Alban Berg – Lyric Suite (1925)
LaSalle Quartet
Leoš Janáček – Sinfonietta (1926)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, cond. Rafael Kubelík
Maurice Ravel – Violin Sonata No. 2 (1927)
Pascal Rogé, piano / Chantal Juillet, violin
Edgard Varèse – Amériques (1927)
Orchestre National de France, cond. Kent Nagano
George Gershwin – An American in Paris (1928)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, cond. James Levine
Anton Webern – Symphony, Op. 21 (1928)
Berliner Philharmoniker, cond. Pierre Boulez
1930-1939
Maurice Ravel – Piano Concerto for the Left-Hand (1930)
Aldo Ciccolini, piano / Orchestre de Paris, cond. Jean Martinon
Igor Stravinsky – Violin Concerto (1931)
Viktoria Mullova, violin / Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Esa-Pekka Salonen
Ruth Crawford Seeger – String Quartet (1931)
Pellegrini Quartet
Francis Poulenc – Sextet (1932)
Pascal Rogé, piano + Wallez, Cazalet, Bourgue, Portal, & Gallois
Alban Berg – Violin Concerto (1935)
Henryk Szeryng, violin / Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, cond. Rafael
Kubelík
Dmitri Shostakovich – Symphony No. 4 (1936)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Vasily Petrenko
Béla Bartók – Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta (1937)
Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, cond. Fritz Reiner
1940-1949
Benjamin Britten – Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 (1940)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, cond. Simon Rattle
Arnold Schoenberg – Piano Concerto, Op. 42 (1942)
Mitsuko Uchida, piano / The Cleveland Orchestra, cond. Pierre Boulez
Harry Partch – U.S. Highball (1943)
Gate 5 Ensemble, cond. Jack McKenzie
Anton Webern – Cantata No. 2 (1943)
Christiane Oelze, soprano / Berliner Philharmoniker, cond. Pierre Boulez
Igor Stravinsky – Symphony in Three Movements (1945)
Berliner Philharmoniker, cond. Pierre Boulez
Richard Strauss – Metamorphosen (1945)
New Philharmonia Orchestra, cond. Otto Klemperer
Karl Amadeus Hartmann – Symphony No. 2 (1946)
SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, cond. Hans Rosbaud
Elliott Carter – Sonata for Violoncello and Piano (1948)
Ursula Oppens, piano / Rohan de Saram, cello
1950-1959
Arnold Schoenberg – Psalm 130, Op. 50b (1950)
BBC Singers, cond. Pierre Boulez
Alan Hohvaness – Symphony No. 2 (1955)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, cond. Fritz Reiner
Pierre Boulez – Le Marteau sans Maître (1957)
Ensemble InterContemporain, cond. Boulez
Igor Stravinsky – Agon (1957)
SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, cond. Hans Rosbaud
Karlheinz Stockhausen – Gruppen (1957)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, cond. Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna, & Michael Gielen
Elliott Carter – String Quartet No. 2 (1959)
Juilliard Quartet
1960-1969
Bernd Alois Zimmermann – Dialoge (1960)
Andreas Grau & Götz Schumacher, pianos / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, cond.
Aloys Kontarsky
Andrzej Panufnik – Piano Concerto (1961)
Ewa Pobłocka, piano / Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Kazimierz Kord
Friedrich Cerha – Spiegel VII [ex. Spiegel] (1961)
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, cond. Sylvain Cambreling
Olivier Messiaen – Couleurs de la Cité celeste (1963)
Yvonne Loriod, piano / Ensemble InterContemporain, cond. Pierre Boulez
György Ligeti – Lontano (1967)
SWF Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden, cond. Ernst Bour
Gordon Mumma – Hornpipe (1967)
Mumma, waldhorn; valve horn; electronics
Luciano Berio – Sinfonia (1969)
New Swingle Singers / Orchestra National de Paris, cond. Pierre Boulez
1970-1979
Milton Babbitt – String Quartet No. 4 (1970)
Juilliard Quartet
Pierre Boulez – Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna (1974)
Orchestre de Paris, cond. Daniel Barenboim
Gérard Grisey – Partiels [ex. Les Éspaces Acoustiques] (1975)
Garth Knox, viola / ASKO Ensemble / WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, cond. Stefan Asbury
Philip Glass – Train [ex. Einstein on the Beach, Act I] (1975)
Paul Zukofsky, violin / The Philip Glass Ensemble
Elliott Carter – A Symphony of Three Orchestras (1976)
New York Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Pierre Boulez
Henri Dutilleux – Ainsi la nuit (1976)
Belcea Quartet
Morton Feldman – Spring of Chosroes (1977)
Paul Hersey, piano / Christina Fong, violin
John Cage – Freeman Etudes, Book I (1977)
Irvine Arditti, violin
1980-1989
Claude Vivier – Lonely Child (1980)
Susan Narucki, soprano / ASKO Ensemble / Schoenberg Ensemble, cond. Reinbert de
Leeuw
Jonathan Harvey – Motuous Plango, Vivos Voco (1980)
tape
Charles Wuorinen – Horn Trio (1981)
Members of the Group for Contemporary Music
Galina Ustvolskaya – Symphony No. 3 (1983)
Valeri Scherstjanoi, vocals / Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, cond. Markus
Stenz
Conlon Nancarrow – Study No. 45 “Betty Freeman Suite” (1983)
player piano
John Adams – Harmonielehre (1985)
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, cond. Michael Tilson Thomas
Harrison Birtwistle – Earth Dances (1986)
Ensemble Modern, cond. Pierre Boulez
Witold Lutosławski – Piano Concerto (1987)
Ewa Pobłocka, piano / Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Kazimierz Kord
1990-1999
Kaija Saariaho – Noa Noa (1992)
Lesley Olson, flute
James Dillon – Ignis Noster (1992)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Arturo Tamayo
György Ligeti – Violin Concerto (1992)
Renaud Capuçon, violin / SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, cond.
François Xavier-Roth
Frank Zappa – Wolf Harbor (1993)
Synclavier
Henri Dutilleux – The Shadows of Time (1997)
Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse, cond. Michel Plasson
Wolfgang Rihm – Über der Linie (1999)
Jörg Widmann, clarinet / Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sylvain
Cambreling
