20th Century Composers

right. But in the long run it's WHAT THEY COMPOSED that matters, the value of the compositions,, not just the fact that they "did their own thing". Everyone from pure hack to genius can do their own thing, make a living, whatever, but that's not what we care about (not what I care about anyway). What I care about is the product. And if I look at Beethoven's product--what he wrote--it's in a league altogether different than John Williams--maybe not simply because the latter wrote movie music, but for many other reasons. And maybe John Williams is the equal of Sousa...so what?--in terms of comparisons to Beethoven, they are both marching in the wind.

Listen to Live at Fillmore by the Allman Brothers Band - Dickey Betts - "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"

Allan Holdsworth, Robert Fripp, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Sharrock, John McLaughlin, Frank Zappa and Carlos Santana may not have inflenced composition as much as Stravinsky, Monk or Mancini*, but those 7 guys sure found some cool ways to extend the vocabulary of electric guitar playing.

*(corny or not, you couldn't get away from his stuff, and it got stuck in the brain). If you snag the 1st Oranj Symphonette cd you might be surprised at how much Mancini contributed to the ol' memory bank.

Sugarbrie - I'm with you on all your choices. I would like to add a few that are conspiciously missing:

Jean Sibelius
Claude Debussy (could be considered 19th Century but a truly influential and original composer of the modern era)
Maurice Ravel (among the best orchestrators of any period)

The most influential composer of the 20th Century and the greatest in my book is Igor Stravinsky

I agree with the Debussy. He actually wrote what could be called the first music in "20th century style" the "Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune" or Prelude of an afternoon of a fawn. It broke the lock of the romantic style and paved the way for others to take changes.