The 20th Century period in Western classical music lasted from around 1900 to 2000. The Contemporary period tends to overlap the 20th Century period, covering all Western classical music after about 1970 (or 1945, according to some authors).
In these two periods there are almost as many different musical styles as there are composers. New ideas have proliferated in the 20th century and beyond, such as modernism, nationalism, serialism, neoclassicism, avant-garde, post-serialism, electronic music, microtonalism, minimalism, post-modernism, polystylism, neo-Romanticism, "crossover" (music that has a strong classical feel to it), film music, and music which is left to chance without being composed ahead of time. There's even a piece in which not a single note is played in the entire orchestra (see 4'33", below). Basically, anything goes in the 20th century and beyond.
20th Century Composers
These are some of the composers of this period, and a taste of their music. I tried to select well-known pieces, but in many cases I had to pick something at random from what's available in YouTube. Where possible, I chose videos which show live performances of the pieces. The links will take you to the Wikipedia pages for the composers and their works.
The names of many of these pieces are followed by a number which is based on a catalog of the composer's works, such as "Op. 67" or "BWV 1046-1051." See the
Terminology
page for more on these catalogs.
In this piece, not a single note is played in the entire orchestra. However, this is not a silent work. Instead, the performance is made up of the natural ambient noise in the concert hall, such as the sounds of people shifting in their seats, and the occasional cough, and the sound of the air conditioning, and so on. It's made up of 3 movements which are supposed to add up to 4 minutes and 33 seconds (hence the name of the piece):
These are some of the composers of this period, and a taste of their music. I tried to select well-known pieces, but in many cases I had to pick something at random from what's available in YouTube. Where possible, I chose videos which show live performances of the pieces.
The names of many of these pieces are followed by a number which is based on a catalog of the composer's works, such as "Op. 67" or "BWV 1046-1051." See the
Terminology
page for more on these catalogs.