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You can often hear from fans of classical music that all the best music was already written at least a hundred years ago and that the time of real composers creating truly immortal works has passed. The example usually cited is Bach, whose genius was never surpassed either during his lifetime or a couple of centuries after his death. Indeed, personalities of Bach’s caliber are born one per millennium, but this does not mean that the XX and XXI centuries produced nothing in terms of serious instrumental music and did not give the world a single great composer.
Below we will talk about fairly well-known, even cult composers living in our time or who passed away relatively recently, already in this century. Most of them are known for their film soundtracks, but they are also the authors of many individual works, written according to all the rules of the art of composition.
The work of Ennio Morricone is known even to those who have not heard the name of this composer, but have watched films such as “The Professional”, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, “Once Upon a Time in America”, “Octopus”, “Django Unchained” or “72 meters”. In total, Ennio Morricone has more than 500 works, including not only music for films, but also for performances, arrangements of folk songs, and individual plays. But it was his work on film music that brought him the greatest fame.
Ennio Morricone's style is distinguished by a bold combination of classical orchestration with experiments in incorporating completely non-orchestral instruments into the musical fabric - harmonica, Latin American pipe, non-musical sounds. Morricone's music for films is almost always an independent work, masterfully woven into the on-screen narrative; you can listen to his works completely separately, enjoying the composer's mastery.
Hans Zimmer is familiar to film fans as the composer of the music for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film franchise. Although Zimmer worked on the music for “Pirates” with Klaus Badelt, the title and most recognizable theme of the soundtrack belongs to him. In addition to “Pirates of the Caribbean”, Zimmer wrote music for such films as “Rain Man”, “Mission: Impossible 2”, “The Da Vinci Code”, Guy Ritchie's “Sherlock Holmes”, “Dune” and “Dune 2”, “Interstellar”, “Gladiator”, cartoons “The Lion King”, “Prince of Egypt”, “Despicable Me” - and these are just his most famous soundtracks.
Zimmer did not receive a full-fledged musical education, although he studied music since childhood. He learned the basics of composition and orchestration on his own, in parallel with experiments in the field of electronic music. Even in his youth, he became interested in film music and subsequently worked mainly in this direction. In his work, Zimmer successfully combines the neoclassical direction with electronic music, loves to use unusual and dynamic rhythms, as well as low frequencies.
A classic of modern American and world film music, John Williams is known for his participation in the creation of such cult films as “Star Wars”, “Schindler’s List”, “Home Alone”, “Jurassic Park”, “Saving Private Ryan”, and the Harry Potter films.
Williams' music is the embodiment of “classic Hollywood”, taking the best from European musical culture. Working in numerous orchestras in his youth permitted him to gain extensive experience in the expressive means of a symphony orchestra. Williams' work on soundtracks was highly appreciated - he won the “Oscar” for best film music five times. Williams's neo-romantic style is very close to the style of composers of the XIX century: he makes extensive use of all the capabilities of a classical symphony orchestra, and also likes to “reward” each character with his own musical theme (just remember the “Imperial March” from “Star Wars”, which cannot be confused with anything else). Fans of composers such as Wagner, Tchaikovsky or Brahms will certainly appreciate Williams’ music.
Among modern Russian film composers who also create music not for films, one can note Igor Kornelyuk. For many, he is known as a pop singer who became famous in the 90s - his songs “Ticket to the Ballet”, “Rains”, “That’s how it should be”, “I’m offended” were heard on all TV channels at that time. In addition to the pop direction, Kornelyuk also became famous as the author of soundtracks for the famous television series “Gangster Petersburg” and “The Master and Margarita”.
Thanks to the presence of a classical musical education (school, conservatory), Kornelyuk’s music for films can be traced to imitation of a variety of stylistic trends - romantic music of the XIX century, church works, folk oriental and Slavic motifs, depending on what film or episode of the film the composer worked on.
Another contemporary musician who writes in the neoclassical style is the Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi. At the same time, he combines neoclassicism with ambient and new age styles. As a rule, Einaudi writes for piano or piano and orchestra. The melodies of Ludovico Einaudi are both melodic and restrained in their expressive means, meditative and evoking a slight light sadness, they are ideal for listening alone and for calming down.
Film lovers are familiar with Einaudi as the author of the soundtracks for the film “1+1”, the TV series “Stargate”, as well as the trailer for the film “Black Swan”.
Korean composer and pianist Yiruma (pronounced Lee Ru-ma) is sometimes called the modern reincarnation of Mozart: when he was five years old, the child of a family that didn't have a single musician in his family, he simply sat down at the piano and started playing. And his creative style is often compared to Mozart’s - his music is characterized by purity of intonation, light sadness and melody. His most famous composition, River Flows in You, is sometimes even mistakenly attributed to Mozart. At the same time, he combines elements of the great Austrian's style with newfangled lounge and new age.
Yiruma's music can be heard in popular Korean TV series (there is a misconception that he composed the soundtrack for the Twilight movie, but this is not true). For many, acquaintance with the work of Yiruma became the beginning of an interest in piano music and prompted them to start learning to play the piano themselves.
Japanese pianist and composer Keiko Matsui writes her works in jazz and new age styles. It is this combination that makes her music different from the works of her contemporaries. Combining jazz rhythms with the meditativeness of the New Age style, adding unusual-sounding instruments, she creates unique compositions that have made her popular among connoisseurs of modern “live”, non-computer music. Her most famous compositions are Whisper from the mirror, Wildflower, Bridge over the stars, Deep blue. In total, she has released 20 albums with her piano works, which she performs with an orchestra.
The Italian Alessandro Martire, despite his youth (he was born in 1992), has already gained enormous popularity as a representative of the neoclassical movement. His melodies are filled with lightness and light, distinguished by a combination of classical harmony with modern intonations and manner of performance. Martire's compositions are often used as soundtracks for nature and travel films - the popular National Geographic TV channel even chose the title track of his album Share the World as the soundtrack to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
Thus, even in our time, fans of classical instrumental music, created not by a computer program, but by human talent, can enjoy beautiful works that suit any mood.
Resources: neoclassica.ru; lifehacker.ru; ru.wikipedia.org; www.jazzmap.ru
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