Do we have a 21st Century Mozart?

I know this is highly debatable, but I'm just wondering who the musical genius of our time is.

Yes, we do. Ok, granted that was 20th Century, but he's still around.

In terms of compositional ability I've never found anyone I thought was on par with the great classical composers. That was a unique time in history when a small group of people were raised from birth to compose. Not to play an instument extremely well, but to compose.

I know of countless modern virtuoso musicians, but nobody with a compositional mind like Mozart or Beethoven.

I am Batman

Yep, and he goes by the name of Justin Beiber...

lol

http://www.youtube.com/user/BjorkRemixMixtape#p/a/f/0/U0g9HbY3OuQ

She Sings

She Writes

She Produces

.

I think Jason Becker was moving in the direction of being of that level of ability/quality, but ALS took his ability to play guitar away at ~20-21 and I don't very much care for what his music as evolved to now that he's 100% paralyzed... Inconsistancy

In terms of technical virtuosity on the guitar he was at a fairly high level, but I learned some of his more over-the-top sweeps only a couple of years after getting really serious about my playing. There are things by players like Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth that are far beyond my abilities to this day.

[QUOTE="Inconsistancy"]I think Jason Becker was moving in the direction of being of that level of ability/quality, but ALS took his ability to play guitar away at ~20-21 and I don't very much care for what his music as evolved to now that he's 100% paralyzed... superfluidity

In terms of technical virtuosity on the guitar he was at a fairly high level, but I learned some of his more over-the-top sweeps only a couple of years after getting really serious about my playing. There are things by players like Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth that are far beyond my abilities to this day.

And technique by no means = good music, Swan Lake is ezpz, but it's a great song, whlie there is some contemporary garbage that's harder than hell but has absolutely no musical qualities.

[QUOTE="superfluidity"]

[QUOTE="Inconsistancy"]I think Jason Becker was moving in the direction of being of that level of ability/quality, but ALS took his ability to play guitar away at ~20-21 and I don't very much care for what his music as evolved to now that he's 100% paralyzed... Inconsistancy

In terms of technical virtuosity on the guitar he was at a fairly high level, but I learned some of his more over-the-top sweeps only a couple of years after getting really serious about my playing. There are things by players like Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth that are far beyond my abilities to this day.

Well, a lot of what he wrote was just arpeggiated chords, there isn't a whole lot of variety in his compositions. Certainly nothing in the same universe as what someone like Beethoven was doing. Also, Beethoven for example was already composing some fairly incredible stuff when he was like 13.

In terms of compositional ability I've never found anyone I thought was on par with the great classical composers. That was a unique time in history when a small group of people were raised from birth to compose. Not to play an instument extremely well, but to compose.

I know of countless modern virtuoso musicians, but nobody with a compositional mind like Mozart or Beethoven.

superfluidity

That's not entirely true. Composers back then were mostly musicians and wrote music for themselves to play (much like Mozart). It was like going to see a band now, you expected them to play their own music. Later once they gained renown they would either open an opera house (mainstream music at the time) or be hired by a court to compose for parties.

I immediately thought of that guy that plays rock on the violin.Allicrombie

[QUOTE="superfluidity"]

In terms of compositional ability I've never found anyone I thought was on par with the great classical composers. That was a unique time in history when a small group of people were raised from birth to compose. Not to play an instument extremely well, but to compose.

I know of countless modern virtuoso musicians, but nobody with a compositional mind like Mozart or Beethoven.

WTFr0b0ts

That's not entirely true. Composers back then were mostly musicians and wrote music for themselves to play (much like Mozart). It was like going to see a band now, you expected them to play their own music. Later once they gained renown they would either open an opera house (mainstream music at the time) or be hired by a court to compose for parties.

Well I didn't say they weren't incredible players (they were). The point was that there was a unique situation where individuals were instructed by extremely high level composers from a young age, such that music was as much a part of them as their native language. Continue this pattern for several generations and you get geniuses like Mozart.

[QUOTE="WTFr0b0ts"]

[QUOTE="superfluidity"]

In terms of compositional ability I've never found anyone I thought was on par with the great classical composers. That was a unique time in history when a small group of people were raised from birth to compose. Not to play an instument extremely well, but to compose.

I know of countless modern virtuoso musicians, but nobody with a compositional mind like Mozart or Beethoven.

superfluidity

That's not entirely true. Composers back then were mostly musicians and wrote music for themselves to play (much like Mozart). It was like going to see a band now, you expected them to play their own music. Later once they gained renown they would either open an opera house (mainstream music at the time) or be hired by a court to compose for parties.

Well I didn't say they weren't incredible players (they were). The point was that there was a unique situation where individuals were instructed by extremely high level composers from a young age, such that music was as much a part of them as their native language. Continue this pattern for several generations and you get geniuses like Mozart.

Very true, and its even more evident with later composers like Brahms and Mendelssohn. Another problem I see is except notable exceptions like Mozart and Beethoven is that most composer's were only known for their playing during life and their compositions gained notoriety after their death usually for teaching purposes and eventually this market became over saturated.

Mozart...Ain't he that painter?

Have you heard of this kid? He's pretty good to have made a handful of symphonies at age 12. That's putting it lightly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHJ6Z8li7Os