Opera 101

Sibelius (all the symphonies, but especially the 2nd) or Shostokovitch's 10th Symphony came to my mind for starters when contemplating Gorecki.

Thanks LW those are great.

I found a pretty cool site about Shostakovich:

http://inkpot.com/classical/shostasym10.html

You might want to check out the works of Arvo Part, and the medieval religious compositions of the Abbess Hildegaard von Bingen if you like the style of Gorecki's 3rd. I happen to love it as well. On a different plane, I love Puccini's opera 'Madame Butterfly', and Alban Berg's 'Wozzeck', probably one of the most gut-wrenching operas I have heard. It's helpful to have the synopsis: http://www.metopera.org/synopses/wozzeck.html

Cav those are great suggestions as well. Arvo Part has done a lot of stuff.

Thanks.

Other 20th Century composer suggestions:

Rautavaara: Angel of Light
Ethereal and metaphysical musical experience.

Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste
One of the 20th Century masterpieces that contains a famous mocking of the theme from Shostokovitch's 11th Symphony.

Messiaen: Chronochromie
on the Pierre Boulez, Cleveland Orch.
DG 445 827-2 also contains other works
The mysteries of nature in music.

It might not be a popular choice, but I loved the one opera Debussy completed, Pelleas et Melisande. Here is a link to the the text, if you speak French: http://www.karadar.com/Librettos/debussy_pelleas.html

Even if you don't, the music is stunning.

I do have that opera on CD, the Claudio Abbado version.

If you like that opera, you would also like

Ravel: L'Enfant et les Sortileges