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German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Music / classical music
German term or phrase:Neue Musik
die Funktion Kölns als wichtiges Zentrum Neuer Musik, das in den 1960er Jahren auch bildende Künstler anzieht.
Do we say 'New Music' and is this an accepted term for a genre of contemporary music composed in the 20th and 21st century? I am tending to use the term 'New Music' but it does seem to me to be a bit obscure.
Explanation: As a professional "classical" musician, the term that my associates and I use is new music. New just means recently composed. Avant-garde sounds more like a value judgment or a synonym for "difficult and strange", and contemporary has been taken by the popular music marketers.
I had Symphony No. 2 in mind, for instance. Not to say that this sounds boring to my hear -- rather, I find it refreshing -- very complex rhythmically etc., but still not too unconventional, I would say. -- At any rate, No. 2 is a great work.
would not be happy to hear you say that, opolt -- he was deliberately trying to write music that would be difficult to listen to. Said he wasn't writing "sissy" music (which charmingly enough I think he spelled with a "c").
... it depends on the time frame; for instance, Charles Ives' music must have sounded quite newfangled and awkward to most people at the beginning of the 20th century, but makes for rather conventional listening nowadays (well, most of it anyway).
Arvo Pärt is just boring :-] -- Oops, that was OT wasn't it. Sorry :-]
I think "contemporary music" has given way (at least on the Irish and British airwaves) to the term "new music". I can't tell if the terms are synonyms but, even if they aren't, "new music" would probably be right in this context and "contemporary music" probably wrong. After all, Stockhausen sadly hasn't been contemporary since 2007, though his music is still new.
... your answer, it is well worth considering -- only that we're dealing with a typical translation dilemma here IMHO, i.e. do we see "Neue Musik" more as a "proper name" which can be "imported" into English (or not)?
... in the classical music scene, it's not rare at all to see a foreign (European) language term being used for this or that phenomenon, and in general, you're dealing with an educated audience / readers who are "in the know". -- This is especially true for Italian, German (and French, to a lesser degree). So maybe one should consider not translating the term at all -- after all, the meaning "Neue Musik" can easily be inferred by the E native speaker (if I'm not mistaken).
Der German sentence by Slindon tells the story. Stockhausen was one of them. The English sentence by Slindon (especially "contemporary") seems to be his / her personal opinion. Therfore, avant-guarde music is correct.
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new music
Explanation: As a professional "classical" musician, the term that my associates and I use is new music. New just means recently composed. Avant-garde sounds more like a value judgment or a synonym for "difficult and strange", and contemporary has been taken by the popular music marketers.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +3
