What is Post-Classical music?

rsl12 · 2026-04-25T16:45:09+00:00

I'm starting a new thread for this. ShiroKuro Do you want suggestions for post-classical added to the suggestion form, or do you want some online discussion...

WieWaldi

Sophia Maybe you are right, and I had a big mistake in my logic. But to my defense:
How should I know what I think before I read what I have written?

ShiroKuro

WieWaldi How should I know what I think before I read what I have written?

I love this!!!!!!!!!

ShiroKuro

WieWaldi what is post classical music?

I like the term post classical because the music being described uses basically the same piano technique as classical playing, but is stylistically different. I also think of it as more "post classical-genre" rather than "post classical-era."

I used to say "contemporary solo piano" a lot, but people never really seemed to know what I meant. Since this topic has come up here, I've seen using "post classical" more and people seem to kind of intuitively get what it means.

So to me, that's a sign that this label "lands."

WieWaldi

ShiroKuro uses basically the same piano technique as classical playing, but is stylistically different.

By this definition, most of John Williams work belong to it. Typically his work is played by a classical orchestra.

Some people refer JW as film music, I would say film music is not a genre per se, it is a description for its intended usecase.

ShiroKuro

WieWaldi I'm not familiar enough with JW's music to have a strong opinion, but my question is, stylistically, is it different enough from what's generally called classical music to warrant it being called post classical. Based on the pieces I'm remembering, I would just call that classical, but maybe I'm not thinking of the right thing.

A good addition to this discussion is Billy Joel's classical compositions "Fantasies and Delusions," here's a sample:

Stylistically, I would call this classical. I don't care that they were written in the 21st century, if you compare those pieces to Einaudi or George Winston (both of whom I want to call post classical), the stylistic difference is quite stark.

WieWaldi

ShiroKuro [John Williams & Wiener Philharmoniker – "Main Title" from "Star Wars: A New Hope"] Why not call this classical? (In the broadest sense, not in the sense "era" sense).

If you ask someone who has never seen the movie, nor knows the soundtrack, someone might think it is classical. It is stylistically closer to Beethoven than Einaudi.

ShiroKuro Stylistically, I would call this classical. I don't care that they were written in the 21st century

Same for JW (you picked an excellent example).

In this case, the term Classical is a mess. We have classical music Renaissance period (1400-) over Baroque and Classical to Romantic period (-1900). For one it is used to describe a style, but it describes an era as well.

I think I'll remain confused and continue to refuse to play classical music. Blues is so easy in comparison. Both for playing as well for knowing what blues actually is.

ShiroKuro

Ok, am listening to this now:

Why not call this classical? (In the broadest sense, not in the sense "era" sense).

And if we're calling JW classical, then do we have to also call this classical?

Ok, now I've opened up a can of worms, haven't I!!

ShiroKuro

The counter argument might be that we have to incorporate era into the definition??

I don't know about orchestral works, I just know that I need some way to describe the piano music I play, and post classical to me works better than anything else. 😅

Sophia

Heh! Now, if I were to classify JW's music, I'd probably call that Easy Listening. Just to clash with your definition of the 70s music you mentioned earlier 🤣

ShiroKuro

Sophia love it!! 😁

WieWaldi the term Classical is a mess.

Indeed! Terminological chaos it would seem!

There’s clearly no perfect or best label, but for the piano music under discussion (Einaudi etc) I’m good with post classical.

And I’m ok with film music for music that was composed for film, despite the problems there as well.

Beyond that, it’s all mushy. 😂

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