I'm coming back to this discussion after a couple of weeks away so I am
backtracking a little on various points.

I have been interested to see the suggestions of non-tonal music put
forward in this thread.  Having been won over by hearing some of Berg's
music (in particular the violin concerto) in music history class at school,
I agree that his compositions are as good a place as any to start exploring
This area.  But if you don't get on with them, it may be that his music
in particular isn't to your taste and you should try some of the other
composers suggested.  They are, however, a good argument against the
opposition which was made between atonal music and song.  As a singer
myself, I am keenly aware of the importance of vocal melody to various
composers and it seems to me to be at the centre of Berg's art, even in
purely instrumental compositions.  He didn't suddenly give it up along
with key signatures part way through his Op. 2 lieder.

I second Kathleen O'Connell's advice to listen to pieces in concert, if you
have the opportunity to do so.  Hearing the tone colours for real adds so
much.

The large quantity of contemporary 'modernist' music put out by the BBC
in the 1960's/70's has been mentioned.  It is easy to forget that there
has been bad music written in every age, and with the passage of time it
usually fades out of the repertoire.  Great composers tend to spawn their
imitators - we aren't so aware of most of the sub-Wagnerian pieces written
in the late 19th century because they were forgotten long ago.  My memory
goes back to the BBC programming of the late 70's and the contemporary
music featured then, some of which wasn't very good and will presumably
share the same fate.  This doesn't invalidate the good stuff.

I don't see that music is necessarily bad if it is a 'dead end' in some
sense.  I can think of various composers who have no very obvious direct
successors (Chopin comes to mind) and this is not usually held against
them.  In any case, Schoenberg and his pupils have been claimed as an
influence by numerous composers, not all of whom practised the same
compositional methods as they did - I am frequently surprised as new
examples of this come to my attention - which doesn't seem like a dead
end to me.

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