Kevin Sutton asks for a catalogue of 10 compositions since Britten's War
Requiem (1962) that are as significant, well constructed and original as
said same:

Here's a baker's dozen of Shostakovich compositions for a start:

1.  Symphony No. 13 (1962)
2.  Symphony No. 14 (1969)
3.  Symphony No. 15 (1971)
4.  Violin Sonata, Op. 134 (1968)
5.  Viola Sonata, Op. 147 (1974)
6.  Violin Concerto No. 2 (1967)
7.  String Quartet No. 9 (1964)
8.  String Quartet No. 10 (1964)
9.  String Quartet No. 11 (1966)
10. String Quartet No. 12 (1967)
11. String Quartet No. 13 (1970)
12. String Quartet No. 14 (1971)
13. String Quartet No. 15 (1974)

It is also my opinion that numerous lists of at least 10 compositions
worthy of comparison to the War Requiem in the manner prescribed above
could be constructed from individual composers such as Robert Simpson, Sir
Michael Tippett, Britten himself, Lutoslawski, Takemitsu to name just a
few.  Perhaps this means that for some I am grotesquely underrating the War
Requiem, but I can live with that.

I do not myself believe that an individual work need be composed on the
same scale of duration and instrumentation etc to meet the above criteria
of quality control.

In more general terms, however, I can appreciate and understand Kevin
Sutton's points as they relate to the pretensions of the "performance
art" that he seemed to be describing in his original post.  When I paint
a Rhinoceros, or a landscape, somewhat impressionistically, these things
are nevertheless clearly recognisable as such, though not slavishly
photographic.  There is in the visual art of painting a minimum skill in
visualisation, mixing colour and simple draughtsmanship that is surely at
least equivalent to the minimum level of various musical skills required
for the art of composition if it is not to become fatally flawed by sheer
pretension and deliberate naivety.

Geoffrey Gaskell