What do audiences expect from music? Why do some musical works become universally acclaimed "masterpieces" while others disappear, and yet others acquire almost cult status? Since 1900, there has gradually evolved an aesthetic which deliberately eschews the expectations of the "mainstream" of music. This course begins with a brief examination of late Beethoven Quartets and Sonatas, in which the composer often seems to steer away from expectations, and moves through the experimental late work of Liszt. The cornerstones of this alternative aesthetic are Satie and Busoni, who usher in the 20th century. The course will also look at Medtner, Varese, Cage, Boulez, Feldman, Silvestrov, Ustvolskaya, and others who have deliberately turned away from the traditional expectations of audiences, and sometimes away from tradition itself.