Five albums of contemporary classical music that had an outsized impact on me as a young composer

Presented in no particular order. Each of these albums had heavy rotation for me circa 2003-2013 and still resonates with me today. If I recall, they were almost all purchased at the record store in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia, where I dragged my missionary companions as often as I could and picked the brain of the owner to help me connect the dots from the classical music I was familiar with to the music of today. In many cases, these albums were my first exposure to composers whose music, ideas and lives have inspired me ever since. 

Kurtág/Lutoslawski/Gubaidulina
Works for String Quartet
Arditti String Quartet

Particular standouts: 

György Kurtág | Officium Breve In Memoriam Andreae Szervánszky Op. 28

The ending... a touching, fragment of a quotation from his teacher, Szervánszky

Witold Lutosławski | String Quartet

My first exposure to the composer whose ideas my composition students hear about almost every lesson

Sofia Gubaidulina | String Quartet No. 2

Expressive obsession around a single pitch

Voices of Nature
Alfred Schnittke | Arvo Pärt
Swedish Radio Choir/Tõnu Kaljuste

Particular Standouts: 

Alfred Schnittke | Concerto for Choir

A healing litany of mankind's woes culminating in a cathartic artist's prayer for continued inspiration

Arvo Pärt | I Am the True Vine

Choral tintinnabuli shines new light on the words of Christ

Night Prayers
Kronos Quartet

Particular Standouts:

Sofia Gubaidulina | String Quartet No. 4

Still one of the most surreal string quartet experiences ever

Osvaldo Golijov | K'Vakarat

The composer whose music overheard on NPR first got me curious about contemporary classical

Giya Kancheli | Night Prayers

A capstone to the entire colorfully brooding album

Baltic Voices 2
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir/Paul Hillier

Particular Standouts:

Per Nørgård | Winter Hymn

This track hit me like a beacon of what sacred music could be like in the 21st century

Alfred Schnittke | Three Sacred Hymns

I honestly can't recommend everything on this album highly enough. This choir spoiled me as a composer.

John Tavener | We Shall See Him As He Is
BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra/Richard Hickox

My first exposure to Tavener, this composition showed me how an idiosyncratic composer might express things both deeply, personally sacred and universally true.