Editing 1979 in music (section)

==Classical music==
* [[Arno Babadjanian]] – Third String Quartet
* [[Milton Babbitt]]
**''An Elizabethan Sextette'', for six female voices
**''Images'', for saxophone and tape
**''Paraphrases'', for ten instruments
* [[Osvaldas Balakauskas]] – Symphony No. 2
* [[Pascal Bentoiu]] – Symphony No. 5, Op. 26 
* [[Luciano Berio]] – ''Scena''
* [[Harrison Birtwistle]] – ''... agm ...'', for sixteen voices and three instrumental ensembles
* [[John Cage]]
**''Hymns and Variations'', for twelve amplified voices
**''[[Roaratorio]]'' for tape
* [[George Crumb]]
** ''Apparition'' for soprano and amplified piano
** ''[[Makrokosmos#Volume IV|Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV)]]'' for amplified piano (four hands)
** ''Star-Child'' (1977, revised 1979) for soprano, antiphonal children's voices, male speaking choir, bell ringers, and large orchestra
* [[Mario Davidovsky]] – ''Pennplay'' for sixteen players
* [[Peter Maxwell Davies]]
**''Black Pentecost'', for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and orchestra, Op. 82
**''Kirkwall Shopping Songs'', for young voices and instruments, Op. 85
**Nocturne, for alto flute solo, Op. 84
**''Quiet Memory of Bob Jennings'', for violin, viola, and cello, WoO 135
**''Salome'', concert suite from the ballet, Op. 80b
**''Solstice of Light'', cantata for tenor, SATB chorus, and organ, Op. 83
* [[Morton Feldman]]
**String Quartet No. 1
**''Violin and Orchestra''
* [[Hugh Flynn]] – ''Birds''
* [[Philip Glass]]
**''Dance'' (Dances 1, 3 and 5, with [[Lucinda Childs]] and [[Sol LeWitt]]), for ensemble
**''Mad Rush'', for piano or electric organ
* [[Alexander Goehr]]
**''Babylon the Great Is Fallen'', cantata, Op. 40
**Chaconne for organ, Op. 34a
**''Das Gesetz der Quadrille'', Op. 41
**Sinfonia, Op. 42
* [[Cristóbal Halffter]]
**''Officium defunctuorum'', for orchestra and chorus
**Violin Concerto No. 1
* [[Jacques Hétu]] – Bassoon Concerto
* [[Vagn Holmboe]]
** Violin Concerto No. 2
** ''Notater'' for 3 trombones (alto, tenor, baritone) and tuba
** ''Konstateringer'' for choir
** Guitar Sonata No. 1
** Guitar Sonata No. 2
** Accordion Sonata No. 1
** ''Bogtrykkemaskinen'' for violin and piano
* [[Miloslav Kabelac]] – ''Metamorphoses II'', for piano and orchestra, Op. 58
* [[Wojciech Kilar]] –
**''Fanfare'' for mixed choir and orchestra
**''Hoary Fog'' (''Siwa mgła''), for baritone and orchestra
* [[Witold Lutosławski]] – ''Novelette'' for orchestra
* [[William Lloyd Webber]] – ''[[Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae]]''
* [[Tomás Marco]]
**''Aria de la batalla'', for organ
**''Tartessos'', for four percussionists 
* [[Richard Meale]] – ''Viridian'', for orchestra
* [[Paul Moravec]]
** ''Ave Verum Corpus'', for SATB chorus
** ''Missa Miserere'', for SATB chorus and orchestra
** ''Pater Noster'', for SATB chorus
* [[Ștefan Niculescu]] – ''Sincronie'' for flute, oboe and bassoon
* [[Allan Pettersson]] – Viola Concerto
* [[Steve Reich]]
**[[Eight Lines|Octet]]
**''[[Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards]]''
* [[R. Murray Schafer]]
**''Beauty and the Beast'', from ''Patria 3'', for alto with masks and string quartet
**''Felix's Girls'', from ''Patria 3'', for SATB quartet or choir
**''Gamelan'', from ''Patria 3'', for SATB, SASA, or TBTB solo quartet or choir
**''Hear Me Out'' from ''Patria 3'', for four speaking voices
**''Music for Wilderness Lake'', for twelve trombones and small rural lake
**''Ontario Variations on a theme by Jack Behrens'' (one variation), for piano, contribution to collective work by Ontario composers
* [[Peter Sculthorpe]]
**Four Little Pieces, for piano duet
**''Mangrove'', for orchestra
**Requiem, for cello alone
* [[Denis Smalley]] – ''The Pulses of Time'', electronic music
* [[Roger Smalley]] – String Quartet
* [[Michael Tippett]] – Triple Concerto for violin, viola, and cello
* [[Anatol Vieru]]
**Concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra
**''Iosif si fratii sai'', for eleven instruments and tape
* [[Malcolm Williamson]] – ''Fanfarade'', for orchestra
* [[Charles Wuorinen]]
**''Fortune'', for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
**''Joan's'', for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
**''The Magic Art'', instrumental masque, for chamber orchestra
**Percussion Duo, for mallet instruments and piano
**Psalm 39, for baritone and guitar
**String Quartet No. 2
**Three Songs, for tenor and piano
* [[Iannis Xenakis]]
**''Anémoessa'', for SATB chorus of 42 or 84 voices and orchestra
**''Dikhthas'', for violin and piano
**''[[Palimpsest (Xenakis)|Palimpsest]]'', for cor anglais, bass clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion, piano, and string quintet