| | 1943 Secular Cantata No. 2. A Free Song by William Schuman |
| | Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and published by G. Schirmer, Inc., New York |
| | 1944 Symphony No. 4. Opus 34 by Howard Hanson |
| | Performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on December 3, 1943. |
| | 1945 Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland |
| | A ballet written for and presented by Martha Graham and group, commissioned by Mrs. E. S. Coolidge, first presented at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. October, 1944. |
| | 1946 The Canticle of the Sun by Leo Sowerby |
| | Commissioned by the Alice M Ditson Fund, first performed by the Schola Cantorum in New York, April 1945. |
| | 1947 Symphony No. 3 by Charles Ives |
| | First performed by Lou Harrison and Chamber Orchestra in New York, April, 1946. |
| | 1948 Symphony, No. 3 by Walter Piston |
| | First performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston, January, 1948. |
| | 1949 Music for the film Louisiana Story by Virgil Thomson |
| | Released in 1948 by Robert Flaherty Productions. |
| | 1950 Music in The Consul by Gian-Carlo Menotti |
| | Produced at the Barrymore Theater, New York. |
| | 1951 Music in "Giants in the Earth" by Douglas S. Moore |
| | Produced by Columbia Opera Workshop, March 28, 1951. |
| | 1952 Symphony Concertante by Gail Kubik |
| | Performed at Town Hall, January; 7, 1952. |
| | 1953 (No Award) |
| | 1954 Concerto For Two Pianos and Orchestra by Quincy Porter |
| | First performed by the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, March 17, 1954. This was one of the works commissioned under a grant of the Rockefeller Foundation for new American compositions for orchestra, or soloists and orchestra. |
| | 1955 The Saint of Bleecker Street by Gian-Carlo Menotti |
| | An opera first performed at the Broadway Theater, New York, December 27, 1954. |
| | 1956 Symphony No. 3 by Ernst Toch |
| | First performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, December 2, 1955. |
| | 1957 Meditations on Ecclesiastes by Norman Dello Joio |
| | First performed at the Juilliard School of Music on April 20, 1956. |
| | 1958 Vanessa by Samuel Barber |
| | An opera in four acts, libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. First presented January 15,1958, at the Metropolitan Opera House. |
| | 1959 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by John LaMontaine |
| | First performed in Washington, D.C. by the National Symphony Orchestra on November 25, 1958. |
| | 1960 Second String Quartet by Elliott Carter |
| | First performed at the Juilliard School of Music, March 25, 1960. |
| | 1961 Symphony No. 7 by Walter Piston |
| | First performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra on February 10, 1961, and commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association. |
| | 1962 The Crucible by Robert Ward |
| | An opera in three acts, Libretto by Bernard Stambler, based on the play by Arthur Miller. First performed at New York City Center, on October 26, 1961 by the New York City Opera Company. |
| | 1963 Piano Concerto No. 1 by Samuel Barber |
| | Premiered with the Boston Symphony at Philharmonic Hall on September 24, 1962. |
| | 1964 (No Award) |
| | 1965 (No Award) |
| | 1966 Variations for Orchestra by Leslie Bassett |
| | It was first performed in the United States by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on October 22, 1965. |
| | 1967 Quartet No. 3 by Leon Kirchner |
| | First performed by the Beaux Arts Quartet in Town Hall, January 27, 1967 |
| | 1968 Echoes of Time and the River by George Crumb |
| | An orchestral suite first performed on May 26, 1967 by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Mandel Hall, University of Chicago, having been commissioned by the University in connection with the celebration of its 75th anniversary. |
| | 1969 String Quartet No. 3 by Karel Husa |
| | First performed at the Goodman Theater, Chicago, on October 14, 1968 by the Fine Arts Quartet. |
| | 1970 Time's Encomium by Charles Wuorinen |
| | Premiered in its entirety at the Berkshire Music Festival on August 16, 1969. |
| | 1971 Synchronisms No. 6 for Piano and Electronic Sound (1970) by Mario Davidovsky |
| | Premiered August 19, 1970 at the Berkshire Music Festival. |
| | 1972 Windows by Jacob Druckman |
| | Premiered by the Chicago Symphony on March 16, 1972 at Orchestra Hall, Chicago. |
| | 1973 String Quartet No. 3 by Elliott Carter |
| | Premiered by the Juilliard String Quartet at Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City, on January 23, 1973. |
| | 1974 Notturno by Donald Martino |
| | A chamber music piece commissioned by the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation and first performed May 15, 1973 a Alice Tully Hall, New York City, by Speculum Musicae. |
| | 1975 From the Diary of Virginia Woolf by Dominick Argento |
| | For medium voice and piano, commissioned by the Schubert Club of St. Paul, and premiered January 5, 1975 in Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis. |
| | 1976 Air Music by Ned Rorem |
| | First performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on December 5, 1975. It is subtitled "Ten Etudes of Orchestra. " |
| | 1977 Visions of Terror and Wonder by Richard Wernick |
| | For mezzo-soprano and orchestra, premiered at the Aspen Music Festival, July 19, 1976. It was commissioned by the Festival's Conference on Contemporary Music, with assistance from the National Endowment for the Arts. |
| | 1978 Deja Vu for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra by Michael Colgrass |
| | Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premiered by that orchestra October 20, 1977. |
| | 1979 Aftertones of Infinity by Joseph Schwantner |
| | First performed by the American Composers Orchestra on January 29, 1979 in Alice Tully Hall New York City. |
| | 1980 In Memory of a Summer Day by David Del Tredici |
| | A work for soprano solo and orchestra, commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony for its 100th anniversary and premiered by that orchestra on February 23, 1980. |
| | 1981 (No Award) |
| | 1982 Concerto for Orchestra by Roger Sessions |
| | First performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on October 23, 1981, Seiji Ozawa, conductor. |
| | 1983 Symphony No. I (Three Movements for Orchestra) by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich |
| | Commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and premiered by that orchestra on May 5, 1982 in Alice Tully Hall, New York City. |
| | 1984 "Canti del Sole" for Tenor and Orchestra by Bernard Rands |
| | Premiered by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on June 8, 1983. |
| | 1985 Symphony, RiverRun by Stephen Albert |
| | Premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra on January 17, 1985. |
| | 1986 Wind Quintet IV by George Perle |
| | Premiered on October 2, 1985 at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City. |
| | 1987 The Flight Into Egypt by John Harbison |
| | Premiered by the Cantata Singers and Ensemble on November 21, 1986, at the New England Conservatory in Boston. |
| | 1988 12 New Etudes for Piano by William Bolcom |
| | First complete performance by Marc-Andre Hamelin, pianist, on March 30, 1987 at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. |
| | 1989 Whispers Out of Time by Roger Reynolds |
| | Premiered on December 11, 1988, at Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, Massachusetts. |
| | 1990 "Duplicates": A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra by Mel Powell |
| | Premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on January 26, 1990. |
| | 1991 Symphony by Shulamit Ran |
| | Commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra and premiered by that orchestra on October 19, 1990 . |
| | 1992 The Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark by Wayne Peterson |
| | Premiered on October 17, 1991, by the San Francisco Symphony |
| | 1993 Trombone Concerto by Christopher Rouse |
| | Premiered December 30, 1992, in New York by the New York Philharmonic. |
| | 1994 Of Reminiscences and Reflections by Gunther Schuller |
| | Premiered on December 2, 1993, in Louisville, Ky. Performed and commissioned by The Louisville Orchestra. |
| | 1995 Stringmusic by Morton Gould |
| | Premiered on March 10, 1994 by the National Symphony Orchestra at The John F. Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. |
| | 1996 Lilacs, for voice and orchestra by George Walker |
| | Premiered on February 1, 1996, in Boston by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and was commissioned by that orchestra. |
| | 1997 Blood on the Fields by Wynton Marsalis |
| | premiered on January 28, 1997 at Woolsey Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. |
| | 1998 String Quartet #2 (musica instrumentalis) by Aaron Jay Kernis |
| | Premiered on January 19, 1990, at Merkin Concert Hall, New York City, by The Lark Quartet. |
| | 1999 Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion by Melinda Wagner |
| | Premiered on May 30, 1998 in Purchase, New York by the Westchester Philharmonic, and commissioned by that orchestra for Paul Lustig Dunkel. |
| | 2000 Life is a Dream, Opera in Three Acts: Act II, Concert Version by Lewis Spratlan |
| | Premiered on January 28, 2000 by Dinosaur Annex in Amherst, Mass. Libretto by James Maraniss. |
| | 2001 Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra by John Corigliano |
| | Premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on November 30, 2000 at Symphony Hall, Boston, MA. |
| | 2002 Ice Field by Henry Brant |
| | Premiered by the San Francisco Symphony on December 12, 2001 at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA. |
| | 2003 On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams (Boosey & Hawkes) |
| | Premiered by the New York Philharmonic on September 19, 2002 at Avery Fisher Hall. |
| | 2004 Tempest Fantasy by Paul Moravec |
| | Written for and premiered by the Trio Solisti and clarinet soloist David Krakauer on May 2, 2003 at the Morgan Library, New York City. |
| | 2005 Second Concerto for Orchestra by Steven Stucky (Theodore Presser Company) |
| | Premiered March 12, 2004 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA. |
| | 2006 Piano Concerto: 'Chiavi in Mano' by Yehudi Wyner (Associated Music Publishers, Inc.) |
| | Premiered February 17, 2005 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. |