20th Century Music Recommendation Needed

[jowcol]

Congratulations, I had cardiac arrest due to explosive laugh attack. Now I'm dead, but it was totally worth it.

Personally, I am saddened and angered that the most private and personal act of Decontextualization his been crassly exploited for commercial gain.  Grazioso, I must warn you, this is the start on the road to Hell.  You'll know when you get there, it is  clearly marked by the Golden Arches....






And, waiting for you in the 9th circle is none other than the dark one himself.

[karlhenning]

Alas! Is the road to Hell paved with sesame seed buns? . . .

[jowcol]

Seconded. That's an excellent list. If Mr. Weekly is still around, I hope he sees it and writes it down.

Agreed, that was a strong list, but I saw value in every list that was posted. Just as a quick thought-- there have been a LOT of great suggestions-- at some point compiling them may be worth while. 

One thing that may help is to borrow the approach from a Thai or Chinese menu and mark which ones may be the "spiciest" and may not be the best starting place for a newbie.   The goal , of course, would be to get someone to sample the whole menu of 20th century music, but frightening them early on may create the wrong result.

It also struck me that, although in this thread it looks like we were primarily aiming at people who were comfortable with the romantic period, the recommendations would likely change based on the profile of the person-- for example, for someone coming from Baroque, I'd suggest Dumbarton Oaks or the Octet by Stravinsky, and Prokofiev's Classical Symphony.  For someone coming from the Romantic, I'd probably suggest the Firebird and Romeo and Juliet.  If the person is more form a rock or prog background, it would probably be the Rite of Spring and Scythian Suite.  The goal should be to not take them out of their comfort zone at first, so there is more likelihood they'd want to keep exploring.   

James mentioned Respighi's Rome Trilogy, and that, particularly the Pines of Rome, is a favorite recommendation of  mine for getting people into 20th century music.  I'd also suggest Hanson's 2nd-- it has a little more edge and muscle than a lot of the true romantic period works, but is not a major jump.

With the risk of stepping out once again on the killing floor, I've always thought that the film Fantasia 2000 was not a bad way to try to convert people to 20th century music, as it devoted more space to 20th century pieces than I would suspect, and if someone comes out from watching that wanting to know more about Respighi, Shostakovitch, Stravinsky, Dukas, or Gershwin, I'd consider it a success.

[jowcol]

Alas! Is the road to Hell paved with sesame seed buns? . . .

Worse yet, could this be heaven?

[karlhenning]

Hold the lettuce has a new resonance.

[ibanezmonster]

These ramblings are proof that the internet is the new crack cocaine for nerds & losers everywhere.

Beware folks, you don't want to become like this.

Pfffff whatever dood.

[Mirror Image]

Seconded. That's an excellent list. If Mr. Weekly is still around, I hope he sees it and writes it down.

Thank you, Velimir. I hope this member sees this list as well.

[jowcol]

Hold the lettuce has a new resonance.

You're in way out of your depth, and it's quite transparent. "Hold the Lettuce" was from "Have it your way", which was a Burger King commercial, not a McDonald's Commercial. 

"I'm Lovin it", however, could have a whole new meaning, disturbing on many levels, as I know can't  get the image of Ronald wearing Victoria's Secret products out of my head.  This is much more disturbing than the Rocky Horror Picture Show. . 

[DavidW]

I like those lists.

Let me see:
chamber: Bartok's string quartet #5
orchestral: Shostakovich's 5th symphony
piano: Debussy' preludes

The other genres I'm just not keen enough on.

[karlhenning]

You're in way out of your depth, and it's quite transparent. "Hold the Lettuce" was from "Have it your way", which was a Burger King commercial, not a McDonald's Commercial.

Zowie, I never knew Burger King and McDonalds were distinct entities . . . I am but a tadpole in these waters.

[not edward]

I never know how to tailor lists like this to people; the one thing I've noticed is that people from a rock background often take immediately to Schnittke and Ligeti. Don't ask me why. :-)

[Grazioso]

Zowie, I never knew Burger King and McDonalds were distinct entities . . . I am but a tadpole in these waters.

"Whoaa careful with that loose talk, get a grip please." You're going to lead sinners to the wrong burger joint, and you don't want that on your conscience!

[Grazioso]

Here are 20 works I think would be good introductions to 20th Century music (in no particular order):

My only reservation is that, afaik, only two of those composers are still alive. I'd perhaps include another relatively popular composer or two who was active in the latter part of the 20th century through today. Maybe someone like Rautavaara or Daugherty, who are pretty accessible. At the least, a few more pieces from the last few decades of the century.

[Grazioso]

Personally, I am saddened and angered that the most private and personal act of Decontextualization his been crassly exploited for commercial gain.  Grazioso, I must warn you, this is the start on the road to Hell.  You'll know when you get there, it is  clearly marked by the Golden Arches....

Dear Valued Customer:

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[Mirror Image]

My only reservation is that, afaik, only two of those composers are still alive. I'd perhaps include another relatively popular composer or two who was active in the latter part of the 20th century through today. Maybe someone like Rautavaara or Daugherty, who are pretty accessible. At the least, a few more pieces from the last few decades of the century.

I did recommend Sensemaya by Revueltas, but I wouldn't recommend Daugherty as I don't care much for his music. I'm simiply not going to recommend a newcomer to the 20th Century music I do not enjoy and this could be said about anything I recommend to someone else. As for two composers being alive in my list, well this never occurred to me until you mentioned it, the reason I never thought about it is because this factor is less important to me and I'm sure the initial poster doesn't care whether the composer is alive or dead as this has nothing to do with the music.

[Grazioso]

I did recommend Sensemaya by Revueltas, but I wouldn't recommend Daugherty as I don't care much for his music. I'm simiply not going to recommend a newcomer to the 20th Century music I do not enjoy and this could be said about anything I recommend to someone else. As for two composers being alive in my list, well this never occurred to me until you mentioned it, the reason I never thought about it is because this factor is less important to me and I'm sure the initial poster doesn't care whether the composer is alive or dead as this has nothing to do with the music.

I'd have no problems recommending--better, suggesting--works I don't personally care for, provided they are somehow representative of the period.

My point wasn't to focus on a composer being alive, but rather being active, thereby illustrating that the trends and developments of 20th century classical music are ongoing and not isolated to those 100 years. Plus, a newcomer might be excited to follow the ongoing works of a living composer.

[Mirror Image]

I'd have no problems recommending--better, suggesting--works I don't personally care for, provided they are somehow representative of the period.

My point wasn't to focus on a composer being alive, but rather being active, thereby illustrating that the trends and developments of 20th century classical music are ongoing and not isolated to those 100 years. Plus, a newcomer might be excited to follow the ongoing works of a living composer.

I would have suggested some living composers, but alas, there aren't many whose music I whole-heartedly love. I guess I could have suggested a John Adams work or a MacMillan piece, but I'm happy with the list I recommended. I definitely won't be losing any sleep worrying about whether I suggested music that I think didn't belong on my list.

[Mirror Image]

Thing is, MI actually responded to the OP and made a very good post with some first rate 20th century music suggestions - but I went back and looked and did not find anything from you suggesting any composers, alive or otherwise, besides a few posts talking about film music.

Thanks Leon. I'm not mad at Grazioso, who would be over something this stupid anyway, right? but I just found it odd that he/she thought my list should include more living composers when the reality is there aren't many living composers whose music that I've heard that I've enjoyed. Recommendations about music are always going to be different from one listener to the next, there may very well be occasional overlap, but I simply gave a list of what I consider to be great 20th Century works that are worth listening to and, in turn, I can only hope this would spark an interest to the new listener and they will want to explore more.

[Grazioso]

Thing is, MI actually responded to the OP and made a very good post with some first rate 20th century music suggestions - but I went back and looked and did not find anything from you suggesting any composers, alive or otherwise, besides a few posts talking about film music.

My goal was obviously not to criticize but to suggest an alternative way of looking at the issue. A few living composers I could suggest, based on personal experience or reputation, that cover different styles and nationalities:

Adams
Carter
Coates
Daugherty
Glass
Golijov
Henze
MacMillan
Rautavaara
Rorem
Saariaho
Turnage

But looking back at the OP, I see he requests just five choices, and I know from other discussions that accessibility is a concern for him:

So along those lines, can someone give me a "top 5" classical music works of the 20th century -- minus Adagio for Strings and minus the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos?

In which case, I'd feel to duty bound to go with a few old yet influential and popular--and I believe relatively accessible--warhorses like:

La Mer
The Planets
Rite of Spring
Berg violin concerto
Lontano or Atmospheres

Hopefully these would give some inkling of the diversity of 20th-century musical thought while also exposing him to some iconic works.

[jowcol]

Zowie, I never knew Burger King and McDonalds were distinct entities . . . I am but a tadpole in these waters.

Surveillance Tapes Contradict Henning Testimony

BOSTON:  Recently discovered surveillance tapes from a local fast food eatery have shed a great deal of suspicion on resident composer Karl Henning's denials of eating fast food.

According to Detective Gurn, of the Boston Metropolitan Police Department: "We have found tapes going back as early as 1973 showing Henning and an unidentified colleague entering a Burger King with the express interest of getting a Cholesterol fix.  Not only that,but has you can see, his fashion sense was deplorable. "

Dr. Cato, Biographer of Mr. Henning says " This has caused me to completely re-evaluate all of my work to date.  It's hard to determine how much of his work was impacted by this diet, and I now need to start examining his code for subliminal references to Burger King jingles."

http://www.youtube.com/v/Rkg_XojVRcs