21st century classical music

[San Antone]

Interesting short (20 min) talk by Shulamit Ran

https://vimeo.com/193576495



Also, My interview with Alexander Schubert.


Schubert's interest explores cross-genre interfaces between acoustic and electronic music, combining different musical styles (like hardcore, free jazz, popular electronic music, techno) with contemporary classical concepts. Schubert has participated in his youth and early career in the above-mentioned genres both in groups and as a solo artist.

https://www.youtube.com/v/wMH54JeYNF4

[San Antone]

Some recent profiles/interviews with young composers creating some good music:

Marianna Liik : a sound world that is created by combining the acoustic and electronic means of expression

Timothy McCormack : music on a geologic scale

Nomi Epstein : compositions centering around sonic fragility

And one with an established composer:

Richard Barrett : creating meaningful alternatives to what we hear around us

[San Antone]

More new composers doing exciting work that I've profiled on my blog:

1/23/2018   Heather Stebbins
Heather Stebbins is an internationally performed composer of acoustic and electroacoustic works with a background as a cellist. At the core of her music is a deep fascination with the inner structures and intricacies of sound. Whether they emanate from an instrument, an object, or a computer, Heather uses sounds that strike her viscerally and ... Continue reading

1/30/2018   Osnat Netger
Osnat Netzer /osˈnat ˈnɛtsɛʁ/ is a multi-faceted musician based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born in Haifa, Israel, she developed a love of music at a very young age, and trained intensively as a composer, pianist and singer-songwriter throughout her high school years, military service and undergraduate studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She ... Continue reading

2/6/2018   Yair Klartag
Born in Israel in 1985, Yair Klartag has studied composition with Ruben Seroussi and Georg Friedrich Haas at Tel-Aviv University, Basel Musikhochschule and Columbia University where he is currently a doctoral candidate in composition. Other important composition studies and masterclasses include George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, Brian Ferneyhough and Rebecca Saunders. His music has been performed ... Continue reading

2/13/2018   Cenk Ergun
Cenk Ergün (b.1978, Turkey) is a composer and improviser based in New York. His chamber music has been performed by artists such as So Percussion, The JACK Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Wet Ink, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Laboratorium, and Joan Jeanrenaud. He creates electronic music recordings and live performances in collaboration with choreographers, film makers, and other ... Continue reading

[Karl Henning]

More new composers doing exciting work that I've profiled on my blog:

1/23/2018   Heather Stebbins
Heather Stebbins is an internationally performed composer of acoustic and electroacoustic works with a background as a cellist. At the core of her music is a deep fascination with the inner structures and intricacies of sound. Whether they emanate from an instrument, an object, or a computer, Heather uses sounds that strike her viscerally and ... Continue reading

1/30/2018   Osnat Netger
Osnat Netzer /osˈnat ˈnɛtsɛʁ/ is a multi-faceted musician based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Born in Haifa, Israel, she developed a love of music at a very young age, and trained intensively as a composer, pianist and singer-songwriter throughout her high school years, military service and undergraduate studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She ... Continue reading

2/6/2018   Yair Klartag
Born in Israel in 1985, Yair Klartag has studied composition with Ruben Seroussi and Georg Friedrich Haas at Tel-Aviv University, Basel Musikhochschule and Columbia University where he is currently a doctoral candidate in composition. Other important composition studies and masterclasses include George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, Brian Ferneyhough and Rebecca Saunders. His music has been performed ... Continue reading

2/13/2018   Cenk Ergun
Cenk Ergün (b.1978, Turkey) is a composer and improviser based in New York. His chamber music has been performed by artists such as So Percussion, The JACK Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Wet Ink, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Laboratorium, and Joan Jeanrenaud. He creates electronic music recordings and live performances in collaboration with choreographers, film makers, and other ... Continue reading

Nice, thanks.

[kishnevi]

Cut and paste of two recent posts to the main Listening thread. Putting them here since the music definitely fits here:. all the works on these two CDs date from 2010-2015. As a general category, all of them are basically tonal, no electronics or other addition to the basic orchestal instrumentarium.

TD
[asin]B07895ZX4Q[/asin]
Speculation prompted this purchase.
I like it...but I'm not sure I would recommend this to anyone.
Ritter thought the little he had heard of this composer suggested an epigone of Rodrigo.  The Spanish composer I thought I heard echoes of is De Falla, mixed in to the generic neoRomantic composers of the late 20th century. There is little to cue the listener in to the fact the two works date fron 2015 and 2011. I think a number of GMGers would be pleased with this CD, and a number of GMGers a bit bored.  I intend to get more of this composer, but the rest of you will just have to decide for yourselves.

Another first listen to stuff never heard before
[asin]B0789TKQN1[/asin]
Generally good. The soloists are the principal chairs of their respective sections of the Nashville Symphony.
Contents
Frank Ticheli Clarinet Concerto (2010)
Brad Warnaar Horn Concerto (2015)
Bezhad Ranjbaran Flute Concerto (2013).
I liked the Flute Concerto best on first hearing. The composer was born in Iran, but has lived and studied in the US since 1974, when he was 19.

[San Antone]

Jacques Zafra was born in Mexico City on December 8, 1986 and is currently finishing a post-master's in composition with Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, Germany, where he also did his Master's. Before studying in Germany he studied composition and music theory in Mexico at the CIEM with Victor ... Continue reading



Anna Pidgorna (b. 1985) is a Ukrainian born, Canadian raised composer, artist and vocalist, who combines everything from traditional music making, to visual arts, to writing, to carpentry in her multimedia practice. Characterized by "a balance of bold colour palettes, strong melodic profiles, and unexpected performative elements" (Nick Storring for MusicWorks Magazine), her work traverses ... Continue reading



Born in 1987, Maurizio Azzan studied composition at Conservatory of Milan (with A. Solbiati), at CNSM of Paris (with F. Durieux, Y. Maresz, L. Naon), at IRCAM and with Salvatore Sciarrino. He has received a bachelor and a master in Philology and Ancient Literature from the University of Turin. His interest in visual and performing ... Continue reading



Yiğit Kolat's music explores the liminal frontiers of musical activity and potentialities in (mis)translating data into musical information. The complicated political and social environment of his native Turkey is a recurring theme in his diverse output, which includes acoustic, electro-acoustic, and electronic works written for orchestra, chamber ensembles, voice, and solo instruments. His works have ... Continue reading

[San Antone]

Latest living composer profiles on Musica Kaleidoskopea

Chris Dench was born in London in 1953; he is self-taught. After periods living in Tuscany and West Berlin, the latter as a guest of the DAAD Berliner Kunstlerprogramm, he finally arrived to settle in Australia. He became an Australian citizen in 1992. His commissioned works include symphony 4/propriocepts for four amplified voices and large orchestra (1994-97) ... Continue reading

Catherine Lamb (b. 1982, Olympia, Wa, U.S.), is a composer exploring the interaction of elemental tonal material and the variations in presence between shades and beings in a room. She has been studying and composing music since a young age. In 2003 she turned away from the conservatory in an attempt to understand the structures ... Continue reading

Germán Alonso was born in Madrid (Spain) in 1984. He studied Guitar and Composition (specialization in Electroacoustic Composition) at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, obtaining the highest marks. At the same time he studies electroacoustic composition with Alberto Bernal. He continued studying composition at the Strasbourg Conservatoire with Mark André, a Master ... Continue reading

In the world of contemporary classical music, Rahilia Hasanova is known as a brilliant and prolific composer with a unique and powerful voice. The strength of her music is in bridging the two seemingly disparate worlds of Eastern and Western cultures. By combining the essence of her native (Azerbaijani) culture and traditional music that represents ... Continue reading

Kelley Sheehan is a Chicago-based composer and computer musician moving between acoustic, electronic, electro-acoustic, and performance art works. In any medium, her work broadly focuses on noise, perception, and interaction. Cacophony magazine has described her work to be "frenetic, almost acrobatic." Kelley has either performed or has been performed at numerous concert halls or art ... Continue reading

Antonin Servière is a composer, teacher and a musician. While he completed higher instrumental studies (First Prize of Saxophone in 2004, Master's-level teaching certification in 2005), he studied orchestration with Alain Louvier from 2001 to 2003 and composition with Philippe Leroux from 2004 to 2006. He pursued his study of composition with Michael Jarrell, Luis ... Continue reading

Ofer Pelz was born in Haifa (Israel) and lives in Montreal. His music explores the concept he defines as "unstable repetition" - repetitive fragments which always vary from repetition to repetition, all the while trying to keep a perceivable tension. Pelz composes music for diverse combinations of instruments and electroacoustic media, he is also an ... Continue reading

[Karl Henning]

Latest living composer profiles on Musica Kaleidoskopea

Chris Dench was born in London in 1953; he is self-taught. After periods living in Tuscany and West Berlin, the latter as a guest of the DAAD Berliner Kunstlerprogramm, he finally arrived to settle in Australia. He became an Australian citizen in 1992. His commissioned works include symphony 4/propriocepts for four amplified voices and large orchestra (1994-97) ... Continue reading

Catherine Lamb (b. 1982, Olympia, Wa, U.S.), is a composer exploring the interaction of elemental tonal material and the variations in presence between shades and beings in a room. She has been studying and composing music since a young age. In 2003 she turned away from the conservatory in an attempt to understand the structures ... Continue reading

Germán Alonso was born in Madrid (Spain) in 1984. He studied Guitar and Composition (specialization in Electroacoustic Composition) at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, obtaining the highest marks. At the same time he studies electroacoustic composition with Alberto Bernal. He continued studying composition at the Strasbourg Conservatoire with Mark André, a Master ... Continue reading

In the world of contemporary classical music, Rahilia Hasanova is known as a brilliant and prolific composer with a unique and powerful voice. The strength of her music is in bridging the two seemingly disparate worlds of Eastern and Western cultures. By combining the essence of her native (Azerbaijani) culture and traditional music that represents ... Continue reading

Kelley Sheehan is a Chicago-based composer and computer musician moving between acoustic, electronic, electro-acoustic, and performance art works. In any medium, her work broadly focuses on noise, perception, and interaction. Cacophony magazine has described her work to be "frenetic, almost acrobatic." Kelley has either performed or has been performed at numerous concert halls or art ... Continue reading

Antonin Servière is a composer, teacher and a musician. While he completed higher instrumental studies (First Prize of Saxophone in 2004, Master's-level teaching certification in 2005), he studied orchestration with Alain Louvier from 2001 to 2003 and composition with Philippe Leroux from 2004 to 2006. He pursued his study of composition with Michael Jarrell, Luis ... Continue reading

Ofer Pelz was born in Haifa (Israel) and lives in Montreal. His music explores the concept he defines as "unstable repetition" - repetitive fragments which always vary from repetition to repetition, all the while trying to keep a perceivable tension. Pelz composes music for diverse combinations of instruments and electroacoustic media, he is also an ... Continue reading

Good work.

[San Antone]

Akropolis Reed Quintet regularly commissions new music for their ensemble.  Their most recent CD in 2017, The Space Between, has several very interesting and enjoyable works. No atonal honking.   



    Jesus Is Coming
    Refraction I. Death Metal Chicken
    Refraction II. Kyrie for Machaut and Pärt
    Refraction III. Goat Rodeo
    Gallimaufry
    The Space Between Us I. Coming Together
    The Space Between Us II. As One
    The Space Between Us III. Remembering
    The Space Between Us IV. Ever Constant
    The Space Between Us V. The more we change...
    Sorrow and Celebration for Reed Quintet & Audience

5 premiere recordings. 4 commissions.

Jacob TV – Jesus Is Coming
David Biedenbender – Refraction
Rob Deemer – Gallimaufry
Gregory Wanamaker – The Space Between Us
John Steinmetz – Sorrow and Celebration for Reed Quintet & Audience

Released March 24, 2017 on innova Recordings.

[T. D.]

Interesting article on George Lewis:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-08-19/how-to-listen-george-lewis-composer-shadowgraph-improvisation

(I didn't see a GL thread on the Composer Discussion board, would rather not start one.)

[schnittkease]

Interesting article on George Lewis:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-08-19/how-to-listen-george-lewis-composer-shadowgraph-improvisation

(I didn't see a GL thread on the Composer Discussion board, would rather not start one.)

I'm not familiar with Shadowgraph, but in general I don't care for AACM members' concert-hall works. Unlike their amazingly undogmatic improvisations, these pieces draw from the same, mind-numbing feedback loop of Ligeti, Stockhausen, Xenakis, etc. that so many living composers are stuck in. I can understand what a black man writing an orchestral work means symbolically, but musically it seems to be more of the same.

[T. D.]

I'm not familiar with Shadowgraph, but in general I don't care for AACM members' concert-hall works. Unlike their amazingly undogmatic improvisations, these pieces draw from the same, mind-numbing feedback loop of Ligeti, Stockhausen, Xenakis, etc. that so many living composers are stuck in. I can understand what a black man writing an orchestral work means symbolically, but musically it seems to be more of the same.

Roscoe Mitchell is the only AACM member whose concert-hall works I've heard, both live and on recording. I had high expectations, but have been unimpressed. Didn't notice much similarity to the composers you mentioned, but the pieces just didn't grab me or seem to distinguish themselves. I find Anthony Braxton somewhat hit-or-miss, so never ventured into that part of his output. [Added] Bought Wadada Leo Smith's Three Freedom Summers recording with great excitement, didn't seem technically bad in any way, but suffice it to say that the piece didn't come to mind when I first responded...

I'm planning to explore Lewis's music, but starting with older recordings of jazz/smaller ensemble work. I have the Black Saint/Soul Note box on order, but it could take some months to arrive. That has a sextet version of Shadowgraph, but I'm more eager to hear the Homage to Charlie Parker. If I like that vintage material, I'll try later "classical" works. A poster on this forum whose opinions I trust has praised a few recent releases.

[Alek Hidell]

I'm planning to explore Lewis's music, but starting with older recordings of jazz/smaller ensemble work. I have the Black Saint/Soul Note box on order, but it could take some months to arrive. That has a sextet version of Shadowgraph, but I'm more eager to hear the Homage to Charlie Parker. If I like that vintage material, I'll try later "classical" works. A poster on this forum whose opinions I trust has praised a few recent releases.

Homage to Charles Parker is one of my all-time favorite recordings, particularly the title piece - very moving. Both Lewis' and Douglas Ewart's solos are superb.

Of course Lewis is also heard to great effect in a few of Anthony Braxton's recordings from roughly the same period, especially Quartet (Dortmund) 1976.

[schnittkease]

Seconded. Those are two amazing records.

[schnittkease]

I find Anthony Braxton somewhat hit-or-miss, so never ventured into that part of his output.

Braxton's early Arista and Quartet records are very good, but he does have a tendency to get self-indulgent. Don't get me started on the opera cycle.

[Alek Hidell]

Braxton's early Arista and Quartet records are very good, but he does have a tendency to get self-indulgent. Don't get me started on the opera cycle.

Oh, yeah, his output is definitely uneven and I own only a small fraction of it. Of course, anyone who releases as many recordings as he does is going to have more than a few clinkers.

[Cato]

From an article about Arsentiy Kharitonov written by a pianist and professor at The Manhattan School of Music (Raymond Beegle):

...for the annual Modern Tonal Academic Music Fest Competition, held by (the) Russian organization (STAM), the final judge is the audience rather than a panel of scholars and experts with their attendant prejudices and political agendas.

STAM is an institution devoted to supporting and encouraging serious contemporary music and musicians by presenting lectures and concerts throughout the various republics of Russia, and by hosting an annual competition for composers.


Arsentiy Kharitonov, a citizen of both the United States and the Russian Federation, is the recent winner of the competition's first prize. The young composer is already an established pianist with a distinguished international career, and his music is rooted in tradition, rich in melodic content, and harmonically adventuresome. It is honest, it has much to say, it has a voice of its own, and needs no explanatory notes in the program.

Kharitonov's compositions have not gone unnoticed in the United States. Derek Bermel, artistic director of the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), wrote: "I especially admired the harmonic chops, which is rare these days among American composers. You can hear the sparkle and edge of Shostakovich and Prokofiev, but its heart seems to be in the lyricism of Rachmaninoff. It was a real pleasure to hear this dynamic work."...

"...I asked about the responsibility of the creator to his society. Does music have a moral element? A moral responsibility? His reply: "I do not think that composers set their music as a moral compass intentionally. It becomes one if the composer reflects profoundly upon the world he lives in....

A discerning audience, not a group of "experts," awarded first prize to Arsentiy Kharitonov for his "Four Vignettes Op. 49 for Four Violins." The audience  deemed the composition "good." And what does that mean? Author Virginia Woolf, who criticized the loss of culture in the 20th century, pronounced a particular work "good" because "it expanded the mind, and purified the heart."

Of course, structural virtuosity is important, and Kharitonov certainly has that, but most important is the effect on the mind and heart of the listener. This suite of four musical sketches does indeed expand the mind and purify the heart. It is imaginative and truthful.

Characteristically Slavic in temperament and style, the transition from the ways of his great predecessors is clear and, one may add, hopeful. The sharp edges of Shostakovich and Prokofiev are somewhat smoothed, their anxious tone becomes quieted, irony disappears, driving rhythms are less desperate, and glacial aloofness is warmed into something eminently human and approachable....

https://www.youtube.com/v/YVxCXtjFXWI


A minimalist example:

https://www.youtube.com/v/fjJhKPEHuLk


See:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/first-prize-winner-in-national-composers-competition-is-the-peoples-choice_3702153.html

[Mandryka]

Philip Samartzis

Captured Space Parts 1 and 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVeh0g0TFT8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqh0HSbjss4

Lectures on his compositional praxis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqjwOi77Tho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjzSC9-AdxU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgHXVfe9Izw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzV6fFWKqPA

Lecture on climate change:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiUvpzyBePY

Wonderful

[relm1]

Any recommendations for textural music of the 21st century that focuses more on texture and sound impressions rather than melody and form, even though the music is fully acoustic?  I am curious how far things have come from the mid 20th century versus different versions of the same things.  I'm not as interested in electroacoustic instrument where the composer doesn't really guide a performer on how to play their traditional instrument (ensemble or orchestra) for something new but rather relies on downloading a created or manipulated sound to be able to produce the sound the composer intended like a synthesizer or processing a flute with an echoplex or other plugin that the player most own for the work to be performed as conceived.

[Mandryka]

Any recommendations for textural music of the 21st century that focuses more on texture and sound impressions rather than melody and form, even though the music is fully acoustic?  I am curious how far things have come from the mid 20th century versus different versions of the same things.  I'm not as interested in electroacoustic instrument where the composer doesn't really guide a performer on how to play their traditional instrument (ensemble or orchestra) for something new but rather relies on downloading a created or manipulated sound to be able to produce the sound the composer intended like a synthesizer or processing a flute with an echoplex or other plugin that the player most own for the work to be performed as conceived.

Maybe Aaron Cassidy

http://aaroncassidy.com/

Not sure,