21st century classical music

Started by James, May 25, 2012, 04:30:28 PM

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UB

Quote from: karlhenning on June 06, 2012, 07:53:50 AM
(* munches popcorn *)

Pass some my way Karl...but haven't we sat through this drama many times before?
I am not in the entertainment business. Harrison Birtwistle 2010

some guy

OH damn it all!!

I just spilled my drink all over my lap.

What a mess.

TheGSMoeller

Paul Schoenfield, born in Detroit, MI in 1947. Here is an excerpt from his website, paulschoenfield.org

Paul Schoenfield, a man whose music is widely performed and continues to draw an ever-expanding group of devoted fans, is among those all-too-rare composers whose work combines exuberance and seriousness, familiarity and originality, lightness and depth. His work is inspired by the whole range of musical experience; popular styles both American and foreign, vernacular and folk traditions, and the 'normal' historical traditions of cultivated music making, often treated with sly twists.

I find a lot of influence from Jazz and even Klezmer music in Schoenfield's compositions. Most of his output seems to be from the 80s and 90s, I think these two Naxos discs contain the only recorded music from Schoenfield from the 21st Century.

Camp Songs (2001)
Refractions (2006)
Ghetto Songs (2008)


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Henk

Quote from: James on June 09, 2012, 03:57:19 AM
http://www.youtube.com/v/KPQWnmNXJsI

2004 - Unsuk Chin
"Concerto for Violin and Orchestra"

Dec. 3, 2003



Composer Unsuk Chin's "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra" has won the 2004 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.

Premiered in Berlin in January 2002 by violinist Viviane Hagner and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester conducted by Kent Nagano, the 25-minute concerto has been described as "a synthesis of glittering orchestration, rarefied sonorities, volatility of expression, musical puzzles and unexpected turns." Written in four movements, the work is influenced by both Western and Eastern traditions and blends aspects of older and more contemporary classical forms. An extremely demanding violin solo complements rather than competes with the orchestral material.

The concerto already has been performed by the Seoul Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony. The BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform the concerto in London in February, and the concerto's U.S. premiere is in view. The work is dedicated to Robin and Steve Kim.

About Unsuk Chin
Unsuk Chin's music crosses many boundaries.

Chin, winner of the 2004 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for her "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra," is known for the diversity of her music. Her works include music for voice, tape, electronics, solo piano, ensembles of every size as well as orchestra.

Chin, 42, began her musical career as a child in her native Seoul, Korea. She attended the Seoul National University, where she studied composition under Sukhi Kang. She appeared as pianist at the Pan Music Festivals and in 1984 her work "Gestalten" ("Figures") was selected for the ISCM World Music Days in Canada and for UNESCO's Rostrum for Composers.

In 1985 she moved to Hamburg, Germany, and studied composition with 1986 Grawemeyer winner György Ligeti. She has lived in Berlin since 1988 and most recently served as composer-in-residence with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, which commissioned the "Violin Concerto".

Chin began receiving international acclaim in 1991 with the premiere of "Acrostic Wordplay" for soprano and ensemble, a work that has been performed in 13 countries. Her music is now conducted by leading figures including Kent Nagano, George Benjamin and Sir Simon Rattle.

Her first purely orchestral piece, "santika Ekatala" (1993), won first prize in a Japanese competition and was performed twice in October 1993 by the Metropolitan Orchestra of Tokyo. Her 1998 work "Xi," for ensemble and electronics, commissioned by the Ensemble InterContemporain, won the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Prize.

Her Grawemeyer-winning work was premiered in Berlin in January 2002 by soloist Viviane Hagner and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester conducted by Kent Nagano. The concerto has been performed by the Seoul Philharmonic and the Finnish Radio Symphony. The BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform the concerto in London in February.

Her most recent work, "Double Concerto" for piano, percussion and ensemble, received its world premiere by the Ensemble InterContemporain last winter in Paris.

Chin has two major composition projects on the horizon. A new work for voices and ensemble has been co-commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, St Pölten Festival (Austria), and the Ensemble InterContemporain (Paris), for premiere in 2005. A stage work for the Los Angeles Opera is planned for premiere in the 2005/06 season.

She has composed works for the Ensemble InterContemporain, the Gaudeamus Foundation, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Inventionen Festival in Berlin, the BBC, West German Radio, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony, the Danish National Radio Symphony, the Oslo Philharmonic, and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester in Berlin.

For more information on Unsuk Chin and her music, visit her website: www.boosey.com/chin


She's bloody attractive, that's for sure. Will check out some of her music. Her physics makes me curious.

not edward

I'm curious as to what Walter Zimmermann's been up to of late. Ian Pace had a good piano music collection out on Metier, and Mode had a couple of discs of chamber music, but I've not seen any new recordings in a while. I found his style, allying the influence of German folk music with that of '40s Cage, distinctly appealing.

Also, Georg Friedrich Haas seems to be quite productive at present. I've liked pretty much everything he's done, and I imagine the advocacy of Alex Ross and others of in vain (perhaps the closest spectralist analogue to Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, and available on Kairos) and the 3rd quartet can't have hurt his profile.
"I don't at all mind actively disliking a piece of contemporary music, but in order to feel happy about it I must consciously understand why I dislike it. Otherwise it remains in my mind as unfinished business."
-- Aaron Copland, The Pleasures of Music

UB

About a week ago I recorded AFUGAPE for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and cello by Zimmerman. It was written in 2010 and except for being only about 10 minutes long it could easily be mistaken for a work by Feldman.
I am not in the entertainment business. Harrison Birtwistle 2010

ibanezmonster

Quote from: Arnold on June 06, 2012, 08:36:33 AM
Formal music/composition training is very valuable and can, depending on the teacher, be a crucial process for a student finding his/her voice and learning the craft of musical composition.  However, there have been some composers who learned their craft in another fashion.  I am thinking here of Harry Partch, John Luther Adams (who despite earning a B.A. in music got most of his training through alternative methods), and others who did not follow the traditional path.

There are no rules.

:)
Takemitsu is another one. Some people need expensive universities, some don't.

Karl Henning

In music, just as in so many other spheres of Life: There's more ways into the woods than one.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: James on June 12, 2012, 03:21:24 PM
Michael Nyman (b.1944) http://www.michaelnyman.com/
2000 – Facing Goya (opera; libretto by Victoria Hardie)
2001 – a dance he little thinks of (orchestra)
2003 – Violin Concerto (violin and orchestra)
2003 – Man and Boy: Dada (opera; libretto by Michael Hastings)
2005 – Love Counts (opera; libretto by Michael Hastings)
2006 – gdm for Marimba and Orchestra (concerto)
2006 – Acts of Beauty' (song cycle)
2007 – A Handshake in the Dark (choral piece with orchestra)
2007 – Interlude in C (expansion of a theme from The Libertine for Accent07 touring ensemble)
2007 – Eight Lust Songs song cycle
2008 – Yamamoto Perpetuo for Solo Flute (arranged by Andy Findon)
2009 – Sparkie: Cage and Beyond opera with Carsten Nicolai
2009 – The Musicologist Scores (band)
2010 – 2Graves
2010 – Vertov Sounds

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A few in here that I've really fell in love in,  Eight Lust Songs, song cycle 2007 and Vertov Sounds 2010


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snyprrr

this Thread is the best thing on here now

TheGSMoeller

Quote from: snyprrr on June 13, 2012, 07:13:42 AM
this Thread is the best thing on here now

This has been a very interesting and informative thread. Kudos to James for all the info he's poured into it. Some things in here have definitely grabbed my attention.

ibanezmonster

Quote from: James on June 11, 2012, 09:56:25 AM
If you want to have a career as a serious composer, it helps to have experienced teachers, a focused/structured approach, and some sort-of testing/guidance .. doesn't matter who you are. No one can operate & learn in a vacuum. This doesn't always mean a conventional route, but you have to start somewhere with people 'in the know', the earlier the better.
Oh well, I guess I'll never amount to ever being an accomplished composer, since I wasn't born rich.
Doesn't matter, I suppose. After I finish my orchestral work, I'll barely have time to write anything for many more years to come, anyways.

snyprrr

Quote from: James on June 16, 2012, 01:53:42 PM
NMC is delighted to launch its Debut Discs project on 11 June ..

... which was created, with the generous help of funders, to support emerging British composers, giving them an international platform for their work.

The first three releases in the series focus on the following composers:
Huw Watkins
Dai Fujikura
Sam Hayden

and future releases will include works by Helen Grime, Joseph Phibbs, Ben Foskett, Richard Causton and Charlotte Bray. We are also delighted to have the ambassadorial support of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and a fantastic collaboration with BA (Hons) Graphic Design students at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design.

Visit our Debut Discs mini-site for more information about the series and the collaboration with the design students at Central Saint Martins.

In the videos below, Dai Fujikura talks about his love of horror movie soundtracks and being a rebellious child; Huw Watkins tells us about his musical family and the advantages of being a composer-pianist and Sam Hayden explains his transition from rock musician and trumpeter to composer and talks about his admiration for mentor Jonathan Harvey and the artists he works with.

http://www.youtube.com/v/-I4N7K0wDRo

http://www.youtube.com/v/Yi0IEqcDpoo

http://www.youtube.com/v/npERQn-A8Ps

[...]

Debut Discs ambassador Sir Peter Maxwell Davies talks about the
current social climate and its impact on emerging composers ...


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

"An opportunity like this that NMC gives to these very, very deserving and talented composers is, not only for me but for all of us, a chance to learn, a chance to come in to contact with something which is vibrant and alive ... they really do feel that it is a hell of a job to break through and to get anybody to take any notice of them and I'm very moved and very touched that this wonderful opportunity is presented to these young people to get their work out there" - Peter Maxwell Davies

"There's no card, business card, better than a compact disc for a composer. It doesn't half impress people and they get a long way on it ... these composers they will get more performances, more commissions, more recognition just by having that disc" - Peter Maxwell Davies

"From having to pay back money for their education, to having to earn money for whatever reason, when they don't get the grants that they used to get they don't get the scholarships that they used to get to study. These things have made it very, very tough for a lot young musicians, particularly young composers. And I'd just like to say one thing which I think is very, very serious; coming from my background, had I been born much later and been going into the Royal Academy or to university now and I would have had to have borrowed money in order to do that, my parents would have said "no, it is immoral to borrow money, you never do it". And I wouldn't have had the education ... people like John Ogdon, Harrison Birtwistle, Elgar Howarth, and I wouldn't have had a look in" - Peter Maxwell Davies

"This idea of working with art students, I think it's wonderful, I know when I was a student I learned so much from art, architecture students particularly when I was studying in Italy.  And also I think these days at the RA for instance they have chance to work with cinema with ballet with modern dance. I think this cross-fertilization is absolutely essential it always happened in the past, these days people seem to live in little artistic compartments unless you give them a push and shove them together and I think that's very bad and very dangerous; and so this aspect of cross-fertilization between the arts, hooray for that. - Peter Maxwell Davies

http://www.nmcrec.co.uk/debut-discs

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What? Those are not real Composer names!! Whatever happened to REAL Composer names,... real oomph! sounding names like Beethoven, Castiglioni, Vaughn-Williams (ok, V-W may not have oomph, but it has nobility)?

I mean,... Curtis Curtis-Smith?? Really??

'Hank Rossman'

I mean, what kind of a Composer name is that? C'mon.

We NEED good Composer names people!! I personally could only use my real name if I hyphenated between my middle and last names, like Vaughn-Williams: that way, my two relatively inconsequential names merge into one pretty super Composer name. I would definitely have a great 'Vaughn-Williams' name as a Composer.


some guy

It's Vaughan.

And are you seriously telling me that Curtis Curtis-Smith has less ooomph than Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf?

snyprrr

Quote from: some guy on June 16, 2012, 11:53:13 PM
It's Vaughan.

And are you seriously telling me that Curtis Curtis-Smith has less ooomph than Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf?

Knocking the 'Dorf? :o :o :o

That IS funny though! :P


I am convinced in the 'Eschenbach Theory',... that this is perhaps the perfect Composer moniker. Lena Aurbach (is that right?) comes close to a legitimate Composer Name, Ades, mm, not so much, but, I guess it's no worse than 'Chopin'.

Where is Michaelarchangelini?

snyprrr

Well, I just popped full price for a certain BRAND NEW Kairos disc. Admittedly, it's not a 'new' Composer, just one of the ones we already like. But, just the fact that I slavishly paid full price... must,... it MUST say soooomething?

snyprrr

Quote from: James on June 18, 2012, 03:11:42 AM

Hmmm ..

Lachenmann .. ?
Ferneyhough . ?

[...]

Nono?
Rihm ..

..


'Notice of refund from Paypal'

ARRRGH!!

Oh well, it's $20 now. It was the Aperghis. I could argue this whole Topic on the fact that I slavishly and obediently bought it as soon as I saw it,... but, hmm, apparently it was too good to be true,... and no, I had ALREADY lost the Ebay auction, haha!

But, check it out,... it appears to be a great addition to the catalogue. Sincerely, after MOST of the stuff on the 'Only New' Thread, and the arguing back and forth, I would certainly, sight unseen (I won't listen to the samples,... I DEMAND purity in my listening experience!), attempt to shove this cd down everyone's throat.

Obviously, there's no other Living Composer that has done that to me for a while. Why him? I don't know. I guess I 'expect' things, and expect to get them.

whoops, gotta go...

snyprrr

Quote from: James on June 18, 2012, 06:31:51 PM
Oh .. it must be the one I already have, but only managed to listen to once. :P

With SEESAW and Teeter-Totter? (not the sax & viola disc),... I do believe this one is spankin' new

snyprrr

Quote from: James on June 20, 2012, 02:47:09 AM


I don't have the new one .. I have the sax one, which I really must listen to again.

The CLEMENS GADENSTÄTTER just landed yesterday.  8)


Check out the first piece on the sax album (for viola & 4sax). Tell me what you think of the 'surprise' towards the end. I thought this was one of the best examples of what happens here.

btw- thanks for clearing up,... I wasn't going to spend $23 on that if you had a review, but, of course, now I HAVE to,... oy!! I think it could be the best Aperghis album to date, having two of his largest ensemble works. $23 IS a lot, though. >:D

petrarch

Quote from: James on June 20, 2012, 02:47:09 AM

The CLEMENS GADENSTÄTTER just landed yesterday.  8)


Just listened to this again after almost a year since the first time. Did nothing to me.
//p
The music collection.
The hi-fi system: Esoteric X-03SE -> Pathos Logos -> Analysis Audio Amphitryon.
A view of the whole