21st century classical music

[Johnll]

Hey John .. if you enjoy that one, then there is plenty more in his canon that should be to your liking. For instance, the beautiful sub-cycle (within KLANG) of 7 intimate and wonderful trios, all based on the material of the 3 versions of this very piece you find attractive. And believe me, there are rewards for accepting his challenges. Initially his music DOES require more from the listener, and that's kind of the point. So there is a level of procovation but it doesn't seek to alienate people. Music that is immediately accessible has a pretty limited and surface-level breadth of communicative capacity. This music SHOULD make us examine our pre-conceived notions. And maybe when we do, it will resonate with us the way other music can't. This is certainly the case for me, and this music does indeed have a following for just this reason. And Stockhausen morose? Hardly ever especially compared to others of his generation .. there is plenty of LIGHT.

I have enjoyed early Stockhausen for a couple of years but only two weeks ago I decided I wanted to hear some of his later works.  MOG has spoiled me and I am very reluctant buy pieces I have not heard and Stockhausen's label is not available on MOG. I had a pretty negative view of you tube and but I have discovered dependent on the actual video it can be pretty decent.
 
Long story short Stockhausen seems to me be one of those c20 composers that are REAL. It may take me some time to get up to speed with Stockhausen but I am looking forward to the journey. Thanks for the encouragement!

[Johnll]

This thread seems to have gone asleep and I hope on one was waiting for me.  I wanted to mention Jorg Widmann a German clarinetist/composer , a student of Rihm. Like Rihm he is comfortable  composing in a variety of styles, but I do not sense much else in common.  The things I am familiar with are not on You Tube, and I have never heard the pieces below, but it gives some sense of who Jorg is.
This first piece is a clarinet sonata. Jorg at his best is playful although it is often subtle. Maybe because I have just become acquainted with it, and in that aspect only, it calls to mind Michaels Reise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvXG9m6JI6k

The next piece, on the light/dark scale, is partly cloudy.  Perhaps it contains a touch of fantasy but is not playful.  If you do not know what a amonica is, like me, it is a glass acoustical instrument
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2psVd3Kj0V8

The third piece is called a string quartet. It more aptly might be described as variations on a folk tune and is bizarrely playful. Give a couple of minutes. What I find most interesting about it is he would write this 10 years ago, when he was just beginning to be recognized, because it is not at all what you would expect from a serious c21 composer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3qqA5MaceQ

This last piece is what you might expect from some serious c12 composers. It uses the piano as a percussion instrument including the keyboard occasionally. To my knowledge it is his only "ground-breaker". I have posted a link for the curious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_9HZkersN4&list=PLF8B5F884E256DFAB

Jorg is a confident bright young man with a spark of life and humanity to him.  I have enjoyed some of his music, and while he is not great yet, he has many years to develop his compositional legs.

[San Antone]

Billone ~ Legno.Edre II "Edre" (2003)

https://www.youtube.com/v/0W3r4HKiYZM

Solo bassoon.

Pierluigi Billone ~ Δίκη Wall (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/v/LT2NtL7ZiNY

Percussion + ensemble.

[San Antone]

This thread seems to have gone asleep and I hope on one was waiting for me.  I wanted to mention Jorg Widmann a German clarinetist/composer , a student of Rihm. Like Rihm he is comfortable  composing in a variety of styles, but I do not sense much else in common.  The things I am familiar with are not on You Tube, and I have never heard the pieces below, but it gives some sense of who Jorg is.
This first piece is a clarinet sonata. Jorg at his best is playful although it is often subtle. Maybe because I have just become acquainted with it, and in that aspect only, it calls to mind Michaels Reise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvXG9m6JI6k

The next piece, on the light/dark scale, is partly cloudy.  Perhaps it contains a touch of fantasy but is not playful.  If you do not know what a amonica is, like me, it is a glass acoustical instrument
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2psVd3Kj0V8

The third piece is called a string quartet. It more aptly might be described as variations on a folk tune and is bizarrely playful. Give a couple of minutes. What I find most interesting about it is he would write this 10 years ago, when he was just beginning to be recognized, because it is not at all what you would expect from a serious c21 composer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3qqA5MaceQ

This last piece is what you might expect from some serious c12 composers. It uses the piano as a percussion instrument including the keyboard occasionally. To my knowledge it is his only "ground-breaker". I have posted a link for the curious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_9HZkersN4&list=PLF8B5F884E256DFAB

Jorg is a confident bright young man with a spark of life and humanity to him.  I have enjoyed some of his music, and while he is not great yet, he has many years to develop his compositional legs.

Good post.

Jörg Widmann ... Zweites Labyrinth

https://www.youtube.com/v/7De-2dsWN0I

[San Antone]

Jeremy Howard Beck: The Trombone's Champion

It's hardly uncommon for a composer to devote a sizable chunk of their careers to composing for a particular instrument. Consider the droves of composers who wrote almost exclusively for violin, piano, guitar or, in the case of Berio, Cathy Berberian, who was arguably a timbre all to herself.

2012 Jerome Fund awardee Jeremy Howard Beck composes for the trombone. Not exclusively, but certainly with zeal. A lifelong trombonist, Beck fervently extols the compositional virtues of brass instruments in general, claiming them to be much maligned and undeservedly overlooked by composers.

Unsurprisingly then, a cheerfully symbiotic relationship of sorts has sprung up between the young composer and acclaimed New York-based trombone quartet, The Guidonian Hand. Beck has composed for the quartet before, a microtonal tour de force entitled Awakening that delves into the struggle between power, powerlessness and the fight for social justice. In composing the piece, Beck set out to prove that four trombones could be every bit as expressive as the ubiquitous string quartet. "The feelings and ideas expressed in that work could not, I feel, be expressed by any other instrument," he says. "The music required joy and outrage, raw physical power and monumental, totemic grandeur, in equal measure."

http://www.youtube.com/v/9J1mfe3C6K0


Another work, electronic -

Could Have NOISE mix 6 17

[San Antone]

Daniel Powers

In 1995, Daniel Powers was named composer in residence with the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of the orchestra since 1986, and also served as its librarian for 19 years.

Since becoming composer in residence, Powers has written several major works and many arrangements for the orchestra. Works include  Sinfonietta, played on the children's concert in April 1997; Concerto for piano and orchestra, which was premiered in March 1998, with the composer's wife, Martha Krasnican, as soloist; and Tower Music, premiered in March 2001. Another new work, The Starry Messenger, was commissioned to commemorate the Terre Haute Symphony's 75th season, in September 2001, and has since been recorded by the Prague Radio Symphony on the ERM CD Masterworks of the New Era, Vol. 12. In April 2005, a second piano concerto, again featuring Martha Krasnican, was premiered. Recent works include Overture to the Season and Concerto Piccolo, a short work for piccolo solo and orchestra, featuring Kate Prouty, the orchestra's piccolo player. November will see the premiere of a Viola Concerto.

Powers was born in 1960, and began composing at an early age. He took his first formal lessons, with Rudi Martinus Van Dijk, then the composer in residence with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, in 1973. He received a Bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in 1982 and a Master's from Indiana University in 1987. His composition teachers included Joseph Wood, Fred Fox, Earle Brown, and Harvey Sollberger. He also studied viola with Georges Janzer.

http://www.youtube.com/v/BwMjg1Gbc7Q

[kaergaard]

Lots of them I can think of and play and enjoy. How about Hans Werner Henze? or Peter Eøtvøs_ two of my favourites. Oh yes, of course Osvaldo Golijov!

[San Antone]

Steven Stucky ~ Symphony (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/v/WfPRltoWa_8

[modUltralaser]

Starting next week I'll be posting a bunch. It's a bit distressing how small this topic is, comparatively.

[bhodges]

Pierluigi Billone ~ Δίκη Wall (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/v/LT2NtL7ZiNY

Percussion + ensemble.

Glad to see Billone get some air time - what do you think of his music? I was in the audience for this performance by the Talea Ensemble, and at least on first hearing, I enjoyed much of Δίκη Wall but it seemed just a wee bit too long. That said, I do like his work overall; he is one of those brave explorers who seem to be able to conjure up new timbres from familiar instruments.

Steven Stucky ~ Symphony (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/v/WfPRltoWa_8

And the NY Phil just did this a few months ago - quite an attractively constructed piece.

Lots of them I can think of and play and enjoy. How about Hans Werner Henze? or Peter Eøtvøs_ two of my favourites. Oh yes, of course Osvaldo Golijov!

Hey, a rare kaergaard sighting!  0:) Nice to see you around here...

Starting next week I'll be posting a bunch. It's a bit distressing how small this topic is, comparatively.

Excellent. PS, there are many of us who check in with this thread more often than it might appear, and lurk more than post.

--Bruce

[bhodges]

PS, below, more Pierluigi Billone, an excerpt from his Mani.Mono for solo spring drum (2009), written for Alex Lipowski of the Talea Ensemble. I can't quite articulate why I find this piece so fascinating - perhaps its the unexpected sonorities created by the instrument (which I don't recall ever hearing before). Another interesting listen: Mani.De Leonardis (2004), for four automobile springs and glass.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mfjgn6gtQrM

--Bruce

[San Antone]

A new voice

ROBERT SEABACK

Robert Seaback is a guitarist and composer focused on the composition of electroacoustic music that combines traditional instruments with precomposed electronic sound. He holds a B.S. in Music Technology from Northeastern University, an M.A. in Composition from Mills College, and is currently a Ph.D. Fellow at the University of Florida under the instruction of Paul Koonce and James Paul Sain. Seaback's electroacoustic work has been presented internationally, and in 2011, he was awarded First Prize in the ASCAP/SEAMUS Student Commission Competition.

LISTEN: sequence (bloom) for digital playback

[San Antone]

PS, below, more Pierluigi Billone, an excerpt from his Mani.Mono for solo spring drum (2009), written for Alex Lipowski of the Talea Ensemble. I can't quite articulate why I find this piece so fascinating - perhaps its the unexpected sonorities created by the instrument (which I don't recall ever hearing before). Another interesting listen: Mani.De Leonardis (2004), for four automobile springs and glass.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mfjgn6gtQrM

--Bruce

Great piece!  I don't know anything about the instrument but it sounds as if it is electronically amplified.

I am interested in Billoni's music, his work which seems to be celebrating sound for its own sake, is something I very much appreciate.  The Italian avant garde has interested me going back to Maderno, and the group including Nono, Dallapiccola, Berio, and others of that period, and more recently, with Sciarinno and Scelsi.  The younger generation of composers continue the music with great success in most cases, IMO.

[San Antone]

Another Italian composer I like -

Ivan Fedele ~ Arcipelago Möbius

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

[San Antone]

Salvatore Sciarrino ~ String Quartet no.8 (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/v/SgfTObtVAQ8

[bhodges]

Great piece!  I don't know anything about the instrument but it sounds as if it is electronically amplified.

I am interested in Billoni's music, his work which seems to be celebrating sound for its own sake, is something I very much appreciate.  The Italian avant garde has interested me going back to Maderno, and the group including Nono, Dallapiccola, Berio, and others of that period, and more recently, with Sciarinno and Scelsi.  The younger generation of composers continue the music with great success in most cases, IMO.

Unfortunately that amplified effect is probably due to the recording, valuable as it is to have. (At the concert, there weren't any electronics that I could see, anyway.)

And yes, so many of these younger Italian composers are so interesting! The Talea players also introduced me to the work of Fausto Romitelli, a great revelation from the last few years. Here's a 4-minute video, apparently excerpts from several pieces - I wish they had posted a little more info - from their recording session at EMPAC/Renssalaer last year for the album below (which is terrific, by the way).

http://vimeo.com/49399829

[asin]B008645Y0S[/asin]

--Bruce

[San Antone]

Unfortunately that amplified effect is probably due to the recording, valuable as it is to have. (At the concert, there weren't any electronics that I could see, anyway.)

And yes, so many of these younger Italian composers are so interesting! The Talea players also introduced me to the work of Fausto Romitelli, a great revelation from the last few years. Here's a 4-minute video, apparently excerpts from several pieces - I wish they had posted a little more info - from their recording session at EMPAC/Renssalaer last year for the album below (which is terrific, by the way).

http://vimeo.com/49399829

[asin]B008645Y0S[/asin]

--Bruce

There a few more clips in YouTube of Romitelli - I agree many younger Italians doing some fascinating music.

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

[bhodges]

Salvatore Sciarrino ~ String Quartet no.8 (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/v/SgfTObtVAQ8

And thanks for posting that - Sciarrino is one of my favorite living composers.

Whoa, that Romitelli clip you just posted is wild! Haven't read any notes on the piece, but there appears to be a little Strauss Alpine Symphony reference - which of course disintegrates into something else entirely.

--Bruce

[kaergaard]

Thank you, Brewsky! Not rare today because there is this outrageously beautiful, innovative Dane I want you to watch and listen to:

http://www.dacapo-records.dk/img/album/x385/2.110406.jpg

Pelle's DVD is on PAL only; try it on your PC, you'll like it! Not too many classical music composers shown on a DVD dancing to his own compositions.

[cjvinthechair]

Excellent. PS, there are many of us who check in with this thread more often than it might appear, and lurk more than post.

--Bruce

Speaking as an irregular 'lurker', I just love it when I find posted a piece of 21st century music I can appreciate - means a wait sometimes, but well worth it.
Latest example; Steven Stucky...most grateful for 'discovering' him. Thank you to all who post !