21st century classical music

[some guy]

Fascinating that you were able to determine that I didn't like the piece.

I was NOT able to determine that. And I said so, explicitly.

As far as the piece having 'very many long bits  that are either extremely delicate or extremely soft and placid' and 'a few very brief bits that an extremely sensitive person might, at a stretch, refer to as noisy,' I can't imagine it was the same piece.  Most of it was quite vigorous, and made dramatic use of a large percussion section, including timpani, bass drum, tuned and untuned gongs, side drum, xylophone, cymbals, etc.  My wife, who does not have a particular interest in modern classical music, was very impressed with the orchestra.  She commented "it was so messy, I was amazed the musicians could tell when it was their time to play."

Yes, and many people who have heard Berlioz' Requiem, especially in concert, take away a firm impression that it is big and noisy, regardless of the fact that the piece is mostly, by the minute, quite soft and delicate. There is hardly any time when the whole orchestra and chorus is used at the same time.

Yes, the Salonen has a large percussion section. But how often in the piece is it used? How often is all of used at the same time? How often is it loud?

I'd suggest you watch the youtube video with Salonen conducting and time the loud bits and the soft bits, the vigorous bits and the placid bits. I think you'll be surprised at how your impression of volume and vigor in the live performance does not match what actually happens in the piece. (That's probably true for the messiness as well. It's not at all a messy piece, though to someone without a particular interest in modern music I suppose it could easily appear to be messy.)

[San Antone]

Miguel Farías

https://www.youtube.com/v/B0qBx9l2t78

"Mambo Lines"

[San Antone]

Gabriel Erkoreka
(b. 1969)

https://www.youtube.com/v/T76QyDoXkMU&feature=c4-overview&list=UUZkBfgFnWZdr2Kcsgcjba4Q

"Dipolo" for cello and piano, played by David Apellániz and Alberto Rosado

[San Antone]

Mehdi Hosseini
(b. 1979)

Mehdi Hosseini (Seyed Mehdi Hosseini Bami) was born in 1979 in Tehran. Hosseini began his musical training in Iran, studying Persian music and the fundaments of composition under the guidance of Farhad Fakhreddini.

http://www.youtube.com/v/0mWnNaXw96U#t=143

Monodies (2011)
for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Dedicated to Luciano Berio

"Sound Ways" New Music Ensemble:
Tatiana Rezetdinov, flute
Ilia Gindin, clarinet
Alexandra Korobkina, violin
Kiril Kurshakov, violoncello
Ksenia Gavrilova, piano
Conductor - Brad Everett Cawyer (USA)

[San Antone]

LIM, Liza: Tongue of the Invisible (musikFabrik, Ridder)



New Wergo release of Liza Lim's Tongue of the Invisible performed by musikFabrik.  The Wergo label has an ongoing series of release by musikFabrik, and they are all worth hearing.  The blog 5:4 has written a good article about this release, HERE.

Some YouTube clips of excerpts follow ~

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

https://www.youtube.com/v/qncW7j0_lcE

The entire CD is available on NML.

[San Antone]

Variable Formations

An extract from 'Variable Formations', a 40-minute performance by John Tilbury (piano), Lee Patterson (amplified objects), Phil Durrant (electronics), Jamie Drouin (electronics), Angharad Davies (violin) & Johnny Chang (viola). Recorded live at Cafe Oto in February 2013 and released on Another Timbre in October 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/v/DxB2QwVUUBs

[San Antone]

antoine beuger - lieux de passage

https://www.youtube.com/v/pDPzV7HlaJk

extract from Antoine Beuger's composition 'Lieux de passage' (2008), which is a kind of contemporary concerto for clarinet and small ensemble. The musciians are: Jurg Frey (clarinet) with Angharad Davies (violin), Phil Durrant (electronics), Anton Lukoszevieze (cello), Radu malfatti (trombone), Lee Patterson (amplified objects) and Philip Thomas (piano). This recording was released in November 2012 on the CD 'Confluences', which is part of the 6 CD box set 'Wandelweiser und so weiter' on Another Timbre.

[San Antone]

Peter Eötvös (b. 1944): Seven (2006) for violin and orchestra

Patricia Kopatchinskaja (b. 1977), violin
François-Xavier Roth, conductor
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Helsinki Music Centre, 27 March 2013

https://www.youtube.com/v/5wWZlD-AYFE

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

[bhodges]

Murail: Symphonic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra "Le Désenchantement du monde" (2012)

I can't find a YT clip or even a commercially released recording but you can listen to this work through the Instant Encore site ~ HERE.

Ensemble: New York Philharmonic
Conductor: David Robertson
Artist: Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Piano)

Thanks for posting this! I heard the world premiere last spring (review here) and was wondering if a recording would show up for a repeat hearing.

--Bruce

[San Antone]

Thanks for posting this! I heard the world premiere last spring (review here) and was wondering if a recording would show up for a repeat hearing.

--Bruce

Instant Encore is a valuable website and has many interesting concerts available for streaming.  I enjoyed your review of the performance; wish I could have been there.

[bhodges]

Thanks! And for some reason, I keep focusing on SymphonyCast and some other sites, and forgetting about Instant Encore - appreciate that reminder. It's a great site, with many things that you wouldn't think would be there.

--Bruce

[San Antone]

Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez

https://www.youtube.com/v/uMp9ugIaECI

Diaries, for piano and ensemble [2012] (16:53)

In four movements:

-Machine with Cat Whiskers
-Dream Bolero
-Machine with Roller Chain
-Machine with Messiaen

Daniel Pesca, piano
Eastman BroadBand Ensemble. Juan Trigos, cond.

[jochanaan]

Variable Formations

An extract from 'Variable Formations', a 40-minute performance by John Tilbury (piano), Lee Patterson (amplified objects), Phil Durrant (electronics), Jamie Drouin (electronics), Angharad Davies (violin) & Johnny Chang (viola). Recorded live at Cafe Oto in February 2013 and released on Another Timbre in October 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/v/DxB2QwVUUBs

Ooooh, this is lovely!  I thought at first that the electronic sounds were recording artifacts, but when I realized they weren't, and began to pay attention to them, they became interesting and beautiful.

Do you know whether this is the beginning, or somewhere near the middle?  I could tell that it wasn't ending when the recording ended...

[Parsifal]

After enjoying a live performance of Salonen's "Foreign Bodies" I end up with this disc and listened to Nyx, a tone poem by the same conposer.

[asin]B008W5TDP8[/asin]

I enjoyed this piece as well.  Salonen has a unique way of putting music together, which seems to emphasize the creation of unique textures of sound that develop out of each other or contrast with each other.

After reporting my enjoyment of Foreign bodies some guy told me off for enjoying the piece for the wrong reason and made condescending comments about my wife.  So I await the explanation for why my enjoyment of this piece is also invalid.

[San Antone]

My thought is that it does not matter why you enjoyed the music, the important thing is that you did.

[San Antone]

Sven Lyder Kahrs
(b. 1959, Bergen, Norway)

https://www.youtube.com/v/0eJfRDucvcw&list=PLpJMYtmnUL-GZcc9VCnr9uZb784SL_kor&shuffle=2755

Wir nur ziehen allem vorbei, wie ein luftiger Auftausch (We only pass everything by like a change of air) for ensemble (2009), returns to the themes and temporariness, again taking its title from Rilke's Duino Elegies. THis work, however, has another form or presence wich comes across clearly. The refined, timbral chamber music nuances of Kahr's work are accompanied by expressive outbursts, a sort of collective instrumental cries. This many partly be a result of the instrumentation, but even so, this piece has unusally acute and violent features, rare in kahr's output. The time measured out by the work is treated with less reverence than previously. In some places it is more a question of humorous sabotage of the musical discourse.

[some guy]

After reporting my enjoyment of Foreign bodies some guy told me off for enjoying the piece for the wrong reason and made condescending comments about my wife.

Jesus, Scarpia, that's not even close to what I actually said. (Why, it's not even close to what you actually said!)

The allure of strawmen is that they are sooooooooo easy to conquer.

But where's the sport in that?

[Parsifal]

This thread would also be a good place to round-up the latest new-music releases ..[asin]B00BLDHPZS[/asin]

I fear I'm going to have to get this one.

On another note, listened to Salonen's Nyx again.

[asin]B008W5TDP8[/asin]

I find it increasingly fascinating, particularly the way that transitions in texture seem to create different aural "rooms" which are "occupied" by different flavors of melodic invention.  The ecstatic ending is particularly impressive.

[some guy]

http://asymmetrymusicmagazine.com/reviews/felipe-otondos-tutuguri/

[cjvinthechair]

Murail: Symphonic Concerto for Piano and Orchestra "Le Désenchantement du monde" (2012)

I can't find a YT clip or even a commercially released recording but you can listen to this work through the Instant Encore site ~ HERE.

Ensemble: New York Philharmonic
Conductor: David Robertson
Artist: Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Piano)

Thanks, Mr. Sanantonio - that's the first bit of Murail I've felt able to sit through ! Enjoyed several of your VCs too; much appreciated !