21st century classical music

[torut]

I appreciate each post in this thread even if it contains only the composer's name and music (an audio clip is very helpful.) I found many composers whom I became to like the music of. But of course, posts with information about composers/works, thoughts, comments, discussions would be very nice, although I myself cannot do musical analysis. It seems that the bar has been raised, but I hope I still can post.


Daniel Corral (born 1981) is an American composer, born in Alaska, studied with James Tenney, Anne LeBaron, and Morton Subotnick. His works are generally accessible but also experimental in various styles.

WITH STRUCTURE (2009)
https://www.youtube.com/v/NTqN34w8Dn0
a string quartet made entirely out of natural string harmonics.

A fun piece for player pianos. (free download)
ANXIETY OF INFLUENCE vol. 1: Study for 61 Player Pianos
http://spinalfrog.bandcamp.com/track/study-for-61-player-pianos
An homage to Conlon Nancarrow, of course
Ever wonder what every Nancarrow study playing in one room would sound like?

[Mandryka]

https://www.youtube.com/v/xANR6U5CLG8

Ferneyhough Liber scintliiarum. Full of catchy tunes but they're never allowed to linger, they're always being cut off. And there's an interesting pulse about the music -- you seem to find yourself quite frequently in a sparse landscape like late Nono -- but it doesn't last for long. I think this is a bit of a masterpiece from my favourite living Brit composer.

[cjvinthechair]

Still, easily, the best music thread on this site. Thanks for all y'all's contributions.

For the evening: Jaime Reis
Lysozyme Synthesis for Piano

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR_IPDjR3Bs

And thank you too ! Discovering a number of 'new' names here that would never have found without everyone's posts; great !

[torut]

Molly Herron - Open Systems (2011) for string quartet

https://www.youtube.com/v/_K-tn80cY3w

soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/mherron

"Molly Herron is a Brooklyn based composer, performer, and educator. [...] Molly received her bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College where she studied composition with Chester Biscardi and Steven Burke. She received a Master of Music degree from the Steinhardt School at NYU where she studied privately with Joan La Barbara and Michael Gordon."

The string quartet is a beautiful piece. The title is a term of physics, and the music depicts the behavior of atoms and electrons in open environment. "Most of the notes in this piece are derived from the open strings and their partials."

I also enjoyed the other works a lot: Nelson (string trio; moving), Breakers (orchestral; powerful), Sputter (violin flute duo, minimalistic), Clamber Up (violin duet; like minimal), etc.

[torut]

Joan La Barbara - Persistence of Memory (2012) for chamber ensemble (violin, cello, harp, glass, trombone, piano, voice, sampler and two laptop computers) and sonic atmosphere
performed by Ne(x)tworks, film by Aleksandar Kostic

https://www.youtube.com/v/gM3QJW9Dy6A

With occasionally inserted loud sounds like thunderstorm, the music shows a variety of aspects: minimalistic ostinato, unconventional sounds of instruments (as Lachenmann), an ensemble sounding like a collective improvisation, shamanistic chant, manipulated voice, drones, a mellow segment, musique concrète (?), ... An excellent work. It's unfortunate that very few of her recent compositions (http://www.joanlabarbara.com/comp.html) have been recorded.

This live performance is a part of MaerzMusik Festival 2012 in Berlin, Germany celebrating the 100th anniversary of John Cage's birth.

[EDIT] The film by Kostic is available on DVD and Amazon Instant Video.
[asin]B0096Y41II[/asin]

[torut]

Ken Thomson

Perpetual for bass clarinet and string quartet (2010) II: Bad idea
https://www.youtube.com/v/aZj3wlEj2q8

Thaw for string quartet (2011) 4th movement
https://soundcloud.com/ken-thomson/thaw-4-from-ken-thomson-w-jack

[asin]B00GB0OXL0[/asin]

This is a very powerful and beautiful album. Ken Thomson is a composer, the clarinetist of Bang on a Can All-Stars, saxophonist, and the leader of a Jazz band Slow/Fast.

[torut]

Nate Wooley - The Almond (2011)
https://www.youtube.com/v/UUfkjUK_uHk

A 5-min excerpt from the album of the 70-min solo trumpet tape loop piece. If you like La Monte Young's drones or Palestine, you may enjoy it. The timbre like human chorus that can be heard at times is very beautiful. An interesting, complex music.

Piero Scaruffi (http://www.scaruffi.com/avant/wooley.html)
The Almond (april 2010 - Pogues, 2011) contains a 70-minute "solo" of overdubbed pure-pitched trumpet. Wooley carefully avoided extended techniques but each note was a scientific accumulation of clones (different mutes, tunings, with different microphones and in different rooms), ultimately sounding like ambient music for a droning synthesizer inspired by LaMonte Young.

Interview with Nate Wooley (http://www.tokafi.com/15questions/interview-nate-wooley/)
"For The Almond, I had been interested in ambient music and tape loops especially, and so I wanted to create, what was for me, an extremely rigorous tape loop piece. There are 10 65 minute loops in the full length version of the piece, each of which consists of 3-8 smaller loops which in turn consist of 3-8 notes, which are made up of anywhere from 2-5 recorded versions of that pitch."

A 25-min excerpt of the study for trumpet for Compost and Height can be downloaded here.
http://compostandheight.com/Nate%20Wooley%20-%20the%20almond%20(excerpt).zip

[torut]

David A. Jaffe

8:66 for Trimpin (2012) for Radiodrum-controlled Trimpin installation and singer
Andrew Schloss: Radiodrum, Catherine Fern Lewis: Voice
https://soundcloud.com/uvicmisticsound/t1-andy-et-al?in=uvicmisticsound/sets/trimpin-canonx-4-33-100
http://davidjaffesite.squarespace.com/music/8-66-for-trimpin.html
"8' 66" is a quasi-improvised performance of a unique installation created by Seattle sound artist Trimpin in honor of John Cage's and Conlon Nancarrow's 100th birthday. The work was a collaboration between singer/composer Catherine Lewis, percussionist/composer Andrew Schloss, and composer David A. Jaffe."

Cluck Old Hen Variations (2004) for Solo Violin
https://www.youtube.com/v/sdt9E459Y4Y

[torut]

Trimpin (born 1951) is an incredible sound artist. After giving up a career as a brass player because of a skin allergy to a mouthpiece, he has been creating amazing MIDI-controlled instruments. The instruments are all acoustic, and computers & electronics are used only to control them. In that sense, he inherits the spirit of Nancarrow rather than Partch. He met Nancarrow in 1987, converted the piano rolls of Nancarrow's Studies to MIDI format, and played it on the instrument ("Conloninpurple") he invented.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ahQKsW0LHEA
The documentary DVD is sold out, disappointingly.

(CanonX+4:33=100) (2012) is Trimpin's interactive sound installation.
https://soundcloud.com/uvicmisticsound/sets/trimpin-canonx-4-33-100
This soundcloud playlist contains the compositions that use the installation.
David Jaffe - 8:66 for Trimpin
Steven A. Bjornson - Music for Prepared Polyrhythmophone
Christopher Reiche - Walk
Darren Miller - Slick Willie
Stefan Maier - Untitled
George Tzanetakis - Red + Blue = Purple
David Parfit - Prepared DiminsionS
Duncan MacConnell / Shawn Trail - Tactus

[chadfeldheimer]

Fausto Romitelli with a quite unique mixture of spectralism and dirty psychedelic rock. It's a shame he died much too early at the age of 41. I would have been very interested in his further musical development.

[asin]B0001EKZJ6[/asin]

[some guy]

Ken Thomson

Perpetual for bass clarinet and string quartet (2010) II: Bad idea
https://www.youtube.com/v/aZj3wlEj2q8

I think it's a good idea, myself. I just don't think this particular piece does anything to justify the combination. That is, it's just a lot of up and down, nothing particularly bass clarinetty or string quartetty about it. Could be any combination of any instruments (any that can play those notes, those patterns) and be the same.

Really exploring the sounds of strings and of the bass clarinet (not just any clarinet). That would be sweet!

(I realize that probably what torut meant by "bad idea" was something very like what I just said. So I hope I haven't just wasted everyone's valuable time.)

I've been very much taken by the music of Emmanuelle Gibello of late, as I've mentioned before.

http://vimeo.com/58487445

And I still like to promote Simon Steen-Andersen whenever I can.

http://vimeo.com/17403233

[torut]

It is the title of the movement, not my opinion.

Ken Thomson - Perpetual
I: underlying
II: Bad idea
III: Don Pullen says it's OK

I don't know what these titles mean but I suppose Pullen would have said it's OK. The third movement is calming and comforting (I cannot find an audio clip), with the bass clarinet and the string quartet blended nicely. The piece as a whole is a good composition for the instrumentation, in my opinion.

[some guy]

Well, it's much funnier that way!

(Why is there egg on my face. Damn it, I'm a vegan!)

[torut]

Fausto Romitelli with a quite unique mixture of spectralism and dirty psychedelic rock. It's a shame he died much too early at the age of 41. I would have been very interested in his further musical development.

[asin]B0001EKZJ6[/asin]

It has been in my amazon cart for a long time. I just listened to a live performance by Icarus Ensemble on youtube. The relentless glissandi may induce a bad trip. Very good. The cello cadenza is wonderful. Is this a work of spectralism? (I don't know exactly what spectralism is.)

[torut]

And I still like to promote Simon Steen-Andersen whenever I can.

http://vimeo.com/17403233

This is most interesting. The comment says "strictly constructed in the form of a two part invention (with theme, retrogrades, augmentations etc.)" I felt that there was some kind of structure, but I was not sure. The split video helps to understand what is happening.

[chadfeldheimer]

It has been in my amazon cart for a long time. I just listened to a live performance by Icarus Ensemble on youtube. The relentless glissandi may induce a bad trip. Very good. The cello cadenza is wonderful. Is this a work of spectralism? (I don't know exactly what spectralism is.)

You should purchase it if you are not afraid of bad trips  . I don't know if it can be classified into spectralism, but it is certainly inspired by it. From what I understand Spectralists are very interested in the harmonics of a tone/sound and therefore often use sound processing-methods like filtering and compressing to enhance the content of harmonics in their music.
I also find the Ictus ensemble to be a quite remarkable group. Lately I bought (quite cheap) another recording from them featuring works from Oehring and Ter Schiphorst. Like the Romitelli disc the pieces seem to be influenced by experimental rock music, altough this time there is no electric guitar. Just listened to it once, but it also seems worthwhile.

[torut]

You should purchase it if you are not afraid of bad trips  . I don't know if it can be classified into spectralism, but it is certainly inspired by it. From what I understand Spectralists are very interested in the harmonics of a tone/sound and therefore often use sound processing-methods like filtering and compressing to enhance the content of harmonics in their music.
I also find the Ictus ensemble to be a quite remarkable group. Lately I bought (quite cheap) another recording from them featuring works from Oehring and Ter Schiphorst. Like the Romitelli disc the pieces seem to be influenced by experimental rock music, altough this time there is no electric guitar. Just listened to it once, but it also seems worthwhile.

I'll purchase the album. It should be heard with better sound quality.
Isn't using electronics in spectralism kind of cheating?
I used to be put off by rock-influenced compositions, but I became to like post-minimalism/totalism and enjoy composers like Grenn Branca, Julia Wolfe, etc. I want to check the Ictus album. The performing group of the youtube I watched was Icarus Ensemble. Confusing ...

[North Star]

Romitelli has his own thread, btw.

[chadfeldheimer]

I'll purchase the album. It should be heard with better sound quality.

You won't regret it.

Isn't using electronics in spectralism kind of cheating?

Do you mean it is unsportsmanlike? Don't know. I presume creating music where those techniques are applied such that it really sounds good, isn't much easier than creating good music that does without it.

I used to be put off by rock-influenced compositions, but I became to like post-minimalism/totalism and enjoy composers like Grenn Branca, Julia Wolfe, etc.

Yes - there is some rock inspired classical music I also have problems with, for me mostly when rock rhythms are involved like e.g. I did not like the piece Magma from Erkki Sven Tür for that reason. But there are certainly some quite successful examples of use of electric guitars in classical pieces - Branca (as you said), Rhys Chatham, but also Schnittke, Zimmermann, Penderecki and Stockhausen (Gruppen) come to my mind.

I want to check the Ictus album. The performing group of the youtube I watched was Icarus Ensemble. Confusing ...

Really confusing.Don't know if it is a typo or if it really is another ensemble with a very similar name.

[North Star]

But there are certainly some quite successful examples of use of electric guitars in classical pieces - Branca (as you said), Rhys Chatham, but also Schnittke, Zimmermann, Penderecki and Stockhausen (Gruppen) come to my mind.

Have you heard Gavin Bryars' work After the Requiem? Wonderful use of electric guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/v/K3WPJRwZ5pU