Looking for reccomendations - my current favorites inside

[swazey]

Hi all, I'm relatively unknowledgeable about western art music (I hope it's acceptable here to refer to it as that?) and I'd like to get some reccomendations. In general I find myself gravitating towards 20th Century works as what intrigues me the most is music that is relatively tonal but flirts with atonality in interesting, musical ways. Anyways, below I have listed some of my key compositions and what I like about them. Hopefully that is enough for you to conduct a dialogue with me!

Ives - Central Park In The Dark, Three Places In New England (1st Mvmt), Orchestral Set No. 2 (1st Mvmt)
These three compositions are just sublime. Shadowy and indeterminate at times but always resolving into some beautiful forms. The mixing-in of the ambient music in CPITD is inspired for the time, ahead of Eno by decades. Also a uniquely American sound. Shame he was never really valued in his time (or so I gather).

Ligeti - Etudes, Lontano
Actually, I don't care for most of the Etudes but there are two - "Cordes a vide" and "Arc En Ciel" that are just... wow. So delicate; again they've got the same shadowy, quasi-atonal beauty that I love. Arc-en-ciel is probably the most beautiful piano composition I've ever heard. The way it constantly moves away from the listener, slipping when you try and grasp it. Lontano is like Lux Aeterna for strings, but again the wonderful moments of tonality emerge and submerge from the chord clusters so wonderfully

Part - Fratres
I don't think I need to explain this one, it's just badass.

Grisey - Espaces acoustiques
So many interesting ideas here, I love the concept of realising manipulation of recorded sound through orchestral instruments. Although at times a difficult listen, perhaps too intellectual.

Stravinsky - "Spring Rounds"
Don't really care much for Rite of Spring but the Spring Rounds section is just wow. Epic, foreboding, uncompromising. Need to hear more bombastic stuff like that.

Ingram Marshall - Fog Tropes (I & II)
Again, very transportative. I can literally see the figures moving in and out of the fog in some field or moorland. I guess Marshall can be a bit of a one-trick pony but he uses non-standard sound sources in inventive ways.

Reich - Music For Large Ensemble, 8 Lines
Gateway drug, I pretty much every recording now. I saw Music For 18 in concert and as much as I love it, I was falling asleep at the end. MFALE and 8 Lines are probably his best larger-scale works, and although these classic "minimalist" peices have lost their impact, I still hold them dear.

Cage - In A Landscape, Dream
His straightforward, meditative piano peices are beautiful and the prepared piano sonatas & etudes are OK. This man's quite varied so I'm always interested to see what he has to offer.

Feldman - Rothko Chapel
Haunting, unsettling. But those fragmentary moments where the sunlight creeps through make it worth it. I'll probably get into Feldman more as I mature!

Messiaen - Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps, Vingt Regards
I find large parts of both of these compositions messy, erratic and not very enjoyable. But then he writes parts like "Louange a l'immortalitie de jesus" or "Regard du pere" and I am exposed to the religious cosmic wonder that only Messiaen is capable of. Definitely interested in exploring more of this guy, if I didn't find myself skipping huge sections of his work!

Silvestrov - Usnaya Musicka (sp?)
This piano work is brilliant. It's like Debussy, rocketed into the Siberian peninsula with a heroin addiction. Sorrowful, defeated, beautiful.

There's also some insane stuff that I like for its timbral inventiveness and sonic gymnastics:

Radulescu - Clepsydra
Parmegiani - De natura sonorum
Xenakis - Hibiki Hana Ma

Anyway, apologies for not speaking clearly about certain terms and what-not, I'm not musically trained so it's hard to relay what my particular taste leans towards.

[swazey]

I also just discovered Ravel's Gaspard - the opening chords of "Le Gibet" are... perfect

[Concord]

Try Elliott Carter's "Sound Fields" and "Wind Rose." Very different for him, but if you like the Ives and the cage, you'll proabably like these.

[snyprrr]

Try this Thread:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,19106.msg548722.html#msg548722

[swazey]

Try Elliott Carter's "Sound Fields" and "Wind Rose." Very different for him, but if you like the Ives and the cage, you'll proabably like these.

"Sound Fields" is great; seems to be very much in the spirit of Ives, thanks for this!

[RebLem]

You might want to try George Crumb.  Especially Ancient Voices of Children and Black Angels.

[Karl Henning]

Hi all, I'm relatively unknowledgeable about western art music (I hope it's acceptable here to refer to it as that?) and I'd like to get some reccomendations. In general I find myself gravitating towards 20th Century works as what intrigues me the most is music that is relatively tonal but flirts with atonality in interesting, musical ways. Anyways, below I have listed some of my key compositions and what I like about them. Hopefully that is enough for you to conduct a dialogue with me!

Ives - Central Park In The Dark, Three Places In New England (1st Mvmt), Orchestral Set No. 2 (1st Mvmt)
These three compositions are just sublime. Shadowy and indeterminate at times but always resolving into some beautiful forms. The mixing-in of the ambient music in CPITD is inspired for the time, ahead of Eno by decades. Also a uniquely American sound. Shame he was never really valued in his time (or so I gather).

Ligeti - Etudes, Lontano
Actually, I don't care for most of the Etudes but there are two - "Cordes a vide" and "Arc En Ciel" that are just... wow. So delicate; again they've got the same shadowy, quasi-atonal beauty that I love. Arc-en-ciel is probably the most beautiful piano composition I've ever heard. The way it constantly moves away from the listener, slipping when you try and grasp it. Lontano is like Lux Aeterna for strings, but again the wonderful moments of tonality emerge and submerge from the chord clusters so wonderfully

Part - Fratres
I don't think I need to explain this one, it's just badass.

Grisey - Espaces acoustiques
So many interesting ideas here, I love the concept of realising manipulation of recorded sound through orchestral instruments. Although at times a difficult listen, perhaps too intellectual.

Stravinsky - "Spring Rounds"
Don't really care much for Rite of Spring but the Spring Rounds section is just wow. Epic, foreboding, uncompromising. Need to hear more bombastic stuff like that.

Ingram Marshall - Fog Tropes (I & II)
Again, very transportative. I can literally see the figures moving in and out of the fog in some field or moorland. I guess Marshall can be a bit of a one-trick pony but he uses non-standard sound sources in inventive ways.

Reich - Music For Large Ensemble, 8 Lines
Gateway drug, I pretty much every recording now. I saw Music For 18 in concert and as much as I love it, I was falling asleep at the end. MFALE and 8 Lines are probably his best larger-scale works, and although these classic "minimalist" peices have lost their impact, I still hold them dear.

Cage - In A Landscape, Dream
His straightforward, meditative piano peices are beautiful and the prepared piano sonatas & etudes are OK. This man's quite varied so I'm always interested to see what he has to offer.

Feldman - Rothko Chapel
Haunting, unsettling. But those fragmentary moments where the sunlight creeps through make it worth it. I'll probably get into Feldman more as I mature!

Messiaen - Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps, Vingt Regards
I find large parts of both of these compositions messy, erratic and not very enjoyable. But then he writes parts like "Louange a l'immortalitie de jesus" or "Regard du pere" and I am exposed to the religious cosmic wonder that only Messiaen is capable of. Definitely interested in exploring more of this guy, if I didn't find myself skipping huge sections of his work!

Silvestrov - Usnaya Musicka (sp?)
This piano work is brilliant. It's like Debussy, rocketed into the Siberian peninsula with a heroin addiction. Sorrowful, defeated, beautiful.

There's also some insane stuff that I like for its timbral inventiveness and sonic gymnastics:

Radulescu - Clepsydra
Parmegiani - De natura sonorum
Xenakis - Hibiki Hana Ma

Anyway, apologies for not speaking clearly about certain terms and what-not, I'm not musically trained so it's hard to relay what my particular taste leans towards.

First of all, welcome to GMG!

Here's an assortment of suggestions, hingeing upon a variety of pieces from your list:

Feldman, Crippled Symmetry
Louis Andriessen, De staat
Stravinsky, Orpheus
Cage, Cheap Imitation
Langgaard, Music of the Spheres
Schnittke, Symphony № 7