Great Works Of The Last Ten Years: Your Suggestions?

[Karl Henning]

You're entirely in the right:  there is interesting discussion to be had on the nature of excellence in the music presently being made . . . where I don't perceive much interest to be gleaned from the "I only have time for the Great Stuff" school.

[North Star]

Don't worry karl, I won't listen to your stuff

I'm sure Karl is relieved already. 

You're entirely in the right:  there is interesting discussion to be had on the nature of excellence in the music presently being made . . . where I don't perceive much interest to be gleaned from the "I only have time for the Great Stuff" school.

Yes, it would be rather dull to only listen to late Beethoven and Bach, and nothing else.

[RebLem]

Michael Daugherty (b. 1954)--Mount Rushmore, a Dramatic Oratorio for Orchestra & Chorus* (2010) (31'48"):   Tr. 1.....George Washington (4'04")   |   Tr. 2.....Thomas Jefferson (6'17")   |   Tr. 3.....Theodore Roosevelt (7'51")   |   Tr. 4.....Abraham Lincoln (13'36")
The Mount Rushmore oratorio seems like an OK, but not too inspirational work, until you come to the longest movement, the one on Lincoln, which is set to the sung text of the Gettysburg Address.  This is a very emotional movement, and the relevance of it to us today is obvious.  When you think of Ferguson, Eric Garner, and Amadou Diallo and all the others, and you listen to the text being sung, "It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to thr unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task lies remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion...."  The task Lincoln setr for us is still not completed, more that 151 years after we spoke those words.  Can we have the "new birth of freedom" which Lincoln called for, we must overthrow the dictatorship of the police, who now get to do absolutely anything they want, including the most wanton of murders, with impunity nearly everywhere in our beknighted land.

[Karl Henning]

I'm sure Karl is relieved already. 

I thought I heard the sound of a mind snapping shut 

Thread Duty:

Jack Gallagher, Symphony № 2

[asin]B00PO9AFSO[/asin]

Wuorinen, Metagong

[ritter]

And then, there are these recent threads which buy right into the monuments fetish.

Well, it could be seen that way, or simply as some music-lovers sharing works they believe are "great" or "major"  (for whatever reason--I'm convinced nobody can be completely objective in this kind of thing) with other muic-lovers...

[Karl Henning]

Well, it could be seen that way, or simply as some music-lovers sharing works they believe are "great" or "major"  (for whatever reason--I'm convinced nobody can be completely objective in this kind of thing) with other muic-lovers...

Fair enough.  I suppose I took into consideration the messenger, and his typical schtick 

[Mirror Image]

Rest easy karl, you probably won't have to worry about people "fetishing" your stuff. Such an encumbrance that is.

But you keep on your "schtick" of tireless self promotion on here.

Let's see your body of work, James. Let's see the music you have actually composed. Any one can be a critic, but it takes a special gift to be able to put your musical thoughts on paper. You are everything that is wrong with classical listeners and you certainly represent the most negative aspects of them. Thumbing your nose at everything that doesn't fit into the mold of your supreme echelon of musical knowledge and what you deem good or bad in music.

I know, I know, I'm wasting my time with you, because you certainly aren't going to change and try to be more humble. No, I don't expect that of any one who doesn't project the slightest sliver of self-awareness.

[Karl Henning]

Well, the fact is that I write steadily, and I do report on my composition and my performance.  Only a hostile soul will denigrate that as tireless self-promotion.  It is, certainly, the tireless pursuit of the art.  Most people, I think, respect that.

[North Star]

Tireless self-promotion is what an artist needs to do if they want others to see/hear their work. To take offense at that is to take offense at artists, and art, in general.

[Mirror Image]

Well, the fact is that I write steadily, and I do report on my composition and my performance.  Only a hostile soul will denigrate that as tireless self-promotion.  It is, certainly, the tireless pursuit of the art.  Most people, I think, respect that.

James and the word respect aren't mutually exclusive.

[Karl Henning]

Tireless self-promotion is what an artist needs to do if they want others to see/hear their work. To take offense at that is to take offense at artists, and art, in general.

James thinks tireless self-promotion is praiseworthy, if you're Boulez, but contemptible, if you're Henning 

[San Antone]

Well, the fact is that I write steadily, and I do report on my composition and my performance.  Only a hostile soul will denigrate that as tireless self-promotion.  It is, certainly, the tireless pursuit of the art.  Most people, I think, respect that.

Keep up the tireless self-promotion!  Don't let the turkeys get you down.

[Karl Henning]

Don't let the turkeys get you down.

Never!

[San Antone]

Murail - Les Sept Paroles (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/v/aqze4mN9V1Y

Tristan Murail's massive work for Orchestra, Choir and Electronics, here is his "les Sept Paroles" (2010), a, perhaps, more subdued work than we typically hear from him, which gives us a more complete look at aspects of his writing that we might not otherwise get to see.

[Christo]

Ah, fundamental differences here regarding talent, career trajectories and perhaps work ethic. Boulez is a public (and historic) figure for let's say certain reasons .. can't say the same for someone who promotes his own stuff on an internet forum. Keep dreaming!

For music lovers on this forum, the Henning - Boulez score is about 10 - 1. Better get used to it. 

[some guy]

No one denies that Boulez is famous and influencial and talented, least of all Karl Henning.

But listening to music is about just that, listening to music, regardless of fame or influence. (Anyone who's listened to any Henning knows he's talented.)

Music lovers love music. James seems to me to be not so much a music lover as he is a hero worshipper. Certainly those two things are compatible (unfortunately), but they are different. From time to time, I've gotten the sense that James really enjoys listening to music. But mostly the sense I get is that he admires craft and technique and effort--and not even that, really, but the idea of craft, technique, and effort--and only (this is critical) as evidenced in his heroes.

Music lovers, whether here (where we know Karl) or elsewhere, love music. Here's a small example of music I love. How many here have ever heard of Marisol Jimenez? None, right? (Well, actually, I hope some have. Anyway, you all have now, so OK. ) She's not a "major" composer. She hasn't spent 75 years or so promoting her music and the music of other contemporary composers. She's not from a "major" musical country, though Mexico is starting to get on the contemporary musical map as well. She is in no way influential. She's hardly even known. The only piece of hers I've heard is from her graduate school days at Stanford. But it's a sweet piece. I listen to it with pleasure fairly often.

You can listen to it, too, if you want: http://www.musicianspage.com/musicians/11620/audiofile/8632/

Since James has never heard of her, and since she doesn't fit into his neat little box of "what truly matters in music," he probably won't be able to enjoy her piece. His loss. Other people here may be similarly handicapped, but I'm guessing that there will be other people besides myself who think this is a cool little piece and who will enjoy listening to it again and again. (It reminds me of what I think about Henning's music, come to think of it.)

Truly. What more is there, really?

[Mirror Image]

I never doubted that James doesn't like the music he promotes nor have I ever had him pegged as a 'hero worshipper,' what I have had him pegged as is someone who suffers from a music superiority complex.

Look, we all enjoy what we enjoy and there should be no reason why we should be defending our likes or even our dislikes. There's enough music in this universe for every one. I don't condone James for enjoying the music of his favorite composers, but what would be nice, however, is if he dropped the snobbish attitude about music and the constant grandstanding for what he deems to be musically acceptable. No one should prescribe to that kind of unnecessary behavior.