Six favourite 20th Century choral works.

[Christo]

With orchestra etc.:
Holst: The Hymn of Jesus
Respighi: Lauda per la Nativitá del Signore
Stravinsky: Symphonie de psaumes
Howells: Hymnus Paradisi
Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 10
Pärt: Te Deum
Einhorn: Voices of Light

A cappella:
Tallis: Lamentations
Vaughan Williams: Mass
Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil
Howells: Requiem
Tormis: Unustatud rahvad (Forgotten Peoples)
Sisask: Gloria Patris
Pärt: Kanon Pokajanen

[Ken B]

No Love for Flos Campi on GMG??

[Christo]

No Love for Flos Campi on GMG??

Love and admire it, had once to write an essay on it and it's a piece that keeps intriguing me.

But we wouldn't call it choral, would we? The choir acts like an instrument here, just like in Daphnis et Chloe or similar compositions, e.g. much of RVW's own Oxford Elegy - the only other piece in his oeuvre that shows some similarities.

[San Antone]

Love the work ...

Tallis: Lamentations

... but is there a 20th c. composer also named Tallis?

[Christo]

Love the work ...

... but is there a 20th c. composer also named Tallis?

There is. He was only 'discovered' in the last Century, by RVW and his circles.

[Todd]

Szymanowski – Stabat Mater
Janacek – Glagolitic Mass
Martinu – The Epic of Gilgamesh
Schoenberg – Die Jakobsleiter
Schoenberg – Gurrelieder
Tippet – A Child of Our Time

[San Antone]

There is. He was only 'discovered' in the last Century, by RVW and his circles.

I am confused.  Do you mean works like RVW Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis?  Who specifically is the 20th c. Tallis?

[Mirror Image]

I am confused.  Do you mean works like RVW Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis?  Who specifically is the 20th c. Tallis?

There isn't a 20th Century composer with the name Tallis, so I'm confused as well.

[Mirror Image]

Time to add my list....(in no particular order):

Delius: Songs of Sunset
Durufle: Requiem
Bartok: Cantata Profana
Tippett: A Child of Our Time
Poulenc: Gloria
Stravinsky: Mass

[Christo]

There isn't a 20th Century composer with the name Tallis, so I'm confused as well.

Very sorry for the confusion, assumed that everybody would now Tallis to be an English Renaissance composer and that I was joking.

The point is that like Bach, indeed much more so, Tallis was only "rediscovered" in the early 20th century. By the likes of Vaughan Williams, as mentioned. Many 'old' composers are in that sense very "20th Century". Bach's impact on 20th Century music looms so large, that he may be considered "composer of the Century" in many respects.

[Ken B]

Under the new "Tallis" rules I now need to consider Richafort's Requiem, Josquin's Nymphes des Bois, ....

[vandermolen]

Thanks for all the replies - very interesting. As for the Durufle, which I'm pleased to see is a hit with some of you, I like the version with the smaller orchestra, a kind of middle way between the organ only version and the version for full orchestra. Villa Lobos's 'Chorus No. 10' is great fun and I could easily included Janacek's Glagolitic Mass which is a wonderful work as is Shostakovich's 'The Execution of Stenka Razin'.

[Karl Henning]

Here are six of mine:

Wuorinen, Mass for the Restoration of St Luke's
Rautavaara, Vigilia
Stravinsky, Canticum sacrum
Nielsen, Søvnen
Rakhmaninov, All-Night Vigil
Schoenberg, Gurrelieder

[vandermolen]

Time to add my list....(in no particular order):

Delius: Songs of Sunset
Durufle: Requiem
Bartok: Cantata Profana
Tippett: A Child of Our Time
Poulenc: Gloria
Stravinsky: Mass

The end of 'A Child of Our Time' is one of the most moving moments I know in music.

[Mirror Image]

Thanks for all the replies - very interesting. As for the Durufle, which I'm pleased to see is a hit with some of you, I like the version with the smaller orchestra, a kind of middle way between the organ only version and the version for full orchestra. Villa Lobos's 'Chorus No. 10' is great fun and I could easily included Janacek's Glagolitic Mass which is a wonderful work as is Shostakovich's 'The Execution of Stenka Razin'.

This, too, is my favorite arrangement of the Durufle Requiem.

[Mirror Image]

The end of 'A Child of Our Time' is one of the most moving moments I know in music.

It certainly is a very special work for me, Jeffrey. What is your preferred performance? I like Hickox's on Chandos.

[Mirror Image]

20th century is just too easy at this point .. and everything usually is weighted toward the 1st half of the century give or take a year. I don't think membership here has assimilated the masters of the 2nd half much.

Who cares! These aren't supposed to be lists comprised of what James wants or would like to see. These lists were created with the idea of 'favorite' in mind. Everyone has their own favorites.

[San Antone]

20th century is just too easy at this point .. and everything usually is weighted toward the 1st half of the century give or take a year. I don't think membership here has assimilated the masters of the 2nd half much.

I think when choosing favorites, these naturally are those which people have lived with for a while.  It makes sense for these works to have been written earlier than later in the century.  While there are newer works that I like, by Pascal Dusapin, Wolfgang Rihm, and others, the works I chose were ones that I have loved for much longer than any work that was written more recently.

[Mirror Image]

I think when choosing favorites, these naturally are those which people have lived with for a while.  It makes sense for these works to have been written earlier than later in the century.  While there are newer works that I like, by Pascal Dusapin, Wolfgang Rihm, and others, the works I chose were ones that I have loved for much longer than any work that was written more recently.

Sure, we all have our favorites and I'm not ashamed in the slightest bit that I know less from the second half of the 20th Century than the first half. I like what I like and that's all there is to it. I really can't stand someone to tell me what I should be listening to and what I should be prioritizing.

[San Antone]

Well, my point was that it would not matter how many works written more recently I had heard and even liked, I chose my favorites based on those works which I have loved for a longer period of time and continue to have significance for me.  I would guess most people did the same.

James comment was just another in a series of put-downs towards the members of this forum by someone who has some kind of psychological need to think himself superior.