Your Top 30 Favorite 20th Century Orchestral Works

Mirror Image · April 30, 2015, 08:32:32 AM

Quote from: vandermolen on April 30, 2015, 07:46:10 AM
Interesting lists. John's (MI) could have been chosen by me and I feel bad about leaving out Pettersson, Honegger and Church Windows. I also like Karl's inspired choice of 'The Flight of Icarus' by Markevitch - a great work.

Great minds...

I actually had to edit my list and exclude Strauss' Ein Heldenleben as this tone poem was completed in 1898, so I opted for a Koechlin work instead. Now, I'm really happy with my list.

Karl Henning · April 30, 2015, 08:33:18 AM

Extra points for fact-checking your own list

Mirror Image · April 30, 2015, 08:39:34 AM

Quote from: karlhenning on April 30, 2015, 08:33:18 AM
Extra points for fact-checking your own list

I just had to be sure, because I know Strauss completed many poems during the last years of the 19th C.

North Star · April 30, 2015, 10:27:00 AM

Very defiant

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 28, 2015, 08:19:25 PMOh and to make this a bit challenging please limit your choices to two works per composer.

vandermolen · April 30, 2015, 12:28:31 PM

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 30, 2015, 08:32:32 AM
Great minds...

I actually had to edit my list and exclude Strauss' Ein Heldenleben as this tone poem was completed in 1898, so I opted for a Koechlin work instead. Now, I'm really happy with my list.

I would, however, not have chosen 'Ein Heldenleben' which I find completely tedious, overblown and pretentious. Sorry!

Mirror Image · April 30, 2015, 12:30:57 PM

Quote from: vandermolen on April 30, 2015, 12:28:31 PM
I would not have chosen 'Ein Heldenleben' which I find completely tedious. Sorry!

No need to be sorry, Jeffrey. I used to feel the same way about any Strauss I heard with the exception of Four Last Songs, but, thankfully, I was able to overcome this and enjoy the music.

Rinaldo · April 30, 2015, 07:24:51 PM

Holy procrastination, Batman! Didn't limit myself to two works per composer because I surprisingly didn't have to. Sorted chronologically.

Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (1909)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910)
Luís de Freitas Branco: Vathek (1913)
Ferruccio Busoni: Nocturne Symphonique (1913)
Alban Berg: Drei Orchesterstücke (1915)
Rued Langgaard: Sfærernes Musik (1918)
Jean Sibelius: Symphony #6 (1923)
Leoš Janáček: Sinfonietta (1926)
Maurice Ravel: Boléro (1928)
Francis Poulenc: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1932)
Samuel Barber: First Essay for Orchestra (1938)
Béla Bartók: Divertimento (1939)
Bohuslav Martinů: Symphony #4 (1945)
Grażyna Bacewicz: Concerto for String Orchestra (1948)
Edmund Rubbra: Symphony #5 (1948)
Olivier Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie (1948)
Elizabeth Maconchy: Symphony for Double String Orchestra (1953)
Alan Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain (1955)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Carré (1957)
Miloslav Kabeláč: Mystery of Time (1957)
György Ligeti: Atmosphères (1961)
Jón Leifs: Hekla (1961)
Luciano Berio: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1973)
Gérard Grisey: Partiels (1975)
Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa (1977)
Claude Vivier: Orion (1979)
Salvatore Sciarrino: Efebo con Radio (1981)
Morton Feldman: Coptic Light (1985)
Georgs Pelēcis: Nevertheless (1993)
Pēteris Vasks: Concerto for Violin & String Orchestra, 'Distant Light' (1997)

Mirror Image · April 30, 2015, 07:44:54 PM

Nice list, Rinaldo. Thanks to all for participating.

Karl Henning · May 01, 2015, 02:59:58 AM

Quote from: Rinaldo on April 30, 2015, 07:24:51 PM
Holy procrastination, Batman! Didn't limit myself to two works per composer because I surprisingly didn't have to.

No, quite easy to generate a list of 30 works, 30 separate 20^th-c. composers!

Karl Henning · May 01, 2015, 03:02:20 AM

Quote from: Rinaldo on April 30, 2015, 07:24:51 PM
Béla Bartók: Divertimento (1939)

Elizabeth Maconchy: Symphony for Double String Orchestra (1953)

Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa (1977)

All right, I do rue omitting Feldman! And that would probably have been the Pärt work I might have included. Love the Bartók . . . and I am curious about Maconchy.

amw · May 01, 2015, 03:33:51 AM

Andre - ...auf... III
Barrett - Vanity
Cage - 103
Dillon - Nine Rivers
Enescu - Symphony No. 2
Feldman - Violin and Orchestra
Grisey - Modulations
Holliger - COncErto...? Certo! - cOn soli pEr tutti
Ibert - Symphonie Marine
Janáček - Violin Concerto
Kurtág - ...quasi una fantasia...
Lim - Machine for contacting the dead
Mitterer - Coloured Noise
Nunes - Quodlibet
Ohana - Chiffres
Petrassi - Poema
Quinet - Variations
Riehm - Die Tränen des Gletschers
Sciarrino - Berceuse
Tippett - Rose Lake
Ustvolskaya - Symphony No. 2
Varèse - Arcana
Wyschnegradsky - La journée de l'existence
Xenakis - Jonchaies
Yun - Cello Concerto
Zimmermann - Cello Concerto en forme de 'pas de trois'
Þorvaldsdóttir - Aeriality
Škerjanc - Sinfonietta
Živković - On the Guarding of the Heart
Łukaszewski - Episodes

Not really, but close enough >.>

vandermolen · May 01, 2015, 06:19:20 AM

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 30, 2015, 07:44:54 PM
Nice list, Rinaldo.

+1

Dax · May 01, 2015, 02:26:40 PM

3 pieces I'm delighted to see on amw's list:

Ibert - Symphonie Marine
Wyshnegradsky - La journée de l'existence (posted by Drasko ages ago, if I remember rightly)
Zimmermann - Cello concerto en forme de 'pas de trois'

amw · May 01, 2015, 06:02:13 PM

Quote from: sanantonio on May 01, 2015, 04:26:08 AM
Pardon my obsessive need to make this observation: The Cage work is "101"

I don't know 101. I guess I should.

103 is the 'soundtrack' to One¹¹

https://www.youtube.com/v/oUG2FNEFNls

vandermolen · May 01, 2015, 11:37:02 PM

Quote from: Dax on May 01, 2015, 02:26:40 PM
3 pieces I'm delighted to see on amw's list:

Ibert - Symphonie Marine
Wyshnegradsky - La journée de l'existence (posted by Drasko ages ago, if I remember rightly)
Zimmermann - Cello concerto en forme de 'pas de trois'

Don't know any of these so must investigate, although I have a feeling that I have the Ibert on a Naxos CD of years ago.

Dax · May 02, 2015, 01:01:00 AM

Here's the Wyschnegradsky (Vishnegradsky) in the version posted by Drasko back in 2009: I seem to remember finding this much more impressive than the version currently available on youtube. The narration's in Russian - the youtube version's in French.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/w2bvr1

original post at http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,8471.msg267811.html#msg267811

I wouldn't have thought that Bernd Alois Zimmermann's 'pas de trois' cello concerto (Siegfried Palm performance recommended) would be your cup of tea (apologies if I've misjudged you!) but perhaps Les Soupers du Roi Ubu (a collage piece) might.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPde80v-af0

vandermolen · May 02, 2015, 05:44:06 AM

Quote from: Dax on May 02, 2015, 01:01:00 AM
Here's the Wyschnegradsky (Vishnegradsky) in the version posted by Drasko back in 2009: I seem to remember finding this much more impressive than the version currently available on youtube. The narration's in Russian - the youtube version's in French.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/w2bvr1

original post at http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,8471.msg267811.html#msg267811

I wouldn't have thought that Bernd Alois Zimmermann's 'pas de trois' cello concerto (Siegfried Palm performance recommended) would be your cup of tea (apologies if I've misjudged you!) but perhaps Les Soupers du Roi Ubu (a collage piece) might.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPde80v-af0

Thanks so much - very kind of you. I'll try to download and listen. No, I suspect that you've judged my musical tastes quite correctly, although I am getting into Norgard

vandermolen · May 02, 2015, 06:03:31 AM

Les Soupers du Roi Ubu was a hoot! I very much enjoyed it - a kind of mad variations on Dies Ire, Wagner etc.

NJ Joe · May 02, 2015, 06:19:04 AM

Quote from: Mirror Image on April 29, 2015, 08:38:53 PM
Okay, after some thoughtful consideration, here's my list (in on particular order):

Delius: Song of the High Hills
RVW: Symphony No. 5
Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the left-hand
Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks
Koechlin: Le livre de la jungle (I consider this work to be one piece even though it's a collection of symphonic poems, but I may be cheating here)
Britten: Diversions
Tippett: Double Concerto
Elgar: Symphony No. 2
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8
Honegger: Symphony No. 3 'Symphonie Liturgique'
Part: Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten
Schnittke: Cello Concerto No. 1
Pettersson: Symphony No. 7
Respighi: Church Windows
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4
Barber: Violin Concerto
Berg: Violin Concerto
Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra
Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
Diamond: Symphony No. 4
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
Sculthorpe: Memento mori
Messiaen: L'ascension
Copland: Clarinet Concerto
W. Schuman: Symphony No. 3
Villa-Lobos: Genesis
Feldman: Rothko Chapel
Martin: Cello Concerto
Milhaud: Symphony No. 6

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Man, I forgot Sibelius' 4th. Oh well, I'm still happy with this list. I can't include everything.

Edit: I cut Hartmann to include Sibelius' 4th. Now, I'm really happy.

No Daphnis and Chloe??

Mirror Image · May 02, 2015, 06:22:11 AM

Quote from: NJ Joe on May 02, 2015, 06:19:04 AM
No Daphnis and Chloe??

I would have loved to include it but since I set a limit of 30, and I also wanted to have one composer per work, I chose Piano Concerto for the left-hand because it's quite simply a magnificent work (not that Daphnis isn't of course) and I've really come under it's spell these last couple of years.