Favourite decade of the 20th Century

[Maestro267]

In terms of the works which appeared therein, which is your favourite decade of the 20th Century?

[Sergeant Rock]

ARRRGGGHHHH!!!...I hit the wrong button. Should have been 1900s, the decade that saw the composition of Mahler's Symphonies 4-9 plus Das Lied, Rückert and Kindertotenlieder. Other notable compositions: Ives 1 & 2, Schmidt 1.

Sarge

[Spineur]

Wars were not good for musicians and composers: some were killed other became silent (Elgar & WWI).  There are a few exception (Shostakovich Leningrad symphony), but I would exclude the 1910&1940 on that basis.
The 1900 is at the confuent of 19 (Mahler, Puccini) & 20th century composers (Schoenberg, Debussy,...) and is also my choice as the change in musical concepts are most interesting even today.

[Jay F]

ARRRGGGHHHH!!!...I hit the wrong button. Should have been 1900s, the decade that saw the composition of Mahler's Symphonies 4-9 plus Das Lied, Rückert and Kindertotenlieder. Other notable compositions: Ives 1 & 2, Schmidt 1.

Sarge

Gotcha on the Mahler, Sarge.

[North Star]

Very easy: 1920s. Looking at the list of composers who wrote some of their best works in that decade (Janáček, Ravel, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartók, Schönberg, Berg, Nielsen, Fauré, Martinů, Villa-Lobos, Szymanowski, Hindemith, Vaughan Williams, Poulenc, Varèse, Ysaÿe, Rakhmaninov [Three Russian Songs, PC4], Enescu VS3, Gershwin), pretty much all of my favourite composers after Brahms are covered.

[NikF]

Very easy: 1920s. Looking at the list of composers who wrote some of their best works in that decade (Janáček, Ravel, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartók, Schönberg, Berg, Nielsen, Fauré, Martinů, Villa-Lobos, Szymanowski, Hindemith, Vaughan Williams, Poulenc, Varèse, Ysaÿe, Rakhmaninov [Three Russian Songs, PC4], Enescu VS3, Gershwin), pretty much all of my favourite composers after Brahms are covered.

I believe you've made an incredibly strong case for the 1920s. 

[Karl Henning]

My favorite decade of the XX century is whichever I'm listening to at the time 

[Karl Henning]

My favorite decade of the XX century is whichever I'm listening to at the time 

That said:

Very easy: 1920s. Looking at the list of composers who wrote some of their best works in that decade (Janáček, Ravel, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartók, Schönberg, Berg, Nielsen, Fauré, Martinů, Villa-Lobos, Szymanowski, Hindemith, Vaughan Williams, Poulenc, Varèse, Ysaÿe, Rakhmaninov [Three Russian Songs, PC4], Enescu VS3, Gershwin), pretty much all of my favourite composers after Brahms are covered.

I believe you've made an incredibly strong case for the 1920s. 

Agreed  0:)

[North Star]

I believe you've made an incredibly strong case for the 1920s. 

That said:

Agreed  0:)

Thanks. And I still forgot to mention Webern. . .

[jochanaan]

Very easy: 1920s. Looking at the list of composers who wrote some of their best works in that decade (Janáček, Ravel, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartók, Schönberg, Berg, Nielsen, Fauré, Martinů, Villa-Lobos, Szymanowski, Hindemith, Vaughan Williams, Poulenc, Varèse, Ysaÿe, Rakhmaninov [Three Russian Songs, PC4], Enescu VS3, Gershwin), pretty much all of my favourite composers after Brahms are covered.

+1

And yet a number of great pieces came out of the 1940s: Bartok's last works including the Concerto for Orchestra, Piano Concerto #3 and Viola Concerto; Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances; Shostakovich's Symphonies 7,8,9, and Violin Concerto; Hindemith's Symphony in Eb (one of the greatest 20th-century symphonies you never hear) and Symphonic Metamorphoses; Lutoslawski's Paganini Variations; and probably many more that I cannot think of right now.

[Todd]

Wozzeck was written in the 20s.  Therefore, the 20s.

[Mirror Image]

The 1910s for me (I could have easily went with the 20s), but here's a few selling points to the '10s for me:

Stravinsky - The Firebird, Petrouchka, Le sacre du printemps

Schoenberg - Five Pieces for Orchestra

Berg - Three Pieces for Orchestra

Webern - Five & Six Pieces for Orchestra

Debussy - Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp, Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata, Jeux

Ravel - Piano Trio, Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, Daphnis et Chloé, Ma mère l'Oye (either piano duo or orchestrated versions), Le tombeau de Couperin

Bartók - Bluebeard's Castle, The Miraculous Mandarin, The Wooden Prince (three bona fide masterpieces IMHO)

Nielsen - Symphony No. 3 "Sinfonia espansiva", Symphony No. 4, "The Inextinguishable", Violin Concerto, Aladdin, Pan and Syrinx

Sibelius - Symphony No. 4, Symphony No. 5, The Oceanides, Luonnotar, Rakastava

Elgar - Symphony No. 2, The Music Makers, Sospiri, The Spirit of England, Violin Sonata, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto

Okay...I think I've made my case.

[Maestro267]

I'm curious as to who voted for the 80s, and what works convinced them to vote that way.

[some guy]

Well, it might have been the 1987 Chiaroscuro or the 1989 (original version) of Chroniques de la lumière or the 1981 Sous le regard d'un soleil noir, three really smashing pieces by Francis Dhomont.

Or it might have been Royanji from 1983 or ASLSP from 1985 (or Organ2/ASLSP, from 1987) or Europeras 1 & 2 from 1987 or Five Stone Wind from 1988, five really smashing pieces by John Cage.

It could easily have been for some of the Licht operas of Stockhausen, though those include a bit of the seventies and all of the nineties and a bit of the 00s as well.

Why, it could have been for Tanzsuite mit Deutschland Lied, started in 1979 but not finished until the next year. Or for Harmonica from 1983. Or possibly Mouvement or Ausklang or Staub or Allegro Sostenuto, all really fine pieces by Helmut Lachenmann.

No lack of music from the 80s.

Petit Poucet Magazine and Souffle d'un petit Dieu distrait, by Beatriz Ferreyra, are both from the 80's, as are Parmegiani's La Création Du Monde and Luc Ferrari's Stratoven and Presque rien avec filles and five albums by Otomo Yoshihide and numerous albums by Christian Marclay.

There was stuff by Nono and Lutosławski and Carter and Ferneyhough. There was stuff by Boulez and Xenakis and Schnittke. There was stuff by Gubuidulina and Denisov and Ligeti and Berio and Schnittke. There was stuff by Kancheli and Terterian. (Those two stunning late symphonies of his, 7 and 8, are both from the 1980s.) There was stuff by Dutilleux and Dumitrescu and Kurtag. There was stuff by Sciarrino and Rihm and Murail.

There was stuff by Oliveros and Shields and Bokanowski.

The question--and this goes for any decade of the twentieth century--is not so much why anyone would vote for the 1980s but why would anyone not?

[Dax]

The 1910s for me (I could have easily went with the 20s), but here's a few selling points to the '10s for me:

Stravinsky - Petrouchka, Le sacre du printemps

Webern - Five & Six Pieces for Orchestra

Debussy - Jeux

Ravel - Trois poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé, Daphnis et Chloé

Agreed, but apart from your examples I've quoted, I'd mention more of those considered outside the mainstream including

Szymanowski - 3rd Symphony + 1st violin concerto

Vermeulen - 2nd symphony

Medtner - Piano sonata op 25 no 2 "The Night Wind"

Scriabin - 7th sonata

Prokofiev - 2nd piano concerto

Holst - The Planets

Langgaard - Music of the Spheres

van Dieren - 1st string quartet

Grainger - In a Nutshell

(Lili) Boulanger - Du fond de l'abime

Ives - er, quite a lot really


Also it's a good decade for the briefer "exceptions" such as

Schoenberg - Herzgewächse

Stravinsky - Zvesdoliki (The King of the Stars)

Prokofiev - Seven they are seven

Szymanowski - Demeter

Scriabin - Vers la flamme and Etudes op. 65

Ives - Tone Roads no.3

Busoni - Nocturne Symphonique

Grainger - Random Round (original version)

(There, you got me started . . . )

[Scion7]

I chose the 20's, but so much exciting things were going on from 1900-1940's - as Sarge said, Mahler writing his greatest works took place early in the century, people like Shostakovich writing his 7th and 8th symphonies during the war ... many late-late Romantics doing their thing all during this period, from America to England to Germany & Scandinavia and eastern Europe.

[amw]

1960s: obviously Boulez, Stockhausen, Nono, Henze, Maderna, Berio, Ligeti, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Feldman, Cage, Cardew, Oliveros, Carter, Young, Ferrari, Xenakis, Kagel, Brown, Grisey, Messiaen, Jolivet, Koenig, Malec, Dhomont, Ferneyhough, Lachenmann and many others.

But more importantly the way the spirit of originality and experimentation that had defined the 1950s continued to make its mark with new movements being formed (e.g. spectralism, musique concrète instrumentale, sound art) whilst developing a very high level of refinement in the inventions that had already been created (e.g. serialism, musique concrète/elektronisches Musik, minimalism, and whatever). There was a spirit of hope and a belief that music was still a vital force, culturally and psychologically. Though most of the composers who came of age in the 50s and 60s continued to write music for much longer—and a lot of it was better music, too—that spirit and belief was crushed by the early 70s, and in the many high-quality composers who came of age after that, a prevailing pessimism had set in, and fewer risks are taken. The 1960s are thus important as much as a cultural benchmark as for the quality of their music (which is nonetheless high enough to make them an obvious choice for me either way).

[James]

I have major faves from all or most of these periods .. so there not one decade here above others.

[Madiel]

Yikes. What an interesting question, and a tricky one.

I'm going to go with the 1900s because I can get some great Sibelius, my preferred Debussy piano works along with the even better Ravel, a dash of some of my favourite Faure (yes, people, 20th century Faure!)... and the birth of Holmboe. 

It's a bit early for my favourite Rachmaninov, and there's a surprising cluster of some of my favourite piano + orchestra works around 1930, but oh well.

[jochanaan]

My favorite decade of the XX century is whichever I'm listening to at the time 

Karl, you nailed it to the wall!