Compositions with purely (or largely) indefinite pitch

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can recommend music to each other which doesn't really have 'melody' as defined by a succession of definite pitches.

Varèse is probably the obvious place to start with his terrific Ionisation.

What are some others? It need not be limited purely to percussion music, electroacoustic music (including musique concrète, tape music etc.) is absolutely welcomed as well.

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Anyone willing to join in?

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Thanks! Just really curious about indefinite pitches, which are of course kinds of pitches as you understand them

[Cato]

Check out the Scherzo to Alexander Tcherepnin's First Symphony: go to the 7:00 mark for the Scherzo.

https://www.youtube.com/v/H_cO8H55CdM


Lou Harrison's efforts:

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

[Mandryka]

Cage, Fraction 2

Penderecki's Anaklasis, towards the end.

Hans Joachim Hespos, Z

Possibly parts of  Gran Torso.

There's a very ancient piece of organ music which Guy Bovet recorded (called "Piece without stops") on one of his CDs on the organ at Valère.

[GioCar]

Steen-Andersen: Double up (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBHhN9vniDc

I really like that piece.
It's lively, exuberant, ironic. It also has a sort of narrative structure imo.
Should be a great experience hearing it in a live performance.

[bhodges]

Steen-Andersen: Double up (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBHhN9vniDc

I really like that piece.
It's lively, exuberant, ironic. It also has a sort of narrative structure imo.
Should be a great experience hearing it in a live performance.

Listening to this now -- wonderful. Have heard some of his work before, mostly chamber pieces, and this just reconfirms that he is one of the most exciting composers around. Thank you!

--Bruce

[GioCar]

Listening to this now -- wonderful. Have heard some of his work before, mostly chamber pieces, and this just reconfirms that he is one of the most exciting composers around. Thank you!

--Bruce

You're welcome 

[Cato]

Check out the Scherzo to Alexander Tcherepnin's First Symphony: go to the 7:00 mark for the Scherzo.

https://www.youtube.com/v/H_cO8H55CdM


Lou Harrison's efforts:

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

Just noticed the error in the entry above: here is the Scherzo of the First Symphony by Alexander Tcherepnin at the 7:00 mark

[nathanb]

Meh, pitches are frequencies, and frequencies are sounds. I hear Mozart, Lachenmann, Ferrari, Yoshihide and my wind shield wipers as pitched sounds.

I know what you mean though. But if you mean what I think you mean, I am not sure why anyone would post Steen-Andersen's "Double Up" or Lou Harrison's concerto here, so maybe I don't know what you mean?

[bhodges]

Perhaps a reference to musique concrète?

--Bruce

[Cato]

Meh, pitches are frequencies, and frequencies are sounds. I hear Mozart, Lachenmann, Ferrari, Yoshihide and my wind shield wipers as pitched sounds.

I know what you mean though. But if you mean what I think you mean, I am not sure why anyone would post Steen-Andersen's "Double Up" or Lou Harrison's concerto here, so maybe I don't know what you mean?

Here is what Jessop intended:

I thought it might be nice to have a thread where we can recommend music to each other which doesn't really have 'melody' as defined by a succession of definite pitches.

Varèse is probably the obvious place to start with his terrific Ionisation.

What are some others? It need not be limited purely to percussion music, electroacoustic music (including musique concrète, tape music etc.) is absolutely welcomed as well.

[Monsieur Croche]

The question of determinate or indeterminate I leave up to the listener...

https://www.youtube.com/v/FOWaKXeaPO8

Fun.  Even more fun because it involved running around in the snow 


Best regards.

[aleazk]

What about this one?

Third Construction - John Cage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-5xIJJgzmo

[Monsieur Croche]

Steen-Andersen: Double up (2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBHhN9vniDc

I really like that piece.
It's lively, exuberant, ironic. It also has a sort of narrative structure imo.
Should be a great experience hearing it in a live performance.

Listening to this now -- wonderful. Have heard some of his work before, mostly chamber pieces, and this just reconfirms that he is one of the most exciting composers around. Thank you!
--Bruce

This composer seems to have a formidable technique, i.e. fluid grasp of getting his aesthetic and the same kind of sound from pitched instruments as set in traditional pitch notation (amplification being the only 'electronic' element in the below piece.)

https://www.youtube.com/v/jnonO8ekh_s

In this chamber piece where only a few distinct diatonic 'tuned' pitches stick out, either coming across as a bit of pathos or humor, depending upon the listener's temperament or mood [too, presented as dramatically isolated events placed directly in the spotlight via the cessation of all other activity when they do sound], the overall manner of writing so obfuscates listener perception of determinate chromatic pitch that a more literal or purist argument categorizing it as determinate pitch doesn't have much strength.  Illusion or actual, if the listener hears little or no chromatic and tuned pitch, then it necessarily falls into this other family of indeterminate pitch.

[Monsieur Croche]

What about this one?

Third Construction - John Cage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-5xIJJgzmo

This is an exceptionally fine performance of this piece, which is imo, a really nice piece :-)


Best regards.

[Monsieur Croche]

Well, there would be a lot of percussion pieces falling within the parameter of the OP....

Another rather nice one, maybe even to listen to because it is (Gasp / Harumph!) relaxing. 

Robert Moran: Rocky Road to Kansas (1995)

https://www.youtube.com/v/_ZwnT33BM0s

[aleazk]

I love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0JhdwS_tFQ

(Some Guy is probably there in the audience :-) )

[aleazk]

Iancu Dumitrescu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_zB0UJDFy8

[(poco) Sforzando]

The opening number to Meredith Willson's "The Music Man." Start at about :45 below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ9U4Cbb4wg