Favorite 20th/21st century pieces that aren't symphonies

[some guy]

Or any other 16th/17th/18th/19th century form.

Although the symphony did survive well into the twentieth century, with some real stunners, too, symphonic music was only one aspect of an increasingly various outpouring of creativity.

Ashley, In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women
Bokanowski, L'etoile absinthe
Cage, Credo in US
Dumitrescu, New Meteors and Pulsars
Ferrari, Society II, and if the piano were a female body
Galas, Wild Women with Steak Knives
Hodgkinson, Black Death and Errors in Construction
Justel, Gwerz
Karkowski, Whint
López, Untitled #180
Marchetti, De Musicorum Infelicitate
Nelson, Objet Sonore/Objet Cinétique
Oliveros, I of IV
Partch, Daphne of the Dunes
Radigue, Biogenesis
Shields, Coyote
Tone, Solo for Wounded CD
Varèse, Poème électronique
Yoshihide, Solo for turntable
Zielińska, Nobody is Perfect

[Sergeant Rock]

Ruggles Sun-Treader
Ives Three Places in New England
Karl Henning Thoreau in Concord Jail
Schoenberg Five Pieces for Orchestra Op. 16
Elena Kats-Chernin Wild Swans
Satie Trois morceaux en forme de poire
Vaughan Williams Toward the Unknown Region
Varèse Amériques
Boulez Répons
Hindemith Konzertmusik for Brass and String Orchestra
Dutilleux Cinq Métaboles

[Karl Henning]

Ruggles Sun-Treader
Ives Three Places in New England
Karl Henning Thoreau in Concord Jail
Schoenberg Five Pieces for Orchestra Op. 16
Elena Kats-Chernin Wild Swans
Satie Trois morceaux en forme de poire
Vaughan Williams Toward the Unknown Region
Varèse Amériques
Boulez Répons
Hindemith Konzertmusik for Brass and String Orchestra
Dutilleux Cinq Métaboles

I am honored, sir!

[André]

Varèse: Amériques
Ives: Orchestral Set no 2
Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
Rehnqvist: Arktis! Arktis!
Carter: Three Occasions for Orchestra
Lindberg: Kraft, Aura (2 different works)
Ruders: Solar Trilogy

[Christo]

Oops, amended in order to exclude these other classical forms:

1918 Rued Langgaard, Sfærernes Musik
1927 Ottorino Respighi, Lauda per la nativitá del signore
1932 Gabriel Pierné, Divertissement sur un thème pastoral
1936 Nikos Skalkottas, Thirty-six Greek Dances
1936 Colin McPhee, Tabuh-tabuhan
1936 Béla Bartók, Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
1938 Alan Rawsthorne: Symphonic Studies
1941 Jesús Guridi, Diez melodias vascas
1942 Samuel Barber, Second Essay for orchestra
1955 Ralph Vaughan Williams, Three Portraits from the England of Elizabeth
1958 Bohuslav Martinů, Podobenství (The Parables)
1975 Geirr Tveitt, A Hundred Folk Melodies from Hardanger
1991 Arvo Pärt, Silouans Song
2011 John Kinsella, Elegy for Strings

[Biffo]

Or any other 16th/17th/18th/19th century form. - This excludes a lot of 20th century orchestral works. A fairly high proportion of the choices listed so far are tone poems, orchestral suites, theme & variations etc. Some have fancy names but they fall into one of those categories.

Some composers tried to escape the tyranny of the old forms - especially sonata form - but it is still lurking there in the background. Of the composers I know from the ones mentioned so far Varese stands out as being truly original.

I will have to content myself with a few works that are sufficiently different from the old forms or treat them in a radical new way.


Varese - Ameriques
Janacek - Glagolitic Mass - the mass is possibly the oldest form of all but Janacek is radical in his treatment of it
Berg: Violin Concerto
Debussy: Images for orchestra - we have discussed the more radical Jeux elsewhere and I don't like it
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnol - or possibly his 'orchestral issue without music' Bolero

I am sure others will come to mind eventually

[Christo]

Hope to learn soon which "traditional forms" are acceptable and which are not. E.g. a "suite" called "seven pieces" like The Planets? Or the three "symphonic sketches" of La Mer? And what about a "fantasia", an "essay", "pictures" or a "divertissement"? 

Anyhow, whatever the newishness, these four (a mass, a concerto, a typical suite and a rhapsody) represent rather traditional forms IMHO:

Janacek - Glagolitic Mass
Berg: Violin Concerto
Debussy: Images for orchestra
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnol

I am sure others will come to mind eventually

[André]

I took the heading (20th/21st century) to imply modern-sounding works in "free form", excluding purely tonal and late-romantic stuff.

[vandermolen]

Ok I've deleted my list as most of them were tone poems.
Perhaps I'll try again later!
 

[Christo]

I took the heading (20th/21st century) to imply modern-sounding works in "free form", excluding purely tonal and late-romantic stuff.

My wild guess would be that over 80 percent of music from the 20th, and over 90 percent of music from this century, has been tonal. Tonality cannot be the issue then, but only form? 

[André]

My wild guess would be that over 80 percent of music from the 20th, and over 90 percent of music from this century, has been tonal. Tonality cannot be the issue then, but only form? 

No argument from me, I interpreted the intent of the thread in my own way 

[SymphonicAddict]

Penderecki - Fluorescences
Lutoslawski - Mi-Parti or Livre
Ligeti - Lontano
Vasks - Credo
Xenakis - Jonchaies
Lason - Cathedral
Kilar - Requiem Father Kolbe
Takemitsu - A string around autumn
Pärt - Tabula rasa
Borisova-Ollas - The Kingdom of Silence

[some guy]

My wild guess would be that over 80 percent of music from the 20th, and over 90 percent of music from this century, has been tonal. Tonality cannot be the issue then, but only form? 

Well, it's certainly a guess. And it is most assuredly wild.

My attempt was not to imply anything one way or another about tonality* but to see how much traction those pieces (which, if I were to wildly guess, constitute more than 10 or 20%) would get that don't attempt to perpetuate earlier forms. Not necessarily free form, which I'm not sure is even a thing, but pieces that constitute their own form. Of course, there are several noteworthy pieces called "symphonies" which are radical departures from 18th or 19th century practice, such as Webern's and Zimmermann's and Dhomont's and Z'ev's. But those kinds of pieces get lost in threads for favorite 20th and 21st century symphonies, simply because the ones that are known well enough to be favorites also are ones that are fairly clearly working inside of a tradition.

So yeah, that means--for this thread--that none of the traditional forms are acceptable. Which is not to say that traditional forms are unacceptable, but if a thread asks for favorite symphonies, say, then piano quartets and string trios are unacceptable, for that thread. Simple as that.

And most of the offerings so far, aside from some items on Vandermolen's deleted list (and yeah, do make another one!), have not relied too heavily on traditional forms. so that's been fine.

*It seems a bit odd to me that tonality even comes up in this context. In most of the music of the past hundred years that I listen to, it is simply not an issue, either as itself or in any of the so-called attempts to avoid it, variously called dodecaphony (or twelve-tone), atonality, or serialism. But since it has come up, yes, none of the pieces I offered are tonal. But neither do they rely on any system for managing pitches. I suppose one could say that I wasn't trying to avoid tonal pieces, per se, but all pitch-centric music. Those musics get plenty and enough consideration on dozens and dozens of other threads. And even I didn't quite manage to avoid pitch-centric pieces. Three or four items on my list rely on pitch relations.

[kyjo]

Off the top of my head (all orchestral except for the Puts):

del Aguila: Conga
Barber: Second Essay
Clyne: Night Ferry
Connesson: Flammenschrift
Escher: Musique pour l'esprit en deuil
von Koch: Impulsi Trilogy
Liebermann, R.: Furioso
Macmillan: Larghetto (I heard it live, there's no recording available yet as far as I'm aware)
Pärt: Fratres
Puts: Lento assai for string quartet

[arpeggio]

Hay Some Guy.  How's it going.  You know my list would be huge.

Just the band works would be:

Gustav Holst Suites for Military Band
Vaughn Williams Folk Song Suite
Vaughn William Toccata Marziale
Percy Granger Lincolnshire Posey
Percy Granger Children's March
William Schuman George Washington Bridge
William Schuman Chester Overture
Vincent Persichetti Divertimento for Band
Vincent Persichetti Psalm for Band
Vincent Persichetti Pageant for Band
Vincent Persichetti Parable for Band
Vincent Persichetti Masquerade Variations
Arnold Schoenberg Theme and Variations
Walter Piston Tunbridge Fair
Norman Dello Joio Variants on a Medieval Tune
Donald Grantham Fantasy Variations
Karol Husa Prague 1968
Gustav Holst Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo
Morton Gould Jericho
Frank Ticheli Blue Shades
Darius Milhaud Suite Francaise
David Gillingham Concertino for Percussion and Band
Mark Camphouse Watchman Tell Us Of The Night
Eric Whitacre Ghost Train Trilogy (Composed it when he was an undergraduate at the University of Nevada Las Vegas)
Peter Mennin Canzona for Band
Phillip Sparke Dance Movements
Frank Ticheli Postcards
David Gillingham Cantus Laetus
Ron Nelson Passacaglia
Robert Russell Suite of Old American Dances
Robert Russell Symphonic Songs for Band

I am going to have to stop here.  My fingers are getting tired.

   

[some guy]

Hi arpeggio. Things are going fine.

I was just listening to some of these items on your list recently. Recently meaning yesterday and the day before.

And reminded that the band I was in in high school played all of the Lincolnshire Posy. I had remembered us as only playing the first movement.

[Karl Henning]

I still get chills (the good variety), remembering when we played Mennin's Canzona in a junior high Region Band.

[arpeggio]

Attack of the band junkie part 2:

Vaclav Nelhybel: Symphonic Movement
Vaclav Nelhybel: Trittico
Leslie Babbitt: Sounds, Shapes and Symbols
Michael Daugherty: Niagara Falls 
Nigel Clark: Samurai
David Maslanka: A Child Gardens of Dreams
Florent Schmidt: Dionysiques
Cindy McTee: California Twittering Machine
Carolyn Bremer: Early Light
Nikos Skallakotas: Greek Dances (The original scoring for Greek Military Band by Skallakotas.  Only recording of this that I know of is on the Chandos Label.  There is an edition for American Band by Gunther Schuller)
Morton Gould: Santa Fe Saga
Clifton Williams: Fanfare and Allegro
Clifton Williams: Symphonic Suite
Clifton Williams: Symphonic Dance #3, Fiesta
Alfred Reed: Russian Christmas Music
Alfred Reed: Armenian Dances
John Barnes Chance: Incantation and Dance
Bernard Rogers: Three Japanese Dances
Howard Hanson: Chorale and Alleluia
Gunther Schuller: Diptych for Brass Quintet and Band
Roger Cichy: Galilean Moons
Michael Colgrass: Winds of Nagul
William Bergsma: March with Trumpets
John Corigliano: Gazebo Dances
Michael Daugherty: Bells for Stokowski
Sergei Prokofiev: March Op. 99
Roger Nixon: Fiesta del Pacifico

My fingers are getting tired again.

[pjme]

I still get chills (the good variety), remembering when we played Mennin's Canzona in a junior high Region Band.

Thanks Karl and Arpeggio for pointing out this Canzona. I listened to the Austin Symphonic Band on YT. Will listen to more Mennin today.
https://youtu.be/qyCCbOqUPFY

[some guy]

This is the kind of thing I like best, people listening to pieces mentioned in threads, and even going on to listen to more music by the same composers.