Modern Music Recordings Recommendations

[Mark G. Simon]

When it comes to classical music, I admit that my knowledge of works written from about 1955 onwards starts to get very patchy indeed. More so, my listening experiences with works from that year to the present one. So I'm starting this thread as means for we beginners in this huge area of 'modern' or 'contemporary' music to receive guidance from those here who are 'in the know'.

What works would someone who loves 20th century British chamber music, for example, be best advised to sample? Where would a lover of Schumann, Brahms or Dvorak turn for something symphonic and scintillating from the last half of the last century? And so on ...

Looking forward to getting some great recommendations that will broaden my mind as much as my record collection.

Thanks in advance.

Mark's initial post says nothing about particular styles. He just wants to know what's been written since 1955 that's worth investigating.

[gomro]

When it comes to classical music, I admit that my knowledge of works written from about 1955 onwards starts to get very patchy indeed. More so, my listening experiences with works from that year to the present one. So I'm starting this thread as means for we beginners in this huge area of 'modern' or 'contemporary' music to receive guidance from those here who are 'in the know'.

What works would someone who loves 20th century British chamber music, for example, be best advised to sample? Where would a lover of Schumann, Brahms or Dvorak turn for something symphonic and scintillating from the last half of the last century? And so on ...

Looking forward to getting some great recommendations that will broaden my mind as much as my record collection.

Thanks in advance.

here are some things I've been playing quite a bit recently:

Luigi Dallapiccola - Variationi per Orchestra. An 1954 orchestration of his 1952 piano piece Quaderni Musicali di Anna Libera; it's absolutely beautiful. Yah, it predates your request just a tad, but I'll bet you're not familiar with it regardless! Dallapiccola brought the Italian lyric style and the twelve-tone method together in an amazing way.

Yasushi Akutagawa - Ellora Symphony.  1958 composition written by a student of Ifukube, who was influenced by Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and of course Ifukube himself.  Very violent and powerful music, depicting the  cave art in the Ellora cavern temples.

George Perle - Sinfonietta II.  Quite recondite compositional methods trying to reconcile tonality and twelve-tone theory, but Perle's sense of good humor shines through, creating a music that sounds amazingly like the sort of thing Carl Stalling composed for the famous Warner Bros. Cartoons, minus the Raymond Scott quotes. Quite enjoyable.

Takashi Yoshimatsu - Symphony #4. If Hovhaness was Japanese, he would have been Yoshimatsu.  Some find his music a mish-mosh, but I quite enjoy the goulash of minimalism, jazz, progressive rock, Romanticism, etc. that Yoshimatsu cooks up. Just don't expect symphonic structure; these "symphonies" should rather be called "tone poems."

Roberto Gerhard - Symphony #3 "Collages".  I prefer it to Varese's "Deserts", though it definitely comes from the same camp: atonal orchestral music with electronic sounds on tape. Gerhard began with a sort of Bartoky style, but as he went on, he became more and more enamoured of Schoenberg's methods.

Charles Wuorinen - The Mission of Virgil. AS far as I know, only the two-piano version of this massive piece (part one in the Dante Trilogy) has been recorded; one misses Wuorinen's skilled orchestration, but the work itself is still riveting. Even more than Perle, Wuorinen has a way of making enjoyable, accessible music without "selling out" in any way.

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Freude.  One of his last pieces, this work for 2 harps (and 2 singing harpists) is really incredible.  The restricted timbre is never a problem; the piece is composed in 24 brief "moments" and recognizable motifs recur in new forms throughout.  It holds the attention, delights the ear -- definitely an "intro to Stockhausen" piece.

[Franco]

MILTON BABBITT
List of compositions

JOHN CAGE
List of compositions

KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN
List of compositions

PIERRE BOULEZ
List of compositions

CHARLES WUORINEN
List of compositions

ELLIOTT CARTER
List of compositions

[stingo]

In going through my discs I've noticed a pretty glaring hole in terms of music written in the last 50 years or so. Would anyone care to help me fill in that gap? If it's not too much trouble, please note why you're recommending it/what you hear in the piece. Thanks for the help.

[PaulSC]

I have recommendations to make mainly in the realm of chamber music and solo works. Would that be of interest, or are mainly seeking orchestral recommendations (of which I have a few, too)?

[stingo]

I have recommendations to make mainly in the realm of chamber music and solo works. Would that be of interest, or are mainly seeking orchestral recommendations (of which I have a few, too)?

Any and all are welcome. I'd be glad for chamber/solo works actually because I love chamber music.

[bhodges]

Just last night I heard Hans Abrahamsen's Schnee (2006) for chamber ensemble, after hearing the recording of it a few weeks ago--great piece, mostly on the quiet side, that is intended to evoke snow in all its forms. The percussionist makes prominent use of rustling paper, to make some memorable sounds. It's about an hour long, in a style sometimes referred to as "new simplicity":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Simplicity

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Other wonderful stuff (without really knowing your taste!):

Ligeti: Piano Etudes (1985-2001) - Probably one of the great bodies of piano literature of the late 20th century. Aimard has a great recording of the first two books, along with some other piano pieces:

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Tristan Murail: Gondwana, Désintégrations, Time and Again - Two years ago the NY Phil played Gondwana (1980), and it was just astonishing--a 15-minute piece with the intent to evoke the massive forces of continents being formed, eons ago. This recording is even better, and I've played it for dozens of friends, all of whom say, "I've never heard anything like this." Murail is one of the prime proponents of "spectralism," which results in works using microtones.

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--Bruce

[DavidRoss]

Very cool, Bruce!  Schnee can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVP1pP2wXR4

Gondwana here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utQAXK15ZGM

And might I suggest

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some of which can be heard here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p4dFccmZhg&feature=related

It's nice to see you posting again, Stingo.  Could you remind us of your musical preferences so we might be able to suggest works more likely to please you?

[bhodges]

Thanks, David. And I forget about YouTube, which is a great way of quickly dipping in to a composer's work, just to see if the "general language" is to your taste.

And thumbs up to that Arvo Pärt CD. He is yet another composer who helps demonstrate the enormous variety of music being written in the last few decades.

--Bruce

[Lethevich]

Edit: scratch that, I didn't realise this classic was OOP.

[PaulSC]

All right, here's three Americans and three Europeans, just to keep myself focused a bit...

Lutoslawski - Livre pour orchestre
A great introduction to Lutoslawski's shimmering surfaces, colorful harmonies, and architectural clarity -- but also in the concluding "chapter" a remarkably intense buildups of melodic strands, nothing else quite like it. (Nonetheless, if this grabs you, it's well worth exploring more of his ouput.)

Dutilleux - Tout un monde lointain
A cello concerto (written for Rostropovich) organized around a short harmonic "motto" that recurs at strategic points.

Birtwistle - Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum; Pulse Shadows
CAMP is a wild ride, constantly jumping between contrasting types of material. Pulse Shadows is a lengthier and often more sober cycle of vocal and instrumental movements incorporating texts by Paul Célan; I consider it Birtwistle's greatest achievement alongside the opera The Mask of Orpheus.

Carter - Clarinet Concerto; Tempo et Tempi (songs); Duo for Violin and Piano; Night Fantasies (solo piano)
There's so much I love by this composer. I've settled on two relatively accessible recent works (a concerto and a song cycle accompanied a quartet of winds and strings) and two of the composer's own professed favorites. But that means I've left out his hugely important cycle of five string quartets, the grand Symphonia and several earlier, thornier orchestral works, and more.

Feldman - Crippled Symmetry; Three Voices
CS is perhaps the finest of the several lengthy pieces Feldman wrote for his SUNY Buffalo colleagues and at any rate a great example of the composer's late style -- a hypnotic fabric woven from delicate, subtly shifting patterns; old ideas drift out, new ones drift in, everything calibrated with great care. Three Voices is a memorial to the poet Frank O'Hara and a meditation on a line of his poetry, for one live and two pre-recorded voices; Feldman's most haunting (haunted?) work.

Davidovsky - Synchronisms 6 (piano/tape) and 9 (violin/tape); String Quartet No. 5, "Dank An Opus 132"
I wish I could say that Davidovsky's entire cycle of Synchronisms -- each of which joins one or more live instruments in a dynamic exchange with sounds fixed on tape -- was essential listening; it's true of all seven I've heard, but sadly several are yet to be recorded. If you like the two I've picked here, by all means seek out the others and join me in anticipating a complete set. (Also, look for music by Davidovsky's former Columbia-Princeton studio colleague Arthur Krieger.) The string quartet is a fine example of Davidovsky's work away from the electronic studio, every bit as colorful and highly charged (although the coonections to Beethoven are obscure in spite of the title).

---

I would also second many of the items suggested upthread. If the Ligeti Etudes for piano appeal to you, you might also enjoy the extensive cycle of Etudes for piano by David Rakowski.

[mjwal]

Scelsi: Anahit   - the most gorgeously mystico-lyrical violin concerto since Szymanowski - microtonal is magical
Peter Maxwell Davies: Revelation and Fall    - the most stunning & harshly minatory post-Schoenbergian monodrama/cantata for female voice and ensemble
Gérard Grisey: Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil  - a song cycle for soprano and ensemble, something like Four Last Songs for the End of Time, uncanny, and spectral in more than one sense
Frederick Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated  - the greatest variation-cycle for piano since Brahms? It's got everything and each performance is different owing to the various improvisational instructions for the performer (I have both Ursula Oppens and Rzewski's own recording)
Gotta go now, dinner is announced, may add some more later as they occur to me...

[stingo]

Thanks for the great recommendations! Please keep them coming. I AM trying to listen to samples (or whole recordings if I can find them on Rhapsody). Schnee is intriguing from the snippets I've heard on itunes, so am contemplating that one. Going to put my earprints on a few more today.

[stingo]

Just wanted to post a quick update. I picked up Schnee and am enjoying it so far. A pretty unique sound world - definitely a palate cleanser from traditional classical music.

[bhodges]

Just wanted to post a quick update. I picked up Schnee and am enjoying it so far. A pretty unique sound world - definitely a palate cleanser from traditional classical music.

It is unique, isn't it! Some of Abrahamsen's effects are really beautiful. And I find the structure (five pairs of canons, each pair shorter than the previous ones) fascinating.

--Bruce

[stingo]

It is unique, isn't it! Some of Abrahamsen's effects are really beautiful. And I find the structure (five pairs of canons, each pair shorter than the previous ones) fascinating.

--Bruce

Indeed. I liked his varied instrumentation a lot, as it kept things interesting. As for structure, very interesting indeed - as I was getting a better understanding of the piece, I liked how he put in the intermezzos to break things up, which were kind of palate cleansers in and of themselves. I know I missed a whole lot (as it was my first listen) but I plan on delving further into the work. Thanks for the recommendation.

[bhodges]

PS, not sure whether the liner notes explain, but in those three intermezzos, the ensemble is "tuning down," i.e., in microtones each time, but very slowly and deliberately. It's as if Abrahamsen has instructed them (and I haven't seen the score) to do so very carefully, ritualistically. Also adds to the slightly disorienting effect.

And PPS, I don't always post links to all of my reviews here, but you might enjoy the write-up of the live Schnee performance, here.

--Bruce

[stingo]

Thanks for the link - I got the itunes version which unfortunately does not have liner notes.

I have to say the effect of listening lingers, to the point where I didn't want to follow up with any other music, which I can only account as being a good thing.

[bhodges]

I have to say the effect of listening lingers, to the point where I didn't want to follow up with any other music, which I can only account as being a good thing.

That is exactly the way I felt after hearing it, as well. It has an odd effect on one's brain (in a good way).

I spoke with the Talea musicians after the performance--after they had been working with Abrahamsen on it for maybe a week--and they were quite enthralled with it, calling it a very special experience. Of course, time will tell, but I do think it's a candidate for "Great Works of the Early 21st Century" (not to get too grandiose here!). Anyway, glad you liked it.

--Bruce

[Mirror Image]

Here are a few composers (with recording recommendations) that have wrote music that was written at least 50 years ago that has impressed me:

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Many of the works herein were written in the 50s, which, in my opinion, was still a revolutionary period in music.