Howdy

[Halcyone]

I absolutely cannot get enough of anything composed between about 1890 and 1932. I don't know what was in the water or in the air, but generally anything from Satie's first works to the death of Ravel is gold to my ears... strangely, it doesn't matter if it's "impressionistic," freely atonal, late romantic, or whatever (i.e. Ives)... even if I don't know when something I'm listening to was composed, if it pricks my ears up, I usually find out it was composed within that time. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who believes in some kind of insurmountable golden age of music.

In any case, my favorite composers, in order (at the moment), would be the following: Ravel, early Stravinsky, Rautavaara, Debussy, Satie, Purcell, R. Strauss, M. Feldman, Brahms, Ives, Bartók, Harry Partch, Ligeti, Xenakis, and Webern.

I'd also like to say that I love the musical philosophies John Cage and John Oswald, even if their music is only sometimes genius.

As you might've noticed, there's a big chunk missing in the middle there. I really liked the romantics when I was first getting into classical music, but now not so much. Since I've been told on several separate occasions that I'll only 'get' Wagner once I'm in my 40s/50s, I suppose I won't push it.

Composers I'd really like some help getting into (piece/recording recommendations?): LUC FERRARI (oh help!), Stockhausen, Beethoven and Haydn (I know, it sounds ridiculous to even ask, but with composers like him and Haydn, where there's just so much, I tend to freeze up, as if they would be sitting behind me and judging me if I didn't immediately grasp it. I grew up with a lot of both, too, and the home situation wasn't the best, so maybe there's some of that in there!), and Sibelius (I know you're reading this, Corey!).

Composers I would like to get YOU into!:
Harry Partch - I have just about every recording by this lovable nut. Since they're almost all out of print, I don't feel bad about distributing them. Let me know if you'd like to get into him [and trust me, you do: http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html], and I will hook you up with a fantastic recording of what I consider to be his masterpiece, The Wayward, which is about his actual experience as a bum hopping trains from San Francisco to Chicago. You didn't think microtonal music could be this catchy, but I guarantee that in less than half a week, you, too, will be singing "I got a letter and the letter it said..." in the shower.

Paul Tobin - Recently deceased. I knew him through the gamelan ensemble as an extremely private person. It turned out that our weekly rehearsals were probably the only contact he had with anyone in the world. We had performed a few of his pieces, but upon his death it turned out that he had a wealth of amazingly rich compositions he had meticulously scored and recorded, but had apparently made no efforts to release. I would liken them to a very dark Debussy, or slowed-down variations on Ravel's Scarbo. It's much more than these poor comparisons convey, certainly, and you should really listen to a few of them yourself, here: http://chicagogamelan.org/memoriam/ Also, here is my favorite of his gamelan compositions (I play in this one): http://www.mediafire.com/?3d5ouv9tk13

Well, there's a tall order. I suppose you can take your pick of judging/affirming/critiquing my tastes, helping me with good recommendations, and telling me what you think of Tobin and Partch.

Oh yeah, and about me: I was going to be a composer, and then I realized that that's not the route I want to take. I make music for myself, not for other people, and I'm too far behind, technically, to(/not interested in) play the game of courting benefactors. So instead I'm studying my other big passion, evolutionary biology. "As way leads on to way," I've realized that what I'd really like to study within that realm is bioacoustics, or animal communication. I'm working with dolphins here in Chicago (I'm at the University of Chicago), but I might end up working on rats, bats, killer whales, or Indris (a lemur with an amazingly beautiful call), depending on which PhD program accepts me (hopefully somewhere in the Bay Area... keep me in your prayers for that).

I suppose that's all for now. I just had another idea of something to talk about, but I think I'll make another post for that 'un...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Welcome, Halcyone! That's quite an encyclopaedic self-introduction. I am busy assimilating all that info! In the meantime, enjoy yourself here!

[bhodges]

Hi Halcyone, and welcome.  I'm a big fan of that time period, too (and slightly later: the music of the 1930s and 1940s).  And Partch is wonderful.  You may be familiar with Dean Drummond, director of Newband, who is the current steward of the Harry Partch Instrumentarium, now housed at Montclair State University in New Jersey.  Drummond maintains the collection and performs on them now and then (although not frequently, given the cost of transporting them and repairing them, when needed).  But you might keep an eye on their website to try to catch them live sometime. 

Have not heard Tobin's work but I do like gamelan music, so thanks for that introduction.  Anyway, enjoy yourself here. 

--Bruce

[Hollywood]

Greetings from Austria, Halcyone. Welcome aboard. 

[knight66]

A warm welcome. You have plenty of enthusiasms there which are reflected across the Board.

Mike

[david johnson]

hi! 

dj

[DavidRoss]

Welcome, Hal--that period from 1890 to 1930ish was a great one IMO, too!  In addition to a number of cool dudes you list from that time, there're also Mahler, Sibelius, Janacek, and Prokofiev--swingin' hep cats, all!

[karlhenning]

Well, and in solidarity with those sentiments, I've been listening to the Prokofiev piano concerti on my fauxPod these past few days . . . .

[DavidRoss]

Love the Sansa, am disappointed that they've gone to the pod clone look, still look forward to the day when they give us at least 16GB of SS memory, or at least take a high capacity removable SS format--8GB with an 8GB CF card will do!  Whose playing the Proky, Karl?

[karlhenning]

Michel Béroff with Masur and the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig. Lord, but I do love these five concerti so!

[Teresa]

I absolutely cannot get enough of anything composed between about 1890 and 1932. I don't know what was in the water or in the air, but generally anything from Satie's first works to the death of Ravel is gold to my ears... strangely, it doesn't matter if it's "impressionistic," freely atonal, late romantic, or whatever (i.e. Ives)... even if I don't know when something I'm listening to was composed, if it pricks my ears up, I usually find out it was composed within that time. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who believes in some kind of insurmountable golden age of music.

In any case, my favorite composers, in order (at the moment), would be the following: Ravel, early Stravinsky, Rautavaara, Debussy, Satie, Purcell, R. Strauss, M. Feldman, Brahms, Ives, Bartók, Harry Partch, Ligeti, Xenakis, and Webern.

I'd also like to say that I love the musical philosophies John Cage and John Oswald, even if their music is only sometimes genius.

As you might've noticed, there's a big chunk missing in the middle there. I really liked the romantics when I was first getting into classical music, but now not so much. Since I've been told on several separate occasions that I'll only 'get' Wagner once I'm in my 40s/50s, I suppose I won't push it.

Composers I'd really like some help getting into (piece/recording recommendations?): LUC FERRARI (oh help!), Stockhausen, Beethoven and Haydn (I know, it sounds ridiculous to even ask, but with composers like him and Haydn, where there's just so much, I tend to freeze up, as if they would be sitting behind me and judging me if I didn't immediately grasp it. I grew up with a lot of both, too, and the home situation wasn't the best, so maybe there's some of that in there!), and Sibelius (I know you're reading this, Corey!).

Composers I would like to get YOU into!:
Harry Partch - I have just about every recording by this lovable nut. Since they're almost all out of print, I don't feel bad about distributing them. Let me know if you'd like to get into him [and trust me, you do: http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html], and I will hook you up with a fantastic recording of what I consider to be his masterpiece, The Wayward, which is about his actual experience as a bum hopping trains from San Francisco to Chicago. You didn't think microtonal music could be this catchy, but I guarantee that in less than half a week, you, too, will be singing "I got a letter and the letter it said..." in the shower.

Paul Tobin - Recently deceased. I knew him through the gamelan ensemble as an extremely private person. It turned out that our weekly rehearsals were probably the only contact he had with anyone in the world. We had performed a few of his pieces, but upon his death it turned out that he had a wealth of amazingly rich compositions he had meticulously scored and recorded, but had apparently made no efforts to release. I would liken them to a very dark Debussy, or slowed-down variations on Ravel's Scarbo. It's much more than these poor comparisons convey, certainly, and you should really listen to a few of them yourself, here: http://chicagogamelan.org/memoriam/ Also, here is my favorite of his gamelan compositions (I play in this one): http://www.mediafire.com/?3d5ouv9tk13

Well, there's a tall order. I suppose you can take your pick of judging/affirming/critiquing my tastes, helping me with good recommendations, and telling me what you think of Tobin and Partch.

Oh yeah, and about me: I was going to be a composer, and then I realized that that's not the route I want to take. I make music for myself, not for other people, and I'm too far behind, technically, to(/not interested in) play the game of courting benefactors. So instead I'm studying my other big passion, evolutionary biology. "As way leads on to way," I've realized that what I'd really like to study within that realm is bioacoustics, or animal communication. I'm working with dolphins here in Chicago (I'm at the University of Chicago), but I might end up working on rats, bats, killer whales, or Indris (a lemur with an amazingly beautiful call), depending on which PhD program accepts me (hopefully somewhere in the Bay Area... keep me in your prayers for that).

I suppose that's all for now. I just had another idea of something to talk about, but I think I'll make another post for that 'un...

Welcome I am also a fan of that time period but I also love many works going back as early as 1800 as I love the overtures of Rossini.  Ravel is one of the three composers that I own all the orchestra and piano and orchestra works of, Rachmaninioff and Gershwin being the other two.   I also love Stravinsky, Bartók, Debussy, Satie, Ives and Richard Strauss.  Except for the orchestral versions of the Hungarian Dances I'm not a fan of Brahms.  The few works I've heard by Feldman, Ligeti, Xenakis, and Webern have been too atonal for me.

I also love many current living composers such as: Michael Daugherty, Jennifer Hidgon, Michael Gandolfi, and Johan de Meij for example.

You are correct there is something very magical about the late Romantic, Impressionistic and early Modern composers.

I went to Harry Partch's website and listened to and played some of his musical instruments, that was really fun.  I also sampled some of his compositions.  The Wayward you recommended is from The Harry Partch Collection, Volume 2 (New World Records) from the samples I heard on Amazon it is truly weird.  I haven't decided if I like it yet or not but I have put Mr. Partch's website in my favorites.

I downloaded the Gilig-gilig in which you played, very interesting.

Thanks for sharing and happy listening,
Teresa

[Monsieur Croche]

Welcome to the forum, Halcyone! Marvellously comprehensive self-introduction you have there! I share your liking for most music composed in late 19th to early 20th century, though my exploration in this area tends to focus on French composers above anything else. As for the composers on your list, I like Ravel, Stravinsky, Satie, Brahms, Ives, and Bartok. I have not much music by Rautavaara, but what I have heard so far, I liked. Xenakis is a recent discovery, after joining this forum, and what a fine discovery it is too! Webern? Uhh, no thank you. Of course, Debussy is my ultimate favourite composer at this point of time.

I am not familiar with either Harry Partch or Paul Tobin, but I found the latter to be particularly interesting. By the way, the gamelan originates from my country! I suppose I have a few things to say about Beethoven and Sibelius, but we are on the same boat with regards to Haydn, I'm afraid – All those symphonies! Where to start?