A violin-performance-major friend of mine is putting together her recital program for next year and we've had no trouble coming up with fun romantic music to sprinkle in from Hungary (Hubay), France (Ravel's Tzigane) and even Chinese folk music. But we hit a brick wall ... ie, the fact that all the modernist violin sonatas she's been listening to, she doesn't really like. She's very much, shall we say, tonal at heart. I've recommended Bax. Any other ideas for something contemporary but accessible and a good challenge to play?
If Bax counts as contemporary then I don't feel too bad suggesting Janacek. An obvious choice, but a good one!
I was thinking most definitely Prokofiev (if that's modern enough)?
Or, short and demanding in just the right ways (I imagine - it packs a lot into a brief timespan), Satie's Choses vues à droite et à gauche, which despite a relatively early date in the 20th century is really quite a modernist statement (Satie being such an important composer to those who came later, including Cage who IIRC did an analysis of this piece somewhere).
(sorry - it's not a sonata! forgot that part of the question!)
Quote from: sul G on April 08, 2009, 04:54:33 PM
(sorry - it's not a sonata! forgot that part of the question!)
That's definitely fine! And generally the music school wants 20th century works, but not romantic leftovers that could have been written in 1890 (like Turina, Lehar, whatnot)
Why not throw this bone to our resident composers, Karl, Luke, Mark, etc?
You could not find a Violin Sonata any more contemporary if they cranked one out for you! 8)
They might even crank it out for free, but a green picture of Abe Lincoln might speed things up! 0:)
Quote from: Cato on April 08, 2009, 05:25:40 PM
Why not throw this bone to our resident composers, Karl, Luke, Mark, etc?
You could not find a Violin Sonata any more contemporary if they cranked one out for you! 8)
They might even crank it out for free, but a green picture of Abe Lincoln might speed things up! 0:)
But if she cannot wait for something to be contemporarily composed, and if she is allowed a piano player, she might try
Alexander Tcherepnin's Sonata for Violin and Piano Opus 14.
How bout the Corigliano Chaconne?
Allan
Shostakovich
Villa-Lobos
Schnabel
Szymanowski
Moses Pergament
:o
Quote from: sul G on April 08, 2009, 04:54:33 PM
Or, short and demanding in just the right ways (I imagine - it packs a lot into a brief timespan), Satie's Choses vues à droite et à gauche, which despite a relatively early date in the 20th century is really quite a modernist statement (Satie being such an important composer to those who came later, including Cage who IIRC did an analysis of this piece somewhere).
(sorry - it's not a sonata! forgot that part of the question!)
Great timing,
Luke . . . I listened to this for the first time yesterday.
Quote from: ChamberNut on April 08, 2009, 04:43:00 PM
I was thinking most definitely Prokofiev (if that's modern enough)?
He was my first thought, too.
Quote from: DFO on April 09, 2009, 04:16:39 AM
Shostakovich . . . .
The 'trouble' with this suggestion is the situation laid out in the OP: a violinist building a recital. The
Shostakovich is a great piece, but it's definitely the 'larger half' of a program all by itself. A student playing a recital typically needs to demonstrate facility in a variety of styles, and so the recital should be (say) 3 to 5 pieces. Build a recital around the
Shostakovich, and your remaining pieces must all be miniatures. In most cases, won't really work.
Quote from: Cato on April 08, 2009, 05:25:40 PM
Why not throw this bone to our resident composers, Karl, Luke, Mark, etc?
You could not find a Violin Sonata any more contemporary if they cranked one out for you! 8)
They might even crank it out for free, but a green picture of Abe Lincoln might speed things up! 0:)
Well, whilst walking to the grocery the other day I composed a few (3) caprices for solo violin in my head, and can still remember them clearly and fully, but I found on returning to the apartment that trying to set the music down in Finale (free version) was like tilting at windmills ... don't know how to do it. :(
Quote from: Cato on April 08, 2009, 05:25:40 PM
Why not throw this bone to our resident composers, Karl, Luke, Mark, etc?
You could not find a Violin Sonata any more contemporary if they cranked one out for you! 8)
They might even crank it out for free, but a green picture of Abe Lincoln might speed things up! 0:)
I picture one movement each - like a modern FAE Sonata (the collaborative sonata by Schumann, Brahms and Dietrich). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27F-A-E%27_Sonata) The GMG sonata, in fact! 8)
I'm in.
If she prefers tonal music, what about a neoclassical sonata? Hindemith? Poulenc!?
Just talked to her - her advisors have decided that since she's programmed Ravel she can balance it with a piece dating after 1950. And she's added a Beethoven Sonata (No. 3) and two miniatures by Jeno Hubay which I recommended 0:) 0:) so now she has 10-12 minutes to fill. So we're looking for a 10-12 minute piece that's recent ... Corigliano was suggested by her prof, along with Tower and Higdon. I suggested screwing the timeframe and transcribing Webern's Op. 1 for solo violin but that did not go over well ;D
This (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,12032.msg296778.html#msg296778) is certainly after 1950 8)
Bang up-to-date, tonal, attractive, about the right length (about 14 minutes, actually): John Adams, Road Movies. But it's very hard, I think. Or how about Paul Moravec's Protean Fantasy - about 10 minutes long. Or Henze's Funf Nachtstucke - also about 10 minutes. The earliest of these pieces is from 1990; they're all demanding and accessible works. I'm sure some more will spring to mind...
Yes, the Adams would be a great choice - I love that piece (though not the Nonesuch recording - I think the Andrew Russo and James Ehnes recording outclasses it)
The GMG sonata based on those tones G M(i) G would be great!
Quote from: sul G on April 09, 2009, 07:47:27 AM
I picture one movement each - like a modern FAE Sonata (the collaborative sonata by Schumann, Brahms and Dietrich). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27F-A-E%27_Sonata) The GMG sonata, in fact! 8)
What a novel idea!!! I like it. :)
Quote from: Guido on April 09, 2009, 12:13:57 PM
Yes, the Adams would be a great choice - I love that piece (though not the Nonesuch recording - I think the Andrew Russo and James Ehnes recording outclasses it)
The GMG sonata based on those tones G M(i) G would be great!
A great "GIG". ;D
Or, based on the initials, a KLM sonata (like the famous Soviet hockey team superstar line from the 1980's) :D
Quote from: ChamberNut on April 09, 2009, 12:39:22 PM
A great "GIG". ;D
Or, based on the initials, a KLM sonata (like the famous Soviet hockey team superstar line from the 1980's) :D
L and M would be possible (La and Mi), but K, not so much.
You weren't paying attention on the mystery scores thread, were you, Guido! ;) There are ways and means.....how else do you think all those pieces 'sur le nom de Haydn' were composed?
In fact, IIRC (and I might not) Ropartz's piece in memory of Dukas finds a K, as it were.
Quote from: ChamberNut on April 09, 2009, 12:37:22 PM
What a novel idea!!! I like it. :)
There was also the Hexameron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexameron_(musical_composition))... :)
I wanted to suggest Lutoslawski's Partita but it's a bit too long (15'?) and not tonal. :-\
Then there's Szymanowski's Sonata, already mentioned, but that's not post-1950. The slightly later and more attractive Myths are, again, not tonal and, again, not late enough - they were written in 1915, so they predate Tzigane by almost 10 years. :-\
Quote from: Maciek on April 10, 2009, 10:41:23 AM
There was also the Hexameron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexameron_(musical_composition))... :)
Say more on that,
Maciek . . . I've got it on disc . . . .
Reading about Hexameron - I am astonished to learn that Chopin and Liszt were born just one year apart!
But Liszt survived Chopin by almost 40!
Karl, I don't really know anything about the piece except for what it says in the Wikipedia article. I don't even have a full recording - just the Chopin variation from a complete works set.
Quote from: Maciek on April 11, 2009, 03:51:15 AM
But Liszt survived Chopin by almost 40!
Karl, I don't really know anything about the piece except for what it says in the Wikipedia article. I don't even have a full recording - just the Chopin variation from a complete works set.
To me, is a superficial and forgetable piece, brillant but nothing more. For a great recording see Raymond Lewenthal on RCA.
Are you sure we are talking about the same piece? Or do you mean the whole set? I know (by heresay) that the other variations are rather ordinary examples of the style brillant. But the Chopin one (the closing one) is a short nocturnal meditation (the tempo marking is Largo - IMSLP has the full score, BTW). It uses only a short phrase from the theme and is generally very "modest" in terms of employed pianistic means - nothing about it strikes me as superficial, even if it isn't one of Chopin's greatest masterpieces (it is very short - I'm not talking about the embellishments added by Liszt at the end). I'm not sure if I've got this right but I think Chopin was the only person involved in the project who actually knew Bellini and could therefore react to the commission on a more intimate, personal level. The unexpected key change is sometimes interpreted as a sort of "silent cry".
Lou Harrison - Grand Duo (1988). A 5-movement work. Highly recommended!
Here are some clips
http://www.amazon.com/Lou-Harrison-Third-Symphony-Violin/dp/B001L2GJWE
Well just heard from my friend - she and her advisor have settled on a work by a composer at our university by the name of Karim Al-Zand (http://www.alzand.com/). Also on the program: Wieniawski, Ravel, Beethoven and Bach...
Oh yeah, Walton's Sonata (1949, considerably revised 1950) is an absolute delight - of course it belongs to the music of the first half of the 20th century really, but it's great.