Modern Music Recordings Recommendations

[Fëanor]

This might be of interest.  Its by the audiophile critics, Jonathan Valin and Mark Lehman.  They aren't music scholars primarily, but they do listen to a lot of music ...

"100 Best-of-the-Century Classical Compositions"

Their introduction is a must-read to understand their approach;  it strikes me as quite reasonable.  Note that this list, (or the first 50 at least), contains no chamber works.  Personally I'm looking forward to next one.

[RebLem]

You also might want to try Black Angels and Ancient Voices of Children by George Crumb.

[The new erato]

Boulez' Erato outing.

I wasn't aware that Boulez had outed me?

[Mark]

James (and all of you, actually), thank you so much. Plenty to explore here - it'll keep me busy for months.

[Fëanor]

Mark, here is a small list of some of the cutting edge (& quality) things for the 1st half of the 20th century music, from pivotal developers...
checking out some of it will perhaps give you some more perspective on things that followed &-or were shaped by it...

ives: symphony #3 (1908-10), symphony 4 (1912-18), the unanswered question (1908), 3 places in new england (1912-17), concord sonata (1916-19)

late debussy: jeux (1912), 2nd set of piano preludes (1912-13), piano etudes (1915), sonata for flute, viola & harp (1915), violin sonata (1917)

messiaen: le banquet celeste (1928), the ascension (1932-33), la nativite du seigneur (1936), poems pour mi (1936-37), o sacrum convivium (1937), quartet for the end of time (1940-41), vingt regards sur l'enfant jesus (1944), turangalila symphonie (1946-48), 4 studies in rhythm (1949-50)

schoenberg: chamber symphony #1 (1906), string quartet #2 (1907-08), 5 orchestral pieces (1909), pierrot lunaire (1912), piano suite Op. 25 (1921-23), string quartet #3 (1927), variations for orchestra (1928-29), string quartet #4 (1936), string trio (1946)

berg: piano sonata (1907-08), string quartet (1910), wozzeck (1914-22), altenberg lieder (1912), 3 pieces for orchestra (1914-15), chamber concerto (1923-25), lyric suite (1925-26), lulu suite (1935), violin concerto (1935),   

webern: passacaglia (1908), 5 movements for string quartet (1909), six bagatelles (1913), string trio (1927), symphony op. 21 (1928), variations for orchestra (1940), string quartet op. 28 (1937-38)

stravinsky: firebird (1910), petrushka (1911), rite of spring (1913), les noces (1914-17), l'histoire du soldat (1918), octet (1922), apollo (1927), symphonies of wind instruments (1920), symphony of psalms (1930), symphony in 3 movements (1943-45), violin concerto (1931), late stravinsky: Agon (1954-57), Canticum Sacrum (1955), Threni (1958),  Movements for Piano & Orchestra (1958-59), Abraham & Isaac (1963) Variations (1963-64), Elegy for JFK (1964), Requiem Canticles (1966)

bartok: 6 string quartets (1908 to 1938), miraculous mandarin (1926), 3 piano concertos (1926, 1932 & 1945), violin concerto #2 (1937-38), music for percussion strings & celesta (1936), sonata for 2 pianos & percussion (1938), concerto for orchestra (1942-43), violin sonata (1944)

varese: ameriques (1918-21) & ionisation (1929-31)

Thank you indeed!!  Looks like a really great list to me.

I see I have more work to do as there are quite a few I haven't heard.  In particular I have to get to work on the late Stravinsky.

[karlhenning]

Great thread, and I am waiting till tomorrow to stick my oar in the river.

"100 Best-of-the-Century Classical Compositions"

On these lines:

At the bottom of his opening blog page, Steve Hicken lists "101 essential pieces of 20th Century concert music and perpetual variations on the musical life."

[PSmith08]

I wasn't aware that Boulez had outed me?

Yeah, well, that's what you get for denying the supremacy (indeed, absolute necessity) of the post-Webernian serial grammar. Pierre has a temper, and when he isn't playing the sniper for a moment, he is not above some good, old-fashioned smear tactics.

All levity aside, I was - of course - referring to Erato 2292-45228-2/4509-98496-2.

[MishaK]

Great thread, and I am waiting till tomorrow to stick my oar in the river.

On these lines:

At the bottom of his opening blog page, Steve Hicken lists "101 essential pieces of 20th Century concert music and perpetual variations on the musical life."

Yeah, but he lists the Bolero and Tallis Fantasia on that list instead of more serious (and more typical) works of those composers, e.g.

[Montpellier]

Hi Mark,

Should your interest turn to the last 25-30 years (and/or living composers), the best bet is probably to record "Hear and Now" on BBC Radio 3 (22.30-midnight on Saturdays) also watching out for "Pre-hear" in the half hour before; then burn them to CDs, keeping notes on what's what.  Then you can review them at your leisure.  The problem is that if burning wavs, unless you can use the recent 90minute CDs, finding a point to split the initial file.  It's usually easy to spot the end of a work and applause.  Each work is normally preceded by an intro, sometimes from the composer.   It helps to place the composer in the musical firmament, so to speak. 

The programmes vary from so-so to excellent.  Last week's was one of the 'easier' ones.  The highlight was Morton Feldman's "Piano".   Philip Hammond's (Ireland) "Die Ersten Blumen" and Kevin Volan's Cello Concerto were interesting, the former beautiful and almost tonal, the latter seeming to use a minimalist motivic style against a contemporary orchestral background.  "The Voice Inside" (Lyell Cresswell), a kind of concerto for violin, soprano and orchestra - I'll listen to this one again too.  But all the works were fine.

Most works from these programmes are not on record and probably won't be broadcast again so this is possibly the one chance until perhaps some get recorded.   

cheers.   

[Mark]

Hi Mark,

Should your interest turn to the last 25-30 years (and/or living composers), the best bet is probably to record "Hear and Now" on BBC Radio 3 (22.30-midnight on Saturdays) also watching out for "Pre-hear" in the half hour before; then burn them to CDs, keeping notes on what's what.  Then you can review them at your leisure.  The problem is that if burning wavs, unless you can use the recent 90minute CDs, finding a point to split the initial file.  It's usually easy to spot the end of a work and applause.  Each work is normally preceded by an intro, sometimes from the composer.   It helps to place the composer in the musical firmament, so to speak. 

The programmes vary from so-so to excellent.  Last week's was one of the 'easier' ones.  The highlight was Morton Feldman's "Piano".   Philip Hammond's (Ireland) "Die Ersten Blumen" and Kevin Volan's Cello Concerto were interesting, the former beautiful and almost tonal, the latter seeming to use a minimalist motivic style against a contemporary orchestral background.  "The Voice Inside" (Lyell Cresswell), a kind of concerto for violin, soprano and orchestra - I'll listen to this one again too.  But all the works were fine.

Most works from these programmes are not on record and probably won't be broadcast again so this is possibly the one chance until perhaps some get recorded.   

cheers.   

Hey! Great idea - thanks!

And 90min CDs: Do these really exist? If so, I want them.

[karlhenning]

Yeah, but he lists the Bolero and Tallis Fantasia on that list instead of more serious (and more typical) works of those composers, e.g.

Well, Steve's list seems not to lay any claim to works necessarily typical of the composers;  also, while probably I concede your point with the Bolero, I have trouble thinking of the Fantasia on a Theme by Thos Tallis as "atypical" of Vaughan Williams.

Secondly, I consider these works serious enough, and don't quite see why we should necessarily have other works heavier in seriosity content.

[Montpellier]

And 90min CDs: Do these really exist? If so, I want them.

Yes, though they won't work with my PC burning software because it's quite old - the gauge only goes up to 80m.  A new CD/DVD writer would definitely cure the problem and as I do this almost every week, I may go for it.  I'll probably worry how long they'll last but I could copy individual works if there was a risk.   Things to check out, though.  

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_4&products_id=102188

[MishaK]

Well, Steve's list seems not to lay any claim to works necessarily typical of the composers;  also, while probably I concede your point with the Bolero, I have trouble thinking of the Fantasia on a Theme by Thos Tallis as "atypical" of Vaughan Williams.

Secondly, I consider these works serious enough, and don't quite see why we should necessarily have other works heavier in seriosity content.

Sure, but if you're doing a survey of the 20th century and you're including only two Ravel works and one RVW, would you make it Bolero, Concerto in G and the Tallis Fantasia? I'm cool with the concerto, but what about Daphnis, La Valse, Tombeau? What about London Symphony, Symphony No.4, Antartica?

[Montpellier]

This week's Pre-Hear and Hear and Now gave an excellent programme.  All easy to listen to.   

Pre-Hear
Peteris Vasks: Viatore for String Orchestra.  (Very slightly in the vein of Avro Part)
Erkki-Sven Tuur: Cello Concerto.  (The most interesting to me.  Tuur is an ex-rock performer.)
Vasks: Ein Buch.  (Solo cello, basically, with some other parts including a soprano)

Hear and Now
Ian Gardiner: L'Escalier en Spirale.
Gary Carpenter: Sonatinas (for alto sax & orch)
Howard Skempton: Piazza (in Skempton's "tonal" style - probably not totally diatonic but sounded so)
Kenneth Hesketh: Ein Lichtspiel 
Anna Meredith: Flak (electroacoustic - sounds processed from the orchestra.  I've heard other works of hers and she seems to have a style.   This was the least attractive item for me - not music I'd like as the soundtrack to a dream.  The audience liked it though).
Pierre Henry: Extracts from "Mess de Liverpool". 

This works in this Hear and Now depended on multimedia, light-shows etc (beyond the scope of radio), except the Henry.   The music stood well by itself though.   

[alexandro]

ALL THE MUSIC OF LEONARD BERNSTEIN!!! 
(nothing personal, but is my favourite composer and I think that many compositions are basilar to a first approach to classicl music).
Try to listen Candide Overture, then Symphony No. 1, then Concerto for Orchestra ("Jubilee Games")

[Grazioso]

yeah...but he was asking more about modern vanguard music, not merely all music created in the 20th...after he's spent some time listening & absorbing some of the 1st half 'cutting edge' 20th century stuff ive listed earlier, he then can make an easier transition into something like the Darmstadt school (i.e. Stockhausen, Boulez, Berio, Nono, Ligeti etc.) with more perspective and hear connections/expansions/further developments built upon the musical things/conceptions & soundworlds that the 1st half leading (highly influencial) vanguard composers prepared ...

Actually, the OP just asked about modern or contemporary music, not specifically modernist or avant-garde music. I would caution anyone starting to explore 20th-century or contemporary music not merely to dive into the traditional textbook categories and composers but to broaden the scope of their explorations because music during that time period is really diverse. If you prefer (neo) Romantic music, for example, you can find tons of wonderful pieces written during that time period. I've heard people say they don't like 20th-century music because they incorrectly assume it's all experimental, atonal, aleatory, or in some other manner alien or difficult to understand. Not at all the case.

[Montpellier]

Yes, in the 20th century the traditional boundaries of music were well-and-truly broken but that did not stop composers continuing to develop diatonic and chromatic styles sometimes bordering on extremes.  The result, a great spread of styles - an Aladdin's cave for classifiers.  Contemporary music from about 1970 seems to defy easy labelling.   I still think that anyone in the UK motivated to explore the 20th century musically could do worse that have Radio 3 on during the afternoons then around 7.30pm for "Performance" when a mix of established and new works are performed along with a few classics.  The works always include an introduction usually stating from where their composers originated and their dates.   The huge range of styles means a lot of listening however, especially to tread a path off the straight and narrow.       

Edit: Maybe "Composer of the week" could be useful.      

[karlhenning]

ALL THE MUSIC OF LEONARD BERNSTEIN!!!

Modern?

[Fëanor]

This might be of interest.  Its by the audiophile critics, Jonathan Valin and Mark Lehman.  They aren't music scholars primarily, but they do listen to a lot of music ...

"100 Best-of-the-Century Classical Compositions"
...

Here's installment No. 2 from Messrs. Valin and Lehman.  Interesting:  one Mahler, one Messiaen, but two each for Ernst Hermann Meyer and Andras Mihaly  -- go figure.  Then again I haven't heard anything by the latter gents:  tell me what I'm missing.

"100 Best of 20th Century Classical Compositions, Part II"

[Grazioso]

...the title states Modernity. And if you read along this is the jist of what he was wondering about, the cutting edge material, stuff that is truly at the vanguard. What I provided earlier is a strong beginner/primer guide to modernism and what helped shape it, key figures, key developers, modern ideas honed effectively into key works, that were/are important and influencial....this includes touches of Stravinsky's neo-classical work of course, in which he used old vessels to hone/development new musical ideas as well....

The problem is that Schoenberg, Webern, et al. are hardly the vanguard atm but hundred-year-old history. Nothing wrong with that--this is classical music, after all--but I'd recommend looking for a fuller picture of what's happened over the last century instead of dwelling on textbook modernism as if it were the most important or only significant musical current.