The Major Vocal Scores since World-War II

Started by James, March 22, 2015, 07:34:10 AM

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James

March 22, 2015, 07:34:10 AM
Vocal music. Anything with integral vocal writing. Primarily songs, choir, etc. Try to refrain from listing complete operas here, I'll create a separate thread for a survey of that.
Action is the only truth

North Star

#1
March 22, 2015, 08:18:59 AM Last Edit: March 22, 2015, 09:30:01 AM by North Star
Strauss: Four Last Songs
Martinů: The Epic of Gilgamesh (1955), The folk cantatas H. 354, 360 & 364 (1955, '56, '57)
Shostakovich: opp. 79, 100, 127, 145, 146
Britten: The Holy Sonnets of John Donne (1945), Winter Words (1954), Nocturne (1958), War Requiem (1961), Phaedra (1975)
Schnittke: Choir Concerto
Pärt: Stabat Mater
Grisey: Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil (1998)
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

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knight66

#2
March 22, 2015, 08:30:05 AM
Britten's Spring Symphony. Is from 1949, it brings together lyrics from several eras and blends them into a satisfying celebration of Spring using the full vocal forces including boy's choir.

Britten Phaedra, his final vocal work, a cantata for mezzo soprano.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

knight66

#3
March 22, 2015, 09:28:53 AM
Carl Rutti: Requiem. A Naxos disc. Here is a modern piece of choral music that will certainly stick in the repertoire. It starts and ends with a single soprano voice, we enter life and we leave....alone. I can't imagine this piece to be better performed. Premiered in 2007 the commission stipulated scoring as for the Faure Requiem with the Soprano and Baritone soloists, accessable, but significant.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

ritter

#4
March 22, 2015, 10:59:22 AM
Some Spanish stuff that certainly makes the mark:

Manuel de Falla / Ernesto Hallfter: Atlántida
Cristóbal Halffter: Officium defucnctorum; Preludio para Madrid '92

from Italy:

Luigi Dallapiccola: Canti di liberazione

from the US:

Elliott Carter: A Mirror on which to dwell; Syringa
Roger Sessions: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd

from the UK:
Alexander Goehr: The Death of Moses

from Germany:
York Höller: Der ewige Tag

Mandryka

#5
March 22, 2015, 11:22:01 AM Last Edit: March 22, 2015, 11:40:47 AM by Mandryka
Momente
Scardanelli Zyklus
Transit
Kafka Fragments
Syringa
Caminantes . . . ayacucho
Pli selon pli
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Brian

#6
March 22, 2015, 12:57:32 PM
Strauss: Four Last Songs
Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
Bernstein: West Side Story

Numerous works by Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, and Morten Lauridsen.

Mandryka

#7
March 22, 2015, 11:23:32 PM
It's interesting how in these types of lists people who's ideas I find stimulating are always choosing Messages of the Late Miss R.V. Troussova rather than Kafka Fragments. I'm going to have to listen to it soon, if anyone knows if the text is online in English or French, please post a link.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

EigenUser

#8
March 23, 2015, 12:28:07 AM
Quote from: James on March 22, 2015, 02:36:55 PM
Off the top, quickly ..

Strauss, 4 Last Songs
Stravinsky, Abraham and Isaac, Canticum Sacrum, Requiem Canticles
Berio, Épiphanie, Sinfonia, Recital I, Sequenza III, Circles, Folk Songs
Boulez, Pli Selon Pli, Le marteau sans maître, Le soleil des eaux, Le visage nuptial
Stockhausen, Song of the Youths, Momente, Stimmung, Welt-parlament, Lichter-Wasser, Angel Processions
Nono, Il canto sospeso
Ligeti, Requiem, Lux Aeterna, Aventures
Kurtág, Messages of the Late Miss R.V. Troussova
Viñao, Son Entero
Don't forget about Ligeti's Clocks and Clouds! >:(

Also, Mysteries of the Macabre (as a stand-alone work from his opera).

I'm surprised that you didn't list Stockhausen's Carre.

I'll add Feldman's Rothko Chapel.
Beethoven's Op. 133 -- A fugue so bad that even Beethoven himself called it "Grosse".

ritter

#9
March 26, 2015, 03:52:24 PM
And how could we forget George Crumb's Star-Child ? ? ? ?  :-[

vandermolen

#10
March 30, 2015, 10:50:13 AM
Herbert Howells's 'Hymnus Paradisi'
Vaughan Williams 'Hodie'
Martinu 'Epic of Gilgamesh'
Honegger 'Christmas Cantata'
Finzi 'In Terra Pax'
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Christo

#11
March 30, 2015, 03:15:20 PM
Quote from: Christo on March 24, 2015, 12:39:58 AM
With orchestra etc.:
Howells: Hymnus Paradisi
Villa-Lobos: Choros No. 10
Pärt: Te Deum
Einhorn: Voices of Light

A cappella:
Tormis: Unustatud rahvad (Forgotten Peoples)
Sisask: Gloria Patris
Pärt: Kanon Pokajanen

other favourites I'm reminded of thanks to you:
Quote from: vandermolen on March 23, 2015, 02:47:24 PMDurufle: Requiem
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on March 23, 2015, 03:06:58 PMBritten War Requiem
Quote from: Draško on March 23, 2015, 03:53:10 PMMartinu - The Epic of Gilgamesh
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

vandermolen

#12
March 31, 2015, 03:05:55 AM
Quote from: Christo on March 30, 2015, 03:15:20 PM
other favourites I'm reminded of thanks to you:

Forgot that the Durufle was published in 1947, so definitely should have included it along with Britten's War Requiem which certainly is one of the major post WW2 scores.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

EigenUser

#13
March 31, 2015, 03:24:21 AM
What about Messiaen's Trois Petites Liturgies? That was written during WWII (towards the end, I think).
Beethoven's Op. 133 -- A fugue so bad that even Beethoven himself called it "Grosse".

jochanaan

#14
March 31, 2015, 07:12:43 AM
Henryk Gorecki has written a number of beautiful choral and other vocal works.  Many here are familiar with his "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs" (#3); there is also a lovely Beatus Vir and, I think, a fair catalogue of unaccompanied choral music.

I had the privilege to hear Crumb's Star Child live in Kansas City in the late 1970s, shortly after its world premiere.  Amazing piece! 8)
Imagination + discipline = creativity

San Antone

#15
March 31, 2015, 07:19:30 AM

Sean

#16
March 31, 2015, 08:08:16 AM
Messiaen's La Transfiguration from the late 60s is easily the greatest work in this category; there's also only one worthwhile recording, the Dorati.

EigenUser

#17
March 31, 2015, 10:57:12 AM
Quote from: Sean on March 31, 2015, 08:08:16 AM
Messiaen's La Transfiguration from the late 60s is easily the greatest work in this category; there's also only one worthwhile recording, the Dorati.
I still don't care for this (and I love Messiaen). It isn't that I hate it -- it just bores me. I can't sit through the whole thing comfortably. Maybe it's too static for me. I don't know. I hope I am able to appreciate it someday.
Beethoven's Op. 133 -- A fugue so bad that even Beethoven himself called it "Grosse".

Sean

#18
March 31, 2015, 01:50:22 PM
You probably don't have the Dorati... Other recordings show a singular misunderstanding of the work; it hasn't been that successful in performance or recordings but it's one of M's top few greatest achievements, totally otherworldly and weird inspiration.

San Antone

#19
April 02, 2015, 07:52:17 PM
Morton Feldman : For Stefan Wolpe

I was reminded of how good this piece is after listening to it on Spotify from this interesting recording:

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