Top 5 favorite western classical percussion pieces

[James]

 

[kyjo]

Not the easiest thread to participate in, but I'll participate anyway. My top five would all be concertos (obviously for me):

MacMillan: Percussion Concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel
Schwantner: Percussion Concerto
Higdon: Percussion Concerto
Zwilich: Percussion Concerto Rituals
Torke: Percussion Concerto Rapture

[DavidW]

Bartok Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

[Dax]

Some mistake here? I assume that the thread is about music for percussion alone. There's much from the 30s and 40s by American/Latin composers - Cage, Cowell, Harrison, Beyer, Roldan, Russell, Becker - not forgetting Varèse Ionisation. Even (arguably) Antheil's Ballet Mecanique. And from Europe plenty from UK at least - small ensemble stuff from the 70s from the likes of White, Hobbs, Parsons and Skempton. Let alone all the music that has been written for gamelan in the last 30 years . . .

[Drasko]

Xenakis: Psappha
Xenakis: Pleiades
Reich: Drumming
Takemitsu: Rain Tree
Bartok: Sonata for two pianos & percussion

[EigenUser]

I love percussion. Whenever I see a large percussion section in an orchestra it makes me wish that I took up percussion instead of violin . In orchestra in college during breaks I would sometimes sneak over to the back to knock on a gong, or tap on a bass drum, etc. When we played "An American in Paris" I made sure to check out the taxi horns! Fortunately, the conductor was really lax so no one cared. I got yelled at in high school for doing this (not kidding!).

My top 5 works with major percussion parts are:
5) Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta" (this is my favorite piece ever overall, but I'm rating these in terms of percussive parts)
4) Penderecki's "Da Natura Sonoris I"
3) Ligeti's "Mysteries of the Macabre"
2) Varese's "Ameriques" (we were supposed to play this in orchestra, but it was to difficult and we replaced it after a few rehearsals )
1) Ades' "Asyla" -- Timpanists play the copper "shell" of the instrument, gongs are dipped in buckets of water, bass drums and high-hats re-create the thumps of house music, etc. The pianist even has to slam the keyboard lid down in the 1st movement!

[jochanaan]

Among the usual suspects already mentioned, there is Michael Daugherty's Concerto for Percussion "UFO," written for Evelyn Glennie.

All of Varese's music includes massive percussion (except the early song "Un grand sommeil noir").

Bartok's Piano Concerto #1 and Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion are masterpieces for percussion and other instruments.  Bartok goes so far as to include a floor plan for the percussionists, as he does for Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.

Hovhaness' Symphony #50 "Mount St. Helens" includes great percussion, especially in the second and final movements.

And Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses include some great percussion passages in the second movement.

[Ken B]

The Glass double tympani concerto.
Do marimbas count? Reich Six Marimbas.
Hook, Fitkin
Bartok, sonata,
Bartok MSPC

[not edward]

Works that are at least 50% percussion:

Xenakis: Pleiades
Ligeti: Sippal, dobbal, nagihegeduvel
Varese: Ionisation
Nono: Con Luigi Dallapiccola
Bartok: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

[EigenUser]

Ligeti: Sippal, dobbal, nagihegeduvel
Varese: Ionisation
Bartok: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion

YES!!! I love Bartok, Varese, and especially the Ligeti "With Drums, Pipes, and Fiddles".

"With Drums, Pipes, and Fiddles".

Drums, Pipes, Fiddles

(hint)

[amw]

first ones that came to mind

Pleïades (Xenakis)
Le noir de l'étoile (Grisey)
Ryoanji (Cage) the non-percussion instruments are actually obligatory in this one, so i'll pick something else... maybe the Quartet
Bone Alphabet (Ferneyhough)
The Mathematics of Resonant Bodies (JLA)

no non-percussion instruments allowed in my list*

* well there are electronics in Grisey and Cage is... himself and allows all sort of weird shit, I've heard versions with flutes and so forth

[bwv 1080]

the piano is a percussion instrument, right?

Bartok: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
Takemitsu: From me flows what you call time
Schwanter: Percussion Concerto (although something about it reminds me of the Scooby Doo soundtrack)
Ferneyhough: Bone Alphabet
Harry Partch: Castor & Pollux

[Fagotterdämmerung]

  I really need to get out to more concerts that involve musicians hitting inanimate objects. My favorites are dully familiar.

  Bartók, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
  Varèse, Ionisation ( I like Ameriques more, but Ionisation is a purer percussion show case )
  Stravinsky Les Noces
  Cage Sonatas and Interludes ( I realize it's piano, but it's so heavily modified here I feel I'm listening to a percussion ensemble )
  Michael Gordon Timber

  Despite a vast amount of material written for percussion in the last century, I still feel it's one of the most neglected areas of the orchestra.

[EigenUser]

Here are some good ones of the top of my head .. 
And there is great stuff within orchestral Webern, Berg, Stravinsky, Debussy & others .. where percussion is at the fore and used very creatively.

The fourth of the Webern Six Pieces is outstanding for percussion.

Also, Antheil's Ballet Mechanique.

[Fagotterdämmerung]

 
   Ouch! Can't believe I forgot Ballet Mechanique! I love it: sort of kitschy, yet exhilarating.

[EigenUser]

   Ouch! Can't believe I forgot Ballet Mechanique! I love it: sort of kitschy, yet exhilarating.

I'm listening to it now! A very fun work.

[not edward]

A shout-out for Ginastera's delicious Cantata para America magica for soprano and percussion orchestra.

[torut]

Cage - First Construction (in Metal) and many
Partch - Castor & Pollux
Alves - Imbal-Imbalan
Barbara Benary - Aural Shoehorning
Reich - Drumming

Also, Dark Full Ride by Julia Wolfe.
https://www.youtube.com/v/R2pQxxCllxo