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Thread: Great pieces of Modern & 20th C. music

  1. #1
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    Great pieces of Modern & 20th C. music

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp80cHYVh2Q
    Honegger - Pacific 231

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miLV0o4AhE4
    Gorecki - Sorrowful Songs

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U6sWqfrnTs
    RVW - Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
    This RVW piece is my favourite piece of classical music, bar none!

  2. #2
    Member Zeuhlmate's Avatar
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    Tōru Takemitsu: Archipelago S. (1994) (and everything else with Tōru Takemitsu is highly recommened)



    Hans Werner Henze: Doppio concerto per oboe ed arpa et archi (The Henze Collection)

    William Mathias: Lux Aeterna

    And in the more emotional departement:
    Valentin Silvestrov: Sacred songs (ECM)

    Zibigniew Preisner: Requiem

  3. #3
    I could go on for pages with great modern pieces. I have no interest in anything pre-20th century.


    Penderecki - Concerto for Violin & Orchestra No. 2 (with Anne-Sophie Mutter on violin)






    Samuel Barber - 1st Piano Concerto (the performance with John Browning on piano is the one to get, it was commissioned for him)





    Elliot Carter - String Quartet no. 2





    I don't want to keep posting vids, but here is a partial list off the top of my head:

    Stravinksy - Firebird, Rite of Spring, Soldiers Tale
    Samuel Baber - Medea's Dance of Vengeance, Adagio for Stings,
    Elliot Carter - String Quartets 3 and 4, Piano Concerto, Variations for Orchestra
    Pendercki - Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, Cello Concerto No. 1, Sextet
    Ligeti - Ramifications, Lux Aeterna, Violin Concerto,
    Ernst Krenek - Statisch und ekstatisch, Kitharaulos - For Oboe
    Benjamin Britten - The Sea Interludes, War Requiem

    Other notables:

    Joseph Schwantner
    Charles Wuorinen
    Magnus Lundberg
    Joan Tower
    Schnitke
    George Rochberg
    And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell

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    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    "Blue" Gene Tyranny(Robert Sheff),American composer,keyboard(s) player,has written some great pieces. Here's one of my faves,"Sunrise Or Sunset In Texas", for piano and electronics.The clip is from an Estonian radio show.There are quite a few Tyranny compositions on the clip.Sunrise Or Sunset In Texas is the first piece,starts about 55 seconds in.Enjoy.

    http://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/nyyd-muus.../similar-56279

    Kevin Volans-born in southern Africa, currently living in Ireland.This composition, titled Mbira, is scored for two harpsichords, which are tuned in a Zimbabwean(Shona)scale, and percussion.



    Erik Satie-Messe des Pauvres,for pipe organ and chorus.
    Last edited by walt; 09-18-2013 at 01:16 PM.
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  5. #5
    Member bill g's Avatar
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    I've grown to love select pieces by Fredrick Delius. My favorite piece is possibly Brigg Fair if it isn't rushed, with Beecham conducting. McKerras did a fine job as well. Others I enjoy are A Walk To The Paradise Garden, In A Summer Garden and North Country Sketches.

  6. #6
    Magnus Lindberg-Clarinet Concerto
    Penderecki-Polymorphia; St Luke Passion
    Prokofiev-Piano Concerto No. 2
    Alfred Schnittke-String Quartet No. 3; Concerto Grosso No. 1
    Hans Werner Henze-Requiem
    Ligeti-Hamburg Concerto; Cello Concerto
    Edgar Varese-Ameriques
    Alban Berg-Three Orchestral Pieces
    Ravel-Le Tombeau de Couperin
    William Schuman-Symphonies nos. 4, 6, 7

    I was fortunate to see John Browning perform the Barber Concerto with the Syracuse Symphony many years ago.
    I like the Archipelago S. by Takemitsu. I have a recording on the BIS label.

    Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen has a lot of fine orchestral music on the CPO label. I'm also a fan of some of the other Polish composers including Lutoslawski, and Panufnik. Panufnik's music is also well represented on CPO.

    For something different, try Danish composer Per Norgard. His music is difficult to describe, but very modern. Chandos label has several recordings. They also have a lot of good Schnittke and Lutoslawski CDs.

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    Keep them coming chaps. I'm sure we're all learning of some new names and subsequently new pieces, which of course is the point of the thread.

  8. #8
    How could I have forgotten:


    Bela Bartok - Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, The Miraculous Mandarin. His 6 string quartets are also great.
    Arnold Schoenberg - Violin Concerto, Variations for Orchestra
    Anton Webern - Six Pieces for large orchestra, Quartet for violin, clarinet, tenor saxophone and piano
    Michael Tippet - Concerto for Double String Orchestra,


    More to come later....
    And if there were a god, I think it very unlikely that he would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence - Russell

  9. #9
    Just saw two in Oslo:

    Gavin Bryars' Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet
    and....
    Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury

    Both incredible!
    John

  10. #10
    I am also partial to:
    Erkki Sven-Tuur
    Arvo Part
    Gavin Bryars (in general)

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    Member helicase's Avatar
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    Love that Satie mass! Thanks for posting.

    Górecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs is one of my all time classical favourites. Do check out his second symphony (Copernican) too, if you haven't already. Very different from the third, but very good, too.

    Aleksandr Mosolov's piano concert is another firm favourite. Reminds me a lot of Stravinsky.

    And why not, perhaps not terribly modern, but certainly 20th century: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem. Never thought I'd ever admit to enjoying any of his music, but I have to say this work is (surprisingly) very good.

    My latest classical purchase is another Polish work: Paweł Łukaszewski's Via Crucis.

    And no post about 20th century/modern is complete without a piece of minimal music. Lots of good stuff there. I'll pick one for now: Steve Reich's Four Organs.

  12. #12
    A couple that I listened to today:

    Bartok - Concerto For Orchestra
    Nielsen - Symphony 4 ("Inextinguishable")

    Thinking about it, although the 20th Century dominates my small collection of classical music, some of my favourites might not be considered especially 'modern', though I think they are great works. Anyway, some favourites that haven't been mentioned yet:

    Walton - Symphony 1, Viola and Violin Concertos
    Most Sibelius
    Vaughan Williams - Symphony 5
    Tippet - The 4 Symphonies
    Shostakovich 5 & 10

  13. #13
    Here's something I have been enjoying recently, though perhaps it might be considered too minor a work for this thread? I discovered this piece recently via a radio programme that played Kraftwerk's Tour de France and mentioned that they had ripped off the main theme from this:


  14. #14
    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    Does Rachmaninoff count? Because his work overlaps 19th and 20th Century....I love his work, particularly Piano Concerto #2 (written in 1900)

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    Quote Originally Posted by klothos View Post
    Does Rachmaninoff count?
    Absolutely, the modern period started roughly in the 1880s with the disintegration of the Post-Romantic style into various modern styles.

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    One composer I've really gotten into lately whom I haven't heard mentioned yet is Carl Ruggles. He only wrote twelve or so pieces his entire career, but they're really interesting. He wrote heavily polyphonic works but with a chromatic sense of harmony. I think his best-known work is probably "The Sun-Treader."

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    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wounded Land View Post
    One composer I've really gotten into lately whom I haven't heard mentioned yet is Carl Ruggles. ]
    Good choice.This cd of Ruggles' works is well worth the listen(s).

    http://www.amazon.com/Ruggles-Comple.../dp/B007C7FFJA
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

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    Member Wounded Land's Avatar
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    Yep, that's the one I have. Great stuff.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cannygoodlike View Post
    Here's something I have been enjoying recently, though perhaps it might be considered too minor a work for this thread?
    Not as far as I'm concerned! I'm a Dutilleux fan and I've heard the piece, but it's been a while; nice to hear it again! I discovered his only piano sonata decades ago and I still enjoy it!



    Or if it's symphonic that we want in this thread, I prefer the second of his two symphonies. By the time he wrote it, his French Impressionistic influence wasn't nearly as prevalent as it was in the above earlier pieces, but it's still cool stuff!


  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Wounded Land View Post
    One composer I've really gotten into lately whom I haven't heard mentioned yet is Carl Ruggles. He only wrote twelve or so pieces his entire career, but they're really interesting. He wrote heavily polyphonic works but with a chromatic sense of harmony. I think his best-known work is probably "The Sun-Treader."
    Thanks for this. I just had a listen to a performance of Sun-Treader by Dohnanyi/Cleveland O on You Tube. Excellent. I am now considering ordering the CD that has been mentioned.

  22. #22
    Member bill g's Avatar
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    Wu - Little Sisters of the Grasslands, is a beautiful chinese piece of music featuring pipa. Probably more my thing than most around here. (kind of like the 2nd Banks album-Six Pieces For Orchestra)

  23. #23
    The Planets by Gustav Holst, in particular "Mars: the Bringer of War."

    Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass.
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  24. #24
    Rautavaara - Symphonies 3, 7, 8

    Do check this and if you enjoy it, be sure to experience the rest of the movements!
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  25. #25
    Symphonies 1 and 2 by Sir Edward Elgar conducted by Sir John Barbiriolli.

    Symphonia Domestica and Eine Alpeinsinfonie by Richard Strauss. (SD conducted by Carl Schuricht and EA conducted by Strauss)

    I love Brigg Fair by Delius and also his Florida Suite (all by Beecham, preferably)

    Sibelius symphonies, especially those conducted by Robert Kajanus.
    "and what music unites, man should not take apart"-Helmut Koellen

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