Favorite 20th Century composers
Posted 19 October 2006
I tend to like specific works, so:
Vaughan Williams' 6th, 7th & 8th symphonies
Hilding Rosenberg's 3rd Symphony
Arnold Bax' 2nd and 3rd Symphonies
Walton's Symphony 1 in Bb minor
Honneger's Pastorale d'Eté
Alban Berg's musical dramas.
I quite like the American, Peter Mennin, Australian Peter Sulthorpe, and semi-Englishman Delius for any of their works.
Vaughan Williams' 6th, 7th & 8th symphonies
Hilding Rosenberg's 3rd Symphony
Arnold Bax' 2nd and 3rd Symphonies
Walton's Symphony 1 in Bb minor
Honneger's Pastorale d'Eté
Alban Berg's musical dramas.
I quite like the American, Peter Mennin, Australian Peter Sulthorpe, and semi-Englishman Delius for any of their works.
Posted 19 October 2006
Oh boy, where to start...
Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ives, Webern, Schoenberg, Berg, Ginastera, Bartok, Scriabin, Debussy, Ravel, Piazzola, Ornstein.
Ah, great music
Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ives, Webern, Schoenberg, Berg, Ginastera, Bartok, Scriabin, Debussy, Ravel, Piazzola, Ornstein.
Ah, great music
Posted 20 October 2006
OH so many...
Cage (prepared piano pieces), Reich (different trains), Prokofiev (is so cool), Rachmaninov (does he count?), Malcolm Arnold (carnival of animals - bats!!), Stravinsky, Schoenberg...
Film music? Michael Nyman (heart asks pleasure first)
Voila, C'est moi.
Cage (prepared piano pieces), Reich (different trains), Prokofiev (is so cool), Rachmaninov (does he count?), Malcolm Arnold (carnival of animals - bats!!), Stravinsky, Schoenberg...
Film music? Michael Nyman (heart asks pleasure first)
Voila, C'est moi.
Posted 13 January 2007
Above all, Debussy, Schönberg, Bartok, Stravinsky.
Then, in the next level, Alban Berg, Webern, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Enescu, Ravel, Lutoslawski, Dutilleux, Britten, Falla.
Then, in the next level, Alban Berg, Webern, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Enescu, Ravel, Lutoslawski, Dutilleux, Britten, Falla.
Posted 24 January 2007
I have to add Villa-Lobos.
A recording of his Symphony No 2 (1917) is about to be released if it hasn't already. I have an ancient bootleg of this work performed by an orchestra that doesn't exist (obviously, for bootleg reasons) and a review copy of the new one so, with (ugh!) snow on the ground today, I'm staying at home and try to compare them.
The absence of published scores for most of HVL's works makes study a problem. When they are available they're vastly expensive.
Happy sn*w, everyone.
A recording of his Symphony No 2 (1917) is about to be released if it hasn't already. I have an ancient bootleg of this work performed by an orchestra that doesn't exist (obviously, for bootleg reasons) and a review copy of the new one so, with (ugh!) snow on the ground today, I'm staying at home and try to compare them.
The absence of published scores for most of HVL's works makes study a problem. When they are available they're vastly expensive.
Happy sn*w, everyone.
Posted 24 January 2007
Villa Lobos, Rachmaninov, Piazzola those three would be my favorites for 20th century. Barrios was also 20th century so I can't forget him
Those that know, do
Those that understand, teach
---Aristotle
Those that understand, teach
---Aristotle
Posted 05 March 2007
Oh man
No body mention Arvo Part's Te Deum?
That's is definitely my favorite.
but of course Debussy and Ravel and Stravinsky.
yeah...
No body mention Arvo Part's Te Deum?
That's is definitely my favorite.
but of course Debussy and Ravel and Stravinsky.
yeah...
Posted 16 April 2007
Almost all of the composers mentioned above. I'd also like to add John Adams - he is probably the best orchestrator alive writing in a modern language. His Chairman Dances is just a delight.
Posted 21 April 2007
My favorite is Prokofiev; Why: "Peter and the Wolf" was the first work I heard played by a live orchestrea (I was 11). His "Classical Symphony" was a wonderful study because everything was laid out so clearly. His music for Eisenstein's movie, "Alexandre Nevski," still gives me goosebumps when I recall it.
The most influenced 20th century I usually find is the Russians, especially Shostachovich. I was enthralled by Stravinski when I was younger. I bought every recording I could get my hands on and listened to it over and over even though I didn't understand it.
The most influenced 20th century I usually find is the Russians, especially Shostachovich. I was enthralled by Stravinski when I was younger. I bought every recording I could get my hands on and listened to it over and over even though I didn't understand it.
Posted 23 April 2007
It's so difficult since I mostly like 20th c music anyway so it's easier to say what I don't like, namely the more rigid of the second Viennese school (and their followers into total serialism like Boulez (the composer)), the Darmstadt lot excluding Cage who didn't get on too well with Stockhausen and mates, and who I can at least appreciate because of his work with Merce Cunningham.
Posted 24 April 2007
Ernesto Lecuona, Rachmaninov, Dmitri Tiomkin, Elmer Bernstein, and I'm beginning to get interested in Villa-Lobos. Mostly, I'm many years out of date.
Posted 29 April 2007
I've tried to get interested in Villa-Lobos. The problem is there is so much so inevitably some will be boring while some, excellent. My latest attempt is his second symphony which is a right sprawler of a work in HVL's thickest scoring! I've been happy with his two film suites "Forest of the Amazon*" and "Discovery of Brazil" and some of the Choros. A difficult composer though - and damned difficult to play (or conduct, I'd guess, looking at some of his scores). I recently acquired the recording "Choros 1-7" which includes the "Introduction to the Choros" - a nice piece with a guitar solo - convinced me that he knew how to write for guitar with full orchestra.
Posted 12 May 2007
Well, no posts to this thread yet in May, so I'll sneak in an intro: I'm some guy who likes music, and then I'll put some names down, to make things all nice and legal.
A new favorite of mine is Per Nørgård. He wrote six symphonies, of which five and six are very fine, five operas (I only know Nuits des Hommes--I did say he was a "new" favorite) and a bunch of other good stuff. Otherwise, Helmut Lachenmann and Wolfgang Rihm are also good for new orchestral and instrumental stuff, as is Bronius Kutavicius and Sofia Gubaidulina.
But the coolest kids, I think, are the electroacoustic folks: Dhomont, Henry, Ferreyra, Bokanowski, Marchetti, Brümmer, Normandeau, Calon, Kaufman...
I'm surprised this thread is so short; there's so much good stuff in the 20th and 21st centuries. (Of course, I'm also surprised my own list of favorites here is so short. Where are Ashley and Lucier and Cage and Webern and Varèse and Oliveros and Kubisch and Goebbels and... Well you get the idea. Too much topnotch stuff.)
A new favorite of mine is Per Nørgård. He wrote six symphonies, of which five and six are very fine, five operas (I only know Nuits des Hommes--I did say he was a "new" favorite) and a bunch of other good stuff. Otherwise, Helmut Lachenmann and Wolfgang Rihm are also good for new orchestral and instrumental stuff, as is Bronius Kutavicius and Sofia Gubaidulina.
But the coolest kids, I think, are the electroacoustic folks: Dhomont, Henry, Ferreyra, Bokanowski, Marchetti, Brümmer, Normandeau, Calon, Kaufman...
I'm surprised this thread is so short; there's so much good stuff in the 20th and 21st centuries. (Of course, I'm also surprised my own list of favorites here is so short. Where are Ashley and Lucier and Cage and Webern and Varèse and Oliveros and Kubisch and Goebbels and... Well you get the idea. Too much topnotch stuff.)
Posted 22 August 2007
Hmmm. Mahler, eh?
Why not Dvorak, too, then, who died in 1904? Or Grieg? (1907) Or Rimsky-Korsakov? (1908)
Or perhaps Camille Saint-Saens, who made it all the way to 1921?
I grant you that Mahler is possibly more modern in sensibility than any of these, but that comes out most plainly in the symphony no. 10, which..., well, you know.
OK, amigo. Give it another try!
Why not Dvorak, too, then, who died in 1904? Or Grieg? (1907) Or Rimsky-Korsakov? (1908)
Or perhaps Camille Saint-Saens, who made it all the way to 1921?
I grant you that Mahler is possibly more modern in sensibility than any of these, but that comes out most plainly in the symphony no. 10, which..., well, you know.
OK, amigo. Give it another try!
Posted 22 August 2007
some guy said:
Hmmm. Mahler, eh?
Why not Dvorak, too, then, who died in 1904? Or Grieg? (1907) Or Rimsky-Korsakov? (1908)
Or perhaps Camille Saint-Saens, who made it all the way to 1921?
I grant you that Mahler is possibly more modern in sensibility than any of these, but that comes out most plainly in the symphony no. 10, which..., well, you know.
OK, amigo. Give it another try!
Why not Dvorak, too, then, who died in 1904? Or Grieg? (1907) Or Rimsky-Korsakov? (1908)
Or perhaps Camille Saint-Saens, who made it all the way to 1921?
I grant you that Mahler is possibly more modern in sensibility than any of these, but that comes out most plainly in the symphony no. 10, which..., well, you know.
OK, amigo. Give it another try!
Give it another try? The thread is called "Favorite 20th Century composers" incase you haven't noticed. Mahler is my favourite composer that lived in the 20th Century, not Dvorak, Grieg, Saint-Saens or Rimsky-Korsakov (all of whom I'm fond of). In fact, Mahler is my favourite composer and I have listened to, studied and played his music for years.
You 'grant' me Mahler is possibly more modern in sensibility? He definitely is. Not that that's the point anyway, and you don't need to go to the 10th to find that. The outburst at the beginning of last movement of the 1st symphony clearly shakes the foundations of tonality more than any of these composers did. (again, not that that's the point of this thread).
Anyway, there was no need for you to try and be a smartass with me unless you had something to prove, (something I know you wouldn't really attempt if you actually knew me at all).
As far as true 20th Century composers go, I'm trying hard to get on a level Gustav Allan Pettersson - whose music is so gritty and honest - and I have always loved the big Russian orchestral sounds such Shostakovich, Scriabin and Prokofiev. (this is no doubt due in part to me being a brass player!)
Posted 22 August 2007
amigomatt said:
Give it another try? The thread is called "Favorite 20th Century composers" incase you haven't noticed. Mahler is my favourite composer that lived in the 20th Century
Why yes, yes I had noticed that....
I also noticed your disingenuous replacement of "20th century composer" with "composer who was still alive after 1900."
"Real point," indeed!
Now tell me, what of Pettersson have you heard? I have symphonies 5, 15, and 16. They don't seem as inventive as Nørgård's six, but they're interesting enough to bear repeated listenings. Any recommendations for which ones to pick up next?
Posted 23 August 2007
some guy said:
I also noticed your disingenuous replacement of "20th century composer" with "composer who was still alive after 1900."
"Real point," indeed!
"Real point," indeed!
I don't see why you've continued to be condescending in your reply to me. Just read through your first post to me again and be aware of your rude tone. I hope you might then begin to understand the manner of my response.
I just joined this forum to talk about music. I suppose in this case I'm just a musician who hasn't responded well to a music lover with an inflated sense of self presuming my lack of knowledge and taste. Oh well...
