Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
Sat, Apr 2 2011, 9:43PM
Hello everybody. I’m looking to find more works of modernism/post-modernism. I have several books that do an excellent job discussing composers from the classical and romantic periods, but they devote such a small amount of attention towards modernism. It’s not fair. I think people like Elliott Carter or Olivier Messiaen deserve just as attention as Mendelssohn and Schubert. I’m looking for books or websites that focus primarily on the twentieth century. I’ve already found some incredible works:
Béla Bartók: Music For Strings, Percussion And Celesta (1936)
Osvaldas Balakauskas: Ostrobothnian Symphony (1989)
Pierre Boulez: Répons (1980)
Elliott Carter: A Symphony Of Three Orchestras (1977)
Olivier Messiaen: Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps (1940)
Krzysztof Penderecki: Threnody To The Victims Of Hiroshima (1960)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Hymnen (1967)
But I’m looking for more and I don’t know where to look any more. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Sun, Apr 3 2011, 10:11AM
#2
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
If you want books Paul Griffith´s Modern Music is an excellent general survey, and if you want a more detailed work, I would also recommend Arnold Whittall´s Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century.
Sun, Apr 3 2011, 5:58PM
#3
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
I should also mention a highly readable introduction to the subject: The Rest is Noise, by Alex Ross. He also has a website of the same name; there is a summary of the book and extensive audio extracts at http://www.therestisnoise.com/noise/
DF
Sun, Apr 3 2011, 6:39PM
#4
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
I've just been listening to what was described as Decca's most daring adventure into contemporary music when it was recorded in 1960 (sponsored by the British Council). Side 1 comprises Humphrey Searle's First Symphony, a 12 note work from the early 1950s. Searle is today perhaps best remembered as a Liszt scholar with that composer's works now being identified by their "S" numbers. I cannot make up my mind about the work. Good music or a cacophony of sound? It's certainly a sonic and aural spectacular and Boult seems to get a brilliant performance from the LPO although one might not normally associate him with the then avant garde.
The second side is perhaps even more interesting with two works by the Hungarian emigre Matyas Seiber whose compositions range from film music to work for the John Dankworth orchestra. The Elegy for viola and small orchestra is a fine work beautifully played by Cecil Aronowitz whilst the Three Fragments From a Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for reader (Peter Pears), instrumental ensemble and wordless chorus is certainly fascinating! Both items are conducted by the composer.
I bought the record when it appeared as one of Speakers Corner's facsimile reissues of early Decca stereo LPs which were put out by the German company in the late 1990s cut from the original masters by Decca. The recorded sound is simply stunning: a perfect example for those of us who believe the sound of Kenneth Wilkinson's early Decca stereos has never been bettered (despite the Kingsway Hall's tube trains evident at one point).
To the best of my knowledge the Searle has never appeared on CD but I have a vague recollection of reading in Gramophone a few months ago that the Seiber items were on CD for the first time on (Australian?) Decca Eloquence.
Sun, Apr 3 2011, 10:29PM
#5
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
The Boult Searle 1 originally appeared on Lyrita with Searle 2 conducted by Krips. Both good performances and recordings. Boult was a conductor who seemed to be able to make a decent fist of just about any work.
All Searle's symphonies appeared on CPO cds played by the BBC SSO conducted by Francis. Like Frankel he's a bit of an oddity amongst English composers of the last century, a symphonic serialist. Both composers are worth getting to know.
Mon, Apr 4 2011, 10:24AM
#6
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
Good question.
If you like Messiaen try Koechlin.
I'd, also, recommend Frankel's 1st symphony. Serial, short and memorable, dare I say it?
Petterson's symphonies.
Ades, Adams, Glass.
Mon, Apr 4 2011, 12:51PM
#7
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
Thanks for that Tagalie but I think the Decca issue came first (SXL 2232) and Lyrita licensed it to put with their own later recording of the second symphony as Lyrita weren't in business in 1960. I would have included Boult as one of the great conductors who should have appeared in the top 20 practitioners of that art in the current BBC Music Magazine.
Tue, Apr 5 2011, 3:23AM
#8
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
I should also mention a highly readable introduction to the subject: The Rest is Noise, by Alex Ross. He also has a website of the same name; there is a summary of the book and extensive audio extracts at http://www.therestisnoise.com/noise/
DF
Most definitely--easily one of the most information-filled books out there on the 20th century!
Blogs like NewMusicBox and Sequenza 21 are great for music updates about what is happening now. John Adam's book Hallelujah Junction is great for a composer's point of view on the modern music scene (but isn't nearly as good as Ross's for pure information and references).
And some other great composers to start listening to in my opinion would be:
Kaija Saariaho (Six Japanese Gardens)
Iannis Xenakis (Metastasis)
John Adams (everything... Harmonium, Shaker Loops...)
George Crumb (Makrokosmos, Black Angels)
Milton Babbitt (Composition for Viola and Piano)
Alban Berg (Lulu Suite)
Georg Freidrich Haas (In Vain, String Quartets 1 and 2)
Gyorgy Ligeti (String Quartets)
Steve Reich (Music For 18 Musicians)
Terry Riley (In C)
Brian Eno, John Cage, Robert Ashley, Nico Muhly...
Good luck!
Mon, Feb 13 2012, 9:17AM
#9
RE: Need Help Tracking Down Modernism
Good question.
If you like Messiaen try Koechlin.
I'd, also, recommend Frankel's 1st symphony. Serial, short and memorable, dare I say it?
Petterson's symphonies.
Ades, Adams, Glass.
Personally, I think the Pettersson symphonies are a little out of place in the company of the other composers.
I have the highest regard for Pettersson, but you need to be ready for a long emotional journey. His music is tough and challenging, and you have to accept an occasional dash of banality. The rewards are immense, however. Although I love the symphonies, I would greatly recommend his 2nd violin concerto. Listen to the Ida Handael version if possible - beautiful and overwhelming. It is one of the few works that I find genuinely moving.
"I would say this", but http://www.iannis-xenakis.org has got some good stuff. The Listen, Read, Look menu allows you to do just that.
DF