chb@vaxine.UUCP (Kool Klezmer) (02/09/84)
[] The recent flurry of interesting, well-informed articles on 20th century music have been so much fun that I decided I have to add my own 2 cents. Vaughn-Williams Although usually too pastoral for my tastes, one should check out his (I believe) his Fifth Symphony. This piece was wriiten in the late thirties and is considered V-W's statement on which particular abyss he thought the world was headed for (how right he was!). For V-W, this piece is particularly violent and dissonant. Also a lot of fun to play. Our conductor related the story that while in the rehearsals for the premier of the piece, V-W (who was conducting) purportedly laid down his baton at one point and said to the orchestra: "Ladies and gentlemen, if this is modern music, you may have it". Ives I also like his Second Symphony most of all. It's a little subtler than the later ones. But there is little doubt that he is one of the greats in modern-music: he independently invented serialism and polyphony without ever having heard what was going on in Europe at the time! His father was also probably andother great "outside" composer - the idea of the 2 bands approaching each other from opposite ends of the street was actually done by Ives Sr. For a little "light" reading check out Ives' book "On the Sonata". No one has mentioned one of my favorite 20th century composers - Geo. Rochberg. His Quartets are great neo-classical works, like hearing Beethoven as if he had played with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. And finally, (no flames, please) I would like to nominate Edward Kennedy Ellington as one of the great American 20th century composers. My treatise on him is forthcoming... It don't mean a thing, If it aint got that swing... Charlie Berg
simon@psuvax.UUCP (Janos Simon) (02/15/84)
[] As an unabashed and totally committed Bartok fan, let me add a few recommendations to the extensive list of already praised works. 1)For Children. This is a collection of easy piano pieces, based on Hungarian and Roumanian folk songs. Especially recommended for people who "dislike modern music". They are easy to listen to, yet have very cleverly written harmonies. If you play the piano, even moderately, you could play them. On the other end of the scale 2)Sonata for solo violin is a difficult, but tremendous work. It is a technically and structurally formidable composition, one of the great pieces written for violin. The Violin Concerto has the same ethereal beauty as Berg's, but the form is kept tighter under control: another masterpiece. There is a large body of work for piano: Microcosmos, the Sonata, the Out of Doors suite with its mysterious slow movement, the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, lots of smaller pieces (Allegro Barbaro, Roumanian Dances (2+a suite + kolindas), and so on.) Much of this is percussive and "difficult", but in many cases the sheer energy gets across and pleases even the untrained or unwilling listener. All three piano concertos have beautiful parts: the slow movements of the 2nd and 3rd are particularly beautiful. The Divertimento for string orchestra is another masterpiece. It may be not as readily accessible as the Concerto for Orchestra, but it is a purer, cleaner piece, with wonderful melodies and rythms in a tightly controlled form that reminds one of Bach's ability to write counterpoint that does not stifle emotion. Before I stop I must repeat the plug for the string quartets. They belong, together with Beethoven's late quartets, to a special category of music that day after day has serious new things to say to an attent listener. Happy 2 + 2 + 3/ 8 rythms to all. js
ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (02/17/84)
Another Bartok composition that should be heard by all fans of modern rhythm -- jazz folks as well as avantgarde rock types -- is the sonata for two pianos and percussion. Oddly enough, the `melody' line seems to be played by the two percussionists, who move around among a collection of drums, cymbals, xylophones, and diverse noise makers, while the pianists provide the rhythm! Though it is one of Bartok's most bizarre compositions, I found it to be one of his most accessible when I first heard Bartok 15 years ago. As to recordings, I'd avoid any titled CONCERTO for two pianos and percussion -- since the orchestra seems to disclarify the intensity of the work. There's an old (cheap) Turnabout recording that is quite good considering how awful Moss Music products can be. Also, Hungariton came out with a series of Bartok releases a while back, though I can't speak for them. I think there is a good modern release (maybe with Stephan Bishop-Kopakevic(?)). *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Perhaps my favorite `modern' classical composition of the past 40 years is Olivier Messaien's Quartet for the End of Time. Composed in a WWII concentration camp after months of seeing grey walls, grey clothes, grey food, grey faces, this masterpiece received its inspiration when the composer (a Catholic mystic, into Revelations at the time) was transmuted at the sight of the Aurora Borealis. The composition climaxes when the angel descends to announce... "And there shall be time no longer" The odd composition of the quartet (clarinet, piano, strings -- I think) was the result of the performers available in the concentration camp. Fortunately, the odd sound of this ensemble beautifully captures the many characteristic sounds and feelings of Messaien -- birdsongs, mystical ecstasy, demonic pounding rhythms -- this piece has it all. Oddly enough, Tashi, who may have been invented to perform this work, give the least satisfying performance I've ever heard. My choice is an old Angel performance (~1968) with a group thrown together for the occasion. The cover had a broken swastika on the cover. If you want the details, write me and I'll dig thru my collection. -michael