parker@psuvax.UUCP (02/06/84)
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[This is response to those folks who have 20th Century music unbearable.]
The thing I find most interesting about 20th Century music is that
despite it's occasional wrangling with older works, even the most
bizarre of them reflects and says something about what has gone on
before. Though I like most of the more conservative crowd of composers
(Thomson, Barber, Britten, Piston, Mahler, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Nielsen,
Pettersen, Vaughan Williams, Delius, Hindemith, for example) I don't find
their music as revelatory as others. The aforementioned are
mostly imitating older styles (though occasionally using some more
contemporary techniques) and we will probably always prefer
the older folks.
The composers I am thinking of are those that have added
some significant new ideas and approaches -- more than just notes --
to music: Bartok, Schoenberg, Sessions, Messaien, Cage, Reich, Glass,
Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Debussy, Carter, Crumb, Druckman, Janacek,
Ravel, Ruggles, Stravinsky, Webern.
I can't really recall now how I've come to appreciate "contemporary"
music, but I do know that it takes a bit more than just listening to it.
Except for the conservatives, many of the composers are experimenting with
increasingly complex structures and harmonies that sometimes
don't make sense to an untrained ear upon first listening.
Even then, though, the music should make sense on a gut level or else
it's not worth anything. You have to find music, even a small part
of it, that appeals to you.
I guess that leads to suggestions. This is just meant as a small
list of works that I recall enjoying upon first hearing.
(Note that I am excluding Sessions, Carter, and most of the rest
of the Uptown Manhattan crowd.)
George Crumb Song of the Whale
Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi
Steve Reich Tehillim
Octet
Jacob Druckman Aureole
Bela Bartok Miraculous Mandarin
Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
Piano Concerto #3
Concerto for Orchestra
Alban Berg Violin Concerto
Olivier Messaien Quartet for the End of Time
Krystof Penderecki Saint Luke's Passion
Witold Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra
Claude Debussy Jeux
Carl Ruggles Suntreader
Igor Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Canticum Sacrum
Symphony of Psalms
L'histoire du Soldat
I hope this helps for a start. I'd be glad to correspond concerning
any of this.
--
Bruce Parker
Computer Science Department (814) 865-7292
321 Whitmore Lab {allegra|ihnp4}!psuvax!parker
The Pennsylvania State University parker@penn-state (csnet)
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 parker@psuvax1 (bitnet)