Good, fresh, modern classical?

[marty]

Agree on Max Richter; i do find the time when it really hits the spot, and it is generally well recorded and pressed by DG. Penderecki and Lutoslowski are also often on when I'm up for a challenge, again really great recording, mostly Naxos cd.

Will look up some of the above

+1 on the Richter, whereas I will bet my rig that nobody will be listening to the Bates piece 25 years from now. Not even sure about 25 days from now.

 

[Empirical Audio]

Try Holst, The Planets. Find the right recording of the right orchestra.

Also, one of my favorites, Ravel. Everything is great. I like Daminis and Chloe. Find the right orchestra and recording.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

 

[Uk Paul / Z:Axis Audio]

While on the Max Richter theme, Johann Johannsson's Orphee is very beautiful, as I am sure his other works will be too but we have not explored yet, but will no doubt.

http://www.johannjohannsson.com/

 

[the sound of Tao]

Richter and Johannsson both compose some very beautiful music for sure, romantic, evocative and probably lasting but I do find film music ultimately held back in some ways by context.

Still, music has always been about bringing us together in some shared understanding through experience and this highly accessible contemporary classical music type that is driven by the purpose of underscoring movies still often manages that.

Richter seems quite prolific. Johannsson’s Orphee is really lovely yes, I have used this on my playlist of background music to play for my design class when they are drawing... sets the atmosphere very nicely.

 

[KeithR]

Try Holst, The Planets. Find the right recording of the right orchestra.

Also, one of my favorites, Ravel. Everything is great. I like Daminis and Chloe. Find the right orchestra and recording.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

umm, modern? I don't think so.

 

[Simon Moon]

I've been loving this!

Thea Musgrave's, "Turbulent Landscapes".

Just added this to my collection.

Jennifer Higdon, "violin concerto".

 

[Simon Moon]

I guess there is not much love for modern and contemporary classical on WBF.

Well...

I'll keep contributing to this thread.



Joseph Schwantner - From a Dark Millenium (1980)

 

[astrotoy]

It's tough to determine what is, or will be great classical music from this era, even 30 years from now. We heard Beethoven's 2nd, 4th and 5th piano concerti over the weekend played by Jonathan Biss with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (on tour in Berkeley). Hard to remember that after the premiere of the 4th at the famous 1808 concert (in the view of many- most? - the greatest piano concerto), it was not played again until Mendelssohn revived it in 1836. Difficult to use the opinions of contemporary critics, whose praise or condemnations are not accurate measures of the quality of the piece. Remember during Beethoven's lifetime (and he was very famous as a pianist until his deafness stopped him performing and composer), his most popular symphony was the 1st, and his most popular piece was his Septet.

Each of the three concerts this weekend had a modern piece (all commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra usually in partnership with another orchestra) composed in the past two or three years. They were each sandwiched in between two well known pieces. Our local Berkeley Symphony also does that every concert they give. So the audiences of both get more accustomed to the tonalities of these pieces. However, they are seldom if ever performed again to the same audiences.

I think there is a tendency for modern compositions which are popular to have more conventional tonalities, "easier on the ear".

According to an analysis of the compositions played by the 22 largest American orchestras in 2014-15, the most played contemporary composers were in order: John Adams, Mason Bates, Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Rouse, Essa-Pekka Salonen, and Thomas Ades. Contemporary composers made up 12% of the pieces programmed. Adams (35) and Bates (30) were about double the number of the next three.

https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/by-the-numbers-living-composers


A website called "Ranker" allows people to rank their choices of the "best" modern classical composers (it is under their classical music and opera category). Here are the top five voted by the public - John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, Ennio Morricone, James Horner.

https://www.ranker.com/list/best-modern-composers/ranker-music

Larry

 

[KeithR]

Thanks, Larry. I had not heard of Mason Bates before. I will add him to my list. I have several John Adams pieces but never seemed to warm up to his style.

 

[Simon Moon]

Thanks, Larry. I had not heard of Mason Bates before. I will add him to my list. I have several John Adams pieces but never seemed to warm up to his style.

I recommended Bates on the second page of this thread (post #18) and included a video of Anne Akiko Meyers performing his violin concerto.

Great piece.

 

[astrotoy]

I recommended Bates on the second page of this thread (post #18) and included a video of Anne Akiko Meyers performing his violin concerto.

Great piece.

Thanks. We heard the Bates Cello Concerto last year at a Berkeley Symphony concert. It was played by the young rising star cellist Joshua Roman, who was the first cellist of the Seattle Symphony when he was 22. Very accessible piece. Bates was at the performance. Both he and John Adams live in the SF Bay Area.

Larry

 

[jeff1225]

Many good suggestions here. I'm a big fan of ECM jazz as well as ECM classical (New Series). Here is an example of some amazing modern music from Arvo Part, the Estonian genius:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vdgZAJVnes

Enjoy! (please don't waste your time Gary)

 

[jeff1225]

I have been collecting modern classical records for sometime, not easy to come by. In addition to Part, here are some other modern musicians I recommend:

Adams
Cage
Janacek
Glass
Gorecki

Symphony 3 is a favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcfy3UmnyDY

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Thanks. We heard the Bates Cello Concerto last year at a Berkeley Symphony concert. It was played by the young rising star cellist Joshua Roman, who was the first cellist of the Seattle Symphony when he was 22. Very accessible piece. Bates was at the performance. Both he and John Adams live in the SF Bay Area.

Larry

I saw Joshua Roman do Tavener's 'The Protecting Veil' about 8 years ago with a local Seattle Chamber Orchestra. he was really amazing.

http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2009/jan-jun09/nw_sinfonia1303.htm

the conductor, Christophe Chagnard, is a friend and audiophile.

 

[the sound of Tao]

Taverner is brilliant and The Protecting Veil is a great work... really substantial modern classical music... or is it post modern. I sometimes get my moderns mixed up.

I also note with sadness the passing a few days ago of Johann Johansson at just 48 years. Some very moving tributes in the press around the world but no mention of the cause of death.

His work was always elegiac and tinged with some sorrow. He also made movie music that wasn’t too popcorn. He had a talent for making meaningful and evocative music for films that didn’t just seem too overtly programmatic. Very sorry to hear of his going. His work is a proper legacy and just by chance I was playing his music Orphee on the day when a mate txt’d to mention he had heard he had passed.

 

[rsorren1]

I recommend you give a listen to Phillip Glass - Double Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra. We heard it performed here in Dallas a few weeks back by Marielle and Katia Labeque. Glass wrote it for them. Only available through the iTunes Store. I bought it as well and it sounds ok. I’ve been a fan of the Lebeques (in love really but that’s another thread) for a long time.

 

[astrotoy]

The modern orchestral pieces that we have heard in the past few years all seem to have one of two things in common. Most have been commissioned by the orchestra that is performing the piece, often it is a joint commission with one or two other orchestras. This is also a trend we have seen with opera productions, where two or more opera companies are jointly sharing the cost of the production of an opera - not necessarily a new one. The second is that some of the major orchestras have engaged composers to be resident composers for some period of time (one or two years, maybe longer). At the recent three concert visit of the Chicago Symphony with Riccardo Muti to Berkeley, they played a piece "All These Lighted Things" by one of their two resident composers, Elizabeth Ogonek. She was present for the concert. (Their other resident composer is Samuel Adams). Not too many orchestras can afford to have a resident composer on their payroll.

Before Beethoven, the standard model was that a composer was in the employ of a wealthy patron. Haydn is the most extreme example, with the Esterhazy family not only employing him, but hiring a fine orchestra for him to present his compositions to the court.

There have been the occasional very wealthy composers who could essentially pay to have their compositions played. The Bay Area's Gordon Getty is a prime example. We have heard Getty's compositions played by different orchestras, and he has even had recordings done by record companies like Channel Classics. He has even had operas produced by major opera companies. I believe that not coincidentally, he and his wife continue to be major donors to classical music organizations.

One interesting recording is the Leimer Fourth Piano Concerto, performed by the composer Kurt Leimer and the Vienna Philharmonic, recorded in 1958. It is Decca SXL2100, and is the rarest and most expensive of all Decca recordings. It also has a green label, instead of the standard black and white label. The reason for its rarity is that it was a private issue, never sold to the public. John Culshaw, famed Decca producer, tells the story:
“The heir to one of the largest German car empires had developed a bent for composition and let it be known that he would pay handsomely,
either in cash or cars, or both, if the Vienna Philharmonic would record one of his piano concertos.”
(John Culshaw, “Putting the Record Straight” page 194).

Larry

 

[LL21]

 

[LL21]

Koyaanisqatsi, Philip Glass

 

[LL21]