Thread: Your "top 10" works for individual composers of the twentieth century

Carl Orff:

1. Carmina Burana
2. Der Mond
3. Die Kluge
4. Trionfo di Afrodite
5. Catulli Carmina
6. Musica Poetica (Schulwerk)
7. Antigonae
8. Christmas Story
9. Oedipus der Tyrann
10. De Temporum Fine Comoedia

EASY!

Prokofiev:

1. Cinderella
2. Piano Sonata No. 2
3. Symphony No. 5
4. Piano Concerto No. 3
5. Romeo & Juliet
6. Flute Sonata
7. Piano Sonata No. 7
8. Symphony No. 2
9. Violin Concerto No. 1
10. Lt. Kije Suite

György Ligeti

These pieces all showcase his wide range of styles, textures, illusions, humor, absurdity as well as general beauty and horror. Enjoy!

1. Études pour piano
2. Atmosphères, for orchestra
3. Piano Concerto
4. Lux Aeterna, for 16 solo voices
5. String Quartet No. 1 "Métamorphoses nocturnes"
6. Artikulation, for tape
7. Continuum, for harpsichord
8. Melodien, for orchestra
9. Le Grand Macabre, opera
10. Poème Symphonique, for 100 metronomes

Tippett

1. Fantasia Cocertante on a Theme of Corelli
2. A Child of Our Time
3. Symphony 2
4. Piano Concerto
5. String Quartet 3
6. Piano Sonata 1
7. Triple Concerto
8. Concerto for Orchestra
9. Ritual Dances from Midsummer Marriage
10. Midsummer Marriage

Manuel de Falla

1. Noches en los Jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain), piano concerto (1916)
2. El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-cornered Hat) (1919)
3. El amor brujo (Love, the magician) (1925)
4. La vida breve (1905)
5. Homenajes (1930s)
6. Harpsichord concerto (1926)
7. Cuatro piezas españolas (1909)
8. Fantasia bética (1919)
9. Serenata andaluza (1900)
10. Nocturno (1896)

Bonus: Seven Spanish folksongs (1914), version for cello and strings

Tres Picos - I am now at my house in the province of Cadiz, Andalucia, so Manuel has been on my playlist a lot. I only know the first three pieces on your list, are there any similar to de Tres Picos one - thats my favorite of the three?

Originally Posted by Huilunsoittaja

EASY!

Prokofiev:

1. Cinderella
2. Piano Sonata No. 2
3. Symphony No. 5
4. Piano Concerto No. 3
5. Romeo & Juliet
6. Flute Sonata
7. Piano Sonata No. 7
8. Symphony No. 2
9. Violin Concerto No. 1
10. Lt. Kije Suite

An alternative view (admittedly piano sonatas are not my cup of tea):

1. Love for the 3 Oranges
2. Scythian Suite
3. Romeo & Juliet
4. Alexander Nevsky
5. Tale of the Stone Flower
6. Cinderella
7. Lt. Kije
8. Cantata for the 20th Annversary of the October Revolution
9. Symphony No.1, 3, 5 or 7
10. Seven, they are Seven

Dmitri Shostakovich:

1. Festive Overture
2. Symphony No. 1
3. Piano Trio No. 1
4. 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano
5. Symphony No. 5
6. Cello Concerto No. 1
7. String Quartet No. 8
8. Symphony No. 10
9. Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
10. Symphony No. 7

Here's a tentative list for Anton Webern. I had a bit of a struggle with this one, so if anybody has any better suggestions, don't be afraid to say so. Again, these are in the order in which you should hear them:

1. Rondo for piano (without opus number; 1906)
2. Passacaglia Op. 1
3. Five Lieder Op. 3
4. Five Pieces for orchestra Op. 10
5. Six Bagatelles for string quartet Op. 9

From his twelve-tone (i.e. serial) period:

6. Quartet for violin, clarinet, tenor saxophone and piano Op. 22
7. Symphony Op. 21
8. Variations for Orchestra Op. 30
9. Variations for Piano Op. 27
10. Cantata No. 2 Op. 31

Originally Posted by Air

Forgive me Webernite! It was to preserve my sanity, I assure you...

Forgiven.

Leo Ornstein (1893 - 2002) was one of the first, and most notorious modernists in the early 20th century. His early works are marked by cluster chords and heavy dissonance. This is best demonstrated by the bombastic Wild Men's Dance, and Suicide in an Airplane, which eerily imitates WW1 plane engines. These works caused a huge stir, simultaneously hailed by progressives and controversial with conservatives, causing near-riots similarly to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. However in the 20's he began to adopt a much more lyrical and romantic style, in the vein of Rachmaninoff. His contemporaries who had earlier praised his modernist works shunned him, which led to his fall into obscurity. However he ingeniously marries tonality and just the right amount of dissonance to elicit a beautiful uneasiness is many of these works, such as in the Piano Sonata No. 4. The Piano Quintet is probably his best work (and one of my favourites).

1. Wild Men's Dance (1913)


2. Sonata for Violin and Piano (1915)

3. A la Chinoise (1917)

4. Suicide in an Airplane (1918)


5. Impressions of the Thames (1920)

6. Arabesques (1921)

7. Piano Sonata No. 4 (1924)


8. Piano Quintet (1927)
iTunes link to a much better version: Link


9. Piano Sonata No. 7 (1988)

10. Piano Sonata No. 8 (1990)

This one is for Morton Feldman. They are in chronological and, if you want, listening order. I feel like he's one of those composers where it's great to listen to how he grew as an artist throughout the years. I broke it down into his three distinct periods and gave each three works (four for the middle period because that is his most accessible and I wanted to include his opera).

Early period:
1. Projections 1-5, for violin, trumpet, 2 pianos, 3 flutes and 3 cellos (1950-51)
2. Ixion, for 3 flutes, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, cello and double-bass (1958)
3. The King of Denmark, for percussion (1964)

Middle period:
4. Rothko Chapel, for soprano, alto, choir, percussion, celesta and viola (1970)
5. For Frank O'Hara, for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and cello (1973)
6. Piano and Orchestra (1975)
7. Neither [Opera in One Act], for soprano and orchestra (1977)

Late period:
8. Triadic Memories, for solo piano (1981)
9. For Philip Guston, for flute, percussion, and piano (1984)
10. For Samuel Beckett, for 23 instruments (1987)

Khachaturian (though admittedly I haven't heard everything by him yet):

1. Spartacus
2. Gayaneh
3. 2nd Symphony
4. Flute Concerto
5. Masquerade
6. Cello Concerto
7. Rhapsody for Cello
8. Concerto for Piano & Orchestra
9. 1st Symphony
10. Concerto-Rhapsody for Violin & Orchestra

Respighi (just counts since his first work was dated 1900):-

1. The Pines of Rome
2. La Boutique Fantastique
3. La Pentola Magica
4. Fountains of Rome
5. Aincient Airs & Dances
6. Belkis, Queen of Sheba
7. Sinfonia Drammatica
8. The Birds
9. Roman Festivals
10. Church Windows

Great stuff guys. The Webern & Feldman lists are very ripe for my own exploration, since I haven't heard that many of their works. The Tippett & Stravinsky list also offer many avenues for those like me who know some of their works, but not quite a few of the others. Some guy - yes, Varese is quite easy because if you buy about 2 discs (one of the sets you mention) you've got every single note he composed! Someone should do two other "easy" ones - Ravel & Berg - you can probably listen to all of their outputs in the space of a single day!

I'll try Elliot Carter (though I haven't heard his opera yet, but I feel that it should be on the list for it to be more representative of the breadth of his output, but being a chamber fan I like those of his works the most)...

1. Concerto for Orchestra (1968)
2. Three Occassions for Orchestra (1986-9)
3. Violin Concerto (1989)
4. Clarinet Concerto (1996)
5. String Quartet No. 1 (1951)
6. Piano Sonata (1945-6)
7. Four Lauds for solo violin (1984-2000)
8. Dialogues for piano & chamber orchestra (2003)
9. Mosaic for harp & ensemble (2004)
10. What Next? - opera in one act (1997)

Luc Ferrari

In Europe, this guy is pretty highly esteemed. In the U.S., still, he's practically unknown. (Even Lachenmann and Dhomont in the U.S. Something about the place, I guess.) I've put these into chronological order. I'm not convinced that there's any piece (by any composer) that's going to be a good entree piece for everyone. People who aren't composers are just as different from each other as people who are composers.

Und so weiter (1966)

Société II (Et Si Le Piano Était Un Corps De Femme) (1967)-- for a long time, this outrageous instrumental piece was only available on a DG LP. But it's out on CD, now.

Interrupteur (1967)

Tautologos III (1970) -- Interrupteur and Tautologos III are both on one CD, conveniently enough.

Presque rien no. 1 (le lever du jour au bord de la mer) (1970) -- this was the beginning of a whole new era for Luc Ferrari, and perhaps for music as well. It is the first of a series of Presque rien pieces (five), a systematic and idiosyncratic working out of the world of sound as first explored by John Cage in 4' 33".

Dances organiques (1973) -- The most erotic piece I know. (But who knows how much I know?)

Unheimlich Schön (1985)-- And it really is, too.

Et si tout entière maintenant (1987) -- If you're on Amazon, look this up under Chansons pour le corps, otherwise it sends you to the earlier recording of this, which is unavailable.

Archives sauvées des Eaux (2000) -- 1999 was the next big shift for Ferrari (1969/70 being the other one, with the first of the Presque rien pieces. This one is the first of the Exploitation of the concepts series, of which there would be six.

Les Protorhythmiques (2007) -- a bit of a cheat, as it is past the century mark (though realistically, we are still in the post-WW II era of music, aren't we?), and it is after Ferrari had died (in 2005), too. But it's Ferrari music and concepts, mostly, realized by eRikm, who had been working with Ferrari in the last years of his life and who was going to do a Les Protorhymiques concert in 2005 with Ferrari. This performance has Thomas Lehn and eRikm doing a kind of Protorhythmiques improv. (One available as of 7 Jan 2011 at Discogs.)

One word to finish. INA-GRM (which was the first big electronic studio in Paris, long before the now more famous IRCAM) has put out a splendid ten CD set of Ferrari's l'oeuvre électronique. It's not everything, but it's a lot, and it's only about thirty bucks most places. (Amazon's not one of them, but they have an mp3 download of it for 19.95USD.)