Thread: Modern Chamber music?

Other than the Shostakovich chamber music I've heard including his wonderful string quartets, I can't really find much in the way of chamber music that I enjoy. I think it is because modern chamber music sounds so very different from the orchestral music to my ears. So what would you recommend?

I think it is relatively easier to get into the chamber music because it can be less dense than orchestral music a lot of the time.

This is very entertaining:

It's always a bit difficult to recommend works without knowing a bit more about what someone (in your case) dislikes. Can you tell us what you've heard that you did not like?

Without knowing more, my first suggestion would be Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time). To many, this work is a profoundly moving and beautiful piece.

String Quartets - Arnold, Bartok, Berio, Britten, Carter, Dutilleux, Enescu, Ginastera, Gubaidulina, Hindemith, Janacek, Krenek, Ligeti, Messiaen, Moeran, Myaskovsky, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Rawsthorne, Sibelius, Schnittke, Schoenberg, RVW, Walton.

I tend to enjoy the dense stuff more, honestly. Modern composers I enjoy orchestral works by: Penderecki, Ligeti, Hindemith, Janacek, Myaskovsky, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Britten, Bartok, Schnittke, Walton, RVW (most of this list came form the above poster (RVW I assume is ralph vaughan williams?) and Sibelius.

Originally Posted by Manok

I tend to enjoy the dense stuff more, honestly. Modern composers I enjoy orchestral works by: Penderecki, Ligeti, Hindemith, Janacek, Myaskovsky, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Britten, Bartok, Schnittke, Walton, RVW (most of this list came form the above poster (RVW I assume is ralph vaughan williams?) and Sibelius.

I did, also ('enjoy the dense stuff more'), when I began earnestly collecting classical music. Once I'd had my fill of listening to, what must have been dozens of "unknown composers" orchestral, I decided to return to the "greats", to see what else they wrote. It wasn't long before I appreciated chamber as much as orchestral. That's not to say one won't find some composers top heavy in either.

Originally Posted by Manok

I tend to enjoy the dense stuff more, honestly. Modern composers I enjoy orchestral works by: Penderecki, Ligeti, Hindemith, Janacek, Myaskovsky, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Britten, Bartok, Schnittke, Walton, RVW (most of this list came form the above poster (RVW I assume is ralph vaughan williams?) and Sibelius.

For a more dense sound, try some of Ligeti's chamber works from the 60s especially the Chamber Concerto, String Quartet no. 2 and Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet. You'd be able to find them all on Aleazk's blog right here on TC.

Not sure how to help.

You have a list of orchestral pieces by composers whom you do like.

Perhaps you could go and try their chamber pieces?

I'm pretty useless at helping others find out what they like. Almost as useless as trying to convince others that they might like what I like. Equally, I know what I like, and specialise mostly in listening to what I like (the string quartet). I know it's not what you like for the most part, but if you like the Shostakovich string quartets, you could try the Myaskovsky string quartet cycle, then the Salamanov string quartet cycle. Going by region/country, the Soviet field is very rich. Moving to Hungary, you could try the Bartok string quartet cycle (maybe a tougher nut to crack than the Shostakovich or Myaskovsky. If you do crack the Bartok string quartet cycle, then you could try the Lathja string quartet cycle; the Matjas Seiber quartet cycle; the two Kodaly string quartets and the Dohnanyi string quartets. If you don't like the folk idiom of the Hungarian style, then the Czech quartets, by Dvorak; Foerster; Janacek (whom you do like) Martinu and Smetana are enticing. If you're interested in Polish ones, then there are threads on Polish Quartets; similarly, French Quartets; English Quartets; American Quartets.

Perhaps you'll have decided after a handful you can't stand quartets. Then there is only one option left. Try listening to virtuoso tuba solos.

For some 20century intriguing Chamber Music, try some Rhim, Klein, Krenek, the great Britten (there is some marvelous Chamber works in his opus), the wonderful Bax, the fascinating Delius, the creative Shchedrin and the glorious Weinberg.
For utterly beautiful but looking backwards composer, Korngold is the best example: some superb, almost sublime Chamber works, written surprisingly in the 20th century. Some French, like Widor, Pierne, Ropartz, or francophone, like Jongen, may satisfy you, at least to some extent.
Keep exploring, even in 20th century there is much to discover.

Principe

Here's a fine Penderecki CD.

Originally Posted by Head_case

Not sure how to help.

You have a list of orchestral pieces by composers whom you do like.

Perhaps you could go and try their chamber pieces?

I'm pretty useless at helping others find out what they like. Almost as useless as trying to convince others that they might like what I like. Equally, I know what I like, and specialise mostly in listening to what I like (the string quartet). I know it's not what you like for the most part, but if you like the Shostakovich string quartets, you could try the Myaskovsky string quartet cycle, then the Salamanov string quartet cycle. Going by region/country, the Soviet field is very rich. Moving to Hungary, you could try the Bartok string quartet cycle (maybe a tougher nut to crack than the Shostakovich or Myaskovsky. If you do crack the Bartok string quartet cycle, then you could try the Lathja string quartet cycle; the Matjas Seiber quartet cycle; the two Kodaly string quartets and the Dohnanyi string quartets. If you don't like the folk idiom of the Hungarian style, then the Czech quartets, by Dvorak; Foerster; Janacek (whom you do like) Martinu and Smetana are enticing. If you're interested in Polish ones, then there are threads on Polish Quartets; similarly, French Quartets; English Quartets; American Quartets.

Perhaps you'll have decided after a handful you can't stand quartets. Then there is only one option left. Try listening to virtuoso tuba solos.

In pieces written before classical music became mostly atonal, I can usually like the chamber music of a composer I like the orchestral stuff by, even if they write differently for whatever group of instruments is used. I haven't quite figured out why the more modern chamber music is so hard to listen to.

My guess is as bad as any other....I suppose with the dense orchestration, orchestral music has many different layers to follow. There will be more layers to listen to, or at least, a thread within the textures to hold onto and grip the listener.

Chamber music is very exposing: it is by nature, intimate, like a chamber or a small room. For the players, it is very exposing, and its intensity can sometimes be a little off putting, especially written in the contemporary idiom.

Bit of a fluffy explanation, but it's beyond my field really. I used to like orchestral music when I was 12years old; Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition; Khachaturian's amazing cello concertos...Wienawski's too.

Maybe I just grew out of it. The thick textures were at once, something I loved. Now, it's something which gets in the way of the individual instrument's timbre. Maybe I've just become more focussed and analytical, to the exclusion of the orchestral format.

If you don't get into chamber music, don't worry - it's a bit like not getting into opera (which I can't stand!) or perhaps chorale music, or even Lieder. There are too many choices, and most of us aren't wet fish who claimm to like any and everything indiscriminately.

As for chamber music ...maybe it's the Ravel Piano Trio; the Debussy String Quartet; the Fauré cello sonatas which might be a safe and inoffensive era of chamber music to start off with. Most chamber music fans prefer the romantic and classical era, even if your orchestral taste is very contemporary. I suppose I'm saying, maybe start off in the late 19th century and move slowly forwards until you find yourself at the limit of your comfort zone?

Schoenberg's string quartet no. 1

Just as a side note, I do enjoy chamber music, I just find it difficult to listen to a good bit of modern chamber music. It may help that I typically enjoy odd uses of standard instruments or even unconventional combinations of instruments. I suppose that it does make sense that there is less to listen to and that could likely make it harder to appreciate.

If it hasn't been mentioned already, I do believe that Bartok wrote some fine string quartets that are just a tad bit more adventuresome than many of Shostakoviches, although I've played Bartok SQs and Shosty SQs for some more conservative listeners and they've preferred the Bartok! Its usually the last movement of the 4th that gets em...