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A Contemporary Music Repertoire (a work in progress)

346K views 208 replies 41 participants last post by  Chat Noir 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi everyone,

For the past year or so, I've been on and off working on compiling a large, but hopefully comprehensive, list of contemporary classical music. In fact, I'm still working on it, but I thought I would share my current progress in case anyone is interested.

What is this list exactly? Well, in the most precise terms, it is simply an aggregation of works of the most-acclaimed contemporary composers that both critics and casual listeners seem to recommend. I did this through plenty of research across various forums, books, articles and reviews (including a drop of my own preferences). As I disclaim in the link, this list is obviously not scientific nor perfect by any means, but I hope it provides a good overview of contemporary classical music especially for novices.

To breakdown its sheer vastness, I created a couple tiers to distinguish the most-recommended works:

⋆⋆⋆ means an essential work, among the most esteemed of the contemporary era
⋆⋆ means a fairly important work, good to know especially if you're interested in that particular composer

Of the composers listed, am I missing any of their important works or your favorites? Do you disagree strongly with any of the star ratings (or lack thereof)? Or generally, if anyone has any questions or feedback, I'd be happy to hear!

Edit: I should have made it more clear that there are tons of absent composers that I just haven't had time to include yet. Each composer entry takes many hours to complete thoroughly so I appreciate all of your patience.
 
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#143 ·
I'm planning to add a new entry in the next day or so. In the meantime, here are some recent promotions:

Boulez: Incises (now added)
Crumb: Eleven Echoes of Autumn (now added)
Denisov: Cello Concerto (now 2-star)
Feldman: Principal Sound (now added)
Ferneyhough: Exordium (now added)
Furrer: Presto (now added)
Haas: Piano Concerto (now added)
Stockhausen: Sternklang (now 2-star)
 
#144 · (Edited)
Here is the new entry for George Benjamin. It may seem rather short, but that is actually a fairly good chunk of the current oeuvre of one of the best 21st-century composers. Written on Skin is, in my opinion and that of many others, a powerful masterpiece. On the list, he's one of only 4 composers who composed a 3-star work from the 2010s (the others being Abrahamsen, JL Adams, and Haas). He additionally has some of the most recent pieces currently listed. He is a major figure indeed, and I look forward to including many more of his pieces in the coming years.

By the way, I recognize that most all of his listed pieces are large, orchestral ones. I'm not yet familiar enough with his work as a whole to know if that's just the orchestral bias popping up again, or if that is simply a stronger medium for him (or perhaps some of both). However, if anyone wants to advocate for some of his works for other ensembles, I'd be happy to hear.
 
#145 · (Edited)
A few more promotions, courtesy of Harrison Birtwistle:

Berio: Concertino (now listed)
Birtwistle: Deep Time (now listed)
Birtwistle: Gigue Machine (now listed)
Birtwistle: Nine Movements (now listed)
Birtwistle: Donum Simoni MMXVIII (now listed)
Chin: Alice in Wonderland (now 2-star)
Chin: Rocaná (now 2-star)
Crumb: Zeitgeist (now listed)
Davies: Symphony No. 6 (now 2-star)
Ferneyhough: Bone Alphabet (now 2-star)
Ferneyhough: Shadowtime (now 2-star)
Ferneyhough: Transit (now 2-star)
Furrer: spur (now 2-star)
Takemitsu: Air (now listed)
Xenakis: Nuits (now 2-star)
 
#148 ·
Here's an entry to recognize the belated Charles Wuorinen. I discovered his thrilling oratorio Genesis shortly before his passing which became one of my favorite contemporary choral works. I found its cousin, the Mass, more elusive upon first hearing, but I now consider it tremendously awe-inspiring and beautiful upon re-listens. I also particularly enjoy his percussive Third Piano Concerto with its shifting tones and textures. His passing was a tremendous loss, but if there is any silver lining, hopefully there will be some renewed interest in his works both in the concert hall and on disc. I think many of his works certainly deserve more interpretations, or, in the case of some, a premiere recording.

And just an update on the composers in the next batch (whenever that may be...), I am considering the following:

Aho, Kalevi
Bryars, Gavin
Cerha, Friedrich
Corigliano, John
Dillon, James
Dusapin, Pascal
Eötvös, Peter
Ferrari, Luc
Golijov, Osvaldo
MacMillan, James
Monk, Meredith
Oliveros, Pauline
Radulescu, Horatiu
Rochberg, George
Romitelli, Fausto
Sallinen, Aulis
Saunders, Rebecca
Sculthorpe, Peter
Tavener, John
 
#153 ·
Hot off the presses: James Dillon.

And I made a few promotions mainly to correct for some bad omissions:

- Finnissy: Contretänze (now listed)
- Finnissy: Seven Sacred Motets (now listed)
- Radulescu: String Quartet #4 (now 3-star)
- Radulescu: String Quartet #5 (now 3-star)
- Rzewski: The Road (now listed)
- Saariaho: Amers (now listed)
- Saariaho: Grammaire des rêves (now listed)
 
#156 ·
Wow, thanks a lot to the both of you! It's definitely gratifying to know that this project can be seen as a useful resource for many listeners here.

But I hope this is not just a one-man show and that anyone knowledgeable about the era can provide some guidance or anyone simply interested can share their opinions on the music. After all, I'm hoping to learn as much as anyone else through this process.
 
#164 ·
But I hope this is not just a one-man show and that anyone knowledgeable about the era can provide some guidance or anyone simply interested can share their opinions on the music. After all, I'm hoping to learn as much as anyone else through this process.
Since I'm due up to present a work by Philippe Manoury in the 1980-2000 listening group, I'll use this opportunity to listen/re-listen to a number of his works over the next couple weeks and then create a list of recommendations. He's a good one to add to the project and is a good example of being one of those composers who's famous everywhere in the contemporary music world except on TC.
 
#157 ·
If you'd like me to, Trout, I would be willing to do some research and make recommendations for the music of Gabriela Lena Frank. I'd let you know also why I make those recommendations with simple documentation. I honestly don't know her oeuvre well at all, but I'd be willing to work on it so you don't have to be like Atlas and take the world on your shoulders.
 
#159 · (Edited)
Doing a non-scientific survey using the following online sources (as well as general internet surfing :D)

Composer's own website: https://www.glfcam.com/people/gabriela
A survey of recordings available on Spotify, Arkivmusic, YouTube
An interview by the composer on YouTube
An article in the "San Francisco Classical Voice"
Wikipedia
wisemusicclassical.com

She has an oeuvre of about 50 works. I tried to pair it down to those works that seem to be getting the most buzz or that represent significant commissions of large scale works.

Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout (String Quartet or String Orchestra, 2001, recorded by Chiara and Del Sol Quartets). She refers to this as her breakout work. It also seems to be the most performed of her works. Maybe ** worthy.

Other key works seem to be:
-Sueños de Chambi: Shapshots for an Andean Album, for violin & piano (2002)
-Three Latin-American Dances for Orchestra (2003)
-Adagio para Amantini for Cello and Piano (2007)
-Quijotadas: String Quartet (2007)
-Hilos (Threads) for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (2010)
-Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra (2017)
-Conquest Requiem (premiered 2017) for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra commissioned by the Houston Symphony
-El último sueño de Frida y Diego, Opera (2019) (Premiering spring of next year, presumably because of COVID, co-commissioned by the San Diego and Fort Worth Opera companies. Her first opera.)

I hope this helps!

Also, for what its worth, I think Quijotadas is good enough to become part of the standard repertoire but that is entirely my opinion!
 
#160 · (Edited)
Alright, here's what I've got for Donatoni:

- Musica [chamber orch.] (1954-55)
- Doubles [harpsichord] (1961)
- Puppenspiel [étude for orch.] (1961)
- Puppenspiel II [flute & orch.] (1966)
- Etwas ruhiger im Ausdruck [5 instrs.] (1967) ★★
- Souvenir "Kammersymphonie opus 18" [15 instrs.] (1967)
- Duo pour Bruno [orch.] (1974-75) ★★★
- Lumen [6 instrs.] (1975) ★★
- Ash [8 instrs.] (1976)
- Portrait [harpsichord & orch.] (1976-77)
- Algo [2 pieces for guitar] (1977)
- Ali [2 pieces for viola] (1977)
- Spiri [6 instrs.] (1977) ★★★
- Toy [2 violins, viola, & harpsichord] (1977)
- De près [female voice, 2 piccolos, & 3 violins] (1978)
- Argot [2 pieces for violin] (1979)
- Marches [2 pieces for harp] (1979)
- Nidi [2 pieces for piccolo] (1979)
- Le Ruisseau sur l'escalier [cello & 19 performers] (1980)
- L'Ultima sera [mezzo-soprano & 5 instrs.] (1980)
- Fili [flute & piano] (1981)
- Tema [12 instrs.] (1981) ★★
- Ala [2 pieces for cello and double bass] (1983)
- Rima [2 pieces for piano] (1983)
- Cadeau [11 performers] (1984) ★★
- Ombra [2 pieces for contrabass clarinet] (1984)
- In cauda [choir & orch.] (1982-86) ★★
- Arpège [6 instrs.] (1986) ★★★
- Refrain [8 instrs.] (1986) ★★
- Hot [sopranino (or tenor) saxophone & 6 instrs.] (1989) ★★
- Soft [bass clarinet] (1989)
- Rasch [4 saxophones] (1990)
- Madrigale [4 children's choruses & 4 percussionists] (1991)
- Alfred, Alfred [comic opera in 7 scenes and 6 intermezzos] (1995)
- Rasch II [saxophone quartet, marimba, vibraphone, piano, & percussion] (1995)
- Françoise Variationen [piano] (1983-96) ★★
- Prom [orch.] (1999)
- ESA (In cauda V) [orch.] (2000) ★★

Donatoni wrote quite a lot so this took a while to compile. He had an interesting habit of revising/recontextualizing old works. For example, Alamari (cello, double bass, piano) is based on Ala (cello, double bass) and Rima (piano); both the instrumentations and names are combined to create a new composition with its own unique identity. Also, I tried to be as objective as possible, which is not too difficult when I haven't heard most of these pieces!
 
#161 ·
Thank you both for your lists! They are very helpful. I am honestly not familiar at all with Gabriela Lena Frank so I will do some research to see how important her work seems to be to the classical music world today. I do know Donatoni, however, and agree that he would be a good addition. On the list, I only know and enjoy some of the 2-/3-star works so I look forward to learning more!
 
#162 · (Edited)
You are completely welcome to use or not use the info on Frank at your discretion. It was a valuable experience for me to sift through her work so I won’t view it as time wasted in the event that she isn’t put on the list at this time.

Sincerely, just think of me as your servant who did a little work on your behalf. I appreciate all the hard work you have put into this list of contemporary repertoire.
 
#163 ·
You are completely welcome to use or not use the info on Frank at your discretion. It was a valuable experience for me to sift through her work so I won't view it as time wasted in the event that she isn't put on the list at this time.
I think it's harder to put younger composers on the list because there hasn't been enough time for "history" to evaluate their work. Obviously, that's also part of the beauty with contemporary music!
 
#165 · (Edited)
A Philippe Manoury list would be great! I know much less about him than I probably should.

I made some new entries in the past week or so:

- Franco Donatoni
- Luc Ferrari
- Fausto Romitelli
- Claude Vivier

And here are some updates, mainly to old entries:

Abrahamsen: Marchenbilder (now listed)
Adams, JL: Become Desert (now 2-star)
Adams, JL: Canticles of the Holy Wind (now listed)
Andriessen: Hoketus (now 2-star)
Andriessen: Workers Union (now 2-star)
Babbitt: Consortini (now listed)
Babbitt: Groupwise (now listed)
Babbitt: Images (now listed)
Babbitt: Melismata (now listed)
Babbitt: Phonemena (now listed)
Davies: Symphony No. 3 (now 2-star)
Davies: Symphony No. 6 (now 2-star)
Kagel: Acustica (now 2-star)
Kurtág: ...quasi una fantasia... (now 2-star)
Kurtág: Double Concerto (now listed)
Kurtág: Messages of the Late Miss R.V. Troussova (now 3-star)
Kurtág: Splinters (now listed)
Murail: Portulan (now listed)
Murail: Tellur (now 2-star)
Nono: Sarà dolce tacere (now listed)
Pärt: Psalom (now listed)
Rihm: IN-SCHRIFT (now listed)
Wuorinen: Spinoff (now listed)
 
#167 · (Edited)
Out of curiosity, what is your definition of 'contemporary classical music'? Much of this sounds no different from ambient music, in everything but instrumental choice. This makes me wonder whether ambient electronic artists such as (but certainly not limited to) Tangerine Dream; Klaus Shulze; Ash Ra should be included. I can think of two criterion for potentially ruling them out, which you might be using:

1. Artists must make music for instruments that are also used for more traditional forms of classical music? (This would seem a bit arbitrary, and anyway some the composers on your list do use electronic instruments).
2. Artists must create scores, which are played by other people, rather than being 'recording artists'?
 
G
#170 ·
New musical concepts are not mandatory new sensibility.
Audio technique is not music ; you might be a technical genius, a great designer of "new musical bases" , and create no music.
Most mathematicians have utmost competences ; they never find any new theorem, but they lecture others what is the essence of maths.
Is progressivism progress as often as destruction ?


Please correct my approximate English
 
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