[justekaia]

Your perspicacity is wonderful.Scintilla is indeed her best piece up to now, but there are other gems you can discover on soundcloud.
I am convinced she will be a major composer. The flow in her music is extraordinary.

 

[justekaia]

French Marc-André Dalbavie's excellent Piano Concerto (2005) with Andsnes as soloist accompanied by the the Bavarian Radio SO conducted by Welser-Möst.

 

[Enthusiast]

Michael Finnessy - An attractive work for soprano, clarinet and piano.

 

[Mandryka]

Michael Finnessy - An attractive work for soprano, clarinet and piano.

I'm sure it is an attractive work, but I just don't get on with Clare Lesser's voice!

 

[justekaia]

Scelsi's (1905-1988) Konx-Om-Pax(1969) is his last orchestral work and features a chorus in the last movement like in Beethoven's ninth. The title refers to peace and is a fitting subject in this trying times. Peace is translated in Assyrian, Sanskrit and Latin.
This haunting music , together with Uaxuctum belongs to the best orchestral pieces of the 20 th century.

 

[justekaia]

It is not a coincidence that after Scelsi I post Nuits magnétiques (1993) from the Romanian Iancu Dumitrescu (1944) who is one of the leading spectral composers. He was poor and had very few technical means at his disposal when he started. Scelsi was rich and could afford technical support.
What unites them is that both did deep soul-searching and tried to find musical material deep inside themselves, which culminated into dreams in which Dumitrescu heard incredibly beautiful music. Both started working with instruments and built their compositions after experimenting, modifying and finally writing down the music (Dumitrescu) or have it written down by someone else (Scelsi). The younger Dumitrescu did not hear any music by Scelsi before it became famous in the eighties and the fact that there is a similarity in their music is pure synchronicity. The more unstable and explosive nature of Dumitrescu's works also confirms this point of view. Nuits magnétiques is also hauntingly beautiful and I am sure it will encourage you to discover more of his music. His solo (see the viola piece Holzwege featured by Mandryka) pieces are extraordinary.

 

[justekaia]

Christopher Cerrone's (1985) violin concerto "Breaks and Breaks" (2018) is inspired by the book Angels in America by Tony Kushner whose epitaph reads: In a murderous time, the heart breaks and breaks and lives by breaking. Sounds familiar.
The seven movements are played without a break and feature light violin lines, rhythmic dialogue between orchestra and soloist, plaintive melodies, explosive climaxes, a cadenza and technical play by Jennifer Koh sul ponticello and pizzicato. She is joined by the Detroit SO conducted by Peter Oundjian.

 

[justekaia]

Hypnotising composition for string orchestra, called Webster's Spin (1993) by Canadian Ann Southam(1937-2010) who first composed a lot of electronic music before focusing on traditional instruments in the last chapter of her life. Subtle changes outweigh big dramatic changes and the orchestral swell adds to the ever developing character of the piece, which ends quietly, like a chamber piece.

 

[justekaia]

American Augusta Read Thomas' (1964) superb second cello concerto called "Ritual Incantations" (1999) in three movements.

 

[justekaia]

This is the piece we have all been waiting for. It was composed in 1980 and its author was murdered in dramatic circumstances.
His name is Claude Vivier (1948-1983)) and he was a Canadian globe-trotter who assimilated the music of different regions in the world.
Zipangu (1980) is the name given to Japan at the time of Marco Polo. The composer travelled intensively throughout Asia and it inspired him to explore different aspects of musical color. His string ensemble is divided spatially in two different groups.
Exaggerated bow pressure, pizzicatos, ghostly harmonies, slippery glissandos, tonal centers, drone-like sounds and melodic manipulations are stealing the show in this absolute masterpiece. This version is the greatest with the Asko Ensemble conducted by the legendary Reinbert De Leeuw.

 

[justekaia]

Probably Kalevi Aho's (1949) best symphony. No 15 from 2010 played by the Lahti SO conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk. It is in four movements.

 

[regenmusic]

While I'm banging on elsewhere about Czech music, I'd like to mention a handful of very decent near-contemporary composers from that part of the world

Viktor Kalabis

Viktor Kalabis Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings Op.42, Zuzana Růžičková

 

[justekaia]

Horizons (2013) by Zibuokle Martinaityte(1973) evokes vast landscapes with a nice spectral aura full of grace and subtility but also has its dramatic moments.

 

[justekaia]

Seungmin Kang plays Sublimation (2017) a cello concerto by Toshio Hosokawa(1955) that pits the soloist (man/woman) against nature (The orchestra).

 

[mikeh375]

This is turning out to be an invaluable thread.

 

[justekaia]

This is turning out to be an invaluable thread.

The best is still to come. Crescendo is the motto.

 

[mikeh375]

^^^Excellent, just so long as you don't build towards a crescendo....

 

[justekaia]

Sofia Gubaidulina (1931) is an icon of Classical Contemporary. Her Tatar roots give her strength and resilience and enable her to compose very strong pieces in the twilight of her life. One of these is "Der Zorn Gottes" (2019) a powerful, beautiful and spiritual work.
God descends on earth and punishes mankind for its sins.
A wave of brass sounds is piling up, supported by percussion and is countered by adagio-like string passages, bell sounds and woodwind interjections.
The piece is dedicated to LVB and is influenced by the 4th movement of his last SQ (op 135) which he laboured to compose.
His cryptic question "Muss es sein" is answered positively in his work, while Gubaidulina tends to be negative. It means she does not accept the fate of a violent mankind.
LVB's last SQ was also a harbinger of Shosta's SQ no 8 and we clearly hear the latter's influence in her piece, particularly in the second passage. The beginnings of his syphonies 5 and 8 are also hinted at and one is reminded of the messianic emphasis of fear and terror in the face of the divine.
Gubaidulina's chromatic treatment does well to convey the spiritual emotions that build up to a dramatic climax.
The promising Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv conducts the ORF-Radio SO Vienna.

 

[justekaia]

Sielunmaisema (2019) for cello and strings by Lithuanian textural magician Zibuokle Martinaityte (1973).

 

[Ludwig Schon]

Linda Caitlin Smith

If Morton Feldman had been into Baroque he would have sounded like this…