# Christopher Gunning



## kuniklo (Jun 21, 2020)

I've been enjoying this new recording of Christopher Gunning's concertos:

https://signumrecords.com/product/c...-concerto-cello-concerto-birdflight/SIGCD621/

Can anyone recommend more music similar to this that is modern but still fairly accessible?


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

The only Gunning disc in my current collection is a goody:









It features the Concerto For Piano And Orchestra with Olga Dudnik on piano, and a recording of the tone poem "Storm" and the Symphony No. 1.

This Albany Records release (TROY686) presents the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. So one might assume these are definitive performances.

Actually, _most_ modern music is rather conservative and accessible. The avant-garde stuff (you know, the noisy, wacky, weird, cause-for-dogs-to-howl stuff) which gets a lot of the press tends to be on the fringe with a few notables holding down the fort. But even among those notables we tend to see cracks in the armor as they turn towards more traditional sounding music after an initial splash in what we might term the "new music". (I think here of folks like Penderecki, Arvo Part, and even Aaron Copland.)

So, I would suggest you continue exploring modern/contemporary composers and you may just find that the music tends to be rather tonally charming rather than distressingly challenging.

You might try music by Vagn Holmboe, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Robert Simpson and Benjamin Frankel. That gives you two Scandinavians and two Englishmen. You may find they are in the Gunning range. But keep exploring. There's nothing wrong with hearing a piece of music you don't like. Listening remains an adventure. There are ups and downs. The ups make exploring new music worthwhile. You gain lifelong friends.

Welcome to the Forum.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Great to see this composer getting a mention.
Gunning is on my list to explore because I caught some of his symphonic work once and was impressed. He was a fine, versatile composer. There are recordings of all his symphonies with him and the Royal Philharmonic if I'm not mistaken.

You may or may not know that he was responsible for a very famous advertising jingle for Martini - altogether now (over 50's only) -"anytime, anyplace, anywhere".
I worked in the same industry as he did and was once told by an advertising agency exec that Gunning once showed him a picture of a beautiful boat moored in the Med somewhere. When he asked why he was looking at it, Gunning said he wanted to to thank him. The exec was a part of the team he worked with on the Martini campaigns and the royalties Gunning had received had bought the boat.


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## kuniklo (Jun 21, 2020)

Thanks for the recommendations and the anecdotes. I’ve heard some Holmboe and Rauutavara that I like but I’ve just scratched the surface of their work. I like some of the more difficult modern music too. I’ve been enjoying Norgard’s symphonies lately, for example, but I have to be in the right mood for them. 

I’ll look into Simpson and Frankel.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Have you listened to Gunning's symphonies? He's composed a bunch of them.


















Otherwise, the following composers & works might be of interest to you, for starters (there are a good number of modern masterpieces listed below, IMO), and by the way, I've found that violin concertos make a very good introduction or entrée into the music of many modern & contemporary composers:

1. Magnus Lindberg: Violin Concerto no. 1:
--A live performance by violinist Pekka Kuusisto:





On CD (two excellent options--both are great violinists):
--Lisa Batiashvili (world premiere): 



--Pekka Kuusisto: 




2. Esa-Pekka Salonen: Violin Concerto, played by violinist Leila Josefowicz: 



--Here's a link to the full Salonen album on DG--Violin Concerto, Nyx: 




3. John Harbison:
String Quartets Nos. 1-4, played by the Lydian Quartet: 



Viola Concerto: 




4. Oliver Knussen:
--Horn Concerto: 



--Ophelia Dances, Op. 13: 



--Violin Concerto, played by Leila Josefowicz:












--Sonya's Lullaby for piano: 



--Ophelia's Last Dance (for piano): 



--Océan de Terre: unfortunately, not on You Tube.
--Symphony no. 2: 



--Symphony no. 3: 



--'upon one note' for clarinet, violin, cello ("Fantasy after Purcell"): 



--"Where the Wild Things Are" (a Fantasy Opera in 9 scenes): 




5. Colin Matthews: Violin Concerto: 




6. David Matthews: Symphony no. 9, Variations for Strings, and Double Concerto for Violin and Viola: 




7. Peteris Vasks: 
--Violin Concerto "Distant Light" or "Tala gaisma": 








https://www.amazon.com/Vasks-Distant-Concerto-Orchestra-Symphony/dp/B000026CDC
https://www.amazon.com/Violin-Conce...FFJ94WZWXHS&psc=1&refRID=THP5AYSVTFFJ94WZWXHS
--"Vox Amoris": Fantasy for Violin & Strings:
https://www.amazon.com/Vasks-Vox-Am...1S9TWKB9G22&psc=1&refRID=TQ4PHMWV01S9TWKB9G22
--Dona nobis pacem: 



--String Quartet no. 4:





8. Anders Hillborg: 
--Kongsgaard Variations, for string quartet: 



--Violin Concerto no. 2: 



--Clarinet Concerto "Peacock Tales", played by clarinetist, Martin Fröst: 



--"Iontana in sonna", sung by mezzo-soprano Annie Sofie von Otter, with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano: 



--Liquid Marble: 



--Sirens: Unfortunately, it's not on You Tube: https://bis.se/label/bis/anders-hillborg-sirens

9. Robin Holloway: 
--Concerto no. 4 for orchestra: 



--Violin Concerto & Horn Concerto: 



--"Sea-Surface full of Clouds", based on a poem by Wallace Stevens: https://boosey.com/audio-clip/Sea-Surface-Full-of-Clouds-1974-75/220

10. James McMillan: 
Symphony no. 4: 



Stabat Mater: 




11. Phillip Glass: 
--Violin Concerto no. 1: 



--Koyaanisqatsi (complete film soundtrack): 




12. John Adams:
--Violin Concerto, played by Leila Josefowicz: 



--Scheherazade 2: 



--Shaker Loops: 




13. Per Nørgård: Violin Concerto no. 1 "Helle Nacht" (or "Light Night"): 




14. Einojuhani Rautavaara:
--Symphony no. 7 "Angel of Light": 



--String Quintet "Unknown Heavens", or "Les Cieux Inconnues" (with String Quartets 1 & 2): 



--Violin Concerto, commissioned and played by violinist Elmar Oliveira; plus, Isle of Bliss, and Angels & Visitations: 



--Piano Concerto No. 3 "Gift of Dreams", commissioned and played by pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy: 



--Symphony no. 8 "The Journey": 




15. Poul Ruders:
--Violin Concerto, played by Eric Heide: 



--Piano Concerto, played by Rolf Hind: 



--"Dreamland", for soprano, clarinet, and string quartet, sung by soprano Helena Juntunen: 




16. John Tavener:
--Ikon of Light--here performed live with the Heath Quartet & Tallis Scholars: 



On a recording with the Chilingirian Quartet & Tallis Scholars (which is the better performance, IMO): https://www.amazon.com/Tavener-Ikon-Light-Funeral-Carol/dp/B00005ATCT
--The Protecting Veil: 



--Eternity's Sunrise: 



--The Veil of the Temple: 



http://www.tavenerguide.com/the-veil-of-the-temple

17. Arvo Pärt: 
--Fratres, Summa, Tabula Rasa, etc.:



--Stabat Mater: 



--Für Alina: 



--De Profundis, Missa Sillabica, etc.: 



--Te Deum: 



--Magnificat: 




18. Ivan Moody: Simeron: 




19. Gavin Bryars:
--Cadman Requiem, In Paradisum (an excerpt): 



--Oi me lasso: 



--"Two Love Songs": 




20. Gabriel Jackson:
--O Sacrum Convivum: 




21. Tarek O'Regan:
--Scattered Rhymes:









As you'll no doubt hear, if you take the time to listen to much of the above music (over time, & not all at once, of course), most modern and contemporary composers have sought to expand the vocabulary of sound (even those working within a more traditional idiom), and probably more so than Christopher Gunning, who is a more conservative composer in that regard. You'll also notice that a handful of composers have nobly attempted to return to the musical spirituality of the Middle Ages, but on modern terms.

Of course, if you wish to go a bit further back into modernity, it would be a different list of composers & works, and one that would include such composers as Joonas Kokkonen, Vagn Holmboe, and others, and even further back, Bohuslav Martinu, Serge Prokofiev, Andre Jolivet, Frank Martin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Charles Koechlin, Olivier Messiaen, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, etc.

Hope that helps.


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## kuniklo (Jun 21, 2020)

Wow thanks very much for the detailed reply and all the recommendations. I have my listening work for the next few weeks cut out for me.


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