# Finest work of the last 100 years



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I’m split between Prokofiev’s 6th and Shostakovich’s 10th. But I’ll give it to Britten’s War Requiem. You?


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Barber Violin Concerto (1934)
Runner-up: Myaskovsky Symphony #27 (1949)


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## LudwigvanBeetroot (Jan 10, 2020)

Rzewski -- The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

Chosen to break the tie between various works of Shosty, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Britten


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

One of these three:

1945 Moeran: Cello concerto
1947 Barber: Knoxville summer of 1915
1976 Gorecki: Symphony 3

But there are so many great works to choose from.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Shostakovich - Symphony no. 10 and op. 87 Preludes and Fugues for Piano.


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## Dimace (Oct 19, 2018)

I will choose the 7th of Dmitri. A work with reason and extreme importance for his country. For the same reason I will go also for Gorecki's 3td. The greatest work must have also a great reason. As a third choice the Requiem Ebraico of Zeisl makes the trio perfect.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

KenOC said:


> I'm split between Prokofiev's 6th and Shostakovich's 10th. But I'll give it to Britten's War Requiem. You?


The Shostakovich is an excellent piece; I don't know the other two so perhaps I will investigate.

For me it's still Sibelius' 7th Symphony.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Can anyone name a single greatest piece for any 100 year period? Surely not! I'm sorry to say, though, that a good few of the pieces mentioned so far are works I actively avoid! I say this because I don't think the same would happen with suggestions for the greatest work of any other 100 year period - I might not agree with everyone's choices but they would probably be works I enjoy - and I wonder why our choices from the last 100 years are so polarised.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I am not sure if it is the greatest, though it is the first that came to my mind
Schoenberg - Moses und Aaron


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I agree there is no finest work of the last hundred years. That said if I was going to try to figure it out for myself these would make it to the final round:

Ravel - Piano Concerto in G
Bartok - Piano Concerto no. 2
Takemitsu - From Me Flows What You Call Time
Partch - Delusion of the Fury


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Enthusiast said:


> Can anyone name a single greatest piece for any 100 year period? Surely not! I'm sorry to say, though, that a good few of the pieces mentioned so far are works I actively avoid! I say this because I don't think the same would happen with suggestions for the greatest work of any other 100 year period - I might not agree with everyone's choices but they would probably be works I enjoy - and I wonder why our choices from the last 100 years are so polarised.


The most works I try to avoid are from the Romantic period. The choices selected so far on this thread are mostly fine with me.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

B. Bartok: _Concerto for Orchestra_


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Prokofiev's War Sonatas, Bartok's Quartets 4 and 5 are among them. Of the last 50 years, my favourite is Arnold's 7th.


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## SuperTonic (Jun 3, 2010)

Berg's Wozzeck probably deserves a mention. It just barely makes the cut (completed in 1922, first performed in 1925).
I can't really argue with most of the pieces mentioned so far in this thread either though.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

So many great works over the the past 100 years. I don't see one particular work towering over the rest. Nothing even close to that. There is too much great music.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Got all day? .


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Since Mahler is out in this timeframe, and so is early Stravinsky, (and so are even _The Planets_), my choice is _The Empire Strikes Back_, unless some Shostakovich's symphony, whose greatness I have forgotten, objects.

For 1821-1920, my choice would be Beethoven's 9th, then _The Ring_. In fact, 1821-1920 is insanely competitive in comparison, and could fill the top spot of the current timeframe twenty times over.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I will offer Sibelius Symphony No.7


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

I can't say "finest", but I do have some favorites, including: In the traditional symphony orchestra format, Bartok, Concerto for Orchestra, Shostakovich, symphonies; in modern instrumental, Varese, Ameriques; Boulez, Le marteau sans maitre, Crumb, Music for a Summer Evening; in chamber music format (leaving aside Bartok and Shostakovich), Berg, Lyric Suite, Messiaen, Quartet for the end of time, Boulez, Piano Sonata no. 2, Notations, Carter, Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord; in vocal format, Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky (cantata), Ravel, Chansons madecasses, Crumb, Ancient Voices of Children.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Sibelius 7 tops my list too, as it is one of my top 5 favorite pieces of music ever written. Others that I believe effectively represent the spirit of the century in various ways:

Prokofiev- Piano Concerto No. 3 and Three War Sonatas
Shostakovich- Symphony No. 5
Bartok- Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta and all six quartets
Durufle- Requiem
Vaughan Williams- Symphony No. 5
Messiaen- Quartet for the End of Time
Stravinsky- Symphony of Psalms
Gorecki- Symphony No. 3
Ives- Piano Sonata No. 2 "Concord" (a little more 100 years old, but one of the most interesting 20th century piano works)

Some of these works represent the highest extreme of what I am able to comfortably listen to, but there is always room for adventure and flexibility!


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## Guest (Jan 14, 2020)

Without a comprehensive overview of all possible contenders (which I don't have) I couldn't possibly say. 

I can say that I've got more pleasure from Sibelius 4, 5, 6 and 7 than I have from my favourite DSCH or SP symphonies (11 and 5 respectively).


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

MacLeod said:


> Without a comprehensive overview of all possible contenders (which I don't have) I couldn't possibly say.
> 
> I can say that I've got more pleasure from Sibelius 4, 5, 6 and 7 than I have from my favourite DSCH or SP symphonies (11 and 5 respectively).


Actually, Sibelius 4 may be a better candidate than the 7th. I really do think it is one of the most original, rewarding, and deeply probing symphonies to ever be composed. With a spell of highs in the negative temps Fahrenheit approaching here in MN, it seems as appropriate a time as ever to give it a spin.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

MacLeod said:


> Without a comprehensive overview of all possible contenders (which I don't have) I couldn't possibly say.
> 
> I can say that I've got more pleasure from Sibelius 4, 5, 6 and 7 than I have from my favourite DSCH or SP symphonies (11 and 5 respectively).


I too would cite Sibelius 4, 5, 6 and 7 though 4 and 5 are too old of course.

I do love Shostakovich - especially 5, 6 and 10.


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## Guest (Jan 14, 2020)

janxharris said:


> I too would put down Sibelius 4, 5, 6 and 7 thought 4 and 5 are too old of course.
> 
> I do love Shostakovich - especially 5, 6 and 10.


You're right about their being too old, though the 5th misses by a gnat's whisker.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Seeing as no one else has gone there, I'll say Reich: Music for 18 Musicians.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

I don't agree that no one can select a single greatest work, but I understand the view that any such selection would be rather subjective and many would disagree with any choice. Maybe it's better to consider this thread a bit like nominations for a poll for the greatest work.

I would second almost all of the works suggested, but these I particularly like:

Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

I might add Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphonie.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Most of my favorite pieces are 100 years old, or newer. 

Seriously, there are so many pieces that I consider to be of near equal great quality, it would take a page to list them. 

The immediate 'go to' choices for me are:

Bartok piano concerto #2
Barber piano concerto
Bartok Concerto for Orchestra
Elliott Carter Concerto for Orchestra
Berg violin concerto
Schoenberg Piano Concerto


But, I could easily list dozens of pieces by: Carter, Harrison Birtwistle, Magnus Lindberg, Schoenberg, Webern, Joan Tower, Ligeti, Penderecki, Peter Maxwell Davies, and more.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

With _Rite of Spring_ now being well over the 100 year mark, I have to rethink my concept of modern music, and great modern music.

There is much great modern music. My disc shelves are filled with fine works from these past 100 years, and includes everything thus far mentioned in this thread. It was perhaps Bartok's _Concerto for Orchestra_ in the above mentioned listings that most approximates what I consider a great work and one composed in the last 100 years. This piece gives us both a look backwards and a look forwards, incorporates traditional elements of music theory and blazes some new trails, speaks to both the emotional and analytical sides of humanness, and takes a stab at Shostakovich's 7th Symphony for being the banal trash (albeit glorious sounding banal trash) that it is.

Still, the Bartok Concerto seems to belong more to the past than the present as much has happened in the decades since its appearance. Rather, I move a few years forward to the composer Penderecki and nominate the _Threnody_. Sure, I know that it's as silly to select this piece as "greatest" of the century as it is to select _any_ of the works already nominated and the _many more_ deserving works _not_ yet mentioned. But I bolster my selection with the comment that the Penderecki piece captures in a snapshot much of what contemporary music is about, where we have come in the philosophical development of music, and adheres to a social commentary that is at the heart of some of our best art in any genre. It speaks of creative thinking and experimentation while standing its ground on the visceral elements that music has always provided: speaking of "beauty" in sound in a new and inventive way, neither atonal or tonal, but rather sound-expansive. So much of what I hear in our most new music taps into elements of Penderecki's thinking. Too, the very fact that Penderecki has moved on from his experimentations in _Thren_ reveal that the music is not a dead thing, a final stop, but one that can generate re-thinking, which is an important component of art.

I truly don't expect anyone to list the _Thren_ at the top of the listing of "greatest musical work of the past 100 years", but I do hope it gains consideration to be included among the significant works of that era. Its power is unmistakable.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

The *Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65*, by Shostakovich (1943), the last of his "war" symphonies. I would select it over the 10th because it is more organic, in my opinion, and according to his friends had a single statement: it was about totalitarianism. The 10th, with the portrait of Stalin and DSCH signature, is not as compelling to me though it would be second on my list.

I would also rank these highly:

Berg Concerto for Violin, Piano and 13 Wind Instrumentss, Lulu Suite, Violin Concerto

Webern Im Sommerwind, 3 Pieces for Orchestra, Passacaglia for Orchestra, Symphony

Schoenberg Chamber Symphony, Transfigured Night, Gurrelieder

Khachaturian Spartacus & Gayane ballets, Symphonies No. 2 and 3

Prokofiev Symphonies 5 and 6, Romeo and Juliet

Sibelius Symphonies 6 and 7

Barber Violin Concerto

Hanson Symphony No. 2 "Romantic"

Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements, Agon

William Schuman Violin Concerto

Simpson Symphony 1


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Simon Moon said:


> Most of my favorite pieces are 100 years old, or newer.
> 
> Seriously, there are so many pieces that I consider to be of near equal great quality, it would take a page to list them.
> 
> ...


For some reason I thought the Berg Violin Concerto was written longer than 100 years ago. I would definitely include that work in my nominations for greatest work. I love all your other selections as well.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Alban Berg's Violin Concerto was written in 1935.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

larold said:


> Alban Berg's Violin Concerto was written in 1935.


Yes, and it was an immediate hit with, believe it or not, Nathan Milstein. So much so that he convinced the violinist Louis Krasner, who commissioned it, to allow him to perform a violin and piano version. Alas, he seems never to have recorded it with piano or orchestra.


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## Lilijana (Dec 17, 2019)

Quite possibly the greatest piece is something I haven't heard and only completed yesterday.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

composer jess said:


> Quite possibly the greatest piece is something I haven't heard and only completed yesterday.


Yeah, my heart goes out to you. Being a composer these days? It ain't what it used to be. Every time these conversations come up you give your little cry of relevance. I get it. And good luck with that.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Favorites, with no specific order:

Sibelius: Symphony 6
Bartok: Concerto For Orchestra
Shostakovich: Symphony 7
Vaughan Williams: Symphony 5, Oboe Concerto and Suite For Viola and [Small] Orchestra
Stravinsky: The Firebird


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

Oh so gorgeous music from RVW...the Romanza from his 5th symphony.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

SONNET CLV said:


> This piece gives us both a look backwards and a look forwards, incorporates traditional elements of music theory and blazes some new trails, speaks to both the emotional and analytical sides of humanness, and takes a stab at Shostakovich's 7th Symphony for being the banal trash (albeit glorious sounding banal trash) that it is.


I mean, I can understand maybe not being a huge fan of Shostakovich's 7th but surely it is better than "Banal Trash"?


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I'd vote for Sibelius 5 but it just misses the 100 year cutoff (1919), 

Otherwise I'm torn between Prokofiev Symphony 5 or 6, Bartok Concert for Orchestra, Adams Harmonielehre, Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time, or maybe Shostakovich Violin Concerto


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Shostakovich's op. 87 Preludes & Fugues for me


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Blancrocher said:


> Shostakovich's op. 87 Preludes & Fugues for me


That's music to my ears. :trp:


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Blancrocher said:


> Shostakovich's op. 87 Preludes & Fugues for me


I have an old LP with Shostakovich himself playing some of them. Alas, he was far from a great pianist.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

fluteman said:


> I have an old LP with Shostakovich himself playing some of them. Alas, he was far from a great pianist.


I have that on cd. It's a constant source of pain to me that Richter didn't record the whole set.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Blancrocher said:


> I have that on cd. It's a constant source of pain to me that Richter didn't record the whole set.


I know what you mean, but I think the famous Tatania Nikolayeva complete set, which I have on CD, deserves its reputation.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

fluteman said:


> I have an old LP with Shostakovich himself playing some of them. Alas, he was far from a great pianist.


In earlier years DSCH was quite a fine pianist. In fact, he had plans to pursue a career as a professional virtuoso. But it seems reviews were not enthusiastic, finding his playing a bit cold and analytical with little passion.

By the 1950s his playing had indeed deteriorated, though he could still play fairly well. I believe I got this info from the program notes to a recording of DSCH and Weinberg playing a four-hand transcription of the 10th Symphony sometime around 1954.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

fluteman said:


> I know what you mean, but I think the famous Tatania Nikolayeva complete set, which I have on CD, deserves its reputation.


Which one? There are three. I'm thinking of getting the one on Alto, which was recorded in I believe 1987 (don't quote me on that).

I like what I've heard of it, but some people say that Nikolayeva is not up for the challenge of these works.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

SONNET CLV said:


> There is much great modern music. My disc shelves are filled with fine works from these past 100 years, and includes everything thus far mentioned in this thread. It was perhaps Bartok's _Concerto for Orchestra_ in the above mentioned listings that most approximates what I consider a great work and one composed in the last 100 years. This piece gives us both a look backwards and a look forwards, incorporates traditional elements of music theory and blazes some new trails, speaks to both the emotional and analytical sides of humanness, and takes a stab at Shostakovich's 7th Symphony for being the banal trash (albeit glorious sounding banal trash) that it is.





BachIsBest said:


> I mean, I can understand maybe not being a huge fan of Shostakovich's 7th but surely it is better than "Banal Trash"?


As I hear this Seventh Symphony, the beauty and strength of the work presides in its gradiose dose of irony, an irony so big as to be almost unseeable. The banality and the trashiness of this is incorporated via the genius of the composer. It's a symphony meant to be atrocious. Banal trash composed by a genius is indeed artworthy.

The symphony itself has an interesting history, one that shifts continually, seeming to provide clear confusion over what its real message was. At first dedicated to Lenin (no saint, certainly) it was later taken as a celebration of victory in war, by a city devastated by war. At one point Shostakovich titled the movements, then removed the titles. The work was smuggled out of Russia and performed to acclaim in New York, where apparently Bartok heard it.

The great march melody itself has a fascinating history, apparently, being somewhat of a pastiche of themes, each of which in itself could point to irony. Certainly Shostakovich has written more powerful and original themes (such as those in the 8th and 10th symphonies, great works indeed, also mentioned in this thread). And I for one love that march theme, which makes for me the opening movement of the Seventh Symphony to be one of the most played movements on my stereo equipment. And I crank it up loud.

But I'm also a great fan of the Bartok _Concerto for Orchestra_, also the work of a genius and a piece I would never accuse of being banal trash. And I continue to revel in that quotation from the Shosty Seventh that Bartok engineers into movement four (Intermezzo interrotto: Allegretto) of his _Concerto_. That profoundly beautiful opening theme of the movement is apparently a transcription of a Hungarian folk tune. (I once saw an old film clip of an aged Hungarian peasant singing folk songs from his youth, and the Bartok theme appeared in one of them.) That opening theme is interrupted by the "theme" from Shosty's symphony, almost it seems to draw a comparison between the two themes: one a striking human song of rebellion, truth and freedom, the other a mechanical collage of shallow bluster (which, at the time Bartok composed his _Concerto_, was being celebrated in New York as "the great new music". Bartok understood differently, even interrupting the Shosty melody with flatulant trombone groans. Bartok knew the power of what he was writing and how it stood against the musical contraption Shostakovich had composed with the murderous Lenin in mind in the midst of WWII and the continuing slaughter of his Russian people.

What I propose is that great artists can consciously construct banal trash and do so rightly when it best serves to deliver their true message. Perhaps this lifts the banal trash to the level of sublimity. In any case, I admire both Shosty's Seventh and Bartok's _Concerto_, and I wouldn't want to be without either, for they both speak volumes about life in the middle of the 20th century, the great War years.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Banal trash? Much of what we “know” of DSCH’s 7th may be from our own imaginings. Consider:

The so-called “invasion theme” that drives the development of the 1st movement of the 7th is from a Lehar operetta! Did DSCH know that Hitler was a great Lehar fan? I doubt it…

There are claims that the entire 1st movement of the 7th was written before Germany invaded the Soviet Union, before Leningrad was even threatened, at a time both countries enjoyed peace under a non-aggression pact. So what’s that all about?


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

flamencosketches said:


> Which one? There are three. I'm thinking of getting the one on Alto, which was recorded in I believe 1987 (don't quote me on that).
> 
> I like what I've heard of it, but some people say that Nikolayeva is not up for the challenge of these works.


As best I can tell, the three versions are: 1962 on Melodiya, 1987, also on Melodiya, but also issued on various other labels, and 1990 on Hyperion. I've never heard the Hyperion version, which some have criticized, but the 1987 version has vastly clearer and better sound quality than the 1962 one, not surprisingly. Otherwise, I'd say listen for yourself, and enjoy.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

*Le Livre des Katuns* (1977) by Jean Prodromidès.


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## Rangstrom (Sep 24, 2010)

Peter Grimes popped into my head first, but really there are many great candidates.


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

I think I would choose Shostakovich Symphony nr. 10 or nr. 7 , but the Sibelius 7th and Prokofiev 6th are strong contenders ,...difficult question


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

fluteman said:


> I know what you mean, but I think the famous Tatania Nikolayeva complete set, which I have on CD, deserves its reputation.


It does ... but I think the newish Melnikov recording is actually the strongest set out there - because it has (to my ears) more nuance and variety.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

When I think of the periods 1620-1720; 1720-1820 and 1820-1920 there are hundreds of works in each 100 year period that I love. But there are also some - not always my favourites - which seem in some way to stand out as candidates for the single greatest work of the period. When I think of the period 1920-2020 there are as many or perhaps even more works that I love .... but I am not at all sure that I can come up with many candidates for the single greatest (which is different from my favourite). There are a few good candidates suggested above (along with many that leave me amazed that anyone can consider them as the greatest) but somehow they don't seem that much more special than other masterpieces of the period. I have been trying to thik, though, of how a work might stand above all the others.

I am not sure that something by Sibelius - even if he did have a greater than everything else by anyone else work - works as he only edges into the period and doesn't represent it (chose not to). 

The best (i.e. my favourite) works of Stravinsky do belong in the period but the big pieces that might stand through reputation and influence as "the greatest" are just outside it. His neoclassicism was hugely influential but is there an iconic example of it? 

I love Bartok but cannot think of a single work that could stand as the greatest - the Concerto for Orchestra broke him to the US public and his quartets and piano concertos are very great but do any of them on their own count as the greatest? I'm not sure. Perhaps the 2nd Violin Concerto might ... . With the Berg it is among the greatest violin concertos ever IMO.

Schoenberg made some big iconic works ... but in some ways that was the backward-looking part of his character (he sometimes seems to be using a new language to say old things). But he probably can put up some candidates for the greatest. His most obviously iconic works (like Pierrot Lunaire) were written before the period ... but Moses und Aron does seem to me to have been important.

Britten wrote many great operas and song cycles but were they sufficiently iconic to qualify? Perhaps his War Requiem was, though? 

Boulez? So much of what he wrote (and rewrote and rewrote) seems iconic to me. Perhaps Le Marteau sans Maitre?

Kurtag's Kafka Fragments ought also to be a possibility.

... and so on. But really I wonder if the period was not one where a lot of the best music eschewed the sort of edifices that might stand above all else?


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Enthusiast said:


> It does ... but I think the newish Melnikov recording is actually the strongest set out there - because it has (to my ears) more nuance and variety.


That's one of the great things about classical music. There's no such thing as the definitive recording (or performance) of anything. It's always possible something new will come along that may or may not be 'better', whatever that means, but certainly is worthwhile in a new way. Nikolayeva premiered and probably was the first major interpreter of this music (Shostakovich himself certainly thought so), but that doesn't mean other great interpretations won't continue to pop up as time goes on. The same is true of the violin and cello concertos, great as Oistrakh and Rostropovich were with them. Thanks for the tip.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

tdc said:


> Takemitsu - From Me Flows What You Call Time
> Partch - Delusion of the Fury


Excellent. Two things I hadn't heard before.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

starthrower said:


> So many great works over the the past 100 years. I don't see one particular work towering over the rest. Nothing even close to that. There is too much great music.


Yes, but that will be the only recording that you will be allowed to take with you in the penal colony. That, a bar of soap, a blanket...

My choice: John Cage's 4'33".


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Prodromides said:


> *Le Livre des Katuns* (1977) by Jean Prodromidès.


Excellent. Another piece I hadn't heard before.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> My choice: John Cage's 4'33".


Excellent. Another piece I hadn't heard before.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Mandryka said:


> Excellent. Another piece I hadn't heard before.


In a sense, no one's ever heard it.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

In no particular order my candidates are

Barber Violin Concerto 
Britten Peter Grimes
Shostakovich Symphony no 10
Sibelius Symphony no 7
Bartok Concerto for Orchestra 
Prokofiev Symphony no 5
Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez 
Vaughan Williams Symphony no 7
Strauss Four Last Songs
Bernstein West Side Story

You wanted the finest work? One single piece of music? Sorry I can’t do that. Maybe the finest work is some rock and roll, or an entire album such as Sgt Pepper or Dark Side of the Moon. Or maybe it’s some jazz Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Hot Sevens, Miles Davis Kind of Blue. I don’t know.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

An informal, quick overview I believe puts Bartók's _Concerto for Orchestra_ as most referenced as "Finest Work" of the last one hundred years. He and I are pleased.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

KenOC said:


> Banal trash? Much of what we "know" of DSCH's 7th may be from our own imaginings. Consider:
> 
> The so-called "invasion theme" that drives the development of the 1st movement of the 7th is from a Lehar operetta! Did DSCH know that Hitler was a great Lehar fan? I doubt it…
> 
> There are claims that the entire 1st movement of the 7th was written before Germany invaded the Soviet Union, before Leningrad was even threatened, at a time both countries enjoyed peace under a non-aggression pact. *So what's that all about?*


Bad historical data? DSCH played a draft of the first movement exposition and the invasion theme (not yet worked into the movement) for Isaak Glikman in early August, 1941. There is a draft score of the first movement dated 8/29/1941 and a finished score of the movement dated 9/3/1941.

Is there any concrete data supporting an earlier date of composition?


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

BachIsBest said:


> In a sense, no one's ever heard it.


4'33''? I've heard some very slow performances of it, although some of them were spoiled by traffic noise.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Enthusiast said:


> 4'33''? I've heard some very slow performances of it, although some of them were spoiled by traffic noise.


Strange … but the performances I've heard have always been a touch fast.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Strange Magic said:


> An informal, quick overview I believe puts Bartók's _Concerto for Orchestra_ as most referenced as "Finest Work" of the last one hundred years. He and I are pleased.


Hmm. You've discussed this thread with Bartok? Clearly, my assumption about where "Nova Caesarea" is was way, way off.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

The best single work in a century? Of course there isn't one, so I'll just pick Sibelius's 7th because I want to.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

fluteman said:


> Hmm. You've discussed this thread with Bartok? Clearly, my assumption about where "Nova Caesarea" is was way, way off.


Béla and I are Always Together. :angel:


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> The best single work in a century? Of course there isn't one, so I'll just pick Sibelius's 7th because I want to.


_Tapiola_ trumps the 7th


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Becca said:


> _Tapiola_ trumps the 7th


Ha ha. I was considering it, but decided that it's only suitable for winter moods - or for summer when you need a bucket of ice water to pour over your head.

But yeah, I love it.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Mandryka said:


> Excellent. Another piece I hadn't heard before.


You must mean you never experienced a performance of it.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

BachIsBest said:


> In a sense, no one's ever heard it.


That's not true. The piece consists of sounds that one hears.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Enthusiast said:


> 4'33''? I've heard some very slow performances of it, although some of them were spoiled by traffic noise.


That doesn't make sense. It can't be "performed slowly" because the piece consists of sounds which one hears. In the piano version, the "performer" is just a prop, who sits there. He signals the beginning and end by opening and closing the keyboard cover.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

SONNET CLV said:


> Strange … but the performances I've heard have always been a touch fast.


That doesn't make sense either. Plus, you missed a major point: Cage is reversing the roles of performer/composer and listener.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

For me Stravinsky's _Symphony of Psalms_ is just, well, fine!


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> That doesn't make sense. It can't be "performed slowly" because the piece consists of sounds which one hears. In the piano version, the "performer" is just a prop, who sits there. He signals the beginning and end by opening and closing the keyboard cover.


I'm sure it was a joke as were the other jokes you keep saying don't make sense. I thought I was the TC member who takes things too literally, but you're no. 1.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Sibelius's 7th Symphony and Puccini's Turandot. Works of the most incredible beauty, overwhelming in their sheer grandeur.


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

millionrainbows said:


> That doesn't make sense either. Plus, you missed a major point: Cage is reversing the roles of performer/composer and listener.


Don't worry, millionrainbows, I get it, not least because John Cage himself wrote or was quoted about the meaning of 4'33" often enough that it would be hard not to understand his point after even the most casual research. And Enthusiast almost got it too, except that every performance is spoiled by noise, not just some.

But John Cage had quite a sense of humor too, and I think would enjoy these 4'33" jokes. So, in that spirit:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
John Cage.
John Cage who?
.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I can only go by what gets the most play for me, and for me it's easy - Sibelius 7 and Strauss "Metamorphosen."

Prokofiev 1 and Holst's Planets would have made my list but they just miss the time window.


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

For me, Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet. Not only is it a score of astonishing diversity and inspiration, but when paired with story and dance I find it to be a profound work of creativity and humor and tragedy that stands among the finest adaptations of Shakespeare's tale.


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

Enthusiast said:


> 4'33''? I've heard some very slow performances of it, although some of them were spoiled by traffic noise.


I have Celibidache's rendition and it runs 7'11" :lol:


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## fluteman (Dec 7, 2015)

Rach Man said:


> I have Celibidache's rendition and it runs 7'11" :lol:


Now, THAT was a good one. Chapeau.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Rach Man said:


> I have Celibidache's rendition and it runs 7'11" :lol:


That was exceptionally fast compared to Maximianno Cobra. We aren't even sure whether his has ever ended


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Jacck said:


> I am not sure if it is the greatest, though it is the first that came to my mind
> Schoenberg - Moses und Aaron


I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be on TBN or Daystar (current Christian TV networks).


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Paul Hindemith - Ludus Tonalis

I can see by this thread there are 100 finest works of the last 100 years.


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## PeterFromLA (Jul 22, 2011)

Ten favorites, and while I listen to them, I want to listen to nothing else:

Strauss, Four Last Songs
Reich, Music for 18 Musicians 
Lutoslawski, Third Symphony
Berg, Violin Concerto
Adams, Harmonium
Ligeti, Chamber Concerto
Feldman, For Phillip Guston
Stravinsky, Agon
Boulez, Pli Selon Pli
Berio, Sinfonia


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

PeterFromLA said:


> Ten favorites, and while I listen to them, I want to listen to nothing else:
> 
> _*Strauss, Four Last Songs*_
> Reich, Music for 18 Musicians
> ...


I totally forgot about the Four Last Songs in my initial post. They would make my top 5 of the century, no doubt. The waning, autumnal melancholy of the music seems to represent the doubts and hesitations of the modern era in the same way that Mahler 9 does for me. When I hear it, I don't just hear great music; I hear a bold, intensely personal artistic statement that offers us insight into the culture of the times- often a prevailing trait of the art that affects me most.


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## Fredrikalansson (Jan 29, 2019)

These are all pieces written in the last 100 years that have stayed with me ever since I first heard them, with no one piece being the greatest: 

Nielsen - Symphony No. 5 (written 1920-22; just under the wire)
Janacek - The Cunning Little Vixen (written 1921-1923; also just under the wire)
Janacek - Glagolitic Mass
Berg - Violin Concerto
Berg - Wozzeck
Hindemith - Mathis der Maler (Symphony)
Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5
Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 2
Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 2
Martinu - Julietta
Martinu - Fantasies Symphoniques (Symphony No. 6)
Shostakovich - Violin Concerto No. 1
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 13 "Babi Yar"
Vaughan Williams - Job, A Masque for Dancing
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No. 6
Strauss - Metamorphosen
Strauss - Capriccio
Bartok - String Quartets
Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra
Copland - Symphony No. 3
Robert Simpson - String Quartet No. 9
James MacMillan - Confession of Isobel Gowdie
Rautavaara - Cantus Arcticus


There are probably more that aren't occurring to me right now. Four that got away (written or performed in the decade before 1920): Bartok - Bluebeard's Castle, Rachmaninoff - All Night Vigil, Stravinksy -The Rite of Spring, and Schoenberg - Gurrelieder.


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