# what's your favorite 20th century classical work?



## vamos (Oct 9, 2009)

for me it would come down to

la mer
daphnis et chloe
the rite of spring
gaspard de la nuit

i wish i knew more good stuff

i can't really narrow it from those four, soon mahler's ninth will undoubtably be included in that list


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

What a ridiculously IMPOSSIBLE question.

Just like asking which of your immediate family members would you like to drown the most. How can you possibly answer that???


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## Saturnus (Nov 7, 2006)

A good idea for a thread. 
But I can't really pick only one so a list must do;

Bartók - 1st & 3rd piano concertos, the Miraculous Mandarin suite, the 5th string quartet, 4 Dirges for piano
Sibelius - 5th symphony
Schönberg - Pierrot Lunaire
Messiaen - Theme & Variations for violin & piano - Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jesus
Hindemith - Quintet for clarinet, string trio & piano - Violin concerto - Metamorphoses
Prokofiev - 2nd piano concerto
Rachmaninov - Variations on a Theme by Paganini for piano and orchestra
Cowell - Aeolian harp & sinister resonance
Barber - Summer music
Villa-Lobos - Quinteto em forma de Choros
Holst - The Planets suite
Saint-Saëns - Bassoon sonata

... and I'm probably forgetting a bunch of stuff.


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## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

Huh? I couldn't name one composer, let alone one work. The simplest answer I can give is: "Bartok, Shostakovich, Schnittke, early, middle and late 20th century". Now I have this feeling of pain and guilt because I didn't name at least a dozen more... man, I hate threads like this one


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Without hesitation, Vaughan-Williams, Tallis Fantasia. So I'm a sentimental old sap.


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## Jaime77 (Jun 29, 2009)

It is not impossible question in my mind... only very difficult but certainly interesting. 

I would say just off hand it could be one of the following:

Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3
Mahler Symphony No. 6
Debussy La Mer (snap)
Ravel Le Tombeau de Couperin
Adams Harmonium


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

May be a predictable answer but for me it's The Rite of Spring.


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## Gangsta Tweety Bird (Jan 25, 2009)

john cage 4'33"


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Gangsta Tweety-Bird said:


> john cage 4'33"


Is that a serious answer or does that mean you don't like 20th century music?


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## Gangsta Tweety Bird (Jan 25, 2009)

serious... but only partly


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## PartisanRanger (Oct 19, 2008)

bassClef said:


> May be a predictable answer but for me it's The Rite of Spring.


Same here.


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

Too many to list, so I'll pull one of my faves out of a hat.

Respighi - Trittico botticelliano


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Honorable mentions:

*R. Strauss*: _Der Rosenkavalier_
*Stravinsky*: _The Firebird_
*Shostakovich*: _Symphony #10_
*Gershwin*: _Concerto in F_
*Orff*: _Carmina Burana_
*Rachmaninoff*: _Piano Concerto #3_

and my top selection for favorite 20th-Century work...

*Mahler*: _Symphony #5_.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Rachs Isle of the Dead
Prokofiev Symphony 1 or 5
Shostakovich Symphony 10
Shostakovich String Quartet 8
Stravinsky Rite of Spring

Dont think i can narrow it down further.


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## nimmysnv (Oct 1, 2009)

Hi,

Truly said we can't compare these musicians because they are champions in their art.
Well its a tough ques to answer but i think gaspard de la nuit is amazing and popular due their unique style

Thanks.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Scriabin: Vers La Flamme


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

nimmysnv said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thanks.


You are very welcome!


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Some of my favourites from c20th music that I know so far:

*Varese* - anything by him, but especially _Deserts_
*Elliot Carter *- _String Quartet No. 1_
*Schnittke* - _Piano Quintet_
*Ginastera* - _Piano Concerto No. 1_
*Frank Martin* - _Petite symphonie concertante_
*Messiaen* - _Quartet for the end of time_
*Hovhaness *- _Cello Concerto_
*Piazzolla* - _Maria de Buenos Aires_

Those are the stand-outs, but doubtless there are many, many more...


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## vamos (Oct 9, 2009)

i don't understand varese. then again i don't understand much. i want to get into varese specifically though.

literally haven't heard of any other composer on the above list except messiaen. yes i am a noob but i want to hear absolutely everything eventually.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Vamos, I recommend Varese' _Arcana_ as a start, then _Ameriques_, then the more challenging _Deserts_ (my favourite piece by him). His song cycle _Offrandes_ has elements of impressionism, but it's uniquely his own. He produced a very small output, it all fits on only 3 Cd's.

I was almost the same as you regarding C20th music a year ago. I had read a lot about many composers but hadn't heard thier music. Then I started collecting, and it's opened up a whole new world of music to me. My knowledge is still limited, I want to explore more, it's addictive. Sometimes I think I am a bit narrow, limiting myself to the C20th, but this can be somewhat justified given the huge diversity of music, from out-there to conservative, that was produced last century...


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Richard Strauss*- _Four Last Songs_
*Richard Strauss*- _Salome, Der Rosenkavalier_
*Gustav Mahler*- _Das Lied von der Erde_
*Puccini*- _Madame Butterfly_
*Debussy*- _Preludes, Images, Etudes_
*Ravel*- _Daphnis et Chloé, La Valse_
*Shostakovitch*- _The Nose, Preludes and Fugues_
*Delius*- _A Village Romeo and Juliet, Sea Drift, Brigg Fair, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring_
*Vaughan Williams*- _A Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 3), Symphony 5, Fantasia on "Greensleeves"_
*Stravinsky*- _The Rite of Spring_
*Bartok*- _Concerto for Orchestra_
*Szymanowski*- _Stabat Mater, Symphony no. 3 (Songs of the Night), Songs of a Fairy Tale Princess_
*Zemlinsky*- _Lyric Symphony_
*Henryk Mikołaj Górecki*- _3rd Symphony (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)_
*Rachmaninoff*- _Vespers, Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Piano Concertos 2 & 3, Symphonies 2 & 3_
*Arvo Part*- _Berlin Mass, Te Deum, Miserere_
*Osvaldo Golijov*- _Oceana_
*William Bolcom*- _William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience_


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Andre said:


> Vamos, I recommend Varese' _Arcana_ as a start, then _Ameriques_, then the more challenging _Deserts_ (my favourite piece by him)...


There's something more challenging than _Arcana_?

This probably could be a new thread topic, but is closely related. The biggest problem I have with C20 music is not its dissonances and jabbing rhythms. It's that this form of music has worked its way into our psyches little by little by exposure in movies and TV shows. Inevitably it used to express action sequences, fist fights, car chases and so forth. Or to a lesser extent it is used for suspense sequences.

Now I can't hear a work like _Arcana_ without hearing it as a cheesy 1970's TV soundtrack and I get bored. I think that is sad and that I am missing what others are hearing in these works because of the action /adventure effect. I have not yet found a way around this limitation.


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## Herr Direktor (Oct 18, 2009)

Yes, this is a nearly impossible question to answer without naming dozens of works. For me, the first three that come to mind are:

Stravinsky - Symphony in 3 movements
Bartok - 4th String Quartet
Schostakowich - 10th Sympnony

After that, there are tons of other pieces that I could pick. I shy away from Mahler and R. Strauss simply because their music, while ingenious, is more rooted in 19th century forms and practices than 20th century. I suppose one could say the same for Rachmaninov and Sibelius, but I don't want to start an argument here .

HD


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Herr Direktor said:


> I shy away from Mahler and R. Strauss simply because their music, while ingenious, is more rooted in 19th century forms and practices than 20th century. I suppose one could say the same for Rachmaninov and Sibelius, but I don't want to start an argument here .
> 
> HD


Them not fighting words, it's very true. I would say though that Strauss and certainly Sibelius, however, did have elements of modernism that did seep into their works. Mahler and Rach are more firmly rooted in the late 19th century.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> *Richard Strauss*- _Four Last Songs_
> *Richard Strauss*- _Salome, Der Rosenkavalier_
> *Gustav Mahler*- _Das Lied von der Erde_
> *Puccini*- _Madame Butterfly_
> ...


Sounds like someone has a pretty hard time choosing one. Damn fine taste, though. I'll give you that for sure.


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## ScriabinMahler (Sep 27, 2009)

wow thats tough

Respighi - Pines of Rome, Concerto Gregoriano
Scriabin - Poem of Ecstasy and Poem of Fire. piano sonata no 5
Mahler - 6,7,8,9
Shostakovich - Symphony no 2,4,5 and 7
Prokofiev - Piano concerto no 2
Schoenberg - Pelleas und Melisande
Vasks - Distant Light and Dona Nobis Pacem
Yoshimatsu - And Birds are Still and symphony no 2
Satoh - Toward the Night and Homa
Vaughan Williams - Symphony no 2,3,5 and 6
Bridge - The Sea
Bax - Into the Twilight, Tintagel, symphony 2
Howells - Elegy for solo violin, string quartet and string orchestra
Sibelius - symphony 5
Eller - Neenia, 5 pieces for string orchestra

oh and lots others


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## Cortision (Aug 4, 2009)

I'm only just beginning to explore the 20th century, and there's a lot to explore. So far I like the music of Arvo Part, Copland, Glass, RVW. I guess I'm much more attracted to the more traditional, tonal kinds of composers. You may call me unsophisticated, but I like _Cantus in memorium Benjamin Britten_ and _Spiegel im Spiegel_ (by Part).


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I also like Arvo Part, especially his _Tabula Rasa _(although I've not heard too many of his works...)

I'd also like to mention *Janacek, Lutoslawski* & *Ligeti*. Everything I've heard from them has been top-notch as well...


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## kmisho (Oct 22, 2009)

One is often tempted to put down the thing he loves listening to right now because right now it's the most awesome thing ever, but experience has taught me that a lot of things come and go. But some things go and come back again and again. Here are some of those:

In the older vein...
William Walton's Viola Concerto. The rising and falling minor 6ths are like the smallest possible _idée fixe_ for happy-and-sad-at-the-same-time.

Benjamin Britten's Phaedra. Astonishing descriptive orchestration: the crashing percussion and harmonic strings depicting Phaedra's madness, the deep dragging strings representing Phaedra in the process of dying after poisoning herself, the rising harmonics at the very end depicting Phaedra's spirit fleeing her dead body.

In the newer vein:
The opening of Koyaanisqatsi by Philip Glass. One organ and deep bass singers.
Steve Reich's Octet. I could write a whole essay on what I love about this piece. Come to think of it I already did, about 15 years ago.


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## kmisho (Oct 22, 2009)

Cortision said:


> I'm only just beginning to explore the 20th century, and there's a lot to explore. So far I like the music of Arvo Part, Copland, Glass, RVW. I guess I'm much more attracted to the more traditional, tonal kinds of composers. You may call me unsophisticated, but I like _Cantus in memorium Benjamin Britten_ and _Spiegel im Spiegel_ (by Part).


If you have any affinity for the minimalists (such as Philip Glass), you might try Gorecki's 3rd symphony and Steve Reich's 18 musicians.


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## kmisho (Oct 22, 2009)

Speaking of minimalists. I have to add the 1st section of Steve Reich's Drumming. Call me crazy, but I love it, have listened to it on and off since the mid 1980's. So simple, but it never fails to draw me in.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

One of the folks on this site has been commenting on Lepo Sumera quite a bit as of late. He apparently likes him just as much as me. Sumera certainly is worth mentioning in the category of great minimalists.


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## kmisho (Oct 22, 2009)

Lukecash12 said:


> One of the folks on this site has been commenting on Lepo Sumera quite a bit as of late. He apparently likes him just as much as me. Sumera certainly is worth mentioning in the category of great minimalists.


I haven't heard of him. I'll have to look him up, as I am one of the original great fans of minimalism.

I travelled 9 hours to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see the (day after the) world premiere of Reich's Desert Music with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. (You heard the old story about Bach crawling on his hands and knees four thousand miles to get a single glimpse of Buxtehude? Same thing.)


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## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

Lukecash12 said:


> One of the folks on this site has been commenting on Lepo Sumera quite a bit as of late. He apparently likes him just as much as me. Sumera certainly is worth mentioning in the category of great minimalists.


Hear, hear! Let's get more people on the Sumera train!


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## kmisho (Oct 22, 2009)

Weston said:


> There's something more challenging than _Arcana_?
> 
> This probably could be a new thread topic, but is closely related. The biggest problem I have with C20 music is not its dissonances and jabbing rhythms. It's that this form of music has worked its way into our psyches little by little by exposure in movies and TV shows. Inevitably it used to express action sequences, fist fights, car chases and so forth. Or to a lesser extent it is used for suspense sequences.
> 
> Now I can't hear a work like _Arcana_ without hearing it as a cheesy 1970's TV soundtrack and I get bored. I think that is sad and that I am missing what others are hearing in these works because of the action /adventure effect. I have not yet found a way around this limitation.


Nothing can survive the novelty juggernaut.

You may be a victim. If there is any solution, it will almost certainly be your own.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

poeme electronique


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Aarre Merikanto's 1924 symphonic poem _Pan_.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

That's like asking what's my favorite pop/rock or jazz tune of the past 50 years. 20th century classical ( never liked the juxtaposition of these words) is my main area of listening, so I couldn't name a favorite.


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## Garlic (May 3, 2013)

Messiaen's Chronochromie. Maybe my favourite piece of music of all time.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Dear God I can't even pick one composer from the years 1920-1950 how am I supposed to pick one single composition for the whole century?!?!?!???!?!!!!!!?


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## isridgewell (Jul 2, 2013)

I mostly listen to 20th century music so this is very hard! Here are a few:

Birtwistle - Gawain, Earth Dances, Night's Black Bird, Nenia the Death of Orpheus
Shostakovich Symphonies 4 & 11, Lady Macbeth
Messiaen- Turangalila
Britten - Peter Grimes
Bartok - Miraculous Mandarin
Turnage - Three Screaming Popes


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

andruini said:


> Hear, hear! Let's get more people on the Sumera train!


I'm on the Sumera train.

Later I'll be transferring to a Bablon train.


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## Alydon (May 16, 2012)

Sorry an old stick in the mud but for me if I had to grab one work out of the shelf if my house was on fire it would have to be Elgar's violin concerto.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

This thread was retrieved from before I signed on. I like a lot of 20th C. music, but Bartók's CfO is the clear favorite. My recordings of it are in the once-per-year listening category, where the great ones dwell.


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