# Interested in 20th century music...



## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

I'm searching for more great avant-garde type masterpieces-
I've grown to enjoy Webern and Schoenberg, which seems to open up many new listening options.

These pieces have become very dear to me:
Schoenberg's - "Drei Stücke für Klavier" (op. 11)
Bartok's - Piano Concertos / String Quartets

I'd like to set the time frame from about 1910-1939 ... and I'll see what happens

(I know, there are a thousand more threads like this, but come on, whatever)


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Have you tried Berg? Schoenberg's other student that is often lumped in with Schoenberg and Webern?


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## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

sure, sure I've tried Berg. He has a rather small body of work though.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Maybe this can be helpful: http://www.talkclassical.com/21966-three-post-wwii-composers.html. Are you looking for pieces from the period 1910 -1939 or pieces from 1910-1939 onwards?.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Your time frame makes it a bit tricky. I'll go more obscure. How about Ernst Krenek? He is very loosely related to the 2nd Viennese School. He tried the same kind of techniques around the same time. He has a fairly large body of works.


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## Dfrankjazz (Nov 24, 2012)

*The piano music of Charles Ives*

Man, do I have something for you) You may enjoy this new masterclass on the piano music of Charles Ives:






Blessings and keep swingin!


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Melvin said:


> sure, sure I've tried Berg. He has a rather small body of work though.


Not smaller than Webern's though!

Ives was a great suggestion also Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Some late *Nielsen*, of the more pleasant kind:
Clarinet Concerto 



3 Piano Pieces op.59 




Some *Ruth Crawford Seeger*:
String Quartet (a masterpiece):








Preludes for piano 




*Samuil Feinberg* (an extremely interesting piano composer):
Sonata 9 



Sonata 8 




Some *Fartein Valen* (there´s not much on you-tube):
Violin Concerto 



 (an old recording; Tellefsen is better)
Intermezzo for Piano 




*Dane Rudhyar*: 
"Stars" (he was very much into astrology ...) 




Some *Martinu*:
Double Concerto 



Cello Sonata no.2 



 (can be played slightly faster though, as in the Accord release)


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

So much great music!

I especially recommend Ives' Piano Sonata No. 2, maybe check out the music of Henry Cowell, and Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud's La Creacion du Monde, Sergei Prokofiev's music in general, but especially his Piano Sonata No. 7 and his ballets Romeo & Juliet and Cinderella  Really check out anything by those composers I named, lots of beautiful music ^^


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Don't forget Poulenc and Respighi. So much great music in the early part of the 20th Century.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Try the man with the handsome eyes staring at you from my avatar. He has a small, but very powerful body of work which can be obtained on a 2 disc set conducted by Riccardo Chailly. The two CDs conducted by Boulez on Sony are recommended as well.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Mid-period Messiaen may also be to your taste. Try Oiseaux Exotiques and Chronochromie for a real kick, especially if you enjoy starthrower's recommendation above.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

Arnold, Bacewicz, Berio, Carter, Dutilleux, Enescu, Ginastera, Honegger, Janacek, Khachaturian, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Maderna, Martin, Martinu, Myaskovsky, Norgard, Penderecki, Rawsthorne, Roussel, Schnittke, Scriabin, Szymanowski, Takemitsu, Walton.


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## DrKilroy (Sep 29, 2012)

All propositions above are great, but also be sure to try Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Adams. 

Best regards, Dr


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

The 1910-1939 time span seems to have been whirled out by enthusiasm


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

Melvin said:


> (I know, there are a thousand more threads like this, but come on, whatever)


You asked for it....






I'll only comment on the latter choice: it's very easy to become swamped in picking up all kinds of avant garde music. I limit myself to the string quartet genre; you could do the same, as in start exploring say, piano sonatas; or piano trios; or string quartets, or piano quintets, and build up a foundation of interesting avant garde works from there.

Hard to give a comprehensive reply. In broad strokes, Bartok's string quartets are well written, and although situated in what would probably be James Joyce's ideal of the avant-garde, his pushing of the envelope was destined like in art movements, where the exploration of a movement, like impression, romanticism...is exhausted....and thus energy is channeled towards a new expression.

His fellow countrymen: Laszlo Lajtha wrote an excellent cycle of at least 9 string quartets, Dohnanyi and Kodaly are also fascinating, although perhaps very concentrated if not demanding and thus requires a skilled listener. If the avant-garde epithet is most important, then you will probably find Kurtag essential listening when it comes to string quartets.

Of the Czech composers, Alois Haba's string quartet cycle is exceptional for its microtonal structure. The Stamic Quartet who play his works, have had to divide the whole of our conventional octave into smaller fractions; like 16ths. The music is very unusual and incredibly difficult to play.

Of the early 20th century avant garde works - let's not forget Debussy started the ball rolling in France. His successor, Henri Dutilleux's Ainsi La Nuit is a beautiful nocturnal exploration of the ethereality of string sonority in the quartet writing tradition. His fellow countrymen, Pascal Dusapin and Koerig give some hints as to what the French avant garde are writing (Dusapin has written a string quartet in the form of 'Time Zones').

This French tradition is very different from the German one: Krenek, as mentioned above, is incisive and aggressive in his emotional worldview: I really enjoy his works and rank it alongside one of my late discoveries: Ponnelle, also German whose string quartets and trio are inescapably rich in cultural presence and emotional profundity.

Americans like Laderman and Powell, as well as Gloria Coates and Nancarrow etc all write in the avant-garde tradition of pushing theoretical developments beyond mere theory. If you are familiar with the Kronos Quartet, you will see how they have fused sound recordings from the trains to Auschwitz into their string quartet works with Steve Reich. Another avant-garde ex-Greek composer, Christos Hatzis, has used the train motif in his own way for the string quartet. This is immensely successful for transferring the string quartet medium.

Other efforts by the Kronos Quartet see them fuse recorded electronic tape with the string quartet (also undertaken by the Silesian Quartet recordings of contemporary Polish music, as well as by the Neo Quartet) of the unpronounceables (the modern Polish generation of composers). Recordings with female voice (like with Ginastera; Schafer, Schoenberg etc) can achieve a new dimension, as can adding a musical 'saw' to a string quartet.

For the purist, the avant garde is marked by technical breaches of the convention: that is, the use of screams and shouts; patting the violin's body, and creating croaking and groaning scrapes and slithers of sonority which are barely recognisable ......thus melody transformed into sonority which becomes marked by intelligent rhythm and a textural layering of soundscrapes to create a soundscape. Lazarof achieves this, as does Husa to some extent, although Husa's work, like Kernis, are picked out by the Pulitzer Prize awards. You could follow these recipients to find the avant garde: generally their choices are far from 'safe'.

In any case, the above screed is just an example of how fluent or interesting, delving into a small focussed area of classical music can lead you. The alternative ...touching on one or two recommendations here or there...in symphony..choral form...or chamber......it's too much of the Midas touch approach for my taste. It can work, but it generally does not allow the intensity of discovery and appreciation of a medium to its fullest.

That is almost a criterion for grasping the avant garde, no?


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

What do you all think I'm gonna say?

Don't forget the Russians!!

Prokofiev would be an excellent representative. He was quite eclectic and picked up some cosmopolitan style himself. If you like Bartok, I think you'll like Prokofiev's music from his Enfante Terrible period. Let me give an example or 2:











After this, maybe Shostakovich would be of interest too.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

starthrower said:


> Try the man with the handsome eyes staring at you from my avatar. He has a small, but very powerful body of work which can be obtained on a 2 disc set conducted by Riccardo Chailly. The two CDs conducted by Boulez on Sony are recommended as well.


ECUATORIAL by Edgard Varèse


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

joen_cph said:


> The 1910-1939 time span seems to have been whirled out by enthusiasm


I'll throw it back on track, joen_cph. 

*1910*

IN THE HOURS OF THE NEW MOON by Nikolai Roslavets





*1917*

AMAZONAS by Heitor Villa-Lobos





*1923*

FANTASIA POETICA by Väinö Raitio





*1930*

ORGAN CONCERTO by Jón Leifs













*1936*

LA MEDITATION DE PURUN BHAGAT by Charles Koechlin





*1937*

PASSACAGLIA by Stefan Wolpe


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## lukecubed (Nov 27, 2011)

Janáček!!!






Janáček!!!






Oh yeah, that Prokofiev guy was pretty fantastic as well:


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