# The Best 20th Century Vocal Music



## Benny

Hi, Friends!
I would like to recommend the following as (what I consider to be) the best 20th century vocal music - with my preferred recordings of them:

Kodaly, Psalmus Hungaricus - Dorati and Simandy (do not compromise!!)
Prokofiev, Ivan the Terrible - Gergiev
Poulenc, Stabat Mater - Baudo.


As you may notice, I do not like "hard-modern" music.

Enjoy!!

Benny


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## KenOC

Hard to leave Britten of this list -- Serenade, Songs from the Chinese, etc.


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## elgar's ghost

There isn't much vocal music from Prokofiev's Ivan Groszny soundtrack but I agree that what there is is pretty good - as I recall there is some conventional Orthodox liturgical stuff, a folk song and the Oath of the Oprichniky (Ivan's bodyguard/police), the last of which some people might think a little unconventional what with the handclaps.


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## Vaneyes

Benny, preparing for that day, when you do like it *hard*. Any of Ligeti, Penderecki, Schnittke, Nono, Berio. :tiphat:


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## Mahlerian

The following should not qualify as "hard-modern" by any stretch, and it's amazing.














And I need to throw in a mention for what I think is the best of all 20th century vocal works, _Das Lied von der Erde_.


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## Art Rock

I second Mahler's DLVDE.

Also excellent (a selection):
Barber - Knoxville summer of 1915
Britten - War requiem
Gorecki - Symphony 3
Prokofiev - Alexander Nevsky


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## Benny

Vaneyes,
Don't wait for that, no chance, not in this life. :lol:
B.


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## Manxfeeder

Also Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms, either by Gardiner or Ancerl.


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## Ukko

Four Last Songs, and the unmentioned Mahler.


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## Xaltotun

I'll chime in for Rachmaninov: Vespers - Sveshnikov!


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## GSchiappe

The firsts I can think of right now are:

DLVDE(of course) - Call me crazy, but I prefer the baritone version and Dieskau is stunning.

From Jewish and Folk Poetry - Haitink's Shosta cycle is amazing and this "bonus" vocal qualifies for me as the best rendering I heard of this piece.

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd - Hindemith at his best in this masterpiece. Shaw is incredible in choral e vocal works, in this work he is as inspired as one can be, memorable.


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## Kivimees

I would like to add Gerald Finzi.


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## joen_cph

Some more works which have something to say:
- Eisler: Deutsche Sinfonie
- Pettersson: Symphony 12
- Penderecki: Te Deum
- Nørgaard: La Nuit des Hommes
- Delius: Songs of Sunset
- Mahler: Rückert Lieder
- Gorecki: Szeroka Woda
- Berio: Sinfonia
- Janacek: Diary of One who Disappeared
- Ravel: Don Quixote


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## starthrower

Messiaen-Trois petites liturgies
Schnittke-Requiem
Debussy-Sirenes


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## Sid James

*Lutoslawski *- 5 songs for soprano and orch. (an early work, kind of Impressionist, the poetry's allusions to the sounds of nature perfectly imaged by the music)

*Messiaen *- Trois Melodies for soprano and piano (again an early work, more Impressionist than 'hard' modernist or whatever)

*Zemlinsky *- Maeterlinck songs for mezzo soprano & orch. (late romantic feel but lighter, almost Impressionist)

Also try songs by *Ravel and Debussy *(probably more obvious).

& what about *cabaret songs by Satie and Schoenberg*? Try Measha Brueggergosman's 'Surprise' album for that (on Deutsche Grammophon, coupled with songs by William Bolcom).


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## StlukesguildOhio

I seriously wouldn't know where to begin. There is so much of real merit... beauty, even. I would not be without Strauss' _Four Last Songs_...






Mahler's _Das Lied von der Erde_:






Faure's _La chanson d'Ève_:


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## StlukesguildOhio

Rachmaninoff's _All Night Vigil (Vespers)_:






Grechaninov's _Passion Week_:






Gorecki _Symphony no. 3_:


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## StlukesguildOhio

Korngold's _"Marietta's Song"_ from the opera _Die tote Stadt_:






Strauss' _Salome_:






Debussy's _Pelleas et Mélisande_-


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## StlukesguildOhio

Puccini- _Madame Butterfly_-






Daniel Catán- _Florencia en el Amazonas_-






Osvaldo Golijov - _Lúa descolorida_


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## LordBlackudder




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## ptr

If You want something very accesible, check out the choir music that *Arvo Pärt* has written!

/ptr


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## Stargazer

ptr said:


> If You want something very accesible, check out the choir music that *Arvo Pärt* has written!
> 
> /ptr


Darn, you beat me to it! I was just about to post that lol


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## ptr

The album I listened to this afternoon is prime Arvo Pärt, and should be on everyone's 20/21 Century listening agenda









There are several discs on *Harmonia Mundi* with *Paul Hillier* and quite many on *ECM *(with various artists) that are of very high artistic quality!

/ptr


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## duteurtre

Allow me to toss in a couple of favorites:

- Poulenc - Stabat Mater
- Duruflé - Requiem (I am thinking about the Corydon singers album coupled with Fauré)
- Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire (if you feel adventurous! I have a soft spot for this flavour of sprechgesang even if I am not a big fan of atonal music)

I have a friend who recently sang with her choir a performance of Rutter's Magnificat.
It is a recent interesting and accessible vocal piece.


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## DeepR

From 1900, does this count? Anyway, it's one of my favorite choral pieces.






The final part of Scriabin's first symphony, which is a tribute to art. I don't know how many times I've listened to it with goosebumps all over.
Besides Symphony No. 1, Scriabin composed only one short song "Romance for voice" and the wordless vocals for Prometheus (and maybe some sketches for an opera).


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## unpocoscherzando

Just to give three, I will mention:

Granados' _Goyescas_ (the opera),
Puccini's _Madama Butterfly_
&
Poulenc's _Le Bestiaire_.


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## Celloissimo

Adams- Nixon in China 

Janacek- Jenufa (written in 1903 so it just barely makes the cut as 20th century)

Puccini- Madame Butterfly

Holst- Christmas Day (a nice little hidden gem, along with his other vocal works)

Mahler- Das Lied von der Erde


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## DavidA

Leaving opera aside, Strauss' Four Last Songs.

Britten's Serenade for Horn, Tenor and Strings

Rutter's Requiem


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## Klavierspieler

Britten - _Sacred and Profane_
Barber - Three Songs, Op. 10


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## PetrB

Barber fans might like to know about the three pieces in his acappella _Reincarnations_




and his masterpiece, _Knoxville Summer of 1915_. There are also numerous and wonderful _songs_.

William Schuman ~ _Carols of Death_

Mahler ~ _Das Lied von der Erde / Symphony no. 4_ _and all those songs_ 

Ives ~ _Symphony No. 4_, and numerous _songs_.

Bartok ~ _Cantata Profana_ (lesser known / done because of difficulty and numbers of performers required, a masterpiece, and subjectively imo, 'gorgeous.' / _Bluebeard's Castle_, arguably one of his most 'luscious' scores.

Stravinsky ~ _Zvezdoliki_ (Le roi des étoiles) _/ Mass / Les Noces_ (without this precedent work, The sound of Orff's _Carmina Burana_, etc. would not have come out as it did.) _/ Oedipus Rex / Persephone / Symphony of Psalms / The Rake's Progress / Threni / Anthem, 'the Dove Descending...' _

Berg ~ _Lulu_

Ravel ~ _Sheherezade / Daphis et Chloe / L'enfant et les sortileges_

Britten ~ (numerous); _Les Illuminations,_ (soprano, or tenor, strings: texts, Rimbaud) _/ Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings / A ceremony of carols / War Requiem_

Milhaud ~ _Les Choéphores_





Berio ~ _Sinfonia / Choro / Folk Songs / Visages_ (an utterly brilliant monodrama for soprano and prepared electronics - taped)

Stockhausen ~ _Gesang der Jünglinge_ (electronic & musique concrète)

Janacek ~ _Glagolitic Mass_

Kodaly ~ some lovely acappella works for young women's voices, here '_Mountain Nights_'





Poulenc ~ numerous works, all worthy of mention: _Le Bal Masqué_ (a brilliant virtuosic tour de force) _/ Litanies à la vierge noire / Gloria / Stabat Mater / Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence / _the operas _Les mamelles de Tirésias & Dialogues of the Carmelites_ Apart from that body of work are the many _songs_ 

John Adams ~ _Harmonium_; probably a very worthwhile investigation for many. From the few bits I've heard of his recent opera, _A Flowering Tree_, it seems to bode well for both solo vocal and choral numbers.

Lukas Foss ~ his lovely neoclassical _Song of Songs_








and his orchestral song cycle, _Time Cycle_ are both highly lyric beauties.
I'm also quite partial to his _Measure for Measure_ a fine reworking of the music of Renaissance composer Solomon Rossi, tenor and orchestra; texts of Shakespeare.





Messiaen ~ song cycle, _Poemes pour mi_

Boulez ~ his early, lyric and rather 'Webern-like' cantata, _Le soleil des eaux_

Ginastera ~ _Cantata para América Mágica_, (soprano and ca. 52 percussion instruments for a lesser amount of players)





Robert Moran ~ _Requiem; Chant du Cygne_ (I keep returning to this, for its beauty, as well as its amazing form / construction, and also keep thinking 'this is an "important" work.)





Brief as it is, I also still enjoy Varese's terse two song _Offrandes_, soprano and chamber orchestra especially the second of these, _Croix du Sud._

For those who go there, there is a whole other list of works closer to the more 'modern' genre of Charles Wuorinen's _Genesis_, and Morton Feldman's _Rothko Chapel_ -- tip of another iceberg.

On another plane, there is a good deal of choral work from Leo Sowerby, 
or this one movement from Lou Harrison's odd-duck charmer, _Mass to St. Anthony_ -- check out the _Gloria_ @ 3'40'' 




and here, the Gloria in an oddly sort of 'retro' re-orchestration, by whom I know not...





... without being at all complete, I still feel like I've overlooked a lot more. The era / epoch is pretty well-populated and rather rich


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## millionrainbows

Milton Babbitt's _Philomel_ with Bethany Beardslee singing;

Luciano Beriio, _Folk Songs_ and _Ammagio a Joyce,_ with Cathy Berberian singing;

George Crumb's _Madrigals,_ with Jan DeGaetani;

Varèse, _Offrandes_ (The Varèse Album, Wounded Bird 2-CD)

Boulez: _Pli selon pli_

Charles Ives: _The Housatonic at Stockbridge, The Innate, Thoreau, Serenity_ (Ives songs, Albany, vol. 4)

Stockhausen: _Stimmung (Tuning)_

Corigliano: _Songs of Bob Dylan_ (NAXOS)

Wuorinen: _Winter's Light_

Harbison: from CD _At First Light: Due Libri dei Mottetti di Montale,_ Lorraine Hunt; _Chorale Cantata,_ Dawn Upshaw

All of Schoenberg, Webern, & Berg's lieder


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## Bone

Cool music and a great video presentation.


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## Klavierspieler

Webern's Cantatas


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## StlukesguildOhio

The songs of Ned Rorem:


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## StlukesguildOhio

Steve Reich- Proverb:






Robert Moran- Requiem Chant du Cygne:






Morten Lauridsen- Dirait on:


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## StlukesguildOhio

Heitor Villa-Lobos- Floresta do Amazonas:






Valentin Silvestrov- Silent Songs:


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## MJongo




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## quack

No mention of Canteloube's _Chants d'Auvergne_






And maybe a little bit of Cardew


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## cjvinthechair

A word for Taneyev - The Sealed Angel, and Frank Martin Mass for double choir


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## ahammel




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## millionrainbows

quack said:


> No mention of Canteloube's _Chants d'Auvergne _


Yeah, I like those a lot. I have Dawn Upshaw with Kent Nagano.

I almost forgot: Morton Feldman sung by Joan La Barbara (New Albion). Creepy, monilithic, totally dark, cats love it.


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## schuberkovich

Definitely Janacek's Glagolitic Mass


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## DrKilroy

I think that Fine's The Choral New Yorker is quite beautiful.











Best regards, Dr


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## millionrainbows

John Cage's _Aria:_ ridiculous, but charming.


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## Garlic

This early Webern choral work is beautiful





All of Ligeti's vocal works are fantastic - they can be funny, moving, scary, or beautiful, often at the same time
Clocks and Clouds, Aventures, Nouvelles Aventures, Nonsense Madrigals, Requiem, Lux Aeterna, probably a few more I haven't yet

Another great one is Berio's Sinfonia


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## Kleinzeit

Garlic said:


> This early Webern choral work is beautiful
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> All of Ligeti's vocal works are fantastic - they can be funny, moving, scary, or beautiful, often at the same time
> Clocks and Clouds, Aventures, Nouvelles Aventures, Nonsense Madrigals, Requiem, Lux Aeterna, probably a few more I haven't yet
> 
> Another great one is Berio's Sinfonia


The Ligeti you've overlooked: Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel

! ! !


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## millionrainbows

Kleinzeit said:


> The Ligeti you've overlooked: Síppal, dobbal, nádihegedüvel
> 
> ! ! !


Yeah, there's two versions of_ Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen, for chorus, Op. 2, _one with accompaniment, one without. Available on Koch disc "The Complete Vocal Chamber Works."


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## Aquos

Well... 

my favorite 20th century lied is Webern's "Am Ufer".
my favorite 20th century choral work is Poulenc's Stabat Mater.


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## Mahlerian

Aquos said:


> my favorite 20th century lied is Webern's "Am Ufer".


I can't seem to find one by that name. Was it unpublished?


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## Aquos

^^ It is the second lied of the 5 lieder on Poems by Richard Dehmel.

To hear: http://www.goear.com/listen/6d9844a/am-ufer-5-earlier-lieder-anton-webern


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## Jobis

Les Noces!

Page four and not yet mentioned.


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## Baeron

Poulenc's Stabat Mater


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## DavidA

Strauss - Four Last Songs 

Britten - Serenade for horn, tenor and strings


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## TrevBus

A few!!!! 

Holst A Choral Famtasia
Holmboe Sym.#4 'Sinfonia Sacra'
Rachmaninoff Symphony 'The Bells'
Ludolf Nielsen 'Babelstarnet'(The Tower of Babel)
Copland 'The Tender Land'
Kokkonen 'Requiem'

All of Haydn's Masses

Do I really need to list it? OK. Handel's 'Messiah' About the only work of Handel's I like.

Finally, my favorites: Gorecki's Sym. #2 'Copernican'. 'Beatus Vir'.


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## Doommarine

Somei Satoh - Kyokoku
Patrick Cassidy - ‎ Vide Cor Meum
Oda Relicta - Leper Mass V


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