# Favourite piece of music from the 21st century



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Seeing as we are almost into the second decade of the 21st century, I was wondering what was your favourite piece composed between the year 2000 and now.

I don't really listen to too much 'modern'(post-1980) classical music and would like to know if I am missing out on any recent masterpieces.


----------



## Ignis Fatuus (Nov 25, 2008)

Britney Spears - Toxic


----------



## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

I like John Adams' String Quartet and his opera Doctor Atomic.
Steve Reich's Daniel Variations worked for me as well..
There's also a few pieces by Nico Muhly that I like, like It Goes Without Saying and Pillaging Music. Mothertongue is not bad either, from him.
Of course these compositions are a bit in the minimalist vein, so if you don't particularly like minimalism, just ignore my post.


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Probably this collection of works by Osvaldo Golijov:


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

These would all be among my favorites:


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Erkki-Sven Tuur: The Path and the Traces (2005)


----------



## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

I'll second the recomendations for Golijov and Catán!


----------



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> Probably this collection of works by Osvaldo Golijov:


Not to do with the original topic but that photo is also on the cover of a great jazz album called _Undercurrent_ by _Bill Evans and Jim Hall_.

Also, is it a coincidence that all your other selected pieces feature the human voice as the main instrument.

Andruini, I am a fan of Reich and Adams (not as much as other _minimalists_) and will have to check them works out.


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

I like _On the Transmigration of Souls_ by John Adams:


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I have a rather limited knowledge of C21st music, but I have liked what I have heard of the recent creations by more established composers, like *Arvo Part, Penderecki & Elliot Carter*. What they have done since 2000 probably doesn't amount to their best works, but they have produced some good music nonetheless.

One composer to look out for is the Chinese-American *Huang Ruo *(b. 1976). I have a Naxos cd of his four chamber concertos, and they provide some very interesting listening. A blend of Chinese traditional techniques and ideas with the more recent trends in Western music (both classical and other). He is able to produce an atmosphere and aesthetic that sounds both ancient & modern at the same time...


----------



## Ignis Fatuus (Nov 25, 2008)

I feel a bit silly, making a joke at the start of this thread now :/


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Ignis Fatuus said:


> I feel a bit silly, making a joke at the start of this thread now :/


We all thought that really *was* your favourite.


----------



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I'd like to see the release of a recording of _Vexations and Devotions_ by Brett Dean. It was the first 'modern' piece of music I heard (2007 Proms, can't remember the conductor; it was coupled with Beethoven 7).

Apart from that, I've only heard several pieces from this century, _...onyt agoraf y drws..._ by Guto Puw and _Chicago Remains_ by Mark-Anthony Turnage standing out for me.


----------



## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Is it a coincidence that all your other selected pieces feature the human voice as the main instrument?

Probably not. There was a thread at some point in which we were asked to select our favorite musical genres: symphonies, chamber music, opera, etc... At that point I admitted that Choral music is probably my favorite genre (cantatas, oratorios, masses, etc...) followed by opera and then other vocal music. I'm listening to the _Anonymous Four_ right now. Great voices!


----------



## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Ignis Fatuus said:


> Britney Spears - Toxic


?????????????????


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I must confess to not having heard any of these, but will listen now.


----------



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I've just heard the last movement of _City Noir_ by John Adams, premiered at Gustavo Dudamel's inaugural LA Phil concert. I'm very impressed with it, and I'd like to hear the rest of the piece eventually.


----------



## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

maestro267 said:


> I've just heard the last movement of _City Noir_ by John Adams, premiered at Gustavo Dudamel's inaugural LA Phil concert. I'm very impressed with it, and I'd like to hear the rest of the piece eventually.


Ooh yes, I've heard bits and pieces too and it sounds really intriguing.. Looking forward to a recording!


----------



## Praine (Dec 20, 2008)

R. Murray Schafer - Spirits of the House


----------



## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

EDIT: Spam is gone, so I have no reason to be mad.. 
So I'll recommend The Tempest by Thomas Adès, a truly wonderful modern opera.


----------



## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Recently I saw "Concerto 4 3" by Jennifor Higdon, performed by the trio it was dedicated to. It was really fascinating.


----------



## shsherm (Jan 24, 2008)

Last week I heard a performance of 24 Preludes For Piano and Cello Opus 47 written and performed by Lera Auerbach. The cello was played by Ani Aznavoorian as part of the Camerata Pacifica series. The Vienna State Opera will perform an opera she has written and The Royal Danish Ballet has performed The Little Mermaid which she has also written. I predict that you will hear of her if you haven't yet. The 24 preludes was a brilliant and stunning work which is the first 21st century masterpiece I have heard.


----------



## Barger (Nov 24, 2009)

andruini said:


> EDIT: So I'll recommend The Tempest by Thomas Adès, a truly wonderful modern opera.


 Saw this at Santa Fe Opera a couple years ago. It was excellent. Have you heard the new recording just available this year? Does it do justice?


----------



## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

Barger said:


> Saw this at Santa Fe Opera a couple years ago. It was excellent. Have you heard the new recording just available this year? Does it do justice?


I have the recording, but I'm afraid it's my only reference as I've never seen it live. It's an amazing recording, though.. One of my favorite modern operas.


----------



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Bump.

I'll add Steven Mackey's _Lost and Found_, Steve Reich's _2x5_, Annie Gosfield's _Flying Sparks and Heavy Machinery_, Michael Harrison's _Revelation_ and La Monte Young's _Just Charles & Cello in the Romantic Chord_.

Strictly classical, of course.

I'm also amazed that andruini is the only person on this site to have mentioned Nico Muhly. Poor form, chaps.


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I'd have to say probably Arvo Part's 4th symphony. I saw the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's premiere of this work last year and was quite impressed by it despite some disrespcting person in the balcony above me listening to some other music on their i- phone during much of the second half of the piece (!).


----------



## toucan (Sep 27, 2010)

*Orion* by Kaija Saariaho (2002).
With *Orion*, several of her themes merge to find their best expression so far, above their time, on a par with the best of 1920's Prokofiev and perhaps also, Britten's _Sinfonia da Requiem_

Three recordings already. 
Franz Welser-Most (to whom it is dedicated & the best available imo):










Christoph Eschenbach










And Jukka-Pekka Saraste


----------



## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Saariaho - L'Amour de Loin, Orion
Golijov - La Pasion Segun San Marcos, Ainadamar, Three Songs
Corigliano - The Red Violin Concerto
Hakola - Clarinet Concerto


----------



## Charon (Sep 8, 2008)

tdc said:


> I'd have to say probably Arvo Part's 4th symphony. I saw the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's premiere of this work last year and was quite impressed by it despite some disrespcting person in the balcony above me listening to some other music on their i- phone during much of the second half of the piece (!).


I was there too! I was impressed by this piece as well. It was a lovely experience.

I didn't happen to pick out the fella with the i-phone though.


----------



## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

Harrison Birtwistle 
- The Minotaur (2008)
- The Axe Manual (2000)

Aaron Cassidy
- String Quartet No.1 (2002)

I really need to listen to more up to date music. It's depressing to think I know more pop pieces written between 2000 - 2010 than I do classical pieces! This must change! Birtwistle is a conservative composer compared to a lot of current composers!


----------



## LordBlackudder (Nov 13, 2010)




----------



## RBrittain (Jan 24, 2011)

There has been music... in the 21st century? Are you sure?

Jest. Probably something like this, which encompasses the soul of these times:


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Charon said:


> I was there too! I was impressed by this piece as well. It was a lovely experience.
> 
> I didn't happen to pick out the fella with the i-phone though.


Woah cool! Small world. 

I haven't since been back though and one of the reasons is none of the ushers did anything about the guy playing his iphone, and when I emailed and complained no one got back to me about it. But you know I'll eventually be back because the music is just too good. Once they've done their time, Ill give them probation. lol.


----------



## Pierrot Lunaire (Dec 16, 2010)

I'll second all the Saariaho stuff that has already been posted and I would like to add "in vain" by Georg Friedrich Haas. It was written in 2000 and is easliy my favorite composition created in the new millenium so far. The New Yorker had a write up about it last November so it looks like it is starting to be appreciated by others as well and not just some random person on an obscure message board like me. The best I can say about it is that is sounds kind of like Ligeti but with its own distinct voice. Very slow, so patience is required.

Speaking of Ligeti, the last étude he wrote was in 2001 so if you consider them all as one composition then they were finished in the 21st century. That feels a little bit like cheating though. But they are great pieces, no doubt.

BTW - The article I linked to was written by Alex Ross who also wrote the book "The Rest is Noise" which everyone is raving about. Not that that means much but I thought some people might be interested to know that.


----------



## Guest (Feb 12, 2011)

Pierrot Lunaire said:


> Alex Ross who also wrote the book "The Rest is Noise" which everyone is raving about.


Mostly only in the US. In the UK and in the EU, the response is quite other.

Otherwise, I'd really like to play, but most of my listening is from the past 15 or twenty years, so choosing just one would be unpossible! Let's just pretend that favorite has an s on the end.

Opera: Bronius Kutavičius, _Lokys_ - Miguel Azguime, _Itinerário do Sal_ - The Spy Collective, _Iminami_ - Fausto Romitelli, _Index of Metals_

String quartet: Helmut Lachenmann, nr. 3 - Beat Furrer, nr. 3

Electroacoustic: Bokanowski, _L'etoile absinthe, Chant d'hombre_ - Ferreyra, _Un fil invisible_ - Nelson, _objet sonore/objet cinétique._

Electroacoustic +: Lidia Zielińska, _Nobody is Perfect_

Turntable: Martin Tetreault & Otomo Yoshihide, _GRRR_ - Tetreault, Yoshihide, and eRikm, _Trace Cuts_

Minimal: Sachiko M, _Detect,_ _1 : 2_ - Lopez, _Untitled #180_ - Simeon Ten Holt, _Canto Ostinato_

Symphony: Z'ev, Symphony nr. 2

Noise: Kotra, _Dissilient_ - R.H.Y. Yau, _The Hidden Tongue_

And so much more. Heartbreaking, really, all the stuff I've left off. Thousands of CDs. (OK, maybe only 17 or 18 hundreds of CDs. I don't keep track. A lot.) Good times!


----------



## Listener (Sep 20, 2010)

I thought the Glass 2nd Violin Concerto was pretty good.
Star Trek Nemesis soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith.
Also really liked the soundtrack to the two Mass Effect games.


----------



## radiohlite (Feb 16, 2011)

RBrittain said:


> There has been music... in the 21st century? Are you sure?
> 
> Jest. Probably something like this, which encompasses the soul of these times:


nice. i was gonna say either Amnesiac or In Rainbows


----------



## Sparks (Feb 17, 2011)

Many movie soundtracks are where the classical music is at these days, specifically John Williams and Hans Zimmer compositions 

Here's a recent piece by John Williams: 




Not really a fan of the series but that's a wonderful score.


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Sparks said:


> Many movie soundtracks are where the classical music is at these days, specifically John Williams and Hans Zimmer compositions


I disagree, and weve had lot of debate about this recently, ill try and find the threads.


----------



## Guest (Feb 19, 2011)

In brief, movie soundtracks are where there is a lot of music played by symphony orchestras, and a lot of that sounds like a kind of generic late 19th/early 20th century orchestral music. Hollywood started stealing from that era early in its career and has added a few riffs to that over time, but it's still pretty much the same.

The way to make blockbusters is to recycle familiar things and mix in just enough unfamiliar to give the illusion of novelty. If that's true for the plots, it's doubly true for the soundtracks.

There are films that have current soundtracks, but those tend to be art films like Patrick Bokanowski's _Battements Solaires,_ which has a soundtrack by an actual composer, that is, someone who does music not just music for films. And there are hundreds of pieces that are fusions of video and electroacoustics, of course. But none of those things are what people mean when they say "movies."


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

some guy said:


> The way to make blockbusters is to recycle familiar things and mix in just enough unfamiliar to give the illusion of novelty. If that's true for the plots, it's doubly true for the soundtracks.


This is a good point and also applies to top 40 mainstream music stuff to super extremes.


----------



## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

radiohlite said:


> nice. i was gonna say either Amnesiac or In Rainbows


I think Kid A is easily the best album they have done, OK Computer is ok though a couple of songs I like less on it. I consider them a 90s group really.


----------



## radiohlite (Feb 16, 2011)

heard The King of Limbs yet?


----------



## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

I like this piece because it reminds me of the compressor, which keeps the home cool and comfortable during our hot summer months.

_Naldjorlak_ (2008) by composer Elaine Radigue (born 1932).


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

HarpsichordConcerto said:


> I like this piece because it reminds me of the compressor, which keeps the home cool and comfortable during our hot summer months.
> 
> _Naldjorlak_ (2008) by composer Elaine Radigue (born 1932).


:lol::lol::lol:

You are hilarious HC! 

Its a little different than my usual Sunday morning music fix.


----------



## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

radiohlite said:


> heard The King of Limbs yet?


I have now. Lotus Flower might be their best song since Kid A. Codex has some atmosphere but the rest I can hardly remember. So maybe a slight improvement on the last 3 albums but still pretty average to me.


----------



## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

why does it feel like modern composers (like the ones mentioned) sound so off from classical? i listened to Aaron Cassidy and i must say i pondered what the hell that debacle was supposed to be. i searched and found most of these pieces on youtube, and the only one that actually sounded pleasant was hakolas clarinet concerto (so far only 4th movement is uploaded) - Just what the hell is wrong with composers these days? the atonal music is bloated and unimaginative - lots of concertos and quartets sound more or less like harmonics that a computer emulates. some of the modern symphonies also sound similar, lots of portamento slides, harmonics, and just strange noises culminated with the atonal aspect of the music for making no sense.

Beethovens grosse fugue make sense - its radical and challenging - but it makes sense - as to this new modern stuff - it doesnt.

Im completely shocked and perplexed after listening to some of this modern stuff, what happened to harmony? counter point? melody? can someone please post some examples of good pieces of music that follow this? as of now i think modern composers are nothing more than scavengers of garbage, picking up useless junk and trying to cultivate it into something that means nothing.


sorry for my brutality, but this is really sad age of music in the classical field


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Igneous01 said:


> can someone please post some examples of good pieces of music that follow this?


Whats your time range?

(i.e. the oldest music youll accept)


----------



## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

i accept baroque and even pre baroque like some of the medieval music composed.
ill go as far as to say that after debussy and those around, after the 1940s, the music started degrading.

it just feels like composers these days forgot about polyphony, and are reinventing the wheel again - heck i could probably compose this stuff to - my method - go into fruity loops, go into piano roll, go random, 128 bars, and done. wow i feel accomplished, this is a masterful work i have ahem created.


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I think its a balance. You always want those composers out there trying new things and pushing boundaries, but at the same time at this stage this can often go too far leading to music created seemingly only for novelty, shock value, or for people just trying to be geniuses ahead of their time. When music seems to abandon all ties to human emotion and consciousness it seems to me too far in that direction.

I believe the great musical geniuses of our time will be those who experiment in pushing boundaries, yet in the end see the true genius and infinite potential already inherent in the more traditional forms, and the power of just a simple beautiful melody.

Penderecki is one of my personal favorite composers who has excelled in both avante garde circles as well as (in my opinion just as importantly) still pushing boundaries within traditional forms.

Here is a quote as to his idea of the direction modern music has taken:

'The avant-garde gave one an illusion of universalism. The musical world of Stockhausen, Nono, Boulez and Cage was for us, the young - hemmed in by the aesthetics of socialist realism, then the official canon in our country - a liberation...I was quick to realise however, that this novelty, this experimentation and formal speculation, is more destructive than constructive; I realised the Utopian quality of its Promethean tone'. Penderecki concluded that he was 'saved from the avant-garde snare of formalism by a return to tradition'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Penderecki


----------



## Hazel (Oct 23, 2010)

Has anyone mentioned David Matthews' symphonies? Especially his Symphony #2? Has anyone heard it and commented? I'd like to hear thoughts on this. Thank you.


----------



## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

it seems theres still some hope for the new age - i just listened to gorecki's 3rd symphony - and while it may not be 21 century, i hope other composers will pick up where he left off, as well as penderecki. atleast people from my country still understand music - thank goodness for that


----------



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Igneous01 said:


> sorry for my brutality, but this is really sad age of music in the classical field


Wake up.:lol:

This is a great age for music. Here's some of the piece's I mentioned earlier.














Other people have mentioned John Adams, R Murray Schafer and Osvaldo Golijov who hardly resemble anything you describe.

What would be the point of rehashing old crap like Mozart and Haydn. Music's moved on, if you don't like it then don't fret there's plenty of guys who enjoy rehashing Mendelssohn and Grieg, but why listen to them when you can just turn to the originals? If you like diatonic harmony and melodies, just listen to pop or rock or jazz or something that still uses those ideas in music. Maybe someone like Wim Mertens or even Ludovico Einaudi would be more your cup of tea.



> i accept baroque and even pre baroque like some of the medieval music composed.
> ill go as far as to say that after debussy and those around, after the 1940s, the music started degrading.


Music before WWI is pretty boring compared to what came after (and I don't like serialism).


----------



## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

Argus said:


> Wake up.:lol:
> 
> This is a great age for music. Here's some of the piece's I mentioned earlier.
> 
> ...


interesting pieces - but to be honest - the first one sounds jazzy, the second one sounds like the experimental chill out, and has some roots in dubstep. the third one reminds me of the helicopter concerto (even tho its different and its one instrument)

but i have to ask - why is it playing one tone for the majority of the time? it kind of sounds minimalist to me.

i will say this:

Of course i dont want people to just recycle what others have already done in the past - that would be redundant and not push music. And i dont particularly have anything against serialism or the dodecaphonic music - i just think composers have a poor understanding of how to use such styles of music and in consequence alot of what is made is not really music, but an elaborate experiment for few to study and claim to be the science of music.

I dont see how hard it can be to incorporate all these ideas into one complete form of music - hell maybe someone just needs to come up with a new sonata form that involves going through every key in music - that would qualify it as atonal to some aspects. Or using serialism (and those strange harmonics and effects) as an introduction to the theme or exposition of a piece - maybe use it as an episode to modulate between keys - the possibilities are endless.

but for some reason the composer thinks its good to have a 9 minute movement of a quartet filled with these harmonics and dissonances - without any sort of form or foundation behind them. just a bunch of sounds put in to make a listener question why it was even arranged to begin with.

Ill say this - after listening to 3 minutes of that quartet - i started feeling physical pain and discomfort. Music is not supposed to insult you or assault you. There are many things music can do but if it starts throwing punches at me well then its not really music but mockery at its finest to the listener who doesn't follow suite with it.


----------



## Guest (Mar 4, 2011)

Igneous01, you've identified a disconnect, which is certainly a real one, for you, but you've found its cause in the music itself. But what about you? Where do you fit in to this picture? Well, you're there, pretty obviously to an observer--most of your posts have to do with your problems with the music. But you still insist that the problems are entirely with the music.

Well, to see what's wrong with that, you only have to find a person (or two) who does not have that experience with the music you're having such trouble with. Me, for instance. Now I know that this is a hard sell. I've failed so far to convince HC of it, but perhaps you (or others reading this) will be more atuned to logic, who can therefore understand that if a person can have a positive experience with music that you find only gives you negatives, then it is at least a possibility that the problem is with you.

And you have certainly identified your expectations very clearly. All I can say is that if you bring those expectations to music that is not designed to fulfil those expectations, then it's not hard to see that you're going to have a bit of a problem. But to push all the responsibility for your personal situation onto the music seems a bit premature.

Besides, the musics you find so pleasant, so easy to like, did not strike everyone who heard them (especially at first) as any of those things. What's happened here is a species of illusion. Because it now sounds pleasant to us, after decades if not centuries of habituation to those sounds and those patterns, therefore it must have always been pleasant, indeed, it must actually BE pleasant.

But you know, if you spend any time with any other humans, that that is just not so. Even your contemporaries, that is, will differ radically over whether piece A is pleasant or not. Just a few minutes on an online music board, such as this one, will show you people who do still do not find Beethoven's _Grosse Fuge_ anything but cacaphonous and unpleasant. And certainly you must be aware, if you have spent any time reading about music, that many people considered Mozart tough going. Then Beethoven. Then Berlioz. Each generation has had its "this has gone too far, it's not music any more" composers.

And each generation has its "how could people back then have been so deaf to the beauties of X, Y, or Z composer."

That's all that that's going on here, not any diminution of quality in the music itself. That, I assure you, has not happened.


----------



## Igneous01 (Jan 27, 2011)

i can agree with this for the majority, but i still believe composers need to study a bit more of the music so they can incorporate these ideas successfully. alot of composers know how to mimic many differents sounds of the world from wind to walking, but just using this as a basis alone seems futile - it needs a backbone or driving force behind it to appreciate its beauty - or maybe in front of it.

After listening to alot of this serial and modern works - even to the point of listening to 80 percent of the work, i still cant understand it, it drives me insane at best. better use of such techniques is required.


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Serialism is nothing to with weird 'harmonics' and other strange. Keys are not applicable.

Consider this: Wagner weakened the grip of keys on music to such an extent that other modes of organisation were necessary. Enter Schoenberg. Schoenberg devised an answer to the dilemna and decided to arrange all twelve tones with equal importance (well actually both Beethoven and Mozart had sparsely used this technique). This twelve tone technique is not 'random' as you imagine but is highly structured. The entire piece will be constructed from inversions or retrogrades of this tone row.










Later composers such as Boulez and Stockhausen went further and also serialised rhythm, attack, timbre, dynamic and all other parameters of music. Stockhausen believed this would the way with which to find 'god' in music. (much as Bach thought it was in the purity of counterpoint)


----------



## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

some guy said:


> Each generation has had its "this has gone too far, it's not music any more" composers.
> 
> And each generation has its "how could people back then have been so deaf to the beauties of X, Y, or Z composer."
> 
> That's all that that's going on here, not any diminution of quality in the music itself. That, I assure you, has not happened.


One thing people might forget is that in the age of J.S. Bach a lot of people didn't enjoy his music because they actually found it_ too old fashioned and conservative_, and were already onto musical ideas embraced by the classical era. So Bach's genius in a sense was found in being radically traditional. There are many many other examples of musical genius' being found in ways that weren't radically different from what was going on around them at the time ie- Mozart and Schubert really didnt reinvent the wheel either they found ways of being subtly brilliant within traditional forms. I would argue that the greatest musical minds _all_ did this, but many were so subtly genius their music initially flew under the radar anyway. - But not because they tried to reinvent anything.

I think there is something romantic about the idea of Beethoven's String Quartets, and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, or Schoenerg's radical new twelve tone system things that are new and different, and breaking away from the pack. Many composers of today seem to really want to jump on this idea of 'for something to be brilliant it has to be novel'. And then if the music isn't catching on to fall back on the ideas of :
*
"Each generation has had its "this has gone too far, it's not music any more" composers."

"And each generation has its "how could people back then have been so deaf to the beauties of X, Y, or Z composer." "*

So clearly these ideas you've posted invite the same type of mentality you are criticizing saying ' its not me, its YOU who has the problem'. So who really does have the problem? Is it a problem?

As I've said before I think we need artists out there trying new things, but art is art, its about communicating something, its about beauty and about human expression.

I appreciate the fact radical artists are out there and I want them to stay around. But I think its gotten to the point where I respect tradition now more so than all the 'wannabe the new thing- ahead of my time' radical composers out there.

Also - some guy because I have never seen any of your posts talking about how great you think any of the traditional composers are. I'm much less inclined to take your modern music suggestions seriously. If the only music you like is the avante garde cutting edge, what does that really have to do with classical music? Is there even a connection anymore?


----------



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Igneous01 said:


> interesting pieces - but to be honest - the first one sounds jazzy, the second one sounds like the experimental chill out, and has some roots in dubstep. the third one reminds me of the helicopter concerto (even tho its different and its one instrument)
> 
> but i have to ask - why is it playing one tone for the majority of the time? it kind of sounds minimalist to me.


It's minimalist music from a minimalist progenitor. Never considered Reich to be jazzy.:lol:



> Ill say this - after listening to 3 minutes of that quartet - i started feeling physical pain and discomfort. Music is not supposed to insult you or assault you. There are many things music can do but if it starts throwing punches at me well then its not really music but mockery at its finest to the listener who doesn't follow suite with it.


3 minutes. The whole thing's about 2 hours. You want to try his Well Tuned Piano that can be about 5 or 6 hours long. I love it, but still, 5+ hours is a difficult listen.

Like I said before, I really don't like any serialist music that I've heard. I find it boring and ultra square, so I don't listen to it. There's plenty of different modern styles that use different methods, just don't expect anything to be instantly as likable as a system like the old diatonic one, that had been around for centuries.



tdc said:


> Also - some guy because I have never seen any of your posts talking about how great you think any of the traditional composers are. I'm much less inclined to take your modern music suggestions seriously. If the only music you like is the avante garde cutting edge, what does that really have to do with classical music? Is there even a connection anymore?


Personally, I wouldn't consider most noise music, EAI or turntablism to be classical but there is a case against this view. It does descend from guys like Varese, Schaeffer, Cage and Stockhausen and places like IRCAM, so it has classical pedigree, but I'd say it's become separate from the term 'classical' and vague terms like 'experimental' and 'avant-garde' are safer bets.

Where's the line though? Lachenmann - classical. Radigue - classical. Sachiko M, Francisco Lopez and Randy Yau - not so much.

I'm pretty sure some_guy does like some more traditional composers, but I've yet to hear his opinion of funk and bluegrass music. Until, I find out his opinion on these musics I can't take his suggestions seriously.


----------



## Guest (Mar 5, 2011)

It's true. Until I step up and give my true opinion about funk and bluegrass, my other opinions just cannot be taken seriously!!

:tiphat: to ya, Argus!


----------

