# Any recommendations for underrated experimental composers out there?



## saintt (Sep 6, 2021)

Hello, I'm a new member, and i'm looking for recommendations of experimental composers out there, I'm talking about artists like Iannis Xenakis, Paul Dolden, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Georg Friedrich Haas, etc.


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## bwv543 (May 25, 2021)

There's a really helpful thread about half a dozen threads down this page with 10 years of recommendations for lesser-known symphonies. Many of them, to be sure, are not quite on the experimental side, but there are dozens of recommendations there - surely you will find some. I've been enjoying listening to some of the symphonies recommended on that page.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Try this thread too:
A Contemporary Music Repertoire (a work in progress)


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I found a compilation with 7 volumes entitled "An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music" on spotify. "Execution Of Intelligence" by Karkowski is pretty extreme


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## saintt (Sep 6, 2021)

Oooh! Yes i've heard of them! They have a very interesting approach to classical music! Thank you.


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## saintt (Sep 6, 2021)

bwv543 said:


> There's a really helpful thread about half a dozen threads down this page with 10 years of recommendations for lesser-known symphonies. Many of them, to be sure, are not quite on the experimental side, but there are dozens of recommendations there - surely you will find some. I've been enjoying listening to some of the symphonies recommended on that page.


I'm really interested in this. What thread is it?


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

saintt said:


> Hello, I'm a new member, and i'm looking for recommendations of experimental composers out there, I'm talking about artists like Iannis Xenakis, Paul Dolden, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Georg Friedrich Haas, etc.


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## bwv543 (May 25, 2021)

saintt said:


> I'm really interested in this. What thread is it?


Some Great Lesser Known Symphonies You Should Hear


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

Morton Feldman. If you have anything planned, clear your schedule.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Here's a thread I started, contains some experimental works.

*New Orchestral Music - Works of the 21st Century*


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

The labels Col Legno and NEOS offer much in the way of "new" music. A place to start is with nearly anything with the names Donaueschingen or Darmstadt, references to experimental music making places in Germany. The labels mentioned have such box sets as the Donaueschinger Musiktage sets, which range from the mid-20th century to the latest offering, at least on my CD shelf, of the DM 2018 set:









This double SACD set offers several "new music" selections including Ivan Fedele's _Air on Air_ for amplified basset horn and orchestra (2018), Malin Bang's _Splinters of Ebullient Rebellion_ for orchestra (2018), and Marco Stroppa's _Come Play With Me_ for solo electronics and orchestra (2016-2018), to list the first three of a total seven works. If these titles intrigue, you might imagine what is in-store for you with a complete Donaueschinger Musiktage collection, which on my shelves runs for over 2-feet of discs. A great collection.

NEOS also offers the Darmstadt Aural Documents collection, currently three box sets strong. The first is Box 1 - Composers - Conductors









and features 6 CDs worth of "new music" from the likes of Earle Brown (Available Forms I - For Chamber Orchestra [1961]) and René Leibowitz (Symphonie De Chambre - Pour 12 Instruments (À La Mémoire D'Anton Webern), Op. 16 [1946-1948]) from the early days through Bruno Maderna (Konzert Nr. 2 - Für Oboe Und Orchester [1967]) and Mauricio Kagel (1898 - For Chamber Ensemble [1972/1973]) to (the final work of disc six) Gerhard Müller-Hornbach (Innere Spuren - Für Drei Solobläser Und Kammerensemble [2002]). A lot to explore in this set.

And the other two boxes, one devoted to John Cage, the other (a seven CD box set) featuring Ensembles performing a wide variety of new music, mostly of the chamber variety.

You can look up these sets at Discogs to see what all is available.

I'm pleased to say I have the complete seven volumes of the aforementioned _An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music_, an essential for fans of what's "new" in sound experiment. These are on the Sub Rosa label, a good place to find new music and avant-garde sound projects.

The WERGO label features a set of discs titled Edition musikFabrik, more interesting stuff. Disc 4 of the set, titled _Schattenspiele | Shadow Games_, lists the following: Michael Jarrell (... Prisme / Incidences II ...), Stefano Gervasoni	(Far Niente), Joël-François Durand (Ombre/Miroir), and Brian Ferneyhough (Shadowtime VI; Seven Tableaux Vivants Representing The Angel Of History As Melancholia). If the composers sound unfamiliar, you can guess that is a ripe area for exploration. But each listed here is a major figure in new music. So, explore.









I also find on my shelves a wonderful set of some 30 discs in what NEOS calls the Musica Viva collection. Number 15 features three works: Peter Eötvös (Cap-ko (2005) Concerto For Acoustic Piano, Keyboard, And Orchestra), Bernd Alois Zimmermann	(Concerto For Violin And Large Orchestra (1950)), and Martin Smolka (Walden, The Distiller Of Celestial Dews (2000) (Five Pieces For Mixed Chorus And Percussion On Verses Of Henry David Thoreau)).









Again, a look over at Discogs will reveal much more of these series.

This is music generally off the beaten track but it's out there available to be heard, and re-heard via recordings, and it is not to be missed by fans of the "new music" genre.

And I haven't even mentioned to look for anything recorded by IRCAM (an electronics music studio) and Ensemble Intercontemporain, the new music / experimental music ensemble championed by Pierre Boulez.

I envy those of you who have yet to hear much of this music for the first time. Life invigorating stuff, for sure.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

You said it all! Thanx for taking the time and all the great tips


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