# Modern songs recommendations



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I'm making research in order to write my own songs for a competition. 

Modern in sense of after romantic eras, from impressionism on. I already got Berg songs by Jessye Norman and Schoenberg songs by I don't remember who. I'm also getting some later Faure. I already have Ravel songs too.

I would hear songs with insteresting piano factures, it should be of equal importance with voice, not just simple accompaniament. Female voices, especially alto are especially prefered. 

I'm after more modern ways of expression in chamber song genre, so though it is mainly about composing techniques I'm not too interested in hearing strictly technical and experimental compositions. 

Thanks for advance, listen to trance \m/


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## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

Check out *Ned Rorem*-- songs are his forte, and many of them are quite good: Rorem's "Root Cellar (Roethke), "Snake" (Roethke), "My Papa's Waltz" (also Roethke), "To the Willow Tree" (Herbert) and "Spring and Fall" (Hopkins) are good places to start with Rorem.

Also, Vaughan Williams' "The Call" (originally from _Five Mystical Songs_) has some interesting modal stuff going on.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Debussy and Britten are the first that came to my mind.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

*Henri Duparc*-Chansons

*Samuel Barber*-The Songs (DG Recording with Cheryl Studer, Thomas Hampson, John Browning and the Emerson String Quartet)

*Ture Rangström*- Nordic Autumn/Orchestral Songs

Check into the magnificent boxed set on EMI of performances by Galina Vishnevskaya (Rostropovitch's wife!). It includes songs by Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tchaikovsky... but also Prokofiev and Shostakovitch

*Othmar Schoeck*- Notturno (Songs set to string quartet)

*Hans Eisler*- The Hollywood Songbook (Eisler fled the Nazis to the US where he worked in Hollywood before later being deported during McCarthyism. These are NOT bouncy songs written for Hollywood films, but rather songs written in German during his stay in the US)

*Jean Sibelius*- Songs (Check the Kim Borg recording of DG although it lacks the text or von Otter)

*Lorenzo Palomo*- Cantos del alma, Andalusian Nocturnes, Spanish Songs (Naxos)

*George Crumb*- Ancient Voices of Children, Madrigals, Songs Drones and Refrains of Death (the last is on Naxos)

*John Harbison*- Due Libri dei Motetti di Montale (Lorraine Hunt Lieberson!)

*Peter Lieberson*- Neruda Songs (Lorraine Hunt Lieberson again! A Magnificently moving recording!)

*Jake Hegge*- The Faces of Love

*Ned Rorem*- (Check into the Susan Graham recording)

*Anders Hillborg/Laci Boldemann/Hans Gefors*- Orchestral Songs (A marvelous collection of contemporary Swedish songs performed by Anne Sophie von Otter... you might also check into her recitals of older Swedish Songs)

Dawn Upshaw also has any number of interesting recitals. I especially recommend _The Girl with Orange Lips_ with songs by Manuel de Falla, Maurice ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Earl Kim, and Maurice Delage. Another fine recording is _White Moon_ with songs by Peter Warlock, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Joseph Schantner, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and George Crumb... as well as some older composers.

Also look into recordings by Victoria de Los Angeles and Teresa Berganza who recorded a good deal of the less-familiar Spanish repertoire. The Berganza box set, _Brava Berganza_ and _Spanish Songs_ are especially nice.

*Dvorak*- Lieder (check the Bernarda Fink disc and especially Magdalena Kozena's Songs My Mother Taught Me and Love Songs which contain songs by *Dvorak, Janacek, Martinu*, and *Schulhoff*)

*Sergei Rachmaninov*-Songs (look for performers such as Sergej Larin and Dmitri Hvorostovsky)

*Georgy Sviridov*- Songs (Dmitri Hvorostovsky!)

*Szymanowski*- Songs (Anna Mikolajczyk)

*Kurt Weill*- (see especially Ute Lemper and Lotte Lenya... but also von Otter)

*Granville Bantock*- Sapphic Poem (orchestral song cycle)

*Allan Petterson*- _Complete Songs_

*Peter Warlock*- Songs

*Roger Quilter*- Songs

*John Duke*- _Just Spring: Art Songs of..._


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

Thanks a lot. I think I'll start with Ned Rorem (mentioned in two of posts). I know songs of Szymanowski and Sibelius and as for Debussy - I can't find recordings of his songs anywhere.


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## Earthling (May 21, 2010)

Aramis said:


> ...and as for Debussy - I can't find recordings of his songs anywhere.


Here's one:










Details


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I would second the Upshaw recording... but also:














































With French songs you must search under "Mélodie" and not "songs" or "lieder".


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I don't have a huge knowledge of this repertoire, but here are some that I have enjoyed & am highly familiar with:

*Lutoslawski* - Paroles tissees (tenor); Les Espaces du Sommeil (baritone); 5 Songs for soprano & orchestra

*Frank Martin* - Six Monologues from Jederman ("Everyman," text by Hofmannsthal) - baritone & orchestra

*Messiaen* - Poemes pour Mi; Harawi; Trois Melodies (all for soprano)


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

As for the Debussy recordings - I know that they exist, I also know that they are called melodies, not lieder. What I mean is that these recordings are not avaiable in places that I get my music from. 

Also thanks for another recommendations, Andre, Messiaen should be accurate for my purpose.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Yes, I'd say that the Messiaen song cycles are some of the most significant of the C20th. _Poemes pour Mi _is the earliest and perhaps the easiest to get into, while the other two on my list are somewhat more complex in terms of rhythmic changes and thematic development. (_Harawi_ lasts about an hour, and the piano part is just as complex and involved as the soprano soloist. They are equal partners, really).

Another French one I left out is *Varese's* _Offrandes_ for soprano & chamber ensemble...


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> *Henri Duparc*-Chansons
> 
> [... and the rest]


Thank you for taking the time to construct such a valuable and useful list.


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## tenor02 (Jan 4, 2008)

vaughn williams might meet your needs? 

also, ned rorem is a great choice, as well as Michael Head.


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