# Your 2020 Projections



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

With the new year upon us, I was thinking about the composers I would likely listen to regularly in the coming year who I never listened to much in any previous year.

The 2 composers for me are:

Alfred Schnnittke - I've dabbled with his music in the past but found none of it very appealing until I got into his Viola Concerto in the past couple of months. The Schnittke lightbulb is now on, so I expect to add him to my list of frequently heard composers.

William Byrd - I have to thank TC member Science for this one. In the "My Favorite" game series, Science has an upcoming game of favorite works of the 16 Century. I was checking out some his entries and was quite impressed with Byrd's harpsichord music. Of course, I'll also be delving into his vocal works as well.

Looking forward to your projections!!


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm hoping to get more into Dvorak's music. I haven't taken it very seriously, and I hope if I have a few minutes free I can study up on what he's actually doing. 

I also hope to make some inroads into Rachmaninoff's music. I've perceived him previously with less significance than I should, so I hope I hear the depth that I've glossed over.


----------



## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I would like to surprise myself! Since I'm teaching a class in music history, I will hear again the most famous pieces, but will also find out about lesser known composers. Opera is something I never listened to so much, but now I just have to and I'm sure I'll enjoy Wagner.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> I'm hoping to get more into Dvorak's music. I haven't taken it very seriously, and I hope if I have a few minutes free I can study up on what he's actually doing.


I'm a big fan of Dvorak's music (except for the symphonies). IMHO, his best music is found in the chamber works.


----------



## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

Looking forward to get more in the core of orchestral an opera composers in the 19th century:

Finish the core of Verdi challenges
Get to know Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti operas better
Arrange challenges of one hit wonder operas to complete the research of the century

Swipe to Symphony challenges of Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann. I don't think I will do Prokofiev or Nielsen but they may fall before 2021. Shostakovich, Haydn, Mozart and Pettersson should be the following year.


----------



## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Wagner, I think. I want to try and hear the complete _Ring_ in 2020.

Prokofiev is another composer I want to get more into. Shostakovich and Bartók as well. Obviously, these are major composers, but my interest in them is fleeting at best.

I hope that by this time next year I will have heard the complete works of Henri Dutilleux. Shouldn't be too difficult to achieve. It'll be quicker than the Wagner anyway!

Finally, Bruckner and Dvořák. Again, major composers, but my interests in their music have been fleeting at best.


----------



## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

I'll make one new year's resolution: I will finish my project of listening to all of Bach's cantatas!

Also I'd definitely like to delve into Händel's music properly, I've been avoiding that task for years. Also, there are a lot of operas that I've been meaning to engage myself with; maybe I'll organize some kind of a personal project surrounding that.

The big Beethoven anniversary will definitely throw its shadow over everything next year, from recordings to live concerts. No way to avoid it, so one might as well just embrace it. Might explore some complete recordings of the string quartets...

On the more modern/contemporary front, I defeinitely have the plan to get to know Takemitsu's music a lot better.


----------



## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Ah, Beethoven. I'd been forgetting that one. I'll definitely be listening to much of his music in 2020. As much as I can without getting sick of it. 

I also want to listen to more English composers in general. Vaughan Williams, Arnold, Bax, Elgar, Delius, Walton, all the usual suspects.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Janspe said:


> I'll make one new year's resolution: I will finish my project of listening to all of Bach's cantatas!


A few months ago I ran a game of Bach's cantatas. It was easily my most rewarding listening project of the year. I envy anyone who will be listening to them for the first time.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I will continue to be as democratic as I can with my collection, but there are one or two 20th century composers who I feel inclined to return to in the not too distant future. I may have a mini opera binge somewhere along the line as well - there are some which I haven't played for at least three years, maybe longer.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Weinberg. I've heard a few things, but I definitely need to check him out in more detail.


----------



## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Bulldog--Good call on Byrd's keyboard music! (for harpsichord, virginal, & organ). I think it's drastically underrated. (I like Davitt Moroney's extensive Byrd survey on Hyperion, along with individual recordings by Gustav Leonhardt, Colin Tilney, and Bertrand Cuiller.) The keyboard music of Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tomkins, and John Bull is worth getting to know, too, if you find that you have the time and further inclination.

As for myself, I buy virtually every new recording that comes out of the music of Franco-Flemish composer, Josquin Desprez. So, if new Josquin CDs are released in 2020, I'll be listening to them. The same is true for the music of Guillaume Dufay and Johannes Ockeghem. I've also been avidly exploring the new releases of lesser known Franco-Flems in recent years--such as the music of Bauldeweyn, Caron, De Orto, Faugues, Brumel, etc.--so if any further releases should come out, I'll definitely be exploring those, too.

Otherwise, I plan to continue to explore the music of Scandinavian composers, as I've been doing in recent years. Last year I had planned to explore the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara more extensively, but I didn't get to as much of his music as I had intended--so that will continue in 2020. I also just bought a BIS CD of new works by the Swedish composer, Anders Hillborg, including his "Sirens", so I'll be getting to that, too. I hope that a premiere recording of Hillborg's Violin Concerto no. 2 will get released in 2020 (ideally, from violinist Lisa Batiashvili, who premiered the work in concert in 2016), and if so, I'll be buying that, as well. & I'm sure I'll continue to explore the music of Vagn Holmboe and Joonas Kokkonen, which has been an ongoing project over the past several years. Pehr Henryk Nordgren is another Scandinavian composer that I've got my sights on, as well as Erikki Salmenhaara, and Paavo Heininen--whose "Boston" Violin Sonatas have recently been recorded by violinist Kaija Saarikettu and pianist Juhani Lagerspetz. I've likewise been meaning to explore the music of Erkki Melartin further, especially his chamber works, which seems to be among his best music.

I've also been considering the possibility of delving into Baroque operas in greater depth than I have in years past. I'd like to get to know some of Rameau, Lully, and Handel's lesser known operas: such as Lully's Isis, which Christopher Rousset recently recorded, as well as Rameau's Le temple de la Gloire, etc. 

Speaking of Handel, I'll almost certainly be buying the Dunedin Consort's new recording of his oratorio, Samson, as the reviews have been strong, and its a favorite oratorio of mine. 

Exploring the lesser known 19th and 20th century French and Belgian repertory has been another preoccupation of mine. But I've pretty much made my way through the music of Charles Koechlin and Joseph Jongen now. So I don't know if I'll be exploring any other French & Belgian composers in the immediate future. Maybe I will. Gabriel Pierne, Jean Cras, and Florent Schmitt are possibilities.


----------



## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

The past few months months I've been exploring a lot of music composed 1990 to now, whether through Art Rock's game on post-2000 music or just on my own, so that I can create an exhaustive ranked list of pieces from this time period. Obviously, the list isn't objective -- it's just a reflection of my own tastes -- but I would like to eventually share it here on TC so that it can stimulate more appreciation and discussion about this music (not that there isn't any already). Right now, I have about 250 pieces of varying length on the list, and by this time next year, I would like to get around 900-1000, which I think is a good milestone to hit before sharing. So that will be my main listening project next year. I will mostly listen to composers that I'm currently discovering through Art Rock's game but will listen beyond what's in the game itself (maybe 8-10 pieces per composer unless I find their music very satisfying, in which case I'll listen to more).

Among the composers I'll listen to, there are three I'm really excited for: Wolfgang Rihm, Bernhard Lang, and Philippe Manoury. Rihm's _Jagden und Formen_ absolutely blew me away when I heard it a couple months ago and is now one of my favorite pieces of any genre or time period. Manoury's _Tensio_ and _Pluton_ also had a big impact on me when I heard them recently. Lang's music is interesting from a theoretical perspective: he wrote two series of pieces called Differenz/Wiederholung and Monadologie that examine varying solutions to the concept of repetition in music. So I'll try and listen to those series in their entirety, if possible.


----------



## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

I'm still investigating someone spinning nearly 7 minutes of thematic development over a complex matrix of late Romantic harmony.....and have everything.....all subsequent material derived from the first four measures. Ah....what a guy will do to impress a girl!!!!!


----------



## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

I'm going to start a year long project of listening to (and watching) Wagner. Someone on TC suggested I start with Lohengrin so that's where I'll start. I know it will be a long journey but I'm very much looking forward to it. 

Additionally, I want to revisit Liszt. I immersed myself in Liszt many years ago but have slacked on his music since.


----------



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

As I am attending a live Beethoven cycle this year, I have been listening to his symphonies less at home to keep them fresh.

I received a complete Haydn symphonies set for Christmas. Time to set aside 37 hours to work through them!

I have been acquiring concertos by Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and more. I am listening to them more often after having acquired most of the symphonic output of the 19th century.

I have Pinnock's amazing Bach set and plan on acquiring his Vivaldi set. I mean to become much more intimately acquainted with both. 

I have acquired Nielsen, Prokofiev, Vaughan Williams, and Mahler cycles, as well as collections of John Adams, Scriabin and Reich. I plan on becoming more deeply acquainted with them.

With all of that said, the overwhelming likelihood is that I will still go through my symphonic cycles of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Sibelius, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and my R. Strauss collection several times this coming year.


----------



## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I've become acquainted with quite a large number of composers in the past ten years from the late romantic giants Mahler and Bruckner to numerous 20th century composers so I feel quite satiated at this point. In 2019 I rekindled my interest in older music listening to quite a bit of Bach, and making an effort to listen to more of the classical era repertoire. So my goal in 2020 is to continue with the broader scope and hopefully discover a few more composers dead and living. But no specific names to add at this point.


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I'll just go whit the flow, whatever crosses my path.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Of course my main effort will be the continuation of my multi-year project to listen to all my CD's once again, alphabetical per composer, at the same time cataloging them. I'm currently in the middle of the P. With any luck, I'll have the S done by the end of 2020.


----------



## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Late Schnittke and early Panufnik... but I've forgotten I've repeated saying this to myself for how many years.

I'm sure I'll take detours, as I did this year with Sallinen and Piazzolla, both of which I've found very rewarding, although I haven't listened to enough of them, to be very honest.

Maybe some Mozart........

No plan to force it. Will just go along with whatever that will catch my fancy.


----------



## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

I don't really fancy forcing anything either, but there are some loved/respected composers I feel I have neglected in recent years, most notably Schubert, that deserve reacquaintance at the very least.

I might give Allan Pettersson another go, his music should be my sort of thing, and he has never grabbed me; but don't hold your breath anyone!


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

More opera. Other than that I really don't know where my wandering tastes will take me.


----------



## Rtnrlfy (Apr 26, 2016)

Thanks to this forum (and to all you wonderful people), I'm constantly finding new music and artists to hear - I can't imagine that will change in 2020! But I also plan to dip into this book, especially for composers with whom I'm not yet familiar. I've also accumulated a fairly significant LP collection (amazing what you can find in dollar bins) and I want to enjoy it thoroughly.


----------



## Highwayman (Jul 16, 2018)

I intend to listen some Händel and Bruckner properly if Herr Beethoven allows me of course. :lol:


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I'm going to put on every opera of Wagner, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Prokofieff. They've all been absent from the CD player too long.


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

My goals:

Opera, early music, 20th century music, Haydn


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist said:


> My goals:
> 
> Opera, early music, 20th century music, Haydn


Wow - that covers a lot of ground - best of luck!!


----------



## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I am not a systematic listener and have no plans. I will listen on a whim to whatever I feel like listening at the moment or I let myself be inspired by others on TC.


----------



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Jacck said:


> I am not a systematic listener and have no plans. I will listen on a whim to whatever I feel like listening at the moment or I let myself be inspired by others on TC.


Yea verily! Life can be regimented enough without adding to it


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Every year I make sure to spend some time on all the "anniversary" composers - essentially anyone whose birth or death was some multiple of 50 years ago.
Beethoven's the obvious one this year, but there are many others for me to explore more thoroughly: Lehar, Caldara, Bruch, Tartini, Avison, Reicha, Griffes, Maderna, Schmitt, Gerhard...
This is also the year Donnacha Dennehy and Fazil Say turn 50, so they'll get some extra play too.


----------



## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

Nereffid said:


> Maderna


Oh, thanks for the reminder! Maderna is a composer I've been meaning to explore for ages but somehow never got around to doing it. Will definitely do so next year!


----------



## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist (Jan 13, 2019)

Bulldog said:


> Wow - that covers a lot of ground - best of luck!!


Thank you. It's not as if these areas are new to me, but they are just things I will be making a conscious effort to devote more time listening to and learning about.

Another such "focal points" might be lieder.


----------



## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Ooh lieder! Should I? Let's see if I do!


----------



## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Janspe said:


> ...
> 
> The big Beethoven anniversary will definitely throw its shadow over everything next year, from recordings to live concerts. No way to avoid it, so one might as well just embrace it. Might explore some complete recordings of the string quartets...


That's what I'm prepared for. I started already, with the master's birthday of 2019, which extends through year 2020 (the 250th year!), and then (for me, at least, hopefully) will continue onward through 2021 till the 251st birthday -- not to say that _that_ date is not a big deal either. In any case, there will be a lot of Beethoven. I've been exploring some of the more obscure pieces as well as revisiting the great war horses, and I picked up two additional big box "complete works" sets to add to my already substantial Beethoven collection, so I'm never at a loss for material. Now, to decide which works to pick each day! -- if that remains my biggest issue for the year, I can live with it. Happily.

I could come up with a plan. I could listen to a set of the symphonies (say, by one conductor/orchestra) per month; I could proceed by Opus number … so many ways to approach. But in the end the result is still glorious. After all, it's Beethoven!

Happy listening, all.

Happy 2020 to you, too.


----------



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

Room2201974 said:


> I'm still investigating someone spinning nearly 7 minutes of thematic development over a complex matrix of late Romantic harmony.....and have everything.....all subsequent material derived from the first four measures.


It sounds like the developing variation that is infinite -- there will never be a Last Night at the Brahms!


----------



## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

I'm looking forward to staring up again with Finish orchestral composers, and I am starting to resolve my "block" on writing about Canadian composers -- it's about time!


----------



## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I intend on listening to all of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. I haven’t heard them all. In addition, I would like to listen to all of the symphonies of the following composers: Malcolm Arnold, Arnold Bax, Eduard Tubin, Edmund Rubbra, Bohuslav Martinu and Alexander Glazunov. I’ve heard some but not all of their symphonies. 

I’m also taking lessons right now. I periodically take lessons. Always Bach, but also Franck, Brahms and Fauré. 

I’ve also got some non classical music I want to hear.


----------

